Philosophy Dept. Graduate Course Listing Fall 2006
83210 01 (16687) Plato: Love, Death, and Poetry
9:30 - 10:45 TR O'Connor
A broad graduate-level survey of Plato, focused on the dialogues Ion, Euthyphro, Apology of Socrates, Phaedo, Symposium, Phaedrus, and Republic. The dialogues are paired with selections from works of special importance to Plato (by Homer, Hesiod, Sappho, and Aristophanes), and with poetry in the Romantic tradition especially engaged with the dialogues' themes (by Keats, Shelley, Emerson, Yeats, Stevens, H.D., and Anne Carson). The course will mix lectures with seminar meetings, and will probably include presentations by three faculty visitors.
83601 01 (13905) 20th Century Ethics
3:00-5:30 M Solomon
A survey of a number of central positions and issues in contemporary ethical theory. The course will begin with an examination of the main metethical positions developed from 1903 to 1970 - intuitionism, emotivism, prescriptivism and the various forms of ethical naturalism.
This material will provide a background for a discussion of issues arising from the more recent revival of classical normative theory. Final readings have not yet been chosen, but will likely include selections from Moore, Ross, Prichard, Stevenson, Hare, Foot, Anscombe, Rawls, MacIntyre, Parfit, Scheffler, Nagel, Donagan, and Williams.
83801 01 (13772) Philosophy of Science
12:30 - 1:45 TR Howard Cross List: HPS 83801A survey of major problems, movements, and thinkers in twentieth-century philosophy of science. The course begins with a look at the historical background to logical empiricism, its rise to prominence, and its early critics, such as Popper. After a study of major problems in the neo-positivist tradition, such as confirmation, explanation, and the nature of scientific laws, historicist critiques of neo-positivism, chiefly Kuhn's will be studied next, followed by a consideration of the realism-instrumentalism debate. The course concludes with a brief look at new perspectives, such as social constructivism and feminist philosophy of science.
Requirements Students will write mid-term and final essay examinations and a fifteen-page term paper on a topic to be chosen in consultation with the instructor.
83901 01 (12327) Intermediate Logic
11:45-1:00 MW Blanchette
An introduction to the metatheory of first-order logic. Includes the completeness, compactness, and Löwenheim-Skolem theorems. We will learn a little set theory along the way too.
Prerequisite: 313 or equivalent.
85104 01 (11476) Teaching Methods: TA Practicum
85106 01 (15901) Placement Practicum 12:50 F
O'Callaghan
93322 01 (16688) The Frankfurt School
6:00 - 8:30 M Rush
This is an intensive graduate seminar that considers of some of the fundamental issues in the epistemological, social, political and aesthetic theory of the so-called Frankfurt School. Readings will span the history of the School from its inception in the early 1930s through middle-period Habermas.
Texts
Primary
- Horkheimer, Critical Theory (Continuum)
- Marcuse, Negations (Beacon)
- Marcuse, Eros and Civilization (Beacon)
- Horkheimer and Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment (Stanford)
- Adorno, Minima Moralia (Verso)
- Habermas, Knowledge and Human Interests (Beacon)
- Habermas, Theory of Communicative Action, vol. 1 (Beacon)
Secondary (required)
- Geuss, The Idea of a Critical Theory (Cambridge)
- Jay, Dialectical Imagination (Little, Brown)
- Rush (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Critical Theory (Cambridge)
Requirements
A seminar presentation
A term paper of 18-20 pp.
Prerequisites: No absolute prerequisites, but a firm understanding of core texts of European social theory-e.g. Hegel, Marx, Freud-is very helpful. German is always a plus but is not required. Only open to graduate students. No exceptions.
93507 01 (TBA) Topics in Philosophy of Mind
1:30-2:45 MW Plantinga/Warfield
We
will investigate a variety of topics in contemporary philosophy of
mind. Topics will likely include at least the following: mental
content, consciousness, mental causation, the metaphysics of mind,
perception, thought
and language.
Our readings will be from mostly contemporary sources.
93619 01 (16681) Contemporary Political Philosophy
1:30-2:45 MW
Sterba
Cross List: PHIL
43428, GSC 43251, GSC 53103
In this course we will critically evaluate the major political ideals of our time, namely, libertarian justice, welfare liberal justice, socialist justice, and feminist justice, with a particular focus on how feminist justice presents an important challenge to the other ideals that needs to be met. We will further consider how these political ideals apply to a range of practical problems on the assumption that addressing practical problems can sometimes lead us to revise the political theories we hold.
Texts: Will Kymlicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy (Oxford, 2002); James P. Sterba, ed. Justice: Alternative Political Perspectives 4th ed. (Wadsworth, 2003); Liz Sperling, Women, Political Philosophy and Politics (Edinburgh, 2002); James P. Sterba, ed. The Triumph of Practice Over Theory in Ethics (Oxford, 2005)
Requirements
Three papers (8-10 pages) and a willingness to participate in class
discussions.
93620 01 (17558) The Political Philosophy of John Rawls
3:30-6:00 T Weithman
The influence of John Rawls’s work on academic political and moral theorizing, especially on the academic disciplines of political and moral philosophy, would be difficult to overstate. The theoretical ambitions and the clear normative implications of his book A Theory of Justice showed the academy how much could still be accomplished in political philosophy at time when many moral philosophers concentrated almost exclusively on metaethical questions. The book’s systematicity and clarity showed that these accomplishments could be won without loss of rigor. Its obvious connections to Kant and the social contract tradition did much to revive philosophers’ interest in the history of liberal thought. Consequently, the agenda of contemporary political philosophy, and much of the agenda of moral philosophy, has been set by Rawls’s work in at least this sense: even those who disagree with him are bound to respond to him. He is unarguably the greatest political philosopher of the second half of the 20th century and is arguably the greatest of the whole of it.
This seminar will be a careful study of Rawls’s two most important books: A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism. Requirements will probably include several short papers, a term paper and a presentation.
93702 01 (16690) Philosophical Intuitions
2:00 - 3:15 TR Gutting
Analytic philosophers pride themselves on arguing for their conclusions, but it is readily apparent that many substantive claims, even in analytic philosophy, are based on intuitions. This seminar examines the nature and role of intuitions in recent analytic work. We will examine in some detail a few cases of current philosophical disputes in which appeals to intuition are prominent. Likely topics include free will, personal identity, the warrant for religious beliefs, and ethical principles. We will also look closely at recent explicit discussions on the role and nature of philosophical intuitions (especially modal intuitions). Possibilities here include papers by Bealer, Lycan, Stich, Pust, and Williamson, among others.
Requirement: A term paper of about 7000 words.
93908 01 (16691) Philosophy of Mathematics
3:30-4:45 TR Detlefsen
The modern analytic/synthetic distinction has roots both in ancient philosophy (particularly that of Plato and Aristotle) and in ancient mathematics. It remained important in medieval and renaissance times and claimed a central place in the work of various thinkers of the modern era---particularly, that of Descartes, Leibniz and Kant. Nineteenth and twentieth century figures (e.g. Frege, Carnap, Langord and Quine) were largely critical of these modern treatments, and their criticisms led to important changes both in conceptions of and attitudes towards the distinction.
The aim of this seminar is to learn some of the interesting history of the distinction, to develop an appreciation of the contact between philosophy and mathematics that this history represents, and to apply both of these to the betterment of our own understanding.
96697 01 (12044) Directed Readings
Holloway
96697 02 (11961) Directed Readings
Holloway
98699 01 (13123) Research and Dissertation
Holloway
98700 01 (13124) Nonresident Dissertation Research
Holloway
