Graduate Course Listing Fall 2007
Click here to see Spring 2007 Course Descriptions
Fall 2007 Course Descriptions
83202 01 (17362) Aristotle's Metaphysics
Loux
11:00-12:15 TR
A careful study of metaphysical themes in Aristotle. Texts examined include Categories, Physics I-IV, Metaphysics I-IX and XII. Topics considered include substance, the categories, matter and form, causation, nature, change, place, time, being, essence, potentiality, actuality, and the unmoved mover(s).
Requirements: An extended paper on some metaphysical theme in Aristotle.
83248 01 (TBA) Founders of Medieval Philosophy
Gersh
12:30-1:45 TR
One of the difficulties of studying medieval philosophy arises from the need to read, along with the medieval philosophers themselves, the various ancient sources on which they depend. Everybody knows that Plato and Aristotle enjoy a special status among these sources. It is also widely known that the philosophy of these Greek writers was transmitted to the medieval world through certain less well-known writers of late antiquity who sometimes overwhelmed what they were transmitting with their own thoughts and commentaries. This course is aimed at introducing the student to the three most important of these late ancient intermediaries: Augustine, Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, and Boethius. In the first half of the semester we will learn something of these writers themselves by reading some of Augustine's early dialogues, extracts from the Dionysian corpus, and Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy and theological tractates. After the mid-semester break, the focus will shift to the medieval readings of these works: for example, in Eriugena, Anselm of Canterbury, Thierry of Chartres, Albert the Great, Meister Eckhart, and Nicholas of Cusa. Language requirement: Latin desirable but not necessary. Written requirement: one final essay (20 pp).
83601 01 (12862) 20th Century Ethics
DePaul
12:30-1:45 TR
We will begin with G.E. Moore and march through the major figures of 20th century ethics. Two short papers and a term paper will be required.
83801 01 (12771) Philosophy of Science
McKim
2:00-3:15 TR
A 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 be responsible for writing 3 short papers (5-6 pp), a final examination, and making brief class presentations.
83901 01 (11443) Intermediate Logic
Franks
11:45-1:00 MW
Intermediate logic is a "first course" in logic at the graduate (and advanced undergraduate) level. We introduce the syntax and semantics of first order logic (FOL) in three stages: sentential logic, monadic quantification, and polyadic quantification. After studying the sentential fragment via the axiomatic method, we develop a proof system for first order logic and develop an algorythmic decision procedure for the monadic fragment of FOL. We show that polyadidic formulas are not decidable, but that the proof system for full FOL is complete and sound. Finally we study the compactness theorem, the Loewenheim-Skolem theorems, and natural deduction. We will often take note the historical origins of our techniques and results. There will be handouts and practice problems to supplement the text.
TEXT: Deductive Logic. Goldfarb. Harvard University Press.
REQUIREMENTS: Attend lecture and write several graded take-home tests.
93324 01 (18632) Hegel's Political Philosophy
Hosle
3:30-6:00 T
Cross List: POLS 60630 01 (15064)
Hegel's philosophy has recently witnessed a re-evaluation also among American, analytically trained philosophers (Sellars, Brandom, McDowell). His political thought has been reassessed by communitarians as Charles Taylor. His "Philosophy of Right" still is one of the most complex and difficult works in the history of philosophy. We will read it in detail and analyze its connections with the rest of Hegel's system as well as with other classic works of Political Philosophy, mainly those of Kant and Fichte. We will also look at three of Hegel's discussions of contemporary political institutions and problems - the Constitution of the Holy Roman Empire, the constitution for Wuerttemberg, and the English Reform Bill. But our main interest will not be historical; we will pursue the question which of Hegel's arguments in the philosophy of law and of the state are still superior to later alternatives.
93402 01 (17666) Christian Theism and Philosophy
Plantinga
1:30-2:45 MW
Is there such a thing as Christian philosophy? How should a Christian‚s Christianity be related to her practice as a philosopher? To her conclusions as a philosopher? If among your reasons for accepting a philosophical thesis is some item of Christian belief, does it follow that your conclusion is theology rather than philosophy? How, if at all, does Christian belief, in particular Christian theism, bear on the traditional concerns of philosophers in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of logic, philosophy of mind, and so on? These are some of the questions and topics to be explored in this course. We‚ll begin by reading the merest smidgin of the church fathers, then some Gilson, then consider the bearing of certain common views of faith and reason on these questions, and then turn to more specific questions in epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophical anthropology. In addition to the Gilson, and other handouts, we will use Michael Beaty‚s collection, Christian Theism and Problems of Philosophy.
This course will be exploratory rather than definitive and active student participation will be encouraged– indeed, required. There will be several short papers and a longer (15-20 pages) paper.
93603 01 (17364) Virtue and Practical Reasoning
Solomon
3:00-5:30 M
Contemporary debates within ethics since the revival of normative ethical theory in the 1960s have largely focused on attempts to refine and defend various historically significant models of ethical theory. Discussions have been dominated by attention to broadly Kantian, consequentialist and, more recently, Aristotelian normative theories, with attention also being paid to various anti-theoretical positions. A major obstacle for those interested in updating and defending Aristotelian virtue theories has been the dominance in contemporary philosophy of certain modern conceptions of practical reason-especially Kantian and Humean conceptions-which seem to make Aristotelian positions in ethics simply untenable. Alongside the continuing debates within normative ethical theory there have been, as a consequence, related debates about the nature of practical reason. In recent years a number of persuasive and well-buttressed positions have been developed that attack many modern orthodoxies concerning practical reason. The issues raised in these debates about practical reason are now seen to be crucial in the debates about normative ethics.
In this class, we will do close readings of three recent books (Philippa Foot's Natural Goodness, Elijah Millgram's Practical Induction and Candice Vogler's Reasonably Vicious) that have, in quite different ways, attacked certain modern orthodoxies about practical reason with the aim of providing support for broadly virtue approaches to ethics. We will begin the course with a brief survey of the landscape of discussions of practical reason since the publication of Elizabeth Anscombe's Intention. In this part of the course we will look briefly at a number of classic papers by Anscombe, Williams, Frankena, Nagel, McDowell, MacIntyre, Korsgaard, Wallace, Raz, Parfit and Wiggins on these topics before turning to a careful reading of the three books in a seminar setting.
Students in this course will be expected (1) to be capable of reading difficult philosophical material on their own and coming to class prepared to discuss it critically and (2) to be broadly familiar with the main debates within contemporary normative ethical theory.
Required books:
1) Varieties of Practical Reasoning (ed., Elijah Millgram)
2) Ethics Done Right: Practical Reasoning as a Foundation for Moral Theory, Elijah Millgram.
3) Practical Induction, Elijah Millgram.
4) Natural Goodness, Philippa Foot
5) Reasonably Vicious, Candice Vogler
6) A number of articles will also be distributed in a course packet.
Writing requirements:
1) A seminar paper to be prepared and distributed to the class for discussion.
2) A comment on a seminar paper to be presented in class.
3) A final paper on a topic to be negotiated with the teacher.
93811 01 (17366) History of Philosophy of Science to 1750
Joy
9:30-10:45 TR
This seminar focuses on changing conceptions of nature and of scientific knowledge from the Presocratics to the Enlightenment. We will examine the origins of these conceptions in ancient Greek and Hellenistic thought and analyze what happened to them in medieval and modern natural philosophy. Besides the earlier texts which include Aristotle's Physics, we will discuss modern works by Descartes, Galileo, Boyle, and Newton.
Requirements: Written requirements include two medium-length papers and one exam. Short oral presentations and regular participation in seminar discussions are also important aspects of this seminar.
93821 01 (17367) Science and Social Values
Kourany
5:00-7:30 W
Should science be value free, or should it be shaped by the needs and ideals of the society that supports it? If the former, how can scientists shaped by society contribute to it, and what claim to the resources of the society can scientists legitimately make? If the later, how can scientists still claim to be objective? These are some of the questions we shall pursue in this course. Their pursuit will take us through a varied terrain--e.g., the growing commercialization of science and other ways in which social values leave their imprint on science, the case of Soviet science under Lysenko and German science under the Nazis, and most important, the relation between facts and values, new understandings of scientific objectivity, and new social philosophies of science--especially those offered by Helen Longino, Philip Kitcher, and Miriam Solomon.
The style of the course will be discussions, seminar style, with students leading the discussions, and these will be informed by readings drawn from a variety of sources, including natural and social scientists as well as historians and philosophers of science. The requirements will include two or three shorter papers, or one
major term paper.
930902 01 (17368) Gödel's Theorems
Detlefsen/Franks
3:30-4:45 TR
The objective of this course is to acquaint the student with Gödel's celebrated incompleteness theorems, their proofs, pertinent parts of their history and their philosophical applications. The latter include their bearing on the type of foundational program for mathematics advocated by Hilbert and others in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and their possible implications for the mechanization of reasoning. They also include the following interesting and important, though less widely discussed questions:
1. What is a formal theory or system? Is it possible to formally systematize one's epistemic commitments?
2. How might a theory or a mind represent itself (and other theories/minds) to itself? What conditions properly constrain such representations?
3. What type(s) of completeness conditions represent ideals for systems of rational epistemic commitment? What if any relationship is there between these ideals and the type(s) of completeness that are ruled out
by Gödel's theorems?
TEXTS: Readings from historical source papers will be made available.
REQUIREMENTS: seminar participation, one or two presentations, and a term paper.
96697 01 () Directed Readings
Holloway
96697 02 () Directed Readings
Holloway
98699 01 () Research and Dissertation
Holloway
98700 01 () Nonresident Dissertation Research
Holloway