Course
Descriptions Fall 1997
CAS PH 100
PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY
Professor Rosen
An introduction to philosophy
CAS PH 110
GREAT PHILOSOPHERS
Professor Brinkmann
Introduction to the life and thought of six preeminent
philosophers: Plato and Socrates, Descartes,
Hume, Kant, Russell.
CAS PH 150 A1
INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Professor Speight
A systematic inquiry into alternative ways of
discerning between good and evil, alternating
lectures with discussions of selected texts from
contemporary ethics.
CAS PH 150 B1
INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Professor Garrett
A systematic inquiry into alternative ways of
discerning between good and evil, alternating
lectures with discussions of selected texts from
contemporary ethics.
CAS PH 150 C1
INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Professor L. Haakonssen
A systematic inquiry into alternative ways of
discerning between good and evil, alternating
lectures with discussions of selected texts from
contemporary ethics.
CAS PH 155
POLITICS AND PHILOSOPHY
Professor Cahoone
An introduction to Western political philosophy
using both historical and contemporary sources.
The focus is on the background and conflicting
interpretations of modern democracy.
An honors section of this course (PH 155) is
available.
CAS PH 160 A1
REASONING & ARGUMENTATION
Professor Floyd
A systematic study of the principles of both
deductive and informal reasoning, with an emphasis
on reasoning and argumentation in ordinary discourse,
and on their strategies. The aim of the course
is to train the student in the skills of argument
analysis, argument construction, and argument
evaluation.
Textbook: Hintikka and Bachman, What if...? Toward
Excellence in Reasoning and Weston, A Rulebook
for Arguments.
CAS PH 160 B1
REASONING & ARGUMENTATION
Professor Janssen
A systematic study of the principles of both
deductive and informal reasoning, with an emphasis
on reasoning and argumentation in ordinary discourse,
and on their strategies. The aim of the course
is to train the student in the skills of argument
analysis, argument construction, and argument
evaluation.
CAS PH 160 C1
REASONING & ARGUMENTATION
Professor Devlin
A systematic study of the principles of both
deductive and informal reasoning, with an emphasis
on reasoning and argumentation in ordinary discourse,
and on their strategies. The aim of the course
is to train the student in the skills of argument
analysis, argument construction, and argument
evaluation.
Textbook: Hintikka and Bachman, What if...? Toward
Excellence in Reasoning and Weston, A Rulebook
for Arguments.
Prerequisite: one philosophy course
or sophomore standing
CAS PH 242
PHILOSOPHIES OF HUMAN NATURE
Professor Kestenbaum
In Moby Dick Ahab says:
All visible objects, man, are but pasteboard
masks. But in each event--in the living act,
the undoubted deed-there, some unknown but still
reasoning thing puts forth the mouldings of its
features from behind the unreasoning mask. If
man will strike, strike through the mask!
Is human nature a "visible" object,
a mask concealing "some unknown but still
reasoning thing" Can human nature be known
like any other "visible" object? If
there is something necessarily visible about
human nature, how is it to be known or thought?
Can we--should we--"strike through the mask?"
The course will examine selected ideas or concepts
which might help make human nature more visible
while at the same time respecting its tendency
to withdraw from inspection, i.e., to remain
invisible. These concepts include: freedom, spirit,
love, reason.
Texts: Plato, Five Dialogues, Karl Jaspers, Philosophy
of Existence, Frithjof Bergmann, On Being Free,
J.W.N. Sullivan, Beethoven: His Spiritual Development,
Henry James, Tales of Henry James
An honors section of this course (PH242) is available.
CAS PH 251
MEDICAL ETHICS
Professor Grodin
This course reviews the nature and scope of moral
dilemmas and problematic decision making in medicine
and health care. After this survey of ethical
theory, the course focuses on a broad range of
ethical concerns raised by the theory and practice
of medicine: the nature of health, disease and
illness; rights, access and the limits of health
care; the physician-patient relationship; truthtelling
and confidentiality. Through a series of case
studies, the course examines specific topics:
the Bioethics movement; human experimentation;
the role of institutional review boards; the
concept and exercise of informed, voluntary consent;
abortion, reproduction, genetic counseling and
screening; euthanasia, death and dying; ethics
committees; international and cross cultural
perspectives.
CAS PH 255
PHILOSOPHY OF LAW
Professor Haakonssen
Discussion of major theories of the nature and
validity of law and of concepts closely related
to the law. Readings by classical and contemporary
legal philosophers and legal theorists.
CAS PH 270
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Professor Cao
Main features of the scientific enterprise will
be illustrated by examples in the study of physics,
biology, mind and society; the aims of scientific
activities; the nature of scientific understanding;
scientific procedures; the structure and interpretation
of scientific theories; the development of science.
Some concepts central to the natural and social
sciences will be examined carefully. Controversies
among competing schools in the philosophy of
science over the objectivity and rationality
of the scientific enterprise will also be discussed.
Texts: Martin Goldstein and Inge F. Goldstein,
How We Know; Victor F. Weisscopf, Knowledge and
Wonder.
CAS PH 277
PHIL AND METHOD IN HUMAN SCIENCES
Professor Martin
Analysis of basic concepts relevant to the social
sciences: causal and functional explanation,
prediction, understanding and interpretation,
rationality, reduction, individualism and holism,
objectivity and values. Consideration of philosophical
problems of the special sciences: psychology,
economics, history, and archaeology.
Text: M. Martin and L. McIntyre, Readings in
the Philosophy of Social Science, 1994
CAS PH 300
HISTORY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Professor Dahlstrom
The course will explore Greek philosophy and
will concentrate on its chief representatives:
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Platonic dialogues,
and major chunks of the Aristotelian corpus will
be read with some care. The focus will be philosophical
rather than historical, and the emphasis will
be on the analysis and interpretation of texts.
Requirements: One medium paper, midterm, final.
CAS PH 310 A1
HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY
Professor Webb
Examination of theories of major seventeenth
and eighteenth century philosophers, from Descartes
to Kant. Along with their confidence in reason,
the Continental Rationalists share a conception
of philosophy as a universal discipline whose
propositions are derivable from first principles
regarded as necessary. The British Empiricists,
on the other hand, beginning with Locke's "historical,
plain method," claim to rely primarily on
experience as the basis of their theories of
knowledge. There are lessons in all of this that
Kant takes to heart.
Requirements: Two papers and final examination.
Texts: R. Cummins, D Owen: Central Readings in
the History of Modern Philosophy. Descartes to
Kant, Wadsworth 1992.
CAS PH 310 B1
HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY
Professor Michalski
Examination of theories of major seventeenth
and eighteenth century philosophers, from Descartes
to Kant. Along with their confidence in reason,
the Continental Rationalists share a conception
of philosophy as a universal discipline whose
propositions are derivable from first principles
regarded as necessary. The British Empiricists,
on the other hand, beginning with Locke's "historical,
plain method," claim to rely primarily on
experience as the basis of their theories of
knowledge. There are lessons in all of this that
Kant takes to heart.
Requirements: Two papers and final examination.
Texts: R. Cummins, D Owen: Central Readings in
the History of Modern Philosophy. Descartes to
Kant, Wadsworth 1992.
CAS PH 350
HISTORY OF ETHICS
Professor Griswold
Is morality invented or discovered? What does
it mean to live a good life, and does it mean
the same thing for every human being? What is
the relation of virtue to happiness? This course
will explore the answers that philosophers such
as Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Mill, and Nietzsche
offer to these and other fundamental human questions.
CAS PH 360
LOGIC
Professor Hintikka
Introduction into the basic areas of contemporary
logic, including propositional logic, quantification
theory (with its direct extensions) and their
metatheory. Special attention will be paid to
strategies of reasoning and to the most important
metatheoretical issues, such as completeness,
definability and undecidability.
Undergraduates: Register for 400
level courses
Graduates: Register for 600 level
courses
Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
Prerequisite: PH300 and two other
PH courses
CAS PH 406/606
ARISTOTLE II
Professor Brinkmann
A careful study of Aristotle's practical philosophy
conducted primarily through a close reading of
his Politics. Aristotle's overall conception
of a practical philosophy as it is developed
in Book I of Nicomachean Ethics and the transition
from the ethical to the political point of view
as described in the last chapter of Nicomachean
Ethics will be considered. A seminar format will
be used.
Required readings:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics and Politics
For introductory purposes I recommend: Curtis
N. Johnson: Aristotle's Theory of the State (New
York, 1990)
CAS PH 408/608
HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL PHIL
Professor Zank
Basic philosophical and religious issues as they
have been understood in the classical Jewish
tradition: good and evil, creation, the relationship
between God and human beings, and the relationship
of human beings to one another. Issues are discussed
within the classical Jewish philosophical framework
of God, the people of Israel, and Torah. Sources
include the Bible, midrashic literature and Talmud,
Philo, and the medieval Jewish philosophers Maimonides
and Judah ha-Levi.
Modern and Contemporary Philosophy
Prerequisite: PH310 and two other
PH courses
CAS PH 410/610
CONTINENTAL RATIONALISM
Professor Garrett
A study of the central ideas, arguments, and
concepts of Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz.
Special attention is paid to the relation of
their ideas and concepts to early modern science,
as well as to their background in medieval and
ancient philosophy.
CAS PH 419/619
NIETZSCHE
Professor Michalski
An examination of the work of the nineteenth
century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
Our aim will be to gain a perspective on the
development of his thought and the range of his
concerns.
Requirements: Two papers (10 pp. and 15 pp.),
Graduates: 15 pp. and 20 pp
CAS PH 426/626
PHENOMENOLOGY
Professor Dahlstrom
The aim of this course is to provide an introduction
to phenomenology as a way of doing philosophy.
To this end the course concentrates on central
themes and methods of the founder of the phenomenological
movement, Edmund Husserl. The course begins with
a review of Brentano's concept of intentionality
and its critical appropriation by Husserl in
the analyses of truth, facts, and categorical
intuitions within the Logical Investigations
(1900). Based upon Husserl's own early and late
introductions into phenomenology in Ideas to
a Pure Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy:
General Introduction into Pure Phenomenology
(1913) and The Crisis of European Sciences and
Transcendental Phenomenology: An Introduction
into Phenomenological Philosophy (1936), the
course critically analyses the natural attitude
and phenomenological reductions, the general
structures of pure consciousness, and the Lebenswelt.
While all texts are available in translation,
reading knowledge of German is helpful.
Speculative Philosophy
Prerequisite: PH 300, 310 and one
other PH course
CAS PH 440/640
METAPHYSICS
Professor Martin
This course introduces students to a diversity
of metaphysical issues: modality, the nature
of physical objects, the relationship of whole
and parts, the compatibility of freedom and determinism,
the origin of the universe, the plausibility
of materialism.
CAS PH 443/643
PHILOSOPHY OF MIND
Professor Webb
Issues in contemporary philosophy and psychology
reflecting traditional concerns in both fields,
whether conceptual or methodological.
CAS PH 446/646
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
Professor Olson
An examination of principal issues and topics
in the philosophy of religion in three stages:
first, an historical overview of the development
of philosophy of religion as a discipline or
sub-discipline of philosophy and theology and
metaphysics with special attention to the problems
and challenges facing this discipline in the
context of the comparative philosophy of religion.
The second part of this course will be dedicated
to readings and discussions of source materials
in the philosophy of religion, viz., the traditional
proofs for the existence of God, the problem
of evil, mysticism and religious experience,
faith and reason, revelation and auhtority, science
and religion, religious ethics, etc. The third
and final part of the course consists of a close
reading and commentary on Hegel's 1827 Lectures
on the Philosophy of Religion, the first serious
attempt to do a comparative philosophy of religion.
Requirements: Two position papers on the readings
(2-3 pages each) by undergraduate students and
graduate students, research paper or "take-home" final
examination for undergraduate students; research
paper by graduate students.
Texts:
Peterson, Hasker, Reichenbach, and Basinger (eds.),
Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings (Oxford,
1996).
Hegel's 1827 Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion
(California, 1988).
Philosophy of Value
Prerequisite: PH350 and two other
PH courses
CAS PH 451/651
CONTEMPORARY ETHICS
Professor Dreben
A detailed study of the work of John Rawls.
Required Texts: Rawls' A Theory of Justice and
Political Liberalism
CAS PH 453/653
THEORIES OF POLITICAL SOCIETY
Professor Cahoone
What is politics? The attempt to distinguish
the political-governmental dimension of human
existence from other aspects of life--the private,
the economic, the cultural, the philosophical--has
practical implications: free market libertarians
define politics so as to exclude economics from
its control, welfare state advocates make the
market political; civil libertarians put cultural
expression outside political control, feminists
insist that such expression is intrinsically
political. Is politics the highest of human activities,
or is it inherently corrupt? We will explore
these questions through the work of twentieth
century political philosophers (e.g. Arendt,
Strauss, Rawls, Oakeshott, Unger, Okin, and Walzer).
Philosophy of Science
Prerequisite: PH310 and two other
PH courses
CAS PH 467/667
MATHEMATICAL LOGIC
Professor Kanamori
The syntax and semantics of quantificational
logic through to the Gödel Completeness
and Incompleteness Theorems. Computability, the
Halting Problem, and recursive functions.
CAS PH 470/670
PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS
Professor Cao
An introductory survey of fascinating problems
in contemporary philosophy of physics. The basic
ideas and main features of physical theories,
which touch upon nature at its most fundamental
level and interact most crucially with philosophy,
are outlined, so that students will have a road
map of the central problems in the field. Throughout,
the driving theme is the entanglement of a radical
revision in our conceptualization of the world
(which is forced upon us by the changes in the
physical picture of the world due to major developments
in modern physics) with central philosophical
issues in metaphysics and epistemology. Some
areas of discussion include: the nature of space
and time in relativity theory; the understanding
of measurement, locality, causality, reality
and objectivity in quantum theory; ontology of
quantum field theory; explanation in cosmogony.
In-depth conceptual analysis will be carried
out in a non-technical way, without requiring
either a thorough understanding of the technical
details of physical theories or major competence
in mathematics.
Texts:
Tian Yu Cao: Conceptual Development of 20th Century
Field Theories
Alastair Rae, Quantum Physics: Illusion or Reality
TOPICS COURSES
400 level: Limited
to Senior Philosophy Majors
600 level: Open
to all Graduate Students
CAS PH 480/680
ANCIENT & MEDIEVAL PHIL
Professor Roochnik
The topic of this course is "Philosophy
and Tragedy." We begin with a quick reading
of Aeschylus' Oresteia, Sophocles' Antigone,
and Oedipus the King, and Euripides' Alcestis,
Medea, and Hyppolytus. We then examine in some
detail several philosophical responses to tragedy,
focusing in particular on Aristotle, Nietzsche,
Hegel, and Plato. Pivotal questions include:
What is philosophically rich about Greek Tragedy?
Why has it so regularly drawn philosophical attention?
Is there a tragic conception of philosophy, and
if so, who among the figures we study fits that
description?
CAS PH 484/684
TOPICS: SPECULATIVE PHILOSOPHY
Professor Neville
A close study of Whitehead's major texts (Science
and the Modern World, Process and Reality, and
Adventures of Ideas) with brief looks at his
students Paul Weiss (Being and Other Realities)
and Justus Buchler (Metaphysics of Natural Complexes).
GRADUATE SEMINARS
The following courses are open
to Graduate Students ONLY
GRS PH 802
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY - PHILEBUS
Professor Rosen
A careful, line by line reading of Plato's Philebus.
GRS PH 814
TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY: KANT
Professor Allison
This seminar will be devoted to a study of Kant's
Critique of Pure Reason.
GRS PH 821
ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY
Professor Floyd
A survey of several contemporary treatments of
the notions of necessity and the a priori. We
shall discuss a variety of issues arising within
the philosophy of logic, the philosophy of language
and the philosophy of mind including, but not
limited to, explanations of identity and definition,
the scope and nature of logic, thought and talk,
definite descriptions and proper names, reference
and truth, meaning and synonymy, rationality,
understanding and the very notion of "semantics".
The work of such authors as Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein,
C.I. Lewis, Quine, Kripke, and Putnam -- as well
as some others -- will be discussed.
GRS PH 850
ETHICS
Professor Haakonssen
A study of Thomas Hobbes' moral theory and its
connection with his political and religious thought.
The central text will be Leviathan but several
other works will be included.
GRS PH 870
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Professor Hintikka
Examination of some of the central conceptual
issues in the philosophy of science, including
an approach to scientific inquiry as a questioning
process and a study of such ideas as the logic
of discovery, including its relations to confirmation,
the hypothetico-deductive method, information
as the goal of scientific inference, the role
of theoretical concepts in science, induction,
experiment, explanation, definition and identification,
theory-ladenness of observation and the incommensurability
of theories.
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