Course
Descriptions Fall 1998
CAS PH 100
PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY
Professor Rosen
An introduction to philosophy
Required text: Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.
CAS PH 110
GREAT PHILOSOPHERS
Professor Ferrarin
Introduction to some basic questions of human
existence, with particular reference to the relationship
between man and nature, between the individual
and the political domain; the soul and the passions;
the definition of virtue and of ethics; morality
and freedom.
CAS PH 150 A1
INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Professor Fried
The course provides a systematic introduction
to the major questions in moral thought, for
example, is there any absolute moral standard
or are all values relative? Is morality necessarily
dependent upon religion? What is the relationship
between morality and egoism? Is morality "made
up" by people? Is the morally right action
the one that achieves the best outcome, or the
one that is in accordance with conscience or
with duty?
CAS PH 150 B1
INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Professor Dahlstrom
A systematic and historical inquiry into differing
accounts of the good life, alternating lectures
with discussions of selected texts.
CAS PH 150 C1
INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Professor Griswold
The course provides a systematic introduction
to the major questions in moral thought, for
example, is there any absolute moral standard
or are all values relative? Is morality necessarily
dependent upon religion? What is the relationship
between morality and egoism? Is morality "made
up" by people? Is the morally right action
the one that achieves the best outcome, or the
one that is in accordance with conscience or
with duty?
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.
CAS PH 160 A1
REASONING & ARGUMENTATION
Professor Hintikka
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.
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.
Textbook: Hintikka and Bachman, What if...? Toward
Excellence in Reasoning and Weston, A Rulebook
for Arguments.
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.
Prerequisite: one philosophy course
or sophomore standing
CAS PH 248
EXISTENTIALISM
Professor Kestenbaum
Analysis of existentialism as a movement or orientation
in contemporary philosophy. Topics include contingency
and the grounds for belief and value; depth,
superficiality, and the intense life; commitment
and open-mindedness; tragedy and the healthy
self; boredom, anxiety, and adventure; and existentialism
as a philosophy of the possible.
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 254
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Professor Garrett
This course will introduce central themes in
political philosophy by examining the emergence
of classical liberalism and its relation to divine-right
sovereignty and republicanism. In this context
we will discuss natural right, natural law, contractualism,
and the roles of religion and education in a
polity. Authors to be discussed will include
Machiavelli, Bodin, Hobbes, Locke, and Spinoza.
CAS PH 265
MIND AND MACHINES
Professor Webb
Additional Prerequisite: logic or some
mathematical background, or consent of instructor.
This course examines the efforts of artificial
intelligence to model the human mind and explain
human thought by means of suitably programmed
computers. Attention is given to the historical
and mathematical origins of such efforts, as
well as the main psychological and philosophical
assumptions on which they depend.
Requirements: mid-term and final examinations.
Text: What Computers Can't Do by Dreyfus; Minds
and Machines edited by Anderson.
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 300 A1
HISTORY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Professor Brinkmann
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 300 B1
HISTORY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Professor Speight
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: Three major tests, one medium paper.
CAS PH 310 A1
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 Haakonssen
The course provides a wide-ranging history of
Western ethics from Plato, Aristotle and the
stoics, via medieval thinkers (esp. St. Augustine)
to early modern and modern moral philosophers:
Hobbes, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Mill and Nietzsche.
We consider such questions as whether morality
is invented or discovered? What is the good life?
What is the relationship between moral virtue
and happiness? What is duty? What is supererogation?
What is the relationship between morality and
religion?
Undergraduates: Register for 400
level courses
Graduates: Register for 600 level
courses
Prerequisite: PH 310 and two other
PH courses
Modern & Contemporary Philosophy
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 413/613
KANT
Professor Allison
This course is intendend as an introduction to
Kant's Critique of Pure Reason for advanced undergraduate
philosopy majors and graduate students, who wish
to gain a deeper understanding of Kant (who do
not have sufficient background for the 800 level
seminars). Since the Critique of Pure Reason
is far too complex of work to study properly,
in a single semester, the course will focus on
central topics in the Transcendental Aesthetic
(space and time) and the Transcendental Analytic
(the Metaphysical and Transcendental Deductions,
the Schematism, and the Analogies of Experience).
Students will be expected to prepare a series
of short papers, dealing with aspects of the
major topics discussed.
Prerequisite: Philosophy 310 or its equivalent.
Those desiring more information are encouraged
to consult the instructor.
CAS PH 418/618
MARX AND MARXISM
Professor Cao
In this introductory course, Marxism will be
treated mainly as a conceptual framework for
understanding history and society (including
economy, politics and culture), and also as a
critique of capitalism and a program of transforming
the capitalist society for human emancipation,
with an analysis of both its philosophical and
ethical presuppositions and its conceptions of
a post-capitalist society. The evolution of its
theoretical bases, through its three stages (classical
Marxism of Marx and Engels; the Soviet orthodoxy
and its critics; and contemporary Marxisms) will
be critically examined, and its practical (political,
economic and cultural) impacts on the historical
course since its inception briefly outlined.
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 421/621
FREGE
Professor Dreben
A detailed examination of Frege's philosophical
and logical works.
Required Books: The Foundations of Arithmetic
(paperback); The Frege Reader (paperback).
Prerequisite: PH 300, 310, and one
other PH course
Philosophy of Mind
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.
Prerequisite: PH 350, and two other
PH courses
Philosophy of Value
CAS PH 454/654
COMMUNITY, LIBERTY, AND MORALITY
Professor Cahoone
We will pursue the conflict between public regnition
of cultural identity and morality and liberalism's
traditional commitment to toleration, individualism,
and governmental neutrality, in the work of contemporary
Anglo-American political theory.
CAS PH 457/657
ACTION, INTERPRETATION, AND NARRATIVE
Professor Olson
An exploration of basic issues in hermeneutic
philosophy and philosophy of language, including
the nature and meaning of mythic-symbolic language,
narrative discourse, metaphoric prediction, and
deconstruction theory, through a discussion of
selected works by the scholars with whom these
terms/movements/theories are most directly associated.
Primary focus will be upon growth and development
of hermeneutic philosophy through a close reading
of Hans-Georg Gadamer's now classic Truth and
Method and the background materials that inform
it; for example, Aristotle's On Interpretation,
Kant's Critique of Judgment, Schleiermacher's
Hermeneutics, Heidegger's Being and Time, and
the debate of Bultmann and Jaspers on Christianity
and Myth. Paul Ricoeur's Interpretation Theory,
and selected essays by Jacques Derrida will also
be considered.
Prerequisite: PH 310, 360, and one
other PH course
Philosophy of Language & Logic
CAS PH 463/663
PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE
Professor Hintikka
The most representative problem areas in contemporary
philosophy of language are discussed, criticized,
and put into a new perspective. They include
Frege's sense-reference theory, quantification
and anaphora, theory of truth, the semantics
of intensional and epistemic concepts, strategic
aspects of language use, identfication and individuation,
metaphor, demonstratives and indexicals, discourse
and dialogue theory, and selected language disturbances
(dyslexia, autism).
CAS PH 467/667
MATHEMATICAL LOGIC
Professor Kanamori
The course begins with a treatment of first-order
logic as the basis for mathematical logic and
an underlying language for mathematics. The syntax
and semantics of quantifiers are analyzed, leading
to Gödel's Completeness Theorem. A sketch
is given of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem.
This leads to Türing's Halting Problem and
the beginnings of the problem of computability.
After describing the class of computable functions
and Church's Thesis, the theor is developed through
the enumeration and parametrization theorems
to Kleene's Recursion Theorem. Recursive and
recursively enumerable sets are then discussed.
Throughout, questions of undecidability ultimately
related to Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem
provide a driving theme.
Required Texts:Herbert B. Enderton, A Mathematical
Introduction to Logic (New York: Academic Press,
1972); and if available, Assaf J. Kfoury, Robert
N. Moll, and Michael A. Arbib, A Programming
Approach to Computability (New York: Springer-Verlag,
1982).
400 level: Limited to Senior Philosophy
Majors
600 level: Open to All Graduate
Students
Topics Courses
CAS PH 484/684
TOPICS: SPECULATIVE PHILOSOPHY
Professor Dahlstrom
This course examines the topics of meaning and
time in the writings of Husserl and Wittgenstein,
together with Jacques Derrida's critical analysis
of the former's treatment of those topics. Wittgenstein's
Philosophical Investigations and Derrida's Speech
and Phenomena and Edmund Husserl's Origin of
Geometry are examined in conjunction with Husserl's
First and Sixth Logical Investigations, his investigations
of internal time-consciousness, and his Experience
and Judgment: Investigations in a Genealogy of
Logic.
CAS PH 485/685
TOPICS: PHILOSOPHY OF VALUE
Professor K. Haakonssen
This course deals with the Scottish Enlightenment.
The emphasis will be on the connection between
moral, political, and aesthetic theories of the
major Scots thinkers of the eighteenth century,
but both the epistemological foundations and
the wider enlightenments contexts will be explored.
The main figures will be Francis Hutcheson, David
Hume, Adam Smith, and Thomas Reid.
The following courses are open to
Graduate Students ONLY
Note that courses listed above,
bearing a 600 level number, may be taken for
graduate credit.
Fall 1998 GRADUATE SEMINARS
GRS PH 801
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Professor Ferrarin
The fundamental problems of Aristotle's psychology
are studied. The topics that will be discussed
include Aristotle's defintition of the soul,
the senses, perception, imagination, and the
intellect. Although not required, knowledge of
Greek is highly hoped for.
Texts: Seminar members are expected to read Parva
Naturalia, On the Soul, Posterior Analytics,
and relevant portions of other works including
Physics and Metaphysics.
GRS PH 802
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Professor Roochnik
A careful reading of Plato's Republic. Students
will have unusually extensive opportunities to
write on Plato (e.g., several rough drafts of
term papers will be required) and may expect
unusually extensive commentary on their written
work. Students will be expected to learn and
adhere to accepted scholarly standards in their
writings, and to read the scholarly literature
relevant to their term paper. The final result
of the written work should be a highly polished
paper, one that may perhaps be used as the basis
for a publication. Presentations in class may
also be required, and students will be expected
to express and defend their presentations.
GRS PH 814
TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY: KANT
Professor Allison
This is the first part of a two semester seminar
dedicated to the close study of Kant's third
Critique and some related writings. The aim will
be to gain an understanding of the work as a
whole and its place within the "Critical
Philosophy." The first semester will focus
mainly on the two Introductions, the Analytic
of the Beautiful, the Analytic of the Sublime,
and the Deduction of Taste. Students who wish
to take only the first semester are free to do
so, but no one who is not enrolled for the first
semester will be allowed to enroll for the second.
Since a prior acquaintance with the Critique
of Pure Reason is essential, prospective enrollees
should have already taken PH 413/613 or its equivalent.
Those who are interested in taking the seminar
but are concerned about the adequacy of their
preparation are urged to consult with the instructor.
GRS PH 816
PHILOSOPHY OF HEGEL
Professor Brinkmann
A close reading of selected sections from the
Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences, with
particular emphasis on: introduction, the three
standpoints of thought with regard to objectivity,
introduction to the philosophy of nature and
the main body of the philosophy of spirit.
GRS PH 881
TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY
Professor Rosen
An appropriative interpretation of Book One of
Hegel's Science of Logic that emphasizes the
philosophical significance of dialectic for contemporary
concerns.
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