Course
Descriptions Spring 2004
CAS PH 100 A1
INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Prof. Roochnik
Introduction to such fundamental questions as:
Is truth relative? Are values relative? Is knowledge
necessary to lead a good life? What is knowledge,
and how is it attained?
CAS PH 110 A1
GREAT PHILOSOPHERS
Prof. Diamandopoulos
Introduction to some basic questions of human
existence, with particular reference to the relationship
between man and nature, and 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
Prof. Caswell
The course provides a systematic introduction
to major question in moral thought, such as:
are there any absolute moral standards or are
all values relative? Is morality "constructed" by
people? Is morality necessarily dependent upon
religion? What is the relationship between morality
and egoism? Is the morally right action
the one that achieves the best ourcomes, or the
one that is in accordance with conscience and
duty, or the one that is the expression of virtue?
CAS PH 150 B1
INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Prof. Garrett
An introduction to ethics through class texts
and contemporary articles. The class will
focus both on understanding the major positions
in moral theory and on applying ethical theories
to contemporary moral issues: punishment, abortion,
and others.
CAS PH 150 C1
INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS
Prof. Ivanhoe
This course is designed to introduce students
with little or no background in philosophy to
the study of ethics. We will begin by reading
a variety of classical works from the Western
tradition and exploring several prominent and
influential ethical theories, focusing on issues
such as the nature of the good life, virtue,
right and wrong. In the latter portion of the
course, we will work to apply these theories
and concepts to several contemporary ethical
problems, including specific problems like abortion,
the ethical status of animals, and the environment
and more general issues such as the nature of
moral agency. We also will consider the problem
of ethical relativism and study some of the ways
ethical problems have been approached in East
Asian traditions.
CAS PH 155
POLITICS AND PHILOSOPHY
Prof. Rosen
An introduction to modern political philosophy,
with special emphasis on the most important differences
between ancient and modern political thought,
and in particular on the problem of enlightenment.
CAS PH 160 A1
REASONING AND ARGUMENTATION
Prof. Caswell
A systematic study of the principles of both
deductive and informal reasoning, calculated
to enhance students’ actual reasoning skills,
with an emphasis on reasoning and argumentation
in ordinary discourse.
CAS PH 160 B1
REASONING AND ARGUMENTATION
Prof. 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.
CAS PH 160 C
REASONING AND ARGUMENTATION
Prof. Webb
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.
Intermediate Level I
*Prerequisite: one philosophy course
or sophomore standing*
CAS PH 241
PHILOSOPHY OF PERSONALITY
Prof. Kestenbaum
Consideration of the nature and problems of self-understanding
and self-realization. Psychological and
philosophical perspectives on pattern, growth,
and maturity in personality. Particular attention
to philosophical issues associated with the place
of emotion in healthy personality: rationality,
freedom, and responsibility.
Texts: Plato, Five Dialogues
Kant, Lectures on Ethics
Carl Gustav Jung, Modern Man in Search of
Soul
Sigmund Freud, An Outline of Psychoanalysis
Victor E. Frankl, The Doctor and the Soul
Gordon W. Allport, Becoming: Basic Considerations
for a Psychology of Personality
CAS PH 244
APPLIED ETHICS
Prof. Keller
We will take a rigorous, critical approach to
a number of ethical questions that arise in everyday
life, including questions about life and death,
morally responsible healthcare, special duties
to family and friends, our relationship to the
environment, and the moral status of animals.
CAS PH 245
PHILOSOPHYAND RELIGION
Prof. Lobel
Intersections between philosophy and religious
thought. Readings from Plato, Aristotle, Bible,
Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Augustine, Maimonides,
Ghazzali. Cross-listed with RN 245: "Introduction
to Religious Thought."
CAS PH 246
INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
Prof. Eckel
CANCELED
CAS PH 247
CHINESE PHILOSOPHY
Prof. Berthrong
"The Confucian Way” examines the intellectual history of the Confucian
tradition. The primary focus will be on the development of Confucianism in
China, Korea, and Japan. The course will emphasize the classical (the Zhou
and Han founders) and the Neo-Confucian (the Song, Yüan, Ming, Choson,
Tokugawa, and Qing masters) periods; we will also deal briefly with development of
contemporary New Confucianism. The course will also briefly review the permutations
of Confucian-Christian dialogue as an illustration of the interaction of religious
traditions and with New Confucianism's dialogue with global philosophy.
CAS PH 251
MEDICAL ETHICS
Prof. Schwartz
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 259
PHILOSOPHY AND THE ARTS
Prof. Speight
Philosophy and the Theater: This course will
consider a wide range of questions in aesthetics,
but will place particular stress on the philosophical
significance of the performing arts, especially
drama. What are tragedy and comedy as genres? Do
the notions of the "tragic" and the "comic" have
a wider philosophical significance beyond their
existence as dramatic genres? Are there other
dramatic genres besides them? Close reading of
important philosophical and literary texts.
CAS PH 260-Al & HP
KNOWLEDGE AND REALITY
Prof. Dahlstrom
This course will examine basic questions regarding
the nature and possibility of empirical and a
prior knowledge; the roles of perception, imagination,
memory, experience, experimentation, language,
belief, rationality, and truth in knowledge;
theories of justification; various skeptical
challenges; debates between "internalists" and "externalists" and
between "relativists" and "absolutists";
efforts to naturalize and socialize epistemology;
the relation between theories of knowledge and
theories of reality; and the significance of
science as an institution presenting a
standardized knowledge of reality.
CAS PH 266
MIND, BRAIN, AND SELF
Prof. Ivanhoe
This course is designed to introduce students
with some background in philosophy to a range
of issues concerning the mind, the brain, and
the self. We will explore several classical accounts
of the mind and the self and a number of contemporary
views on the adequacy of these accounts. We will
spend a considerable portion of the class studying
the problem of personal identity and psychological
descriptions of the self.
CAS PH 271
HISTORY OF SCIENCE
Prof. Cao
This course is designed not only for those with a scientific background,
but also for students whose primary interests or competence are in the humanities
and social sciences.
Texts: Anthony Alioto, A History of Western
Science (A);
Barbara Cline, Men Who Made a New Physics (C);
Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions (K);
James Watson, The Double Helix (W).
Considering the centrality of science in our
world today, it is essential that students in
all fields-- including the sciences and engineering
as well as the social sciences and the humanities--
appreciate both the role of science in society
and its nature as an intellectual system. One
way to acquire this perspective is through studying
the history of science. In this course we will
examine key events in the history of science
and the historiographical problems as to how
the evolution of the history of science is to
be explained. The seminal discoveries in the
rise of modern science will be surveyed, special
attention will be given to the scientific revolution
of the 16th and 17th centuries, both to assess
its reaction to ancient modes of thought, and
to define the conceptual foundations of subsequent
progress in physics and biology. In addition,
various views on the nature of scientific progress,
offered by Sarton, Koyre, Popper, Merton, Kuhn,
Lakatos, as well as the social constructivist
and the postmodernist, will be briefly examined.
Upon completion of this course, the student will
be able to understand the nature of the conceptual
developments in modern science and society, and
to appreciate the philosophical, religious, and
other cultural issues involving science. The
student will thus be in a position to understand
how science has become a dominant social, cultural,
and intellectual force in the modern world.
Intermediate Level II
*Prerequisite: one philosophy course
or sophomore standing*
CAS PH 300
HISTORY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Prof. Speight
Survey of Greek philosophy, from its pre-Socratic
origins, through Plato, Aristotle and the Hellenistic
schools.
CAS PH 310 A1 & HP
HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY
Prof. Brinkmann
The history of modern philosophy begins with a revolution in thought,
viz. the shift from a contemplative attitude towards nature and the world so
typical of ancient philosophy to a practical, utility oriented view of theoretical
knowledge. At the same time, man's purpose on earth is no longer understood
as determined by human nature as with Plato or Aristotle or by divine providence
in accordance with Christian faith. Rather, man is declared to be "the
maker and molder" of himself and "a creature of indeterminate nature" (Pico
della Mirandola, ca. 1480). One of the most influential protagonists of this
new way of thinking was Francis Bacon, an English philosopher and politician
of the 17th century. Our point of departure will be a discussion of Bacon's
ideas. However, the implications of Bacon's critical re-assessment of the traditional
ways of thinking will lead us to an investigation into the presuppositions
connected with the idea that man is capable of understanding the fundamental
structure of nature and reality in general. How much of reality is really within
reach of human cognition? Must all knowledge be based on sense-experience? If
so, is metaphysics at all possible? Various questions as to how far human knowledge
may extend need to be raised. We shall pursue this line of inquiry traditionally
called epistemological form Descartes through Kant. A discussion of the bold
metaphysical interpretations of reality to be found in the writings of Spinoza
and Leibniz as well as the more cautious and skeptical estimations of the scope
and reliability of human knowledge advocated by Locke, Berkeley, and Hume will
be included.
CAS PH 310 B1
HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY
Prof. 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 form 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.
CAS PH 350
HISTORY OF ETHICS
Prof. Diamandopoulos
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
Prof. Briscoe
Study of methods characteristic of modern deductive
logic including truth tables, Boolean normal
forms, models, and indirect and conditional proofs
within the theory of truthfunctions and quantifiers.
Undergraduates: Register for 400 level
courses.
Graduates: Register for 600 level courses.
Modern and Contemporary Philosophy
*Prerequisites: PH310 and 2 other PH
courses*
CAS PH 411/611
BRITISH EMPIRICISM
Prof. Garrett
Close reading of Locke's Essay Concerning
Human Understanding, Berkeley's Dialogues,
and Hume's Treatise of Human Nature.
**Please read the "Epistle to the Reader," I.
1-2 of Locke's essay for the first class.
CAS PH 419/619
NIETZSCHE
Prof. Dahlstrom
An examination of the work of the nineteenth
century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
Our aim will be to gain a perspective on the
range of his concerns by focusing on early and
late phases of his thinking.
CAS PH 427
HEIDEGGER
Prof. Brinkmann
We will confront the famous metaphysical question "Why
does anything exist at all rather than nothing?" by
taking Martin Heidegger's 1953 publication of
his earlier lecture course "Introduction
to Metaphysics" as our guide. This will
give us the opportunity to analyze and discuss
some of the chief metaphysical ideas in the history
of philosophy by looking at selected texts from
Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Leibniz, Kant,
and Hegel as well as develop an understanding
of the particular perspective Heidegger brought
to this question and why he thought that it continues
to be a fundamental question even today.
Students will be expected to have a working knowledge
of and familiarity with the major figures in
the history of Western philosophy as taught in
our PH 300 and PH 310 history of philosophy courses.
Speculative Philosophy
*Prerequisites: PH300, 310, and 1 other
PH course*
CAS PH 440
METAPHYSICS
Prof. Keller
This course is organized around the problem of
time travel. Our question is, “Is time
travel possible?”, and in trying to find
an answer we will confront a number of
puzzles concerning time, change, possibility,
free will, personal identity and causation.
The course will hence serve as an introduction
to some central issues in metaphysics.
CAS PH 447/647
ASIAN PHILOSOPHY
Prof. Eckel
A study of the major issues, personalities, and
texts in the Buddhist philosophical tradition,
from its origin in India, to its elaboration
in China, Japan, and Tibet, and its encounter
with modernity in Asia and the West. The course
will consider the nature of philosophy and its
relationship to Buddhist practice, the nature
of the self and its relationship to the world,
what it means to be free, and what it means to
transmit an inexpressible form of awareness from
one person or culture to another.
The course will locate these issues historically in the Indian Abhidharma,
the Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools in India, China, and Tibet, the major Chinese
schools of the Tang Dynasty, and the Kyoto School in Japan. Students will have
an opportunity to trace these questions in the work of contemporary Buddhist
teachers and scholars, such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and
the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.
The course is open to undergraduates and graduate students who have completed
RN 103 or the equivalent. It will meet in seminar format on Mondays from 5:00
to 8:00 p.m.
Philosophy of Value
*Prerequisites: PH350 and 2 other PH
courses*
CAS PH 452/652
ETHICS OF HEALTH CARE
Prof. Tauber
The most interesting fact about contemporary
medical ethics is that it exists at all. Born
as a formal discipline about thirty years ago,
its initial concerns reflected complex social
factors, all of which seemed to converge on a
new-found suspicion of authority. To address
the suspicions raised in this climate of mistrust,
medical ethics became the articulation of both
an ancient moral philosophy governing the doctor-patient
relationship, beneficence, and a new demand concerning
the respect of patient autonomy in the guise
of informed consent. In the explicit elaboration
of these principles, their interaction and balance,
bioethicists found themselves embroiled in debate
as to what, indeed, medicine’s ethics might
be. The dominant voice became those advocating
patient autonomy, not only because it was the
most easily extrapolated from our rights-based
politico-judicial culture, but because it best
captured what was missing: trust. The dominant
theme of the course is to examine how autonomy
and trust are often placed in moral competition
and how this tension may be resolved by re-configuring
autonomy; the latter portion of the course treats
other moral principles that vie with autonomy
for dominance.
CAS PH 455/655
LEGAL PHILOSOPHY
Prof. Baxter
This course addresses two central concerns of
general jurisprudence--the nature of law and
its relations to moral principle. Topics will
include law as coercive command, the foundations
of legal authority, the open texture of law,
value-free versus value-based interpretation
of law, and the idea of an obligation to comply
with law. The final examination will be given
in the form of a paper on an assigned topic.
Philosophy of Knowledge, Language, and
Logic
*Prerequisites: PH310, 360, and 1 other
PH course*
CAS PH 462/662
FOUNDATIONS OF MATHEMATICS
Prof. Kanamori
(cross-listed with MA532)
The course begins, if necessary, with a review
of first-order logic and formal systems. It then
focuses on axiomatic set theory as the basic
framework for mathematics, and as a distinctive
field of mathematics. With emphasis on the historical
context, the theory is developed from its beginnings
in the work of Cantor and Zermelo through to
modern preoccupations. Proceeding through the
basic axioms, the algebra of classes, and the
set vs. class distinction, mathematical concepts
of number from integers to reals are discussed.
Then Cantor's transfinite numbers and Continuum
Hypothesis are considered, and Zermelo's Axiom
of Choice and its role in mathematics surveyed.
Finally, recent results and current problems
are broached.
Grading: Exercises, 50%; midterm, 16.7%; and
final exam 33.3%.
Required text: Karel Hrbacek and Thomas Jech, Introduction
to Set Theory, Third Edition (New York:
Marcel Dekker 1999).
CAS PH 465/665
PHILOSOPHY OF COGNITIVE SCIENCE
Prof. Cao
Prereq: CAS PH 310, 360, and one other philosophy
course; or consent of instructor.
An introduction to philosophical issues in cognitive
science (computer science and neuroscience in
particular) with special attention to the issue
of emergence of cognitive activities from non-cognitive
processes: the condition and nature of
the emergence and its bearings to the mind-body
problem. This course is for advanced undergraduates
and graduate students; students from related
departments (e.g., Cognitive & Neural Systems)
are welcome.
Philosophy of Science
*Prerequisites: PH310, 360, and 1 other
PH course*
CAS PH 472
PHILOSOPHY OF BIOLOGY
Prof. Schwartz
Darwinism is at the core of contemporary philosophy
of biology and we will consider this theory's
evolution from Darwin's writings, through the
synthesis with genetics, to modern dynamic theories.
Over-arching our particular consideration of
Darwinism is the structure of scientific theory
more generally and the nature of its development.
Topic Courses
CAS PH 483
TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
Prof. Zank
Cross-listed with RN 329 Modern Jewish Thought
Reading philosophical sources from the late 17th
to the early 20th century, we will explore modern
perspectives on reason, liberty, and the authority
of tradition. Major authors: Spinoza, Lessing,
Mendelssohn, Maimon, Kant, Schleiermacher, Hegel,
Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Cohen, Buber, and
Rosenzweig.
Requirements: The course taps two major canons
of modern literature. On the one hand there are
the Christian, post-Christian, and non-Christian
(Spinoza!) philosophers usually included in the
canon of Continental thought, and on the other
hand there are Jewish and post-Jewish (Spinoza!)
thinkers usually included in courses on modern
Jewish thought. Students of philosophy may need
to go the extra mile in making themselves knowledgeable
in European social and political history, as
well as in background information on Judaism,
while religion students may need to learn how
to master philosophical reading and reasoning.
CAS PH 484/684
TOPICS IN SPECULATIVE PHILOSOPHY
Prof. Griswold
This seminar will consist in a philosophical discussion of the ancient
and ever-pressing theme of reconciling oneself with an imperfect world. The
course is open to upper level undergraduate students who have completed at
least five philosophy courses (however, students who have not satisfied this
requirement may petition the instructor for admission to the course) and to
graduate students.
It will fall into four main parts (our emphasis
will be on the second and third):
I: Perfectionism. -- A study of several seminal
Platonic texts that famously argue for a perfectionist
position in matters political as well as erotic;
the difficulties of accounting for "evil" on
a perfectionist scheme.
II: The "Ethic of Sympathy". -- An
exploration of an alternative stance that attempts
to reconcile us with a world and self in such
a way as to enable us to live with and
in the world rather than flee from it. We will
seek to distinguish carefully between sympathy,
empathy, commiseration, and pity.
III: The Virtues of Sympathy. -- What virtues
mesh with the ethic of sympathy? One important
candidate is forgiveness, and we will analyze
its nature and its complicated relationship to
sympathy in detail.
IV: The Politics of Imperfection. -- We conclude
by returning to the political level, and considering
the character of a politics premised on the ineradicability of
imperfection. The "Truth and Reconciliation" commissions
will warrant our attention.
Texts will include but not be limited to the
following (in many cases, only selections from
these texts will be read):
Plato, Phaedrus, Symposium, Republic, Parmenides,
Phaedo (Hackett edition)
David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature,
ed. D. F. Norton and M. J. Norton (Oxford, 2000).
Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments,
ed. A. L. Macfie and D. D. Raphael (Indianapolis:
Liberty Press, 1982).
Edith Stein, On the Problem of Empathy,
trans. W. Stein. The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1964.
Max Scheler, The Nature of Sympathy,
trans. P. Heath. New Haven: Yale University Press,
1954.
Jacques Derrida, J. Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness,
trans. M. Dooley and R. Kearney. Routledge, 1997.
T. Govier, Forgiveness and Revenge.
Routledge, 2002.
Murphy, J. G. and Hampton, J. Forgiveness
and Mercy. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1994.
Desmond Tutu, No Future without Forgiveness. Random
House, 1999.
John Passmore, The Perfectibility of Man.
3rd ed. Rpt. Indianapolis: Liberty Press, 2000.
Thomas Hurka, Perfectionism. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1993.
*The following courses are open to Graduate
Students ONLY*
GRS PH 810
MODERN PHILOSOPHY
Prof. Allison
Seminar will focus on Hume's theoretical philosophy
in the Treatise, when some attention
to his psychological theoretical views.
GRS PH 840
METAPHYSICS
Prof. Rosen
A detailed study of Aristotle's Metaphysics.
GRS PH 850
ETHICS
Prof. Haakonssen
A study of Thomas Hobbes' moral theory and its
connection with his political and religious thought.
The central text will be Leviathan which
will be related to Hobbes' other main works and
to some of his main critics, especially Samuel
Pufendorf.
GRS PH 882
TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY III
Prof. Roochnik
In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche characterizes
Plato as the theoretical optimist par excellence.
He separates the soul from the body, which he
despises. He believes "the nature of things
can be fathomed," and "ascribes to
knowledge and insight the power of a panacea." Armed
with these convictions, Plato destroys the power
of myth, of music, and of tragedy. Nietzsche
identifies the Phaedo as the key dialogue. "The
image of the dying Socrates," he says, is
that of a "human being whom knowledge and
reason have liberated from the fear of death," and
it reminds everyone of the (life-denying) mission
of Philosophy: "namely, to make existence
appear comprehensible and justified."
After a quick read of The Birth of Tragedy,
we will enter this debate by devoting the semester
to a careful study of Plato's Phaedo.
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