Courses

• CAS PH 456: Topics in Philosophy and Religion
  Topic for Fall 2012: God and the "End" of Art: Aesthetics, Value, and Transcendence in the Modern Age. Examines the relation between aesthetic and other forms of value in the modern world, including the question of whether art has come to an "end." Featuring visiting lecturers in fall Institute for Philosophy and Religion lecture series. Also offered as CAS RN 397.
• CAS PH 457: Action, Interpretation, and Narrative
  What is the relationship between understanding behavior and understanding texts? What is the role of narrative in interpretation? Using philosophical reflections on narrative from Plato to MacIntyre, the course studies philosophy and tragedy as two perhaps antithetical traditions of interpretation.
• CAS PH 458: Crime and Punishment: Philosophical Perspectives
  Study of fundamental issues in criminal law, including the theory and definition of crime; economic, utilitarian, and retributivist justifications of punishment; exculpating circumstances; the death penalty; and the relationship between law and politics.
• CAS PH 459: Political and Legal Philosophy
  Examination of the individual's responsibilities under law, specifically of the idea that there is a general moral obligation to obey the law, including unjust law, and the contrasting idea of civil disobedience-- the possibility of morally justified resistance to law.
• CAS PH 460: Epistemology
  An examination of some of the central questions concerning the nature, scope, sources, and structure of knowledge.
• CAS PH 461: Mathematical Logic
  The syntax and semantics of sentential and quantificational logic, culminating in the Gödel Completeness Theorem. The Gödel Incompleteness Theorem and its ramifications for computability and philosophy. Also offered as CAS MA 531.
• CAS PH 462: Foundations of Mathematics
  Axiomatic set theory as a foundation for, and field of, mathematics: Axiom of Choice, the Continuum Hypothesis, and consistency results.
• CAS PH 463: Philosophy of Language
  Critical survey of the main issues in the philosophy of language and the foundations of linguistics, including the ideas of logical form and the universality of languages as well as the basic ideas of generative grammar, possible-worlds semantics, Wittgenstein, and speech-act theories.
• CAS PH 465: Philosophy of Cognitive Science
  Can humans be thought of in analogy with machines? The course examines questions of natural and artificial intelligence in light of traditional theory and of recent research in computer science and artificial intelligence.
• CAS PH 468: Philosophical Problems of Logic and Mathematics
  Selected traditional metaphysical and epistemological problems in the light of modern logic and various studies in the foundations of mathematics, including the nature of the axiomatic method, completeness in logic and mathematics, and the nature of mathematical truth.
• CAS PH 470: Philosophy of Physics
  Philosophical problems concerning the interpretation of physical discoveries. Elementary particles, the anomalies of quantum mechanics, some modern problems of space and time, and the problem of wholes and parts.
• CAS PH 472: Philosophy of Biology
  Conceptual problems in biology; unity or pluralism of science; hierarchy theory; biological explanation; evolutionary theory, teleology and casuality, statistical explanation; the species problem; mind and the brain; and language in animals and humans.
• CAS PH 482: Topics in Modern and Contemporary Philosophy
  Topics vary from semester to semester; may be repeated for credit as topics change. Topic for Fall 2009: Hermeneutics. This study of hermeneutics, a method of interpretation often contrasted with objective scientific methods, is divided into two parts: a historical survey of key texts describing hermeneutics followed by intense study of Gadamer's Truth and Method.
• CAS PH 483: Topics in the Philosophy of Religion
  Focus on a specific topic in the philosophy of religion. Topic for Fall 2010: Problem of Evil. A philosophical and theological analysis of the problem of evil, as formulated in the Bible and other sacred texts, ancient and modern philosophy, literature, and cinema. Also offered as CAS RN 443.
• CAS PH 484: Topics in Speculative Philosophy
  Topic for Fall 2009: TBA.
• CAS PH 485: Topics in Philosophy of Value
  Topic for Fall 2012: What is happiness? How can we achieve a balanced, healthy, flourishing life? Classical thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato, Chuang Tzu; Stoic, Epicurean, Confucian, Buddhist paths; comparison with contemporary happiness studies. Also offered as CAS RN 452.
• CAS PH 486: Topics in Knowledge, Language, and Logic
  Topic for Fall 2009: Conceptual History. Critical examination of the history of a number of central philosophical concepts, including being and its varieties, existence, identity, logic, world, creation, form, function, law of nature, chance, induction, intuition and the so-called principle of plenitude.
• CAS PH 487: Topics in the Philosophy of Science
  A discussion-based introduction to core issues in the philosophy of science, focusing on the topics of scientific realism, theory change, reductionism, explanation, models, and natural kinds.
• CAS PH 491: Directed Study
  Individual or small group tutorial instruction and directed research on selected topics.
• CAS PH 492: Directed Study
  Individual or small group tutorial instruction and directed research on selected topics.

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