Courses

• GRS PH 653: Theories of Political Society
  An examination of recent political accounts of "modernity," that is, of the unique character of advanced industrial cultures. Readings include classic authors (Rousseau, Marx, Freud, Weber) and contemporary writers (Habermas, MacIntyre, Lyotard, Touimin).
• GRS PH 655: Legal Philosophy
  A critical examination of ideas about the nature of law, duties of obedience and resistance, and legal interpretation, with an emphasis on modern theories. Because this course meets with a Law School course, its schedule follows the Law School's standard academic calendar.
• GRS PH 656: 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 GRS RN 697.
• GRS PH 657: 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.
• GRS PH 658: 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.
• GRS PH 659: 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.
• GRS PH 660: Epistemology
  An examination of some of the central questions concerning the nature, scope, sources, and structure of knowledge.
• GRS PH 661: Mathematical Logic
  The syntax and semantics of sentential and quantificational logic, culminating in the Godel Completeness Theorem. The Godel Incompleteness Theorem and its ramifications for computability and philosophy.
• GRS PH 662: Foundations of Mathematics
  Axiomatic set theory as a foundation for, and field of, mathematics: Axiom of Choice, the Continuum Hypothesis, and consistency results.
• GRS PH 663: Philosophy of Language
  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 intentional and epistemic concepts, strategic aspects of language use, identification and individuation, metaphor, demonstratives and indexical, discourse and dialogue theory, and selected language disturbances (dyslexia, autism).
• GRS PH 665: 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.
• GRS PH 668: 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 axiomatic method, completeness in logic and mathematics, and the nature of mathematical truth.
• GRS PH 670: 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.
• GRS PH 672: Philosophy of Biology
  Conceptual problems in biology; unity or pluralism of science; hierarchy theory; biological explanation; evolutionary theory, teleology and causality, statistical explanation; the species problem; mind and the brain; and language in animals and humans.
• GRS PH 680: Topics in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
  
• GRS PH 681: Topics in the Philosophy of Law
  A critical study of theories about legal interpretation, based on the conventional meaning of the text, the lawmakers' intentions, and the principles that best justify the laws, with an emphasis on the philosophical underpinnings and implications of each theory.
• GRS PH 682: Topics in Modern and Contemporary Philosophy
  Topics vary from semester to semester; may be repeated for credit as topics change. Topic for Spring 2013: Heidegger. A careful reading of Heidegger's major work, Being and Time. The end of the course looks at some of Heidegger's shorter works written later in his career, in order to consider some of the directions of his famous "turn."
• GRS PH 683: 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 GRS RN 743.
• GRS PH 684: Topics in Speculative Philosophy
  Topics for Fall 2007: A study of the metaphysics of being, God, time, eternity,nature and value through the works of Robert Neville (the instructor) and dialectical neighbors.
• GRS PH 685: Topics in Philosophy of Value
  

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