Philosophy

• CAS PH 266: Mind, Brain, and Self
  Philosophical introduction to cognitive science. Considers the historical and intellectual background from which cognitive science has emerged, as well as philosophical issues concerning the mind, brain, and self that arise from contemporary scientific research. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS PH 270: Philosophy of Science
  Uses scientific examples from the study of physics, biology, and mind. Focuses on the aims of science, the nature of scientific understanding, the structure and interpretation of scientific theories, and the development of science. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS PH 271: History of Science
  The origin and development of modern science. Includes Galileo, Newton, and the new physics; Lavoisier and modern chemistry; Darwin and evolution; Mendel and genetics; Einstein and relativity; Watson, Crick, and the double helix. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS PH 272: Science, Technology, and Values
  Examination of some of the important ways in which science, technology, society, and human values are interconnected. Includes case studies of the social and ethical challenges posed by computer, military, and biological technology. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
• CAS PH 300: History of Ancient Philosophy
  Classical Greek philosophy, with a concentration on the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle.
• CAS PH 310: History of Modern Philosophy
  An examination of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophy from Descartes to Kant, with emphasis on the nature and extent of knowledge. Readings include Descartes, Locke, Spinoza, Berkley, Hume, and Kant.
• CAS PH 350: History of Ethics
  A critical and comparative examination of the ideas of representative moral philosophers from Plato to Nietzsche.
• CAS PH 360: Symbolic Logic
  Study of methods characteristic of modern deductive logic including use of truth tables, Boolean normal forms, models, and indirect and conditional proofs within the theory of truth-functions and quantifiers.
• CAS PH 401: Senior Independent Work
  Individual tutorial instruction and directed research at distinction level.
• CAS PH 402: Senior Independent Work
  Individual tutorial instruction and directed research at distinction level.
• CAS PH 403: Plato I
  (Knowledge of Greek is helpful but not required. Familiarity with Greek philosophy is helpful.) A close reading of the Symposium.
• CAS PH 405: Aristotle I
  A careful study of the philosophy of Aristotle conducted primarily through a close reading of several of his major works.
• CAS PH 408: History of Medieval Philosophy
  Topic for Fall 2015: Mysticism and Philosophy: Jewish and Islamic Perspectives. Thematic introduction to mysticism and philosophy, with a focus on dynamics of religious experience. Readings from medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy; Sufi mysticism and philosophy; Kabbalah, Biblical interpretation, Sufi poetry, Hebrew poetry from the Golden Age of Muslim Spain.
• CAS PH 409: Maimonides
  A study of major aspects of the thought of Maimonides. Primary focus on the Guide of the Perplexed, with attention to its modern reception in works by Baruch Spinoza, Hermann Cohen, Leo Strauss, and others. Also offered as CAS RN 420.
• CAS PH 410: Continental Rationalism
  A critical study of major texts of seventeenth-century philosophy.
• CAS PH 411: British Empiricism
  A critical study of major texts of British Empiricists, with emphasis on Locke and Hume.
• CAS PH 412: Philosophy of the Enlightenment
  A critical examination of that family of philosophical and political movements that called itself "the Enlightenment." Students analyze key texts by Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Smith, Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, Jefferson, Madison, Kant, and Hegel. Also offered as CAS PO 592 and CAS HI 514.
• CAS PH 413: Kant
  A study of Kant's critical philosophy, focusing on one or more of his works.
• CAS PH 415: Nineteenth-Century Philosophy
  Study of the important themes in the philosophy of Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche.
• CAS PH 418: Marx and Marxism
  Philosophical foundation of Marxism and its development. Critical study of Marx's writings stressing questions of philosophy, political economy, science, and history. Emphasis on Marx's theory of relation of praxis to consciousness. Later (including contemporary) Marxists and critics. Also offered as CAS PO 498.

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