Philosophy

• CAS PH 419: Nietzsche
  A study of Nietzsche's philosophy, focusing on one or more of his works.
• CAS PH 422: Analytic Philosophy
  A survey of the basic works of twentieth-century analytical philosophy.
• CAS PH 424: Wittgenstein
  An intensive (line by line) study of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations.
• CAS PH 426: Phenomenology
  Rigorous examination of foundations of philosophical phenomenology in Husserl and Heidegger.
• CAS PH 427: Heidegger and Existential Philosophy
  A study of the main topics of Heidegger's philosophy against the background of his interpretation of Husserl's phenomenology, Kant's transcendental philosophy, and ancient Greek philosophy, with an emphasis on the concepts of being, time, and truth.
• CAS PH 436: Gender, Race, and Science
  Examines issues in feminist philosophy, philosophy of race, and philosophy of science. Is "race" a genuine scientific category or a social construct? How have views about gender and race changed? Why are there still so few women and minority scientists?
• CAS PH 440: Metaphysics
  A survey of basic questions in contemporary metaphysics that may include reality, time, change, free will, personal identity, and causation.
• CAS PH 443: Philosophy of Mind
  The topic is sentience, embodiment, and the brain. The aim is to develop a "neurophenomenological" approach to consciousness and embodied experience in cognitive science and the philosophy of mind.
• CAS PH 446: Philosophy of Religion
  An examination of principal issues and topics in the philosophy of religion in the following two stages: first, a historical overview of the philosophy of religion as a discipline or subdiscipline of philosophy and theology; second, attention to the problems and challenges facing this discipline in the context of the comparative study of religions.
• CAS PH 450: Types of Ethical Theory
  A survey of basic ethical theories including those in the Kantian, utilitarian, and virtue-ethics traditions.
• CAS PH 451: Contemporary Ethical Theory
  An examination of twentieth-century English and American moral theories including those of Moore, Foot, Williams, MacIntyre, and Rawls.
• CAS PH 452: Ethics of Health Care
  Medicine and health care offer a unique opportunity to explore the nature of humanity and the world and to ask fundamental questions concerning the nature of birth, life, and death, and what it is to be a person. Readings from both classical and contemporary writings in ethics, medicine, law, and public health policy.
• CAS PH 453: Theories of Political Society
  Considers philosophical subjects relevant to politics, such as human nature and reason; qualifications of leadership; aims and means of civic education; and conceptions of law (man-made, natural, divine). Also offered as CAS PO 495.
• CAS PH 454: Community, Liberty, and Morality
  Traces the contemporary movement known as Virtue Ethics, which has revived a characteristic approach to ethics of ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. Focus on understanding VE's critique of modern approaches and on evaluating its advocates' positive claims.
• CAS PH 455: 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. Also meets with CAS PO 496.
• CAS PH 456: Topics in Philosophy and Religion
  Topic for Fall 2015: Faith and Doubt. Should we think of faith as the opposite of doubt, or is doubt a necessary component of faith? Questions like these will be examined in texts drawn from multiple religious, philosophical, and literary traditions. Also offered as CAS RN 397.
• 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. Also offered as CAS PO 497.
• 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. Also offered as CAS PO 499.
• 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.

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