99191 |
PHIL 104 Introduction to Philosophy from a Multicultural Perspective |
Daniel Berthold |
M . W . . |
9:00 - 10:20 am |
OLIN 201 |
HUM |
This course is an introduction to such major themes
in the history of philosophy as the nature of reality and our capacity to know
it; issues of ethics and justice; and conceptions of how one should live. Readings will include selections from a
diverse range of traditions, including Western, Hindu, Buddhist, Chinese,
African, Native American, and feminist texts.
99193 |
PHIL 108 Introduction to Philosophy |
David Shein |
. T . Th . |
4:00 -5:20 pm |
OLIN 204 |
HUM |
Western
philosophers address questions that most of us naturally find puzzling, such
as: do we have free will?; do we know what the world around us is really like?;
does God exist?; how should we treat one another? We will critically examine
historical and contemporary texts that address these and other central themes
of the philosophical tradition.
99194 |
PHIL 230 Philosophy and the Arts |
Garry Hagberg |
. T . Th . |
2:30 -3:50 pm |
OLIN 201 |
HUM |
This
course explores the ways that philosophers (and philosophically engaged
critics) have approached issues concerning the nature and value of art. After a discussion of Plato’s influential
account of representation and the place of art in society, we will turn to
questions raised by painting, photography and film, and music. From there, we will turn to broader topics
that cut across various art forms: Are serious (or “high”) and popular (or
“low”) art to be understood and evaluated differently? How do we evaluate works of art, and why do
we so often disagree on their value?
And what, if anything, do the various items and activities that we
classify as “art” have in common?
Readings include Hume and Kant on taste, Stanley Cavell on the moving image, and Theodore Adorno and Walter
Benjamin on mass culture.
99195 |
PHIL 237 Symbolic Logic |
Robert Martin |
. . W . F |
10:30 - 11:50 am |
AVERY 117 |
MATC |
Cross-listed:
Cognitive Science An
introduction to logic, requiring no prior knowledge of philosophy or
mathematics. This course does not aim
at communicating or justifying results about logical systems but instead aims
at imparting a skill – the ability to recognize and construct correct
deductions and refutations. There is
software for the course, called Logic 2000, developed by Robert Martin
and David Kaplan at UCLA in the 1990s and subsequently rewritten for the
internet, that will assist students by providing instant feedback on exercises.
The software is based on the natural deduction system of Kalish and Montague,
and covers sentential and predicate logic.
99196 |
PHIL 255 Medical Ethics |
Daniel Berthold |
. T . Th . |
9:00 - 10:20 am |
OLIN 203 |
HUM |
Cross-listed: GIS; Human Rights, STS Through a reading of both theoretical
literature and case studies, we will examine a range of topics in contemporary debates
over medical ethics: issues of genetics, reproduction, death and dying, medical
research and experimentation, involuntary psychiatric hospitalization and
treatment, informed consent, confidentiality, and paternalism. On the
theoretical side, we will look at competing ethical positions philosophers have
proposed as models for understanding and resolving issues of medical ethics and
study basic concepts with which all such theories grapple (autonomy,
nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice). On the practical side, we will examine
the ways these theories and concepts are applied to actual cases and consider
the conflict between philosophical-ethical reasoning and social, religious, and
legal concerns.
99493 |
PHIL 262 Aristotle and the Experience of Nature |
Adam Rosen |
M . W . . |
1:30 -2:50 pm |
RKC 115 |
HUM |
Cross-listed:
STS Contrary
to modern mechanicist theories of nature wherein nature is considered from the
standpoint of technical control and figured as a systematically integrated field
of laws, Aristotle’s Physics and Metaphysics testify to an
experience of nature as that which exceeds and encompasses the human, that
which cannot be brought back to human interests and endeavors, to an experience
of nature as in some sense divine. And against both modern physicalism and
substance dualism, Aristotle’s Physics and Metaphysics seek to
disclose the belonging together of the distinctively human – the technical,
spiritual, and reflective – and the physical, that is, to elaborate an experience
of nature as enchanted or ensouled (or to put it the other way around, an
experience of soul as enmattered). By turning back to ancient experiences, we
will seek to unsettle some of modernity’s most entrenched assumptions about
nature, value, divinity, knowing, the relation between theory and practice, and
indeed the meaning of “life.” We will focus primarily on Aristotle’s Physics
and Metaphysics but will also draw from Aristotle’s Ethics, Generation
of Animals, De Caelo, and De Anima as well as Plato’s Republic,
Symposium, Phaedrus, and Timaeus.
99492 |
PHIL 264 Contemporary Feminist Philosophy |
Adam Rosen |
. . W . F |
10:30 - 11:50 am |
ASP 302 |
HUM/DIFF |
Cross-listed:
Gender & Sexuality Studies This course will pursue the question of the
future of feminism by drawing attention to how the various philosophical
resources feminist philosophers draw upon – Nietzsche, Foucault, Derrida,
Deleuze, Rawls, Kant, Arendt, Freud, Lacan – influence their articulations of
the tasks, strategies, and goals of feminist philosophy and politics. Remaining
attentive to the enabling and constraining impact of their primary
philosophical influences and interlocutors, as well as the specific manner in
which influences are appropriated and interlocutors engaged, we will attempt to
stage a multiparty dialogue between Irigaray, Kristeva, Butler, Braidotti,
Cavarero, and Cornell about the tasks and future of feminism.
99197 |
PHIL 350 Pragmatism |
Garry Hagberg |
. . W . . |
1:30 -3:50 pm |
OLIN 308 |
HUM |
A detailed examination of the content and methods
of a number of classic works of American philosophy, emphasizing issues in
epistemology. Authors include Peirce, William James, Royce, Dewey, Santayana, Mead,
and more recent writers. The philosophical movements discussed include
transcendentalism, pragmatism, empiricism, and realism. The investigation of
these works will involve problems in the philosophy of religion, ethics,
aesthetics, the philosophy of language, the philosophy of education, and social
and political philosophy.
99491 |
PHIL 390 Politics and the Arts: Art, Philosophy, and Democratic Culture |
Norton Batkin |
M . . . . |
1:30 -3:50 pm |
OLIN 309 |
HUM |
Cross-listed: Art History Plato banished poetry and the arts from his good
city, at least until they could answer arguments that they corrupted its
citizens, even its philosopher-rulers. How do we, citizens of a democratic
republic in its third century, conceive the value and role of the arts in our
democracy? What contribution do we think the arts make to our political
culture, to our conception of ourselves as citizens? What images do they offer
of the individual and his or her society in our democratic culture? In debates
about public arts funding in this country, art has been defended as
illustrative of democratic freedoms, particularly, freedom of expression. Is
art in other ways fundamental to our democratic culture, even essential to its
continuation? The last question defines a philosophical task, a reconsideration
of founding conceptions of democracy in this country. It also defines a task of
critical writing in and about art and culture. The course will take up topics
from Ralph Waldo Emerson's hopes for American culture, to Hollywood films of
the 1930s and 1940s, to the debates over public funding of artists during the
culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s, to works by Bruce Nauman, Glenn Ligon, and
other contemporary artists who confront us with our moral and spiritual culture,
to critical writing on the arts, popular culture, and related matters by Robert
Warshow, Stanley Cavell, Toni Morrison, Michael Brenson, Dave Hickey, Mari
Carmen Ramírez, and Ann Lauterbach, among others. There will be short written
assignments over the course of the semester and a final paper. Prerequisites:
One course in philosophy and permission of the instructor.