15434 |
PHIL
118 Human Nature |
Kritika Yegnashankaran |
. T . Th . |
4:40pm-6:00pm |
OLIN 202 |
HUM |
Cross-listed: Human Rights; Science, Technology & Society Is there a human nature? Does it
matter? An ancient tradition claims that we have a detailed set of inborn
capabilities and limitations, rich in implications for how we can live our
lives and organize society. An opposing tradition emphasizes plasticity and
indeterminacy; at the limit, it pictures us as "blank slates," ready
to form ourselves or to be formed by society. What remains of this debate once
we refine the claims of each side? If there is a human nature, what is it, who
can speak with authority about it, and what implications does it have for
changing what we are? If there isn’t a human nature, does this more freely
license the genetic and technological development of what we are? We will
investigate these and other questions in the course through an
interdisciplinary mix of readings from philosophy, psychology, evolutionary
biology, and other fields. Class
size: 22
15366 |
PHIL
122 "Why" Philosophy |
Ruth Zisman |
. T . Th . |
11:50am-1:10pm |
OLIN 204 |
HUM |
Why? It is
one of the first questions that we learn to ask and one of the last questions
we find ourselves asking. Within this utterance one can hear the perpetual
human quest for knowledge, understanding, and truth, for reason, ground, and
cause, for warrant and explanation. To ask “why” of the world is to refuse to
take the world as a given. Indeed, to ask “why” of the world is to begin to
engage in the act of philosophical thinking—to demand analysis, reflection, and
thought. The history of philosophy can be read as orbiting around a series of
important “why” questions: Why being and not non-being? Why good and not evil?
Why suffering? Why death? Why know? Why question? Why write? Why philosophize?
This course will attempt to explore these questions and the ways in which they
have been articulated and answered throughout the history of Philosophy.
Philosophers to be addressed include: Plato, Descartes, Rousseau, Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger,
Arendt, Camus, and Sartre. Class
size: 22
15365 |
PHIL
123 Experiments in Ethics |
Jay Elliott |
M . W . . |
10:10am- 11:30am |
OLIN 204 |
HUM |
Cross-listed: Mind, Brain &
Behavior, Psychology Why do people disagree about moral
questions? Is free will an illusion? Can money buy happiness? Does the smell of
fresh-baked cookies make people nicer? This course introduces students to
cutting-edge thinking about these and many other questions in the disciplines
of philosophy and psychology. A special focus of the course will be on the
fruitful interplay between the conceptual investigations of moral philosophers
and the experimental methods of empirical psychologists. Topics we will discuss
include: the role of emotion in moral judgments, the roots of moral life in
non-human primates and young children, and the possibility of moral progress in
human history. No prior knowledge of philosophy or psychology is required. Class size: 22
15445 |
PHIL
247 THE FIRST PERSON PERSPECTIVE: Philosophy of Mind |
Kritika Yegnashankaran |
. T . Th . |
3:10pm-4:30pm |
RKC 200 |
HUM |
Cross-listed: Mind,
Brain & Behavior The
philosophy of mind addresses questions regarding the nature of the mind-brain
relation, mental representation, and conscious awareness, to name a few. The
dominant trend in contemporary philosophy of mind is to pursue these questions
in close alliance with empirical sciences, such as psychology, cognitive
science, and neuroscience. The result is typically a mechanistic and reductive
picture of the mind, one on which the mind is just one arena among many in
which causal factors operate to produce effects. However, some philosophers
question whether a mechanistic picture of the mind can adequately accommodate
our first person perspective, that
is, what it feels like from the inside to have a mind and navigate the world
with it. In this course, we will address the question of whether mechanistic
accounts of the mind can accommodate our first person perspective by focusing
on three main topics: the qualitative or phenomenological dimension of
experience; our knowledge of our own attitudes; and our engagement in mental
action. Class size: 18
15368 |
PHIL
250 Medieval Philosophy |
Jay Elliott |
M . W . . |
11:50am-1:10pm |
OLIN 310 |
HUM |
Cross-listed: Medieval Studies Ever wonder what happened in the two
millennia of intellectual history between Aristotle and Descartes? This course
is not just for those who care about the life of the medieval mind: it is also
for anyone who wants to know what happened to ancient philosophy, or who is
curious about where modern philosophy came from. And don't believe the hype:
medieval philosophers are not a bunch of ivory-tower scholastics arguing about
how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. In fact, medieval philosophers
engaged deeply with many of the most difficult and vital philosophical
questions: Do we have free will? Where does evil come from? What are the limits
of human reason? Can the universe be fully explained, or does it contain an
element of the irrational and mysterious? This course will introduce students
to the rich variety of approaches medieval philosophers developed in thinking
about these and other fundamental philosophical problems. We will especially
focus on the insights and challenges medieval philosophers uncovered in their
attempts to combine the pagan traditions of ancient philosophy with the
prophetic revelations of Christianity and Islam. Class size: 18
15373 |
PHIL / PS
269 THE PRACTICE OF COURAGE: Self-Thinking AND Political
CouragE FROM ANTIGONE TO EDWARD SNOWDEN |
Roger Berkowitz |
M . W . . |
1:30pm-2:50pm |
ARENDT CENTER |
HUM |
See Political
Studies section for description.
15436 |
PHIL
271 Topics: Philosophy of Language |
Robert Martin |
. . W . F |
10:10am- 11:30am |
BITO 210 |
HUM |
Cross-listed: Mind, Brain & Behavior We will study Saul Kripke's
ground-breaking lectures Naming and Necessity, given at Princeton
University in 1970. For background we will read essays of Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell,
John Searle and others. If time permits, we will read some of the recent
literature on Naming and Necessity. Prerequisites: one prior
course in philosophy (preferably Symbolic Logic) and permission of the
instructor. Class size: 22
15429 |
PHIL
302 Philosophy Research Seminar |
Daniel Berthold |
. . W . . |
1:30pm-3:50pm |
OLIN 306 |
HUM |
An intensive
advanced seminar required of all philosophy majors in their junior year. A
problem in contemporary philosophy is carefully selected, exactingly defined,
and thoroughly researched; an essay or article is written addressing the
problem, going through numerous revisions as a result of class responses,
faculty guidance, and further research; the article is formally presented to
the seminar, followed by discussion and debate; and the article in its
completed form is submitted to an undergraduate or professional journal of
philosophy or to an undergraduate conference in philosophy. The seminar integrates
the teaching and practice of writing into the study of the subject matter of
the seminar. Emphasis will be placed on the art of research; the development,
composition, organization, and revision of analytical prose; the use of
evidence to support an argument; strategies of interpretation and analysis of
texts; and the mechanics and art of style and documentation. This course is
required of all junior Philosophy majors.
Class size: 15
15208 |
THTR
310 Survey of Drama: the birth of tragedy, the death of tragedy |
Thomas Bartscherer |
M . . . . |
4:40pm-7:00pm |
BLUM HALL |
HUM |
Cross-listed: Classical Studies,
Experimental Humanities, Literature, Philosophy Two pivotal works in the history of the
interpretation of tragic drama—The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich
Nietzsche and The Death of Tragedy by George Steiner—will set the agenda
for our inquiry into the origins of western theater in the dramas of classical
antiquity and the fate of tragedy as an art form in the modern world. In
addition to assiduous study of Nietzsche and Steiner, we shall be reading a
broad selection of the tragedies these authors discuss, including plays by
Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Shakespeare, Racine, Büchner,
and Beckett. We shall also watch film adaptations of selected tragedies and,
schedule permitting, attend a staged performance. The course will integrate
close reading, literary and philosophical analysis, and practical scene work.
All readings will be in English. Class size: 15
15367 |
PHIL
363 Aristotle's Ethics |
Jay Elliott |
. T . . . |
1:30pm-3:50pm |
OLIN 303 |
HUM |
Cross-listed: Classical Studies Aristotle's Nicomachean
Ethics is not only one of the earliest attempts to think systematically
about ethical questions, it is also the subject of some of today's most heated
philosophical debates. In this advanced seminar, we will analyze and discuss
Aristotle's arguments in detail, and delve into many of the most significant
current controversies about them. Topics of special interest will include:
Aristotle's concept of happiness, his theory of moral development, his
philosophy of action, his account of love and friendship, and his distinction
between 'active' and 'contemplative' lives. Knowledge of ancient Greek is not
required, but a complementary tutorial will be organized for students who wish
to read Aristotle in Greek. This course satisfies the single philosopher
requirement for Philosophy majors. Class
size: 15
15444 |
PHIL
372 Philosophy of Biology: Conceptual Foundations of
Darwinian Theory |
Kritika Yegnashankaran |
. . W . . |
1:30pm-3:50pm |
HEG 300 |
HUM |
The lively,
and at times acrimonious, debate between evolutionism and creationism
continues, but we can get clearer on the terms of the debate only by
understanding precisely what each position is committed to. In this course we
will undertake an in-depth examination of the conceptual foundations of
Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. We will address issues such
as: the ingredients for natural selection; the units and levels of selection;
the role of teleological notions, especially that of adaptation; the
distinction between explanations of origin and distribution; the individuation
of biological categories and kinds; the domain of phenomena which the theory
purports to explain and to which the theory can be applied; and the conditions
under which the theory can be corroborated or falsified. Prerequisite: One
course in either Philosophy or Biology. Class size: 15