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