Professor: D. Berthold-Bond
CRN: 11666
Distribution:
A
Time: W F 9:00 am - 10:20 am OLIN 201
of related interest: French Studies
An introduction to some of the perennial concerns of
philosophy, through a survey of a variety of classic texts in the Western philosophical tradition.
Themes will include teh nature of ethical life, the meaning and possibility of knowledge, teh
concept of the self, the justifiability of the state, teh role fo religious faith within philosophical
inquiry, and the nature of philosphical method and style. Readings from Plato--followed by three
contrasting portraits of Socrates, by Aristophanes (The Clouds), Soren Kierkegaard (selections
formThe Concept of Irony), and Maurice Merleau-Ponty ("In Praise of Philosophy")-- and from
Descartes, Hobbes, Hume, Kant, and Nietzsche.
Professor: R. Martin
CRN: 11667
Distribution:
A
Time: M W 10:30 am - 11:50 am OLIN 301
of related interest: French Studies
The triumphant development of modern science in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, of which we are direct heirs, created the task for
philosophy of interpreting, of finding the significance of this new kind of knowledge. The result
was the development and refinement in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of the three
possible philosophical positions that have dominated thought ever since. Readings from
Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume.
Professor: W. Griffith
CRN: 11668
Distribution:
A
Time: Tu Th 9:00 am - 10:20 am ASP 302
The course approaches symbolic logic as the attempt to create symbolic systems to test the validity of deductive arguments expressed in ordinary language. Beginning with the common, informal notion of a valid argument, the course progresses through truth tables; a system of natural deduction for propositional logic, which is proven to be consistent and complete; classical logic, including syllogisms and the square of opposition; Venn diagrams; monadic quantificational theory; and general quantificational theory, relations, and identity, with deductive technique for each. How the latter systems may be developed into higher orders of logic and the foundations of mathematics is outlined. The consistency and completeness of each system is considered, culminating in a brief discussion of Goedel's results and their relevance for mathematics and philosophy.
Professor: D. Berthold-Bond
CRN: 11670
Distribution:
A
Time: W F 1:20 pm - 2:40 pm OLIN 201
cross-listed: CRES
The course will explore a variety of ethical issues surrounding the relation of human beings to
their environment. We will look at several far-reaching critiques of the anthropocentric character
of traditional moral paradigms by deep ecologists, ecofeminists, social ecologists, ecotheologians,
and others who argue in different ways for fundamentally new accounts of the moral standing of
nature and the ethical duties of humans to non-human creatures and things. While we will
concentrate on contemporary authors and debates, we will begin by looking at the precedents and
origins of the contemporary scene in such nineteenth-century writers as Henry Salt, Henry David
Thoreau, John Muir, and E. P. Evans, and early twentieth-century writers like Aldo Leopold,
Joseph Wood Krutch, and Rachel Carson. Throughout our discussion of opposing theoretical
constructs, we will give attention to the implications for social policy, legal practice, and political
action.
Professor: P. Droege
CRN: 11671
Distribution:
A
Time: Tu Th 10:30 am - 11:50 am OLIN 308
cross-listed: Gender Studies
Feminist theorizing on the role of women in society has posed serious challenges to traditional
forms of analysis in both ethics and political theory. The course will consider first the
repercussions of Carol Gilligan's Care Perspective on moral theory. In light of this analysis,
several feminist political theories will be evaluated for their ability to address the moral concerns
of women as well as their economic and political needs. Topics for discussion will include the
plausibility and desirability of a "woman's perspective", the tensions between moral and political
theory generally, and the conflicts among feminist theories specifically. Course readings will
juxtapose traditional theorists--Kant, Locke, Marx--against feminists such as Gilligan,
MacKinnon, Firestone and hooks.
Professor: W. Griffith
CRN: 11672
Distribution:
A
Time: Th 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm ASP 302
cross-listed: German Studies
Readings: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, The Blue
Book, and The Philosophical Investigations.