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Complete Course List
Complete Course Descriptions
Complete Course List
Introductory
Courses
Historical
Courses
Ethics
Logic,
Epistemology, Metaphysics, Aesthetics, and the Philosophy of Language
Single-Philosopher
Seminars
Course
Descriptions
Introductory
Courses
Introduction
to Philosophy: Problems in Philosophy
Philosophy 101
An introduction to the problems, methods, and scope of philosophical
inquiry. Among the philosophical questions discussed are those associated
with morality, the law, the nature of mind, and the limits of knowledge.
Philosophers read include Plato, Descartes, David Hume, William
James, A. J. Ayer, Sartre, C. S. Lewis, and Lon Fuller.
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Introduction
to Philosophy: Philosophical Classics
Philosophy 102
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 include the nature of ethical life, the meaning
and possibility of knowledge, the concept of the self, the justifiability
of the state, the role of religious faith within philosophical inquiry,
and the nature of philosophical method and style. Readings are from
Plato, followed by three contrasting portraits of Socrates, by Aristophanes
(The Clouds), Søren Kierkegaard (selections from The
Concept of Irony), and Maurice Merleau-Ponty ("In Praise
of Philosophy"), and from Descartes, Hobbes, Hume, Kant, and
Nietzsche.
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Introduction
to Philosophy: History of Philosophy
Philosophy 103
A critical examination of the work of some major figures in
the history of philosophy, emphasizing historical continuities and
developments. Authors include Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke,
Berkeley, Hume, Nietzsche, and Russell.
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Introduction
to Philosophy: Multicultural Perspectives
Philosophy
104 MES
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 include
selections from a diverse range of traditions, including Western,
Hindu, Buddhist, Chinese, African, Latin American, Native American,
and feminist.
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Reason,
Language, and Argumentation
Philosophy 105
In this course in informal logic, the functions of language
and reasoning are examined as they occur in everyday discourse.
Beginning with an analysis of the structure of a wide variety of
informal fallacies, the class turns to an investigation of how these
fallacies are employed for such purposes as persuasion, deception,
and indoctrination. Examples are taken from the news media, advertising,
political debates, propaganda films, and a variety of essays on
controversial moral issues (recent topics include abortion, capital
punishment, animal rights, population control, and the involuntary
institutionalization of the mentally ill).
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Introduction
to Philosophy: Reality, Knowledge, and Value
Philosophy 106
An introduction to some key issues in three of the main areas
of Western philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, and value theory.
Readings in each area are drawn from the classical and modern traditions:
for example, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, and Bertrand
Russell. In all cases an attempt is made to show the connections
between the traditional problems of philosophy and the concerns
of our own lives.
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Logic,
Reasoning, and Persuasion
Philosophy 107
When we disagree with others, we typically try to persuade them
by using arguments. This course examines the different kinds of
arguments available and distinguishes between those that should
work and those that should not. In addition to the textbook, newspapers,
scientific literature, and any sources suggested by the students
are examined for the persuasiveness and validity of arguments therein.
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Introduction
to Philosophy: Philosophical Questions
Philosophy 108
Western philosophers address questions that most of us find
puzzling. 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?
This course critically examines historical and contemporary texts
that address these and other central themes of the philosophical
tradition.
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Introduction
to Philosophy
Philosophy 109
This course follows the development of several classic philosophical
ideas: justice, knowledge, causation, and the existence of God.
The class considers both contrast and continuity of thought from
Plato to Kant and critically assesses the contribution of each philosopher
to the investigation of ideas.
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Introduction
to Social and Political Philosophy
Philosophy 110
One distinctive feature of human beings is that they live in
societies, which can roughly be defined as rule-governed associations
of people. Whatever else these associations do, they place certain
limits on individuals and grant certain rights to individuals. This
course studies how such associations come together and what justifies
the limits and rights so created (or conferred) by their existence.
It offers an introductory survey os some of the major traditions
in social and political philosophy, from ancient Greece to the late
20th century. Readings include Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Plato,
Mill, and Rawls.
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Introduction
to the Philosophy of Science
Philosophy 220
A survey of 20th-century views concerning the nature of science
and scientific knowledge. The class examines different views of
what demarcates the natural sciences of physics, astronomy, and
biology from other enterprises such as astrology and creationism;
explores the different views as to what makes scientific knowledge
so special, and the nature of scientific progress in light of the
history of the evolution (or revolution) of scientific theories;
and looks into some criticisms of the presupposition that science
is indeed this special intellectual enterprise that aims at (and
succeeds in) providing special knowledge of the material world.
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Historical
Courses
History
of Modern Philosophy
Philosophy 209
This course studies the development of philosophical thought
in 17th and 18th century Europe. Key works of Descartes, Locke,
Berkeley, and Hume are read closely, with emphasis on the epistemological
and metaphysical views of their authors.
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19th-Century
Continental Philosophy
Philosophy 213 German Studies
Readings from Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. The class
focuses on how these writers explored such themes as the nature
of consciousness, reality, value, and community; on their distinctive
styles of authorship, and on their conceptions of the nature and
role of philosophy itself.
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Existentialism
Philosophy 215
Existentialism is a philosophic, literary, artistic, and social
movement that emerged during the Second World War in France, but
whose roots are in the 19th-century works of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.
Selected writings of Camus, Heidegger, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and
Sartre are closely studied, with a focus on themes that have come
to be regarded as as common existentialist preoccupations, such
as the rebellion against rationalism and the perception of the human
predicament as absurd. Emphasis is placed upon important differences
of perspective and style among these five writers.
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Feminist
Perspectives on Social and Political Theories
Philosophy 257 Gender Studies
Feminist theorizing on the role of women in society has posed
serious challenges to traditional forms of analysis in political
theory. This course considers how four prominent feminist political
theories address the economic and political needs of women: liberal
feminism, Marxist feminism, radical feminism, and socialist feminism.
It examines more general public policy questions of identity and
equality, and also poses the metatheoretical question: Is there
at root a definition of feminism that could guide us in determining
what issues count as "feminist" and what do not?
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Religious
and Antireligious Philosophers
Philosophy 259
A comparative examination of philosophical defenses and critiques
of religion from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century. Readings
are drawn from Feuerbach, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Freud, Buber,
and Tillich.
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Feminist
Philosophy
Philosophy 260 Gender Studies
An examination of feminist philosophical approaches to issues
surrounding modern culture’s production of images of sexuality
and gender. Background readings provide a sketch of diverse feminist
theoretical frameworks–liberal, socialist, radical, psychoanalytic,
and postmodern–with work by Alison Jaggar, Simone de Beauvoir,
Annie Leclerc, Christine Delphy, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray,
Sarah Kofman, and Hélène Cixous. Explored are such
issues as the cultural enforcement of both feminine and masculine
gender identities; the mass marketing of popular cultural images
of sexuality, gender, and race; the urban environment and women’s
sense of space; the intersection of feminism and environmentalism;
the logic of subjection governing cultural ideals of women’s
bodies; issues of rape, sexual violence, and harassment; pornography;
and feminist perspectives on ethnicity. Films and videos are screened.
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Pragmatism
Philosophy 350
This detailed examination of the content and methods of a number
of classic works of American philosophy emphasizes 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 involves problems in the philosophy
of religion, ethics, aesthetics, the philosophy of language, the
philosophy of education, and social and political philosophy.
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Ethics
Ethical
Theory
Philosophy 251
What does it mean to be a "moral" being, i.e., what
is the "moral dimension" of our life, and what constitutes
its key elements? Are there such things as "happiness,"
"virtue," and "wisdom"? Do we have "rights"
and "duties" and, if so, how do we recognize them? This
course critically examines the primary texts of four philosophers
whose thoughts on these fundamental questions have had a permanent
influence on Western philosophical thought: Aristotle, Epictetus,
Immanuel Kant, and John Stuart Mill.
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Medical
Ethics
Philosophy 255
Through a reading of both theoretical literature and case studies,
the class examines a wide range of topics in contemporary debates
over medical ethics: issues of reproduction, death and dying, genetic
testing, medical research and experimentation, involuntary psychiatric
hospitalization and treatment, informed consent, confidentiality,
and paternalism. On the theoretical side, the class looks at competing
ethical positions philosophers have proposed as models for understanding
and resolving issues of medical ethics and studies basic concepts
with which all such theories grapple (anatomy, competence, nonmalfeasance,
beneficence, justice). On the practical side, students 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.
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Environmental
Ethics
Philosophy 256 CRES
An exploration of ethical issues regarding the relation of human
beings to their environment. The class looks 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 nonhuman creatures and things. A study of contemporary authors
and debates is prefaced with a review of their precedents and origins
in such 19th-century writers as Henry Salt, Henry David Thoreau,
John Muir, and E. P. Evans and such early 20th-century writers as
Aldo Leopold, Joseph Wood Krutch, and Rachel Carson. Throughout
the discussion attention is paid to the implications for social
policy, legal practice, and political action.
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Feminist
Philosophy: Approaches to Cultural Constructions of Sexuality and
Gender
Philosophy 260 Gender Studies
This course examines a variety of feminist philosophical approaches
to issues surrounding modern culture’s production of images
of sexuality and gender. Readings from Simone de Beauvoir, Christine
Delphy, Luce Irigaray, Sarah Kofman, and Annie Leclerc, among others,
cover a diverse range of feminist theoretical frameworks–liberal,
socialist, radical, psychoanalytic, and postmodern. However, this
is primarily an "applied" philosophy course rather than
a course focusing on theory. Many issues are explored, among them
the cultural enforcement of both feminine and masculine gender identities,
the urban environment and women’s sense of space, the intersection
of feminism and environmentalism, and feminist perspectives of different
ethnic groups. Films and videos are screened, including the Anita
Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings, Madonna’s Truth or Dare,
and documentaries on the pre-Stonewall femme-butch bar scene culture
of the 1950s and ’60s.
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Issues
in Bioethics
Philosophy 268/Biology 268
An interdisciplinary approach to issues in bioethics, this course
explores scientific, social, and ethical aspects of topics of contemporary
concern. In recent semesters the focus has been on three such topics
of current debate: the genome project, cloning, and the development
and use of transgenic plants. Readings cover theoretical literature
and case studies. Team-taught by Philosophy Program and Biology
Program faculty.
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Law
and Ethics
Philosophy 357
This Upper College seminar combines elements of two disciplines–law
and philosophy–to examine the premises that support the ideal
of a just society and the reasons utilized in making legal and moral
arguments. Is there such a thing as "natural law," which
can provide a standard of what law "ought" to be? What
are the criteria of "justice" to which law ought to conform?
Jointly taught by a faculty member of the Philosophy Program and
a constitutional lawyer. Readings include current court decisions
involving issues of equality, sexuality, the death penalty, and
the right to die and philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham, J. S.
Mill, John Rawls, H. L. A. Hart, Lon Fuller, Isaiah Berlin, and
Ronald Dworkin.
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Logic,
Epistemology, Metaphysics, Aesthetics,
and the Philosophy of Language
Philosophy
and the Arts
Philosophy 230 Integrated Arts
This critical investigation of a wide range of theories and
problems in the philosophy of art emphasizes issues of artistic
meaning. Among the topics discussed are the question of whether
there exists an aesthetic experience unique to the art world, the
nature of representation and mimetic theories of art, the role of
expression in artistic definition and criticism, formalism and the
form/content distinction, the logic of aesthetic evaluation and
its relation to ethical argument, and subjectivity and objectivity
in aesthetic perception. Both classical and contemporary theories
are examined as they apply to questions arising out of architecture,
dance, drama, film, literature, music, painting, and photography.
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Epistemology
Philosophy 232
Can we know anything? What is the difference between a belief
(or an opinion) and knowledge? This course is an introduction to
the analysis of human knowledge. Different theories as to what counts
as knowledge are examined; these theories might provide different
answers to either the first or the second question above. The readings
include the works of some of the major contemporary thinkers, including
some current critics of the analytic tradition.
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Symbolic
Logic
Philosophy 237
An introduction to modern logic, this course covers sentential
and predicate logic (also known as propositional logic and quantification
theory, respectively). The emphases are on acquiring skill in producing
formal derivations and achieving clarity on the relation between
formal derivations and natural language argumentation. Formal semantics,
including the proof of completeness for first-order logic, are also
introduced.
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Philosophy
of Mind
Philosophy 247
An analysis of the concept of mind, including such topics as
knowledge of other minds, criteria of personal identity, theories
of human action, and the relationship between consciousness and
brain processes.
The
Philosophy of Language
Philosophy 352
How is it that we can use words to mean something, or express
a thought about something? Is there room within a plausible worldview
for the existence of such things as meanings? What is the connection
between language and the world? What is the right analysis of definite
descriptions ("the book on the table"), indefinite descriptions
("a book on the table") and proper names (Moby Dick)?
What are speech acts (e.g., making a promise, issuing a warning,
asking a question), and how are they related to other kinds of human
action? Students read and discuss some of the seminal works of the
"linguistic turn" of the 20th century: essays by Frege,
Wittgenstein, Austin, Strawson, Quine, Grice, Searle, Davidson,
Kripke, and others. Also read is Simon Blackburn’s 1984 study,
Spreading the Word: Groundings in the Philosophy of Language.
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Philosophy
and the Arts: Three Foundational Texts
Philosophy 393 Integrated Arts
Beginning with a close reading of Aristotle’s Poetics,
this course explores the expansion of the concept of artistic representation
derived from Plato, the nature and causes of our emotional response
to the arts and the experience of aesthetic catharsis, the power
of form as a determinant of the power of art, and the epistemological
value of the arts. It examines the issues raised by Hume’s
Of the Standard of Taste and Kant’s Critique of Judgment,
and considers the contribution Kant’s theory of the mind makes
to our understanding of art and aesthetic perception. Prerequisite:
Upper College standing and a previous course in either Philosophy
and the Arts or Kant.
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Single-Philosopher
Seminars
Plato
Philosophy 261 Classical Studies
An introduction to Plato. Issues considered include the search
for and illustration of a philosophical way of life; the ethics
of living and dying; teaching values; love; rhetoric; and philosophy.
Readings include Euthyphro, The Apology, Crito,
Phaedo, Meno, Phaidrus, The Symposium,
Gorgias, Protagoras, Parmenides, and The
Republic.
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David
Hume
Philosophy 370
This course critically examines David Hume’s A Treatise
of Human Nature, one of the most important works in Western
philosophy. Although the Treatise is studied as a whole,
special attention is paid to Hume’s contribution to epistemology
and ethical theory.
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The
Philosophy of Kant
Philosophy 371 German Studies
An introduction to one of the classic texts of western philosophy,
Kant’s magnum opus, The Critique of Pure Reason.
Prerequisite: a previous course in philosophy and permission
of the instructor.
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The
Philosophy of Hegel
Philosophy 373 German Studies
This course reviews two of the four works that Hegel saw to
publication, The Phemenonology of Spirit and The Encyclopaedia
of the Philosophical Sciences, as well as two of his four posthumously
published lecture cycles, Lectures on the Philosophy of History
and Lectures on Aesthetics.
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Nietzsche
Philosophy 375
The major emphasis of the course reading is on Nietzsche’s
ethical and metaethical viewpoints. Issues of metaphysics, epistemology,
and philosophical psychology are also considered, in discussions
of such notions as perspectivism, the overman, eternal return, and
the will to power.
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William
James
Philosophy 381
Selected readings from the major works of one of America’s
greatest philosophers, including The Principles of Psychology,
The Varieties of Religious Experience, Pragmatism,
The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy,
and Essays in Radical Empiricism. Topics include religious
experience, the subject matter and nature of psychology, various
ethical issues, the nature of philosophy, the pragmatic theory of
truth, and pragmatism as a philosophical methodology.
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Wittgenstein
Philosophy 385 German Studies
A first reading of major works of one of the most influential
philosophers of the 20th century. Readings include Tractatus
Logico-Philosophicus, The Blue Book, and The Philosophical
Investigations. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.
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Freud
and Philosophy
Philosophy 387 German Studies
This course studies Freud’s writings from two points of
view: that of the questions, challenges, and opportunities they
pose for philosophy, and that of the various criticisms that philosophy
has directed against psychoanalytic theory. Readings include "The
Interpretation of Dreams"; "Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis";
"The Ego and the Id"; "Inhibition, Symptom, and Anxiety";
"Beyond the Pleasure Principle"; and "Civilization
and Its Discontents," as well as critical secondary sources.
Prerequisite: a previous course in philosophy and permission
of the instructor.
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The
Philosophy and Literature of Jean-Paul Sartre
Philosophy 389
Readings from a variety of Sartre’s philosophic texts,
including Existentialism, Anti-Semite and Jew, Essays
in Aesthetics, and Being and Nothingness, and a number
of his novels and plays, including Nausea, The Wall,
No Exit, The Flies, The Respectful Prostitute,
Dirty Hands, and The Devil and the Good Lord. The
relation between the two genres of Sartre’s writing is explored,
including the extent to which the philosophic and literary productions
complement each other.
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Kierkegaard
Philosophy 399
An examination of a variety of Søren Kierkegaard’s
aesthetic, psychological, and theological texts. Investigated are
the portrait of the aesthetic, ethical, and religious dimensions
of existence; the critique of systematic philosophical discourse;
the existentialist psychology of inwardness; the religious categories
of absurdity, paradox, and offense; and the nature of language and
authorship. Readings are from Either/Or, Repetition, Fear
and Trembling, The Sickness Unto Death, Concluding
Unscientific Postscript, Training in Christianity, The
Point of View, and Attack Upon Christendom.
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Philosophy
Research Seminar
Philosophy 403
An intensive advanced seminar primarily for senior majors in
philosophy. 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. All standard and relevant
specialized research tools, bibliographies, and reference works
are introduced and made available, and students gain familiarity
with various aspects of journal editing and publishing in connection
with Philosophy and Literature, edited in Bard’s Philosophy
Program.
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