Courses

The philosophy course list that follows is divided into several categories: introductory courses; historical courses; ethics; logic; aesthetics; epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy of language; and single-philosopher seminars. Courses numbered in the 100s are introductory courses; 200-level courses, while more specialized in content, also are generally appropriate as first courses in philosophy; 300-level courses require previous courses in philosophy and permission of the instructor for admission.

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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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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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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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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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Contemporary Political Theory
Philosophy 216
The tension created by the promise of equality and the guarantee of liberty has largely shaped the debate among contemporary political theorists. Most believe it is the function of the liberal state to meld these two goals, but a resolution of the conflict requires, in turn, an examination of more fundamental normative questions. What, for example, should be relegated to the private sphere and what is more properly viewed as a matter of public concern? By which principles ought social and material goods be distributed, and what does a “fair” distribution mean? Are there moral limits to actions sanctioned by individual or collective consent? From what perspective(s) should political judgments be made, and from what source does a judgment gain its authority? These questions are discussed as we read late 20th-century political works by Rawls, Nozick,Walzer, Dworkin, and Nagel.

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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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Contemporary Feminist Philosophy
Philosophy 264
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.

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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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Philosophy Research Seminar
Philosophy 403
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. Enrollment in these courses is limited to 14.

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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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Economic Justice
Philosophy 351
What is a just way of distributing the goods and resources of society? How do various ideals of justice interact with economic realities? Are there important distinctions to be made among the concepts of justice, fairness, equity, and equality? Some writers argue for an ideal of equal opportunity, while others prefer the notion of equality of outcomes. This course focuses on these questions as applied to the United States. It examines not merely issues of values, but also matters of historical/political fact: What is the current distribution of wealth in this country? What has it been in the past? How did we come to have the tax (and subsidy) system that we have? In short, we consider interrelated issues of fact and value, of ideals and the possible, of philosophy and economics and history. Authors studied include John Stuart Mill, Richard Musgrave, Robert Nozick, John Rawls, and Amartya Sen. Prerequisites: at least one related course in philosophy, economics, or a related area and permission of the instructor.

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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, 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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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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Advanced Symbolic Logic
Philosophy 361
This is a second course in symbolic logic, meant as a sequel to Philosophy 237. It can also serve as a first course in symbolic logic for students of mathematical sophistication. The course begins with a review of sentence logic and monadic predicate logic and proceeds to an exposition of the full predicate calculus with identity and terms (first order logic). The semester closes with a presentation of the proof of the completeness of first order logic.

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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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Philosophy and Film
Philosophy 235
Are the claims – the insights, arguments, and ethical demands – conveyed by film medium-bound? Can the philosophical, ethical, or political content of a film be detached from its specifically filmic expression? What then is the specificity of film as an aesthetic medium? And what are the epistemological and political consequences of this notion of medium-bound meaning? In order to address these questions, we will integrate readings of Benjamin, Adorno, Beckett, Cavell, and Danto with viewings of films by Eisenstein, Marker, Fellini, and others. Later in the semester we will undertake close analyses of specific films that decisively reconfigure longstanding philosophical debates, e.g., Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf  will reshape the debate between realism and nominalism, films by David Lynch will challenge our deepest assumptions about identity and sexuality, and films by Charlie Chaplin, Woody Allen, and the Marx Brothers will press for a rethinking of the relation between the human and the animal.

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Key Texts in Aesthetics
Philosophy 330
In attempting to explain important features of our experience of art and nature, philosophers from the 18th century forward have proposed
the existence of a mental faculty or type of judgment not wholly reducible to either sense perception or conceptual thought. “Aesthetic” is the most common term for this faculty, and the judgments for which it is responsible. This course examines various accounts of the notion of the
aesthetic—and closely related issues concerning art, taste, and beauty—through in-depth scrutiny of historically important texts: Francis Hutcheson, “Inquiry into the Origins of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue”; David Hume, “Of the Standard of Taste”; and Immanuel Kant, “The Critique of Judgment.” The course ends with a sampling of significant 20th-century approaches to the same themes.

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The Philosophy of Music
Philosophy 355
Philosophical questions about music include the following: Are definitions and classifications helpful? Is tonality natural or conventional? Other topics explored are music and language, the parallels and differences; and music, politics, and ideology. Students engage these topics through readings, listening to music, seminar presentations, and class discussions. Readings include Plato, Aristotle, Schopenhauer, Hanslick, ttgenstein, and a number of recent and contemporary writers.

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Politics and the Arts: Art, Politics, and Democratic Culture
Philosophy 390
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.

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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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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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Relativism
Philosophy 242
The first half of this course examines epistemic/cultural relativism and the second half explores moral/cultural relativism. Students are introduced to several fundamental modes of philosophical inquiry (among them, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language, and metaethics), but the focus of the class is a detailed exploration of relativism as a philosophical position. Readings include works by Thomas Kuhn, W. V. Quine, Richard Rorty, Bernard Williams, PeterWinch, and others.

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Self-Knowledge and Self-Discovery
Philosophy 243
Since Plato, self-knowledge has been thought to be indispensable to the fully human life. Yet a great number of philosophers have been struck by how puzzling a condition it is. For one thing, perhaps alone among the different kinds of knowledge, self-knowledge is presumed to change the object known, and to be an essentially private, subjective affair. In the context of self-knowledge, the terms “knowledge,” “self,” “subject,” and “object” all become problematic. Working through these problems reveals both why self-knowledge is as valuable as it is, and why it is so difficult to achieve. The course begins not with philosophy but with Sophocles’ tragedy, Oedipus the King, as a way of disclosing that self-discovery is essentially a dramatic process. Thereafter, selections from Spinoza, Descartes, Nietzsche, Freud, and Wittgenstein are discussed.

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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.

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The Philosophy of Language
Philosophy 352
Since the early 20th century, philosophical inquiry into the nature of language has revolved around the notion of meaning, and questions of
how it comes about that our words can make “contact” with the world, our thoughts, and each other. This course explores two living traditions
that attempt to answer these questions. The “semantic” approach, associated with Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, and Saul Kripke, emphasizes reference and the logical structure of language; while the “pragmatic” approach associated with LudwigWittgenstein, J. L. Austin, and Paul Grice emphasizes communication and our everyday uses of language. Through readings from these and other philosophers, students assess the strengths and limitations of both approaches. The course concludes with a discussion of metaphor, a linguistic phenomenon often thought to present difficulties for philosophical theories of language.

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Hume and the Philosophy of Science
Philosophy 248
This course beings with an examination of Hume’s empiricist challenge to received understandings of causality, induction, the systematic unity of nature, and the self. Then, by bringing Hume into dialogue with the Logical Positivists who, in the early twentieth century, claimed to be his true inheritors, we will expose the strengths and weaknesses of empiricism in its various forms. Following this, we will extend our understanding of Hume by exploring the Humean elements of relativity theory, quantum mechanics, and contemporary neuroscience, as well as Humean resonances in key figures in contemporary philosophy of science (esp. Van Fraassen, Cartwright). Finally, we will ask whether contemporary philosophy of science has successfully responded to Hume’s empiricist challenge. Has there yet been a successful defense of the necessitarian character of law or the systematic unity of nature? Might Hume be unsurpassable?

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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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Aristotle and the Experience of Nature
Philosophy 262
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.

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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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Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit
Philosophy 374
A close reading of Hegel's most influential work, "The Phenomenology of Spirit," along with various commentaries.

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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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Heidegger
Philosophy 383
A close reading of major portions of Heidegger's "Being and Time " and several short later works such as "The Origin of the Work of Art," "Letter on Humanism,"  "The Question Concerning Technology," and "Building Dwelling Thinking." We will focus on such themes as Heidegger's (re)conception of the phenomenological method; the elusive search for an account of Being; the portrait of key existential structures of Dasein (human "being-there") such as being-within-the-world, being-with, discourse, thrownness, temporality, care, anxiety, and being-towards-death; the analysis of our "everyday" inauthentic being and our potentiality for authenticity; and Heidegger's thoughts on art, language, and technology. Prerequisite: previous courses in philosophy.

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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. The course investigates 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 drawn from such pseudonymous works as Either/Or, Fear and Trembling, and The Sickness Unto Death, among others, as well as some of the sermons or “Edifying Discourses” written under Kierkegaard’s own name. Works by writers who have engaged Kierkegaard’s authorship in ways central to modern and postmodern thought are also read.

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