Course:

PHIL 103  Introduction to Philosophy: Classics of Western Philosophy

Professor:

Garry Hagberg  

CRN:

15622

Schedule/Location:

 Tue   Fri   1:30 PM – 2:50 PM Olin 201

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  

Credits: 4

 

Class cap: 22

A critical examination of the work of some major figures in the history of philosophy, emphasizing historical continuities and developments in the subject. Authors include Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Nietzsche, and Russell.

 

Course:

PHIL 124  Introduction to Ethics

Professor:

James Brudvig  

CRN:

15623

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    3:30 PM – 4:50 PM Olin 203

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  

Credits: 4

 

Class cap: 21

Crosslists: Human Rights

This course aims to accomplish three main goals. First, it will provide an analytical and historical introduction to ethical theories. Second, it will build a vocabulary for understanding and discussing ethical topics and issues. And third, it will apply ethical theories and language in an attempt to clarify contemporary moral problems.

 

Course:

PHIL 129  Philosophy of Slavery

Professor:

Jay Elliott  

CRN:

15624

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     8:30 AM – 9:50 AM Olin 201

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value D+J Difference and Justice

Credits: 4

 

Class cap: 22

Crosslists: Classical Studies; Human Rights

How can one human being own another? Today many of us regard slavery as the ultimate example of an unthinkable evil. Yet we also live in a society powerfully shaped by the institution and aftereffects of slavery, and recent events have shed renewed light on the enduring legacy of slavery in the United States. Our focus will be on two major slave societies to which we stand in an uncomfortably intimate relation: Greco-Roman antiquity and the modern Atlantic. We will seek to understand slavery and its enduring effects through these two slave societies and the interrelations between them. A special focus of our course will be the historically deep but under-examined connection between philosophy and slavery. Many of the founding figures of Western political thought – including Aristotle and Hegel – produced justifications of slavery that are often ignored today but that raise profound questions about the intellectual legacies of these canonical thinkers. Alongside these philosophers, we will also approach the inner life of slave societies through a variety of other sources, including drama, memoir and legal codes. Throughout the course we will consider a range of questions, including: how has slavery been intellectually justified and maintained in slave societies? How does the practice of slavery intersect with ideas about nature, work, property, sex, race, nationality and belonging? How do thinkers within slave societies come to develop critiques of slavery? What does it mean for slavery to end? The course will conclude with an examination of the incomplete work of liberation and the continuing effects of slavery in the contemporary U.S.

 

Course:

PHIL 131  Art, Narrative, and Humane Understanding

Professor:

Zachary Weinstein  

CRN:

15677

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    5:10 PM – 6:30 PM Olin 202

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  

Credits: 4

 

Class cap: 22

How do we understand other people as people, rather than as biological or physical systems? How should we understand other people? In this course, we’ll explore these questions as they arise in epistemology, philosophy of mind, and aesthetics. First, we will look at theories of understanding, especially the relationship between understanding and knowledge and the value of understanding. We’ll look at the ancient roots of these issues in Plato and Aristotle, as well as contemporary treatments by authors like Catherine Elgin and Duncan Pritchard. Then, we will turn to the question of understanding other people. We’ll focus on two closely related issues: mindreading (how do we learn about what goes on in someone else’s mind?) and empathy (how can we take on someone else’s perspective?). We’ll read authors from the ‘hermeneutical’ tradition (Dilthey, Gadamer) as well as contemporary analytic philosophers (Jane Heal, Alvin Goldman). In the last part of the course, we will look at a cluster of questions about understanding artworks, narratives, and people. In particular, we’ll consider how understanding an artwork is like (and unlike) understanding a person. Here, we’ll read thinkers from different traditions and disciplines, including David Velleman, Martha Nussbaum, Paul Ricoeur, Erwin Panofsky, and Sigmund Freud. Throughout the course, we will be interested in the ethical implications of different views of humane understanding. This course is appropriate for students at all levels. Students who do have some background in philosophy and/or the arts will have the opportunity to pursue existing interests in more depth.

 

Course:

PHIL 215  Existentialism

Professor:

Daniel Berthold  

CRN:

15625

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    10:10 AM – 11:30 AM Hegeman 201

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  

Credits: 4

 

Class cap: 22

Existentialism is a philosophic, literary, artistic, and social movement emerging during the second World War in France, but with roots tracing back to the Danish Christian philosopher Søren Kierkegaard and the German atheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in the nineteen century. We will engage in a close study of selected writings of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Camus, and Heidegger. We will focus both on themes which have come to be regarded as common existentialist preoccupations such as the rebellion against rationalism; the corresponding emphasis on subjectivity and perspectivism; the perception of the human predicament as absurd; the revaluation of values; and the necessity of anxiety and suffering for authentic existence; as well as emphasizing important differences of perspective and style between these five writers.

 

Course:

PHIL 219  Body and World: Selves and Social Sense-Making

Professor:

James Keller  

CRN:

15626

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     1:30 PM – 2:50 PM Hegeman 204

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  

Credits: 4

 

Class cap: 22

Our everyday accounts of perception, action, social norms, language, and even intelligence take conceptual rationality as the essential feature of human life. A good deal of recent philosophy, though, explores the possibility that we might not be “rational all the way out” and that we use concepts to supplement other, embodied ways of knowing, being, and being with others. The first part of this course examines conceptual and non-conceptual ways that we make sense of reality. We then look at ways that bodies conform to or reconfigure social ideals of normalcy. The readings that we encounter argue for a more inclusive form of realism in our accounts of perception, action, language and intelligence, and we consider a plurality of diverse embodiments and a range of understandings of the ways that bodied selves and social life are woven together.

 

Course:

PHIL 237  Symbolic Logic

Professor:

Robert Tully  

CRN:

15627

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     10:10 AM – 11:30 AM Hegeman 308

Distributional Area:

MC Mathematics and Computing  

Credits: 4

 

Class cap: 20

Crosslists: Mind, Brain, Behavior

Logic is not imposed on natural language but embedded in it. Symbolic Logic maps its logical structure. The course starts with whole statements (the units of language with which truth and falsity are associated) and the different ways they combine into compound statements. It then proceeds to examine arguments, which connect statements by means of a fundamental relation called implication. (The course concentrates on deductive implication, the strongest form of this relation.) The analysis of arguments extends to the internal components of whole statements: names, properties and relations. Different strategies are introduced throughout for testing symbolized arguments as well as for constructing them. Nevertheless, the course does not bury itself in abstraction. Whenever appropriate, it will emphasize the presence of logic within the domain of natural language use. For any student, the concepts and methods encountered in this course enable a precise understanding of words such as proof, inference, validity, equivalence, truth, entailment, and necessity, thus providing objective standards for appraising the diverse meanings frequently given to such words in everyday language.

 

Course:

PHIL 238  Philosophy and Literature

Professor:

Ruth Zisman  

CRN:

15628

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    11:50 AM – 1:10 PM Olin 304

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  

Credits: 4

Crosslists: German Studies

 

Class cap: 18

In reflecting upon his book, The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche famously writes that he “should have sung, not spoken” the text; “what a shame,” he laments, “that I did not dare to utter as a poet what I had to say at that time.” Reverence for the literary is, of course, not uncommon in the philosophical tradition. From Aristotle’s praise of metaphor making as the mark of genius to Heidegger’s conception of the saving power of poiesis, philosophers have been known to extol the virtues of literature. Yet one must not forget that the relationship between philosophy and literature is also fraught. Socrates exiled the poets from his city in speech – reminding his disciples, “there is an ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry...an ancient antagonism” – thus leading us to ponder the various ways in which literature might threaten or challenge the work of philosophy. In this course, we will explore the relationship between philosophy and literature by reading philosophical and literary texts side by side. We will consider philosophical theories of literature, philosophical references to literary texts and figures, and literary portrayals of and allusions to philosophical questions and problems.

 

Course:

PHIL 258  Constructing Modern Science: Objectivity, Authority, Ideology

Professor:

Michelle Hoffman  

CRN:

15629

Schedule/Location:

 Tue   Fri   1:30 PM – 2:50 PM Olin 101

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  

Credits: 4

 

Class cap: 18

Crosslists: Science, Technology, Society

In debates over evolution, climate science, and the COVID pandemic, the authority of science is continually asserted and challenged. This course will examine how scientists, philosophers, and others have constructed competing visions of science to further specific ends. At stake in all these competing visions is the concept of scientific objectivity. What does it mean for science to be objective? When and how did conceptions of objectivity gain currency, and how are they connected to science’s authority in society? What is the proper place for human values—social, political, ethical—in scientific knowledge-making? We will draw on sources ranging from social histories of seventeenth-century science to contemporary debates in the philosophy of science, and we will consider case studies in science, technology, and public health to grapple with the dilemmas that arise. This course satisfies the Philosophy program’s Histories of Philosophy requirement. All majors are required to take two courses fulfilling this requirement, starting with the class of 2025.

 

Course:

PHIL 302  Philosophy Research Seminar

Professor:

Kathryn Tabb  

CRN:

15630

Schedule/Location:

   Thurs    3:10 PM – 5:30 PM Olin 305

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  

Credits: 4

 

Class cap: 18

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.

 

Course:

PHIL 306  The Philosophy Lab

Professor:

Kathryn Tabb  

CRN:

15631

Schedule/Location:

    Fri   3:30 PM –4:50 PM Olin 302

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  

Credits: 2

 

Class cap: 12

This two-credit course will focus on philosophy as a discipline, with special attention to questions of inclusion and access. Students will meet biweekly to discuss readings on the current state of the profession and its history, to learn about what life as a philosopher looks like at the post-graduate and professional levels, and to contribute to the community of the program. This last component might include choosing speakers for the annual Speaker Series, organizing events for the Philosophy Salon, managing the Philosophy Study Room, and participating in a mentoring program. Written work will include response papers as well as other short assignments. This class is open to all moderated students in Philosophy or by permission of the instructor.

 

Course:

PHIL 360  Feminist Philosophy

Professor:

Daniel Berthold  

CRN:

15632

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      3:10 PM – 5:30 PM Olin 309

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value D+J Difference and Justice

Credits: 4

 

Class cap: 16

Crosslists: Gender and Sexuality Studies; Human Rights

The course will examine a variety of feminist philosophical approaches to issues surrounding modern culture’s production of images of sexuality and gender.  Some background readings will provide a sketch of a diverse range of feminist theoretical frameworks – liberal, socialist, radical, psychoanalytic, and postmodern – with readings from Alison Jaggar, Simone de Beauvoir, Annie Leclerc, Christine Delphy, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, Sarah Kofman, and Hélène Cixous.  We will then turn to an exploration of 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 (dieting, exercise, clothing, bodily comportment), issues of rape, sexual violence and harassment, pornography, and feminist perspectives of different ethnic groups.  We will also screen a number of films and videos, 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, anorexia, rape on campus, the pornographic film industry, and several others.

 

Course:

PHIL 363  Ethics with Aristotle

Professor:

Jay Elliott  

CRN:

15633

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     11:50 AM – 1:10 PM Olin 306

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  

Credits: 4

 

Class cap: 15

During the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, philosophers have been increasingly drawn to the work of a revolutionary thinker whose ideas have come to dominate much of contemporary Anglophone ethics. Who is this thinker? Aristotle. Yes, that Aristotle, a guy who died over two thousand years ago and whose ideas are available to us only in the form of notoriously obscure jottings in ancient manuscripts. In this course, we will study in depth Aristotle’s most influential ethical work, Nicomachean Ethics, while also encountering a range of thinkers who represent his contemporary influence. Some questions we will consider are: What is distinctive about Aristotle’s approach to ethics? What contribution might its central concepts, such as virtue, happiness, pleasure, friendship, and luck, make to our thinking? How can we adapt Aristotle’s ideas to our very different social and political context? Can we engage productively with Aristotle despite the infamously problematic aspects of his work, such as his endorsement of aristocracy, slavery and patriarchy? Might Aristotle even be valuable for contemporary feminist or socialist critique? How might an encounter with this strange and difficult philosopher help us to overcome the categories and assumptions that constrain our thinking? We will also experiment with doing ethics for ourselves using Aristotelian concepts and methods. This course fulfills the Junior Seminar requirement for Philosophy majors. Students majoring in Philosophy are required to take at least one Junior Seminar after moderation and before graduating.

 

Course:

PHIL 385  Philosophy of Wittgenstein

Professor:

Garry Hagberg  

CRN:

15634

Schedule/Location:

Mon       3:10 PM – 5:30 PM Olin 305

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  

Credits: 4

 

Class cap: 15

A first reading of major works of one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth-century, Ludwig Wittgenstein. Readings: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, The Blue Book, and The Philosophical Investigations. This course fulfills the single-philosopher requirement for junior philosophy majors.

 

Cross-listed courses:

Course:

HR 235  Dignity and the Human Rights Tradition

Professor:

Roger Berkowitz  

CRN:

15610

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     11:50 AM – 1:10 PM Olin 202

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  

Credits: 4

 

Class cap 22

Crosslists: Philosophy; Political Studies

 

Course:

HR 384  The Great Divide: Human vs. Nature in the Question of Human Rights

Professor:

Oscar Pedraza Vargas

CRN:

15673

Schedule/Location:

Mon       3:10 PM – 5:30 PM 

Distributional Area:

SA Social Analysis D+J Difference and Justice

Credits: 4

 

Class cap 6

Crosslists: Environmental & Urban Studies; Philosophy

 

Course:

CC 108 B The Courage to be:  The Face of the Other

Professor:

Joshua Boettiger  

CRN:

15984

Schedule/Location:

Mon   Thurs    1:30 PM - 2:50 PM Olin 307

Distributional Area:

MBV Meaning, Being, Value  LA Literary Analysis in English  

Credits: 4

 

Class cap: 16

Crosslists: Jewish Studies, Philosophy, Religion

 

Course:

MES/PS 302  Muslim Political Thought and Anticolonialism

Professor:

Pinar Kemerli  

CRN:

15681

Schedule/Location:

    Fri   12:30 PM – 2:50 PM Olin 305

Distributional Area:

SA Social Analysis  

Credits: 4

 

Class cap 15

Crosslists: Global & International Studies; Human Rights; Philosophy; Political Studies; Study of Religions