Philosophy Course Descriptions for Spring 2014
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PHI 260-001 History of Philosophy I: From Greek Beginnings to the Middle Ages - DiRado TR 2:00-3:15 An introductory study of the development of Western philosophy from ancient through late medieval times including systematic work in logic, metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics by such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas
PHI 270-001 History of Philosophy II: From the Renaissance to the Present Era –Breazeale MWF 2:00-2:50pm The object of this course is to survey some of the major developments in the history of western philosophy from the end of the Renaissance until the beginning of the nineteenth century, with an emphasis upon questions concerning reality, knowledge, reality, the status of philosophy itself – i.e. What is truly real? How can know what is real? What is the nature of this kind of inquiry into knowledge and reality? What kind of “evidence” counts in philosophy? We will explore these issues by means of extensive readings from primary sources (in English translation), including excerpts from the writings of Montaigne, Bacon, Descartes, Locke, Spinoza, Berkeley, Leibniz, Hume, and Kant.
Please note that we will be covering a large amount of sometimes difficult material over the course of this semester and that we will be doing so at a rather rapid and constant rate. This is a CHALLENGING course, and it is therefore ESSENTIAL that each student keep up with the daily reading assignments, as indicated on the following syllabus and be prepared to take advantage of each class meeting. Students unable or unwilling to meet this requirement should either drop this class now or be prepared to accept the consequences. Required Text Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources, ed. Roger Ariew and Eric Watkins, 2nd ed. (Hackett) Paperback $44. 978-0872209787 [= A&W].
PHI 300-001 Special Topics in Philosophy: History and Philosophy of Ecology –Sandmeyer TR 12:30-1:45 In this class we will study the history of the ecological idea from its earliest formulations to the contemporary scientific articulation. We will also study a number of important questions in ecology. Does ecology have its own methodology? In what sense is it a science? What sort of entities does it study? What do the terms community, niche, diversity, and stability actually mean? What does it mean to restore an ecosystem?
PHI 305-001 Healthcare Ethics – Lusky TR 12:30-1:45pm A consideration of the ethical issues and difficult choices generated or made acute by advances in biology, technology and medicine. Typical issues include: informed consent, healer-patient relationships, truth telling, confidentiality, problem of birth defects, abortion, placebos and health, allocation of scarce medical resources, genetic research and experimentation, cost containment in health care, accountability of health care professionals, care of the dying and death.
PHI 305-002 Healthcare Ethics - Affolter MWF 9:00-9:50am PHI 305-003 Healthcare Ethics – Affolter MWF 11:00-11:50am In this course, students will study a number of ethical issues commonly faced by people working in health care, including related areas of research. The course will cover a number of professional issues, such as informed consent, decision-making for incompetent patients, fair access to health care, and an extended treatment of end-of-life issues. The course will also include a strong emphasis on techniques for carrying on discussions about ethics, both in person and in writing.
PHI 310-001 Philosophy of Human Nature – Harmon MWF 1:00-1:50pm A course introducing philosophy at the upper division level which studies various issues involved in analyzing what it means to be human, in the interest of developing a coherent conception of man. Answers will be sought to questions like these: Is there a human nature? What would differentiate the properly human from the nonhuman? What kind of relations tie a human being to environment, society, and history?
PHI 310-002 Philosophy of Human Nature - Perreiah TR 12:30-1:45pm This course explores the range of ideas that philosophers have proposed about what a human being is. We will read selections from the writings of major thinkers from both Asian and Western cultures, from Ancient, Medieval and Modern times.
PHI 315-001 Philosophy and Science Fiction –Blackburn TR 3:30-4:45pm The aim of this course is to address some of the fundamental questions of metaphysics, epistemology and ethics through a comparison of works of philosophy and science fiction. This course will provide an entrance to the world of philosophy for undergraduates who enjoy this literary genre and desire an opportunity to reflect upon and discuss the issues therein.
PHI 320-001 Symbolic Logic I – DiRado MWF 12:00-12:50pm This course provides a systematic study of sentential logic, elementary quantification, and the logic of identity. The student will acquire the specific skills in symbolic methods of analysis which are necessary for further study in logic as well as useful in addressing complex issues in philosophy and other areas.
PHI 330-001 Ethics – Catlin TR 9:30-10:45am Of fundamental significance to the study of ethics are questions pertaining to human relationships. Given that we inhabit the world alongside other individuals, how should I regard myself and these others? Is cultivating an ethical life best viewed as a task for the individual alone, or should this project be pursued in community? Are all actions ultimately self-interested or is altruism possible? Do I owe anything to others? If so, which others? Does anything besides species-survival motivate human relationships? What are the distinguishing characteristics of friendship? When I love someone, what, exactly, do I love? We will approach these questions through a variety of philosophical frameworks (Virtue Ethics, Stoicism, Ethical Egoism, etc) and will read philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Seneca, Aquinas, Rousseau, Nietzsche, Rand, and others. Our focus: the ethics of interpersonal relationships. PHI 334-001 Business Ethics - Jones MWF 11:00-11:50am PHI 334-002 Business Ethics - Buchanan TR 9:30-10:45am PHI 334-003 Business Ethics – Buchanan TR 2:00-3:15pm An introduction to moral problems that arise in contemporary business practice and the ethical frameworks proposed to resolve them. Topics will include areas such as truth-telling and integrity; social responsibility; property rights and their limitations; and justice in personnel and labor practices.
PHI 335-001 The Individual and Society –Jones MWF 12:00am-12:50pm This course provides an examination of several incompatible views concerning the relation between the individual and society, including radical individualism and collectivism, as well as more moderate theories. Attention will be given to contemporary as well as classical spokesmen for these views and emphasis will be placed upon relating these theories to contemporary social, cultural, and political issues.
PHI 335-002 The Individual and Society - Affolter MWF 1:00-1:50am The goal of this course is to help students understand the ideas behind several major strands of United States politics. To that end, we will study the moral justifications for a number of approaches to politics. In particular, we will consider the issues and ideas that lead people to become liberals, libertarians, conservatives, multiculturalists, feminisms, and communitarians. We will also examine how these different perspectives apply to controversies such as taxation, school funding, and health care.
PHI 337-001 Introduction to Legal Philosophy – Bird-Pollan TR 9:30-10:45pm The purpose of this course is to develop an understanding of the emergence of the philosophy of law out of political philosophy in the 18th and 19th Centuries. To this effect we will look at classics in the history of political philosophy from Hobbes to Kant and Hegel. We will then turn to Anglo-American legal philosophy, developing an understanding of the central issue in this debate, the clash between natural law and positive law in the famous Hart-Fuller debate. Finally, we will round out our understanding of law by looking at international law as a test case for the issue of positive law. PHI 343-001 Asian Philosophy - Perreiah TR 9:30-10:45am This course examines the principal philosophical ideas, values and social practices that have evolved in India, China, Japan and greater S.E. Asia from the 4th millennium B.C.E. to the present. We will study primary texts from the Hindu, Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist traditions in their cultural contexts as presented in a secondary text like Religions of Asia that is written from a modern social science perspective. Films, lectures as well as class discussion will help the student gain perspective on the background and development of those traditions.
PHI 350-001 Metaphysics and Epistemology – Carlson MWF 1:00-1:50pm This course will be an examination of fundamental issues in metaphysics and epistemology, such as causation, the nature of space and time, personal identity, free will, the existence of God, the nature and types of knowledge, the character of human existence, skepticism, and rationality
PHI 361-001 Biology and Society – Sandmeyer TR 2:00-3:15pm In this class we study the history and philosophy of the life-sciences beginning with Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, and Darwin. We'll conclude this historical study by examining some philosophical questions that arise in the wake of the modern synthesis of Darwinian evolutionary theory and modern genetics. For instance, is there something special about the life that distinguishes the material functioning of the organism from the other physical entities? Secondly, as we study the history and philosophy of biology, we will examine a number of controversies that have erupted during and as a consequence of this history, e.g., does the evolution of ever more complex organisms indicate a designer? Is race a biological concept? What are genetically modified organisms, how prevalent are they in our food system? How is our own pollution affecting the genetic structure of our organism, and does this signify a change in our nature?
PHI 380-001 Death, Dying and Quality of Life - Burchett MWF 1:00-1:50pm PHI 380-002 Death, Dying and Quality of Life -Burchett MWF 9:00-9:50am A philosophical and interdisciplinary investigation of a cluster of prominent issues about the meaning of life and death, caring for dying persons, and the quality of life of the terminally ill. Among topics included are: death definitions and criteria; allowing to die versus killing; euthanasia and suicide; life prolongation; ethics of care of the terminally ill; and rights of the dying.
PHI 509-001 Topics in Modern Philosophy: Becoming Nietzsche - Breazeale MWF 1:00-1:50pm In this class we will read and discuss, in strict chronological order, all of Friedrich Nietzsche's published writings, beginning with The Birth of Tragedy and concluding with Ecce Homo. We will generally ignore his literary remains or Nachlass (including the infamous Will to Power) and will pay scant attention to the past or present "reception" of his thought, to his "influence" on recent and contemporary movements of thought, or to the leading "interpretations" of the same. The emphasis will be on the systematic structure [sic?] and internal development of Nietzsche's thought. A special requirement of this class will be that each student will be expected to submit a short "reflection paper" for each and every meeting of the class, responding to the assigned reading for that day. A term paper will also be required of each student. Graduate students enrolled in this class will also be expected to write a short critical report on and evaluation of one leading work of Nietzsche interpretation. Note that an exceptionally large amount of reading and regular writing will be required in this class and that late papers will not be accepted; nor will any grades of "incomplete" be awarded in this class, except by explicit, prior arrangement. This is not a class for someone with a merely casual interest in Nietzsche. Required Texts: Basic Writings of Nietzsche, trans. Walter Kaufmann, ed. Peter Gay (Modern Library) 0679783393 [Includes Birth of Tragedy, Beyond Good and Evil, Toward the Genealogy of Morals, and The Case of Wagner]. The Portable Nietzsche, ed. Walter Kaufmann (Viking/Penguin) 0140150625 [Includes Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, and Nietzsche contra Wagner]. Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations, trans. R. J. Hollingdale, ed. Daniel Breazeale (Cambridge U.P.) 0521585848. Nietzsche, Human All Too Human: A Book For Free Spirits, trans. R. J. Hollingdale, ed. Richard Schacht (Cambridge U.P.) 0521567041 Nietzsche, Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality, trans. R. J. Hollingdale, ed. Brian Leiter (Cambridge U.P.) 0521599636 Nietzsche, The Gay Science, with a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs, trans. Walter Kaufmann (Vintage/Random House) 0394719859
PHI 516-001 Contemporary Philosophy: Phenomenological Directions – Bruzina TR 11:00-12:15pm Where did phenomenology come from? What is it supposed to be doing? Isn’t it long gone and haven’t all its good guys long ago died? Why should we study it in the 21st century? There’s lots of new stuff around! Well, if you want a short answer, let me simply start by saying: Right! Phenomenology’s beginning was more than a century ago, where it came from was the astonishing 19th century! (And what happened to it?) But the funny thing is that a whole continent takes for granted one of Husserl’s philosophic framework-settings, and now simply forgets that it isn’t so simple. Then, too, phenomenology is far enough in the past that some of the deepest errors the phenomenology guys tried to expose and correct are still running rampant. OK, so what was this little Husserl fellow up to? Let’s take a look in his Ideas for a Phenomenology and his The Crisis of European Sciences—the first from before World War I, and the second from right in the middle of the rise of Hitler’s National Socialism running up to World War II—and if you think those might be interesting situational contrasts, you’re absolutely right, even if they are so-o-o 20th century!* (*And situations as bloody as our own little wars and conflicts . . .) Then this Heidegger guy, the most brilliant lecturer in Germany and the Prophet of New Philosophy in the 1920’s and early 1930’s with his Being and Time, and for a great many still is—and I think deservedly. (Don’t ask what happened in the late 1930’s, the 1940’s, and the 1950’s! Well, actually Heidegger got himself a little involved in National Socialism . . .) Finally, those Frenchmen, Merleau-Ponty and Derrida—no, it’s not a matter of French fries and Parisian “Wild Life.” It’s a matter of anchoring phenomenology in its native soil: actual living in the real world, diving deeply into that world and drinking deeply from it, and coming out to think over what it’s all about—i.e., what we are all about. Oh yes, this is heavy reading, but your mental “muscles” might need the workout (oh this is so-o-o 21st century: “mind muscles,” i.e., neurons!!), but you might be surprised what reading Phenomenology of Perception and Of Grammatology can do for you. We’ll also do a lot of talking and a fair amount of writing. Come in and set down a while!
PHI 535-001 Social and Political Philosophy: From German Idealism to Historical Materialism: The Social/Political Philosophies of Kant, Fichte, Hegel , Marx and the Young Hegelians –Farr MWF 11:00-11:50 This course goes in the opposite direction of my “History of Western Marxism”. In that course we started with the work of Karl Marx and then examined the development of a philosophical movement called western Marxism. This movement was a response to and further development of the social/political philosophy of Marx. In this new course we will be concerned with some of the most important developments in social/political philosophy that preceded Marx. We will study three texts in social/political philosophy by three of the main representatives of German Idealism. We will begin with a collection of Kant’s social/political writings. This will be followed by a study of J.G. Fichte’s Foundations of Natural Right. This text is important as it represents one of the first attempts to deduce the idea of rights from intersubjectivity and mutual recognition. We will pay careful attention to the relationship between rights and the development of the State in Fichte’s theory. After Fichte, we will turn our attention to Hegel’s Elements of the Philosophy of Right. In many ways, this text represents Hegel’s attempt to correct what he thought were the failures of The Kantian and Fichtean systems. In this text we get an interesting critique of social contract theory as well as a more thorough theory of recognition and ethical life. Again, the role of the State will be important. Before going on to Marx we will read several short texts by the Young Hegelians. Many of Marx’s ideas were developed through his critique of Hegel and the Young Hegelians. Understanding Marx requires that we situate him within his context of development. That is the main objective of this course. We will conclude the semester by reading several writings by Marx. The works by Marx will represent his early and later period.
PHI 575-001 Philosophy of Mind – Batty TR 12:30-1:45pm This course is an examination of many of the central issues in the philosophy of mind. Questions we will consider are: Is the mind an immaterial thing? Is the mind the brain? Does the mind stand to the brain as a computer program stands to its hardware? How can creatures like us have thoughts that are “about” things and events in the world? Can consciousness be given a scientific explanation? What is the nature of our sensory experiences? In examining these questions, we will consider how conceptions of the mind have been influenced by changes in the broader scientific environment. We will see that, despite recent advances in the areas of neuroscience and cognitive science, pressing questions about the mind remain.
PHI 592-001 Aesthetics – Bird-Pollan TR 2:00-3:15pm This course will offer an advanced introduction to 20th Century aesthetics in the German tradition (1912-1960s). Starting with Kant’s ground breaking Critique of Judgment, and pausing briefly to examine Baudelaire’s theory of modernity, we will examine first Marxist aesthetics in the work of Lukacs, Eisenstein and Brecht before turning to critical theory approaches like those of Adorno and Benjamin. We will also examine Heidegger’s influential writings on aesthetics. The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with approaches to modern art: our main examples will come from film, literature and the visual arts. It is appropriate for any advanced undergraduate with an interest in aesthetics as well as to graduate students who wish to deepen their knowledge of this important period in the history of aesthetics.
PHI 630-001 Seminar in Value Theory: Bodily Autonomy - Superson T 4:30-7:00pm This course is about bodily autonomy and related issues. The topic spans many areas of philosophy, including normative ethics, medical ethics, feminist philosophy, metaphysics, philosophy of law, and social and political philosophy. What is bodily autonomy? Is it different from autonomy, and in what way? What does a right to bodily autonomy consist in? Is it more like a right to defend your body from things happening in and to it, or is it more like a right to do what you want with your body (e.g., selling body parts, surrogate motherhood, even “flaunting it”). Do we own our bodies or are we merely identified with our bodies? How does the law treat women’s bodies in comparison to men’s bodies? What, if anything, is so special about our bodies that makes the issue of bodily autonomy as significant as it is? What is the connection between the right to bodily autonomy and someone else’s using your own body for their own ends? Can you ever surrender your right to bodily autonomy, and under what circumstances? We will read two journal articles each week on topics such as the following that attempt to answer some of these questions: abortion, self-defense and what grounds it, the nature of your relationship with your body, the self, Good Samaritanism and duties regarding the body, bodily autonomy and its limits, objectification, rape, and feminist conceptions of autonomy. Each week, one student will be assigned to present a short, critical paper (5-7 pp.) on one of the readings (so, two presentations each class). Depending on the class size, there could also be a final paper. Grading will be based on papers (60%) and participation in discussions on your colleagues’ papers (40%).
*This course meets the 20th and 21st century requirement for graduate students in Philosophy.
PHI 650-001 Seminar in Metaphysics and Epistemology: Naturalism – Bradshaw M 4:30-7:00pm Naturalism is the view that all that exists is nature, understood as a closed system operating according to determinate natural laws. Naturalism denies the existence of gods, angels, spirits, Platonic Forms, Cartesian minds, Leibnizian monads, Hegelian Geist, and most other metaphysical exotica. It is often allied with empiricism, understood as the view that knowledge derives primarily from sense experience, with religious skepticism, and with a deference to science as the paradigmatic form of knowledge. Questions regarding the truth of naturalism are pervasive throughout metaphysics, the philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of mathematics, and they also arise frequently in other fields such as ethics. Our aim in this course will be to read a broad sampling of some of the best work done in recent years on this subject. Readings will be drawn from authors such as Barry Stoud, John Dupré, Hilary Putnam, John McDowell, Jennifer Hornsby, Charles Parsons, Penelope Maddy, Thomas Nagel, Laurence BonJour, Tyler Burge, George Bealer, and E.J. Lowe. The course requirements will be two 10-12 page papers, a commentary on a classmate’s paper, and seminar presentations.
This course satisfies the M&E requirement for graduate students in Philosophy.
PHI 710-001 Seminar in Modern Philosophy: Problems from Kant: On Concepts and Judgments -- Look R 4:30-7:00pm This seminar will focus on the nature of concepts and judgments in Kant’s theoretical philosophy. We will examine Kant’s explanation of the origin and employment of general ideas; we will contrast that with Kant’s explanation of our ideas of singular things; and we will consider Kant’s view of the nature of judgment – both in claims of knowledge and in claims of taste. The seminar will have a historical aspect to it, for we will begin by considering the views of some important philosophical precursors to Kant – Leibniz, Locke and Wolff. And it will also have a systematic aspect insofar as we will compare Kant’s views to the views of some philosophers writing in the Kantian tradition – for example, Frege, Cassirer and, more recently, Sellars, McDowell and Brandom.
Required Texts: · Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, trans. Guyer & Wood, Cambridge, 1998. · Kant, Lectures on Logic, trans. Young, Cambridge, 1992. · Kant, Critique of the Power of Judgment, trans. Guyer & Matthews, Cambridge, 2000.
Supplementary readings will be made available on-line.
PHI 740-001 Proseminar on Teaching Methods – Bradshaw M 2:00-2:50pm This course is an introduction to teaching methods for graduate students.
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