Aesthetic problems that arise in studying or practicing an art. prereq: 3502

Aesthetic problems that arise in studying or practicing an art. prereq: 3502

Philosophical basis for membership in moral community. Theories applied to specific problems (e.g., vegetarianism, wilderness preservation). Students defend their own reasoned views about moral relations between humans, animals, and nature.

What is law? Must true laws be just? When (if ever) are civil disobedience or legal punishment morally justified? Do good laws incorporate (or legislate) morality? Consider and debate these issues using philosophical texts, case law, and the occasional novel.

Moral problems confronting physicians, patients, and others concerned with medical treatment, research, and public health policy. Topics include abortion, living wills, euthanasia, genetic engineering, informed consent, proxy decision-making, and allocation of medical resources.

One feature of life in modern society is the presence of deep moral disagreement. Individuals must decide what actions are right, and societies must make political choices. How do we know what the right answer is? Which answers and approaches are rationally defensible? Philosophical reflection, rational argument, and systematic analysis can help us think about these problems more clearly and arrive at answers that are both useful and intellectually satisfying. This course will address various rotating topics, such as abortion, animal rights, criminal punishment, censorship, personal relationships, affirmative action, and other active areas of moral and social concern.

How do we determine what is right and wrong? How should we live our lives? What do we owe others? Moral/ethical thought applied to problems and public disputes (e.g., capital punishment, abortion, affirmative action, animal rights, same-sex marriage, environmental protection).

Nature and justification of moral judgments and moral principles; analysis of representative moral views.

One feature of life in modern society is the presence of deep moral disagreement. Individuals must decide what actions are right, and societies must make political choices. How do we know what the right answer is? Which answers and approaches are rationally defensible? Philosophical reflection, rational argument, and systematic analysis can help us think about these problems more clearly and arrive at answers that are both useful and intellectually satisfying. This course will address various rotating topics, such as abortion, animal rights, criminal punishment, censorship, personal relationships, affirmative action, and other active areas of moral and social concern.

Is human nature fundamentally selfish or are we sympathetic creatures? What is free will and do we have it? Do moral principles have a rational basis or are our moral judgments expressions of feelings? Should morality be thought of in terms of acting on principle or producing good outcomes? We will focus on these and other questions as they are explored in primary texts from the early modern history of western philosophy. prereq: 1003 or instr consent

Intensive consideration of an author or theory in the history of moral or political philosophy. prereq: 1003 or instr consent

Is morality objective, just a matter of feeling, or something in between? How do we know even the most basic of moral truths? Do I always have a reason to do what is moral? What motivates people to be moral and why do some people behave immorally? This class looks at these and related questions in metaethics, moral psychology, and other areas of contemporary moral theory. prereq: 1003 or instr consent

Critical discussion of concepts such as knowledge, objectivity, justification, rationality, evidence, authority, expertise, and trust in relation to the norms and privileges of gender, race, class, and other social categories.

What are minds and mental states (like desires and beliefs)? How are these different from brains and brain states? Should scientific explanation abandon any appeal to the mental (like behaviorism) or can we offer a scientific account of mind? prereq: One course in philosophy or psychology

Broadly speaking, metaphysics is the study of the nature of reality. Metaphysical questions include questions about what kinds of things exist, what is the nature of things, what are persons, what is possible or impossible, what is the nature of time, what is causality, and many other fundamental questions about the world. The aim of this course is to introduce students to some of the central questions of metaphysics to investigate some of their answers. prereq: One course in history of philosophy or instr consent

Epistemology is the study of knowledge. Epistemological questions include questions about the nature of knowledge, the difference between knowledge and true belief, the nature of justification, and the structure of our knowledge about the world. Epistemology is also centrally concerned with understanding and responding to arguments for skepticism, the view that we do not know anything about the world around us. The aim of this course is to introduce students to the some of the main problems of epistemology and to investigate some of their solutions. prereq: 1001 or instr consent

Theories of reference, linguistic truth, relation of language/thought, translation/synonymy. prereq: 1001 or 5201 or instr consent

In "Philosophical Investigations" Wittgenstein challenged some of the most long-standing and entrenched intuitions of philosophers -- basic intuitions about mind, rationality, linguistic understanding, and the very nature of philosophical/conceptual inquiry. Many of these intuitions remain entrenched and Wittgenstein's challenge is as relevant today as it was in 1950. In Phil 4805 we examine the text and the secondary literature, and do so in the light of issues and debates that continue to demand attention.

Major developments in ancient Greek philosophic thought: pre-Socrates, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Hellenistic thinkers.

Can anything be known beyond a shadow of a doubt? How ought scientific knowledge be discovered and justified? In what does one's identity as a person consist? How does our human nature affect the way that we conceive of and come to know the world? This course examines the momentous intellectual transformations in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries that inspired such questions and their innovative solutions.

Immanuel Kant has long been recognized as a particularly systematic thinker, one who wrote foundational texts in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, politics, aesthetics, religion, teleology, and anthropology, which still resonate and influence contemporary thought. This course studies the wide breadth of Kant's philosophical system, paying especial attention to its relevance today. prereq: 3005 or 4004 or instr consent

History of logical empiricism, from its European origins in first half of 20th century to its emergence as nearly universal account of science in post-war Anglo-American philosophy. prereq: instr consent

Major work of selected ancient philosophers (e.g., Plato's Parmenides, Plato's Sophist, Aristotle's Metaphysics). Works discussed may vary from offering to offering. prereq: 3001 or instr consent

Major work of selected ancient philosophers (e.g., Plato's Parmenides, Plato's Sophist, Aristotle's Metaphysics). Works discussed vary. prereq: 3001 or instr consent

Study of syntax and semantics of sentential and first-order logic. Symbolization of natural-language sentences and arguments. Development of deductive systems for first-order logic. Metatheoretic proofs and methods, including proof by mathematical induction and proof of consistency and completeness. prereq: 1001 or instr consent

Elements of set theory, including the concepts of enumerability and nonenumerability. Turing machines and recursive functions; the results of Church, Godel, and Tarski and the philosophical significance of those results. prereq: 5201 or instr consent

Axiomatic and semantic treatment of propositional and predicate modal logics; problems of interpreting modal languages. prereq: 5201 or instr consent

In this course, we will look at some of the central topics in philosophical logic, concentrating on issues that motivate the introduction of various non-classical logics as alternatives to the standard classical account of logical consequence. Topics covered include (but are not limited to) the Liar paradox, vagueness, the paradoxes of relevance, and intuitionism. prereq: 5202 or instr consent

Major philosophical questions arising in connection with mathematics. What is mathematics about? How do we know the mathematics we do? What is the relation between mathematics and the natural sciences? Selected readings of leading contributors such as Frege, Dedekind, Russell, Hilbert, Brouwer, Godel, Quine. prereq: College level logic or mathematics course or instr consent

What is law? Must true laws be just? When (if ever) are civil disobedience or legal punishment morally justified? Do good laws incorporate (or legislate) morality? Consider and debate these issues using philosophical texts, case law, and the occasional novel.

What is justice, understood as a central virtue of our social (e.g., political and legal) institutions? What does justice require in the political realm and what kind of state is best suited to achieve it? Ideally, what image of the just state should regulate our behavior? How do the requirements of justice change, if they do, in non-ideal circumstances, such as in cases of noncompliance with the law or in the context of violent conflict (e.g., in war)? This course is intended to provide upper-level undergraduates and philosophy graduate students with a selective survey of important work in contemporary theory of justice that addresses such questions. prereq: 1003 or 1004 or instr consent

Works in political philosophy, whether historical or more contemporary, are one central element of the study of philosophy more broadly. As we will address these works, and the issues and concepts they take up, they fall within the larger field of moral philosophy. Like other works in this broad category, discussion in political philosophy typically consider both metaethical and normative questions. Metaethical questions concern the concepts we use as we consider matters of right and wrong or of ethical value. In the realm of political philosophy, authors consider rightness, wrongness and ethical value as they bear on political societies and political leaders, and not only on citizens but on non-citizens who experience the effects of political power. Examples of such questions include: What is justice? What is political power? What are freedom, equality and autonomy? Normative questions, by contrast, concern matters of practice. In the context of moral and political philosophy, they are typically questions about what we must do or refrain from doing if we are to act rightly (as opposed to prudently or efficiently for instance). Examples in the political realm include: What are just standards of criminal punishment? What obligations does a just state have to citizens and to non-citizen residents? What right, if any, do citizens and others have to protest state laws, policies and actions? What rights can citizens or others claim to equality under the law? What grounds or justifies our responses to such questions? Over the course of this semester, we will read both canonical texts in the history of political philosophy and pieces by a variety of authors who are less well known. Our aim will be to improve our ability to understand broad claims and more nuanced points, to compare and critically assess contrasting views, and to appreciate the ways in which political philosophers often draw or expand on others' works even as they challenge them. We will also be working towards improvements in the difficult task of explaining and supporting claims and analyses, in short written pieces, longer essays and oral discussions. prereq: 1004 or instr consent

Analytical accounts of law and legal obligation. prereq: 1003 or 1004 or 3302 or social science major or instr consent

Science influences us daily, shaping how we understand ourselves and interpret nature. This course is an introduction to how scientists reason about the world, what that means for our lives, and the status of science as a human activity. What is science and what?s so great about it? Is science the ultimate authority on the world and our place in it? This course examines the authority of science, how scientists reason, and science?s status as a human activity. prereq: One course in philosophy or natural science

Philosophical problems concerning nature/structure of space, time, and space-time. prereq: Courses in [philosophy or physics] or instr consent

Biology dominates the landscape of contemporary scientific research, and yet "biology" consists of a variety of different disciplinary approaches: from protein biochemistry to field ecology, from developmental biology to evolutionary genetics. Many philosophical issues can be found in the concepts and practices of life science researchers from these different disciplines. What is the structure of evolutionary theory? What is a gene? What are the units of selection? What is an individual? What counts as a "cause"? What is the relationship between evolution and development? Are all biological phenomena reducible to genes or molecules? What are adaptations, and how do we identify them? What is an ecological niche? Is there a progressive trend in the history of life? Is there such a thing as 'human nature'? This course is an introduction to these and other related issues in the biological sciences with an emphasis on their diversity and heterogeneity. It is designed for advanced undergraduates with an interest in conceptual questions and debates in biology that are manifested across a variety of majors (e.g., animal science; anthropology; biochemistry; biology, society and environment; biosystems and agricultural engineering; chemistry; ecology, evolution and behavior; genetics, cell biology and development; microbiology; neuroscience; physiology; plant biology; psychology). Some of these issues will appear familiar from previous coursework or opportunities, whereas new issues will be intriguing because of their similarities and differences with those that have been encountered in other contexts.

History of logical empiricism, from its European origins in first half of 20th century to its emergence as nearly universal account of science in post-war Anglo-American philosophy. prereq: instr consent

Philosophical theories of methods for evaluating scientific hypotheses. Role of experimentation in science. How hypotheses are accepted within scientific community.

Philosophical problems concerning nature/structure of space, time, and space-time. prereq: Courses in [philosophy or physics] or instr consent

Problems of interpretation in ordinary (nonrelativistic) quantum mechanics. Two-slit experiment, Schrodinger cat paradox (measurement problem), Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox. Leading approaches to interpretation (Copenhagen, hidden variables, universal wave function) and their connections with philosophical issues.