PHIL 101A (Lecture: CRN 96269; TR 1005 – 1130)
INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY/DIETRICH
We will survey the great expanse of Western Philosophy, asking the big questions, and seeing if there are any answers. These questions not answerable by other forms of inquiry, e.g., math and science. They include: Is there an external world at all? If so, is there one or many? What is its nature? How do we distinguish morally right acts from morally wrong ones? Is it just individual preference, like favorite ice cream flavors? Is there a deity of some sort? If so, what, if anything, does this mean? If not, what does that mean? What does it mean, if anything, to be human, to be a human? Is the brain a computer? Do we have any special responsibilities towards other life on Earth or towards the Earth itself? Philosophy is difficult as well as upsetting to many students. Don't take the course if you are unwilling to question your most cherished beliefs. On the other hand, don't take the course if you don't have any cherished beliefs. This course is requires a lecture and a discussion. Discussions: All on Friday.
PHIL 101A: A01: CRN 94875; 0830 – 0930
A02: CRN 94876: 0940 – 1040
A03: CRN 94877; 1310 – 1410
A04: CRN 94878; 1420 – 1520
PHIL 122E (Lecture: CRN 12125; MW 1750 – 1920)
ELEMENTARY LOGIC/DIETRICH
This course will first introduce students to classical propositional and first-order, predicate logic. The focus will be on the formal, technical nature of reasoning and argumentation. Students will examine the structure of arguments and learn to detect valid and invalid arguments. Then we will turn our attention to non-classical logics, exploring the philosophical implications of logics that relax or abandon one or more classical assumptions, such as the assumption that a contradiction can never be true. Discussions: All on Friday.
PHIL 122E: A01: CRN 12126; 0830 – 0930 A04: CRN 12129; 1200 – 1300
A02: CRN 12127; 0830 – 0930 A05: CRN 96286; 1420 – 1520
A03: CRN 12128; 1050 – 1150 A06: CRN 96285; 1420 – 1520
PHIL 140S (CRN 96576; TR 0830 – 0955)
INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS/SAUCEDO
This course will provide an introduction to the three main theoretical schools of Western Ethics: deontology, virtue ethics and consequentialism. After studying these theoretical approaches we will look at alternatives, parallels and critiques of them from the Chinese and Buddhist philosophical traditions and from twentieth-century Feminist Ethics.
PHIL 142U (CRN 96395; TR 0830 – 0955)
INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY/PAYSON
Political philosophers raise basic questions about how human beings ought to live in relation to one another, the relation of the individual to society, and how to evaluate the institutions and social practices that order our collective lives. In this course we will examine major concepts in political philosophy, such as equality and liberty, and use philosophical tools of analysis to understand and respond to political issues such as global poverty and reproductive rights. Special attention will be given to feminist critiques and applications of core political philosophical concepts.
PHIL 146 (Lecture: CRN: 10471; TR 1005 – 1130)
LAW AND JUSTICE/BAR ON
The central issue for this course is the relation of law and justice. The course investigates this relation by exploring a few of its aspects through the reading of both classical/canonical and contemporary philosophical/theoretical texts. In addition to gaining familiarity with the texts read in the course, students will become familiar with and develop their abilities as critical readers, and learn to recognize arguments, as well as develop their own. Discussions: All on Friday.
PHIL 146: A01: CRN 10474; 0830 – 0930 A06: CRN 10479; 1200 – 1300
A02: CRN 10475; 0830 – 0930 A07: CRN 10480; 1200 – 1300
A03: CRN 10476; 0940 – 1040 A08: CRN 10481; 1310 – 1410
A04: CRN 10477; 1050 – 1150 A09: CRN 10485; 1420 – 1520
A05: CRN 10478; 1050 – 1150 A10: CRN 10487; 1420 – 1520
PHIL 148A (Lecture: CRN 91251; MW 0830 – 0930)
MEDICAL ETHICS/GOTLIB
This course provides an introduction to a philosophical exploration of moral commitments and conflicts arising at the intersection of medical theory, practice, and policy. We will engage in the analysis of concepts of health and disease, problems surrounding life-and-death decisions, issues of professional and client relationships, as well as the difficulties involved in the allocation and rationing of limited resources. Topics to be discussed may include patient rights and autonomy, informed consent, assisted suicide, genetic therapy, HIV/AIDS, and others. You need to register for a discussion in addition to the lecture. Discussions: all on Friday.
PHIL 148A: A01: CRN 91252; 0830 – 0930 A06: CRN 91257; 1200 – 1300
A02: CRN 91253; 0830 – 0930 A07: CRN 91258; 1310 – 1410
A03: CRN 91254; 0940 – 1040 A08: CRN 91259; 1310 – 1410
A04: CRN 91255; 1050 – 1150 A09: CRN 91260; 1420 – 1520
A05: CRN 91256; 1200 – 1300 A10: CRN 91261; 1420 – 1520
PHIL 201A (Lecture: CRN 95226; TR 0830 – 0955)
PLATO AND ARISTOTLE/PREUS
Introduction to Greek Philosophy to 323 BCE. Brief introduction to philosophy before Socrates; more extensive study of Socratic dialogues and Plato’s philosophy; general introduction to Aristotle’s ethics, politics, theory of language, science and metaphysics. For majors and non-majors. Many short quizzes and three equal essay exams. Two lectures, one discussion section per week. No prerequisites or co-requisites. This course is appropriate for first year students.
You need to register for a discussion in addition to the lecture. Discussions: all on Friday.
PHIL 201A: A01: CRN 95228; 0830 – 0930 A05: CRN 95233; 1310 – 1410
A02: CRN 95229; 0940 – 1040 A06: CRN 95234; 1420 – 1520
A03: CRN 95231; 1050 – 1150 A07: CRN 95235; 1420 – 1520
A04: CRN 95232; 1200 – 1300
PHIL 201B (Lecture: CRN 95236; TR 0830 – 0955)
PLATO AND ARISTOTLE/PREUS
Introduction to Greek Philosophy to 323 BCE. Brief introduction to philosophy before Socrates; more extensive study of Socratic dialogues and Plato’s philosophy; general introduction to Aristotle’s ethics, politics, theory of language, science and metaphysics. For majors and non-majors. Many short quizzes, weekly reading reports, revised for portfolio. Two or three oral presentations, with peer critiques. Two lectures, one discussion section per week. The section is taught by the lecturer. Permission by instructor required.
PHIL 201B: A01: CRN 95237; W 0830 – 0955
PHIL 373 (Lecture: CRN 90729; M 0830 – 1130)/AAAS 375 (Lecture: CRN 90973; M 0830 – 1130) /Coli 321P (Lecture: CRN 91380; M 0830 – 1130)/
Pic 280F (Lecture: CRN 92322; M 0830 – 1130)/Womn 312A (Lecture: CRN 92323; M 0830 – 1130)
NEGOTIATING CONTEMPORARY ‘ASIA’/ALLEN
Is ‘Asia’ a narrative of one’s own making? Can it ever be? Contemporary ‘Asia’, not as simply given, but as constantly in formation through multi-layered narratives of continent, nation, diaspora, colonization and globalization, is the focus of the course.
How is contemporary ‘Asia’ produced, if it is, by the poetics and politics of how we know, remember, imagine? by the tensions, upheavals, and shifts of power and meaning that these activities engender? Where cultural, economic, and artistic interpretations of ‘Asia’ offered by new generations produce a plurality of ‘Asias’, what sorts of differences does that make?
The class will emphasize recent transnational feminist, queer, and diasporic theory and cultural interpretation, film, new media technologies, and activist practices by writers and visual artists such as Amitava Kumar, Rey Chow, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Deepa Mehta, Myung Mi Kim, Shirin Neshat, Gayatri Spivak, and Kim Soo-Ja. Prerequisites: One course in Philosophy or one course in Asian Studies, Women’s Studies, Africana Studies, or Latin American & Caribbean Studies. Texts: (All items are in the reserve room, @ indicates electronic reserve) David Henry Hwang, “Trying to Find Chinatown” @ Karen Tei Yamashita, Circle K Cycles Amitava Kumar, Bombay--London--New York Chris Berry, Fran Martin, Audrey Yue, Mobile Cultures: New Media in Queer Asia Ayu Utama, “Ayu Utami: Activist in New York” @ Myung Mi Kim, Commons Rey Chow, “Larry Feign, Ethnographer of a ‘Lifestyle’” & “On Chineseness as a Theoretical Problem” @; “The Secrets of Ethnic Abjection” @ & “Postscript Jananne Al-Ami, “Acting Out” @ Trinh T. Minh-ha, “The Veil Image” @ Elenita Daño, “ASEAN’s Emergency Rice Reserve Schemes: Current Developments and Prospects for Engagement” @ Apinan Poshyananda, Thai-Tanic: Thai Art in the Age of Constraint and Coercion @ Fawzia Afzal-Khan, “Seherezade Goes West” @ Requirements
Class participation 10% Midterm 30% Portfolio 20% Final project 30% Small group presentation 10%
PHIIL 380H (Lecture: CRN 96325; W 1340 – 1640)/afst 380S (Lecture: CRN 13164; W 1340 – 1640)
AFRICAN-AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY/TESSMAN
This course surveys works in African American Philosophy. Themes include: slavery and freedom; Black nationalism; assimilation; racism, and social and political justice; gender and sexuality in relation to race. Twice during the semester, students will form reading groups to read more work by an author whose work we will have read a bit of, and students will develop their paper topics based on what they have read and discussed in the reading groups. Prerequisites: One course in Philosophy
PHIL 435J (Lecture: CRN 96400; W 1340 – 1640)/PHIL 550C (Lecture: CRN 96401; W 1340 – 1640)
WITTGENSTEIN/GUAY
Wittgenstein’s late, mostly-finished masterpiece Philosophical Investigations begins with topics appropriate to the philosophy of language, such as the nature of reference. The treatment of linguistic meaning merges, however, into a novel discussion of rationality, social practices, and the aims of philosophy. We shall read Part I of the Investigations, discussing topics such as ostension, rule-following, and the nature of the privacy or the “inner.” Then we shall consider some implications of Wittgenstein’s ideas for the study of ethics and society through readings from Cavell, McDowell, Diamond, Johnston, Pitkin, Eldridge, O’Connor, Bloor, and Winch. Required text: Philosophical Investigations (ISBN 1405159286, $35). Other required readings will be available on-line. You are also recommended to acquire a commentary on the text, such as McGinn (0415111919), Stern (0521891329), Hacker and Baker (4 vol.), or Pears (0674539516).Prerequisites: Two courses in Philosophy
PHIL 440B (Lecture 96575; R 1340 – 1640)/PHIL 545A (Lecture 96584; R 1340 – 1640)
AMERICAN PRAGMATISM/FRIEDMAN
This reading-intensive seminar will trace the understanding and presentation of the categories of religion and religious experience from some of the central figures in the Unitarian and Transcendentalist movements through more recent American philosophers. We will examine the relation of the individual to nature, the location and definition of divinity, the place of dogma, as well as the notions of nature, faith, and community in the writings of the classical American philosophers, including Channing, Marsh, Emerson, James, and Dewey. In the process, we will trace out some of the family resemblances in the American philosophical tradition, and explore how one generation inherits, interprets, and recasts the American philosophical tradition, and explore how one generation inherits, interprets, and recasts the problems and questions of another.
We will begin by tracing some of the religious and philosophical roots of Transcendentalism in nineteenth century American thought. We will explore the influences of the Unitarian minister William Ellery Channing and the philosopher and President of the University of Vermont, James Marsh, on RW Emerson. Transcendentalism may be seen as emerging from or motivated by changes and conflicts in Unitarian thought. Marsh’s introduction to the American edition of Coleridge’s Aids to Reflection, sparked a romanticism and idealism in a generation of thinkers, including Emerson.
We will also focus on the central, classical texts in American Pragmatism, William James’s Pragmatism and the Meaning of Truth, and The Will to Believe and John Dewey’s Reconstruction. Finally, we will review the work of a series of critics (Royce, Santayana, West, Rorty, Stout) of James and Dewey, who argue against their presentations of truth and experience from a variety of perspectives.
Learning Objectives
To give students a solid background in classical American philosophical and religious thought, with an emphasis on the place and function of religion and religious experience in American Pragmatism. Prerequisites: Two courses in Philosophy
PHIL 455 (Lecture: CRN: 90771; TR 1625 – 1750)
ADVANCED PHILOSOPHY OF LAW/REEVES
An examination of the relationships between constitutionalism, democracy, and the rule of law. Close attention will be paid to various justifications of each and what these justifications suggest about the proper methods of legal reasoning and legal interpretation. Consideration will also be given to the role of courts in the modern state and the legitimacy of judicial review. Prerequisite: Philosophy 345.
PHIL 456E (Lecture: CRN 16369; TR 0830 – 0955)
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND JUSTICE/REEVES
An examination of the some central topics in international justice and the proper role of international law in pursuing international justice. Consideration will be given to questions of warfare, intervention, personal responsibility for war crimes, international distributive justice, the nature of international law, the significance of international law for international agents, and the legitimate scope of international regulation. Prerequisites: two courses in philosophy, of which one is a course in social, ethical or legal philosophy.
PHIL 457E (Lecture: CRN 16457; TR 1315 – 1440)
PROBLEMS: LAW AND MORALITY: LIBERTY AND JUSTICE/REEVES
In this course, we will examine recent philosophical reflection on the nature of political liberty and distributive justice. Two questions will be our focus throughout. First, how far may a state legitimately regulate our affairs through law? Second, what is it for a state to be just and how far may it pursue, through legal mechanisms, distributive justice? A variety of approaches to these questions will be considered, including liberal, communitarian, libertarian, Marxist, and feminist accounts. Prerequisites: two courses in philosophy, of which one is a course in social, ethical or legal philosophy.
PHIL 457G (Lecture: CRN 16461; TR 1005 – 1130)/Envi 481G (Lecture: CRN 46634; TR 1005 – 1130)
SUSTAINABILITY/KNAPP
This seminar will focus on a philosophical analysis of sustainability and its relationship to environmental ethics and policy. Prerequisites: two courses in philosophy, of which one is a course in social, ethical or legal philosophy.
PHIL 458K (Lecture: CRN 96393; W1340 – 1440)
EQUALITY, JUSTICE, FREEDOM AND POWER IN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY/ZINKIN
This course will be a survey of the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Machiavelli, Locke, Rousseau, Marx Mill and Arendt. We will read these texts closely and attempt to gain a deep understanding of their answers to many of the basic questions of politics, such as the nature of human freedom, the most just way to organize a state, the nature of political power, the basis of human equality. Prerequisites: two courses in philosophy, of which one is a course in social, ethical or legal philosophy.
PHIL 508 (Lecture: CRN 10598; T 1340 – 1640)
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THEORY/PENSKY
This course explores recent and contemporary philosophy of political justice, through an intensive reading of the works of John Rawls (A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism) and two recent comprehensive works offering criticisms of Rawls' theory and serious alternative theories of justice: Amartya Sen's The Idea of Justice, and Gerald Cohen's Rescuing Justice and Equality. In addition to these book-length works we will explore associated topics in contemporary political theory through shorter readings of articles collected in the Oxford Handbook of Political Theory. This course is restricted to first-year students in the Philosophy Department's graduate program in Social, Political, Ethical and Legal Philosophy. Course requirements: regular attendance and participation in course discussions, final examination, research paper.
PHIL 605C (Lecture: CRN 96376; M 1340 – 1640)
CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST ETHICS/TESSMAN
This course will focus on several recent works in feminist ethics, and consider their implications for the field of ethics more generally. Open to graduate students in the SPEL Philosophy program; open to other graduate students by permission.
PHIL 605D (Lecture: CRN 96369; R 1340 – 1640)
METAETHICS/KNAPP
This seminar will focus on issues in contemporary metaethics, and by extension, moral epistemology. We will read and analyze works defending: moral realism and anti-realism; naturalism and non-naturalism; objectivism and constructivism; and absolutism and relativism.
PHIL 650C (Lecture: CRN 96381; M 1750 – 2050
THE IMAGINATION/ZINKIN
This course will be a survey of the imagination in the history of philosophy. We will read Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Hegel,
Schelling, Hiedegger, Wolheim and others on the imagination.
Although most of these writers are not known primarily for their views on the imagination, this does not mean that the imagination does not play a crucial role in their theory of human mental activity. In fact, we will see what many of these philosophers failed themselves to see, that the imagination is central to our ability to interact with the world. Through a study of these philosophers, we will try to get clear about what exactly the imagination is. Is it the faculty for producing fantasies? Mental images? Is it the faculty of memory? Of time itself? We will also explore the role that the imagination plays in our aesthetic relation to the world. Prerequisite, Philosophy 202.
Other Courses Cross Listed with Philosohpy
Phil 180A (CRN 17345; TR 1005 – 1130)/WOMN 100 (CRN 10178; TR 1005 – 1130)
INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN’S STUDIES/KYLE
An interdisciplinary approach to contemporary topics in women's studies. Uses theoretical and experimental modes of exploration and feminist writings by a wide range of authors to investigate intersections of gender with race, class, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality and age as configured and articulated in women's negotiations with their social settings. WOMN 100A aims at multilayered and nuanced understanding, seeking to highlight women's cultural diversity in the U.S., taking substantial account of African American, Native American, Asian American and Latin American women.
Phil 311 (Lecture: CRN 96604; TR 1005 – 1130) /JUST 380P (Lecture: CRN 96571; TR 1005 – 1130)/Coli 380G (Lecture: CRN 96605; TR 1005 – 1130)
FAITH AND REASON/FRIEDMAN
This reading-intensive seminar will explore the philosophical and religious tensions in and between the categories of faith and reason. What does it mean for faith to place it apart from reason? How are we to understand faith? What is a religion of or from reason? Topics will include the nature of religious subjectivity, divinity, metaphysics, the supernatural, creation, revelation, and prayer. Figures include Spinoza, Mendelssohn, Kant, Hegel, Cohen, Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, and Fackenheim. In addition to the content of this course, students will practice the process skills of reading and writing critically. Students will be expected to read the texts carefully and to come to class prepared to ask and answer questions. The course will require at least 100 pages of reading each week.
PIC 645B (Lecture: CRN 96557; M 1530 – 1830) /Phil 480D (Lecture: CRN 16589; M 1530 – 1830)/Phil 647D (Lecture: CRN 96558; M 1530 – 1830)/Afst 480A (Lecture: CRN 92355; M1530 – 1830)/Womn 412B (Lecture: CRN 96559; M 1530 –1830)/Coli 480K (Lecture: CRN 95608; M 1530 – 1830)/Coli 574B (Lecture: CRN 17149; (M 1530 – 1830)
21st CENTURY LONGING/ALLEN
Not available as yet.
PHIL 107/COLI 180P GUAY
Existence and Freedom
An introduction to philosophy through selected readings from late modern continental European philosophy, in particular from Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Beauvoir, and Sartre. Topics include knowledge, the self, freedom, ethics, and history.
PHIL 111A/JUST 280N/COLI 180N FRIEDMAN
Philosophy of Religion
This introductory course will explore the many philosophical methodological questions which emerge from the philosophical study of religious thought. Topics will include the nature of religious subjectivity, divinity, prayer, sacrifice, and faith. We will study some central biblical stories and narratives and literary, philosophical, and theological responses to them. Students will practice techniques of textual exegesis and directly engage texts.
In addition to the content of this course, students will practice the process skills of reading and writing critically. Students will be expected to read the texts carefully and to come to class prepared to ask and answer questions. The course will require approximately 100 pages of reading each week.
PHIL 122 REEVES
ELEMENTARY LOGIC
Introduction to symbolic logic with consideration given to various areas of traditional logic.
PHIL 140R SINGH
Introduction to Ethics
Introduction to some fundamental concepts, issues and major works in ethics.
PHIL 147 SCALET
Markets, Ethics and Law
This course aims to provide you with an introduction to ethical issues that arise in business and the market system. Topics include property rights, markets and law, the morality of capitalism, corporate social responsibility, insider trading, sexual harassment, and others. The course will consider various arguments about the virtues and vices of market activities as well as several applied topics in business ethics.
PHIL 149/ENVI 149 KNAPP
Environmental Ethics and Policy
Nearly everyone agrees that the natural world is worth preserving. The agreement ends, however, when preserving the natural world conflicts with other things that seem worth doing. In such cases, we have conflicts of value, and trade-offs must be made: We must decide whether to trade habitat preservation in order to save an ancient culture; whether to trade wilderness for economic profits; whether to trade biodiversity for food for hungry people. Making these hard and controversial choices well requires our understanding not just that the natural world is valuable, but how it is valuable, and how its value compares to other things we value. The goal of this course is to give students the stimulus, the opportunity, and the resources to work towards developing their own understanding of the nature of the value of nature. Appropriate for first year students.
PHIL 202 PENSKY
Descartes, Hume and Kant
Introduction to modern philosophy, emphasizing the works of Descartes, Hume and Kant.
PHIL 336/510H/AAAS 336 GOODMAN
Buddhist Metaphysics
Examines philosophical theories about reality, and our knowledge of reality, developed by Buddhists in India and Tibet. Emphasizes comparisons between Buddhist and Western metaphysical theories. During class discussions, critically investigate Buddhist arguments and analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Explore questions about time and change, substance, personal identity, truth, objectivity, and knowledge.
Prerequisite: One course in philosophy.
PHIL 345 REEVES
Philosophy of Law
In this course, we will examine recent reflection on some philosophical issues surrounding law and legal practice. Four questions in particular will be the focus of our investigation. First, what is law? Although law is now commonplace, it is surprisingly difficult to say what exactly makes for law. In thinking about this question, we will be paying close attention to whether law has any special relationship to morality. Second, what is the character of legal interpretation and legal reasoning? Our focus here will be with how we should identify, construe, and implement the law of a given legal system. Third, what is the value of the “rule of law”? We tend to think of the rule of law as a commendable thing – as an appropriate basis for distinguishing good and bad governance. We will consider how to make sense of and justify this belief, as well as some possible dangers of legal structures. Fourth, do we have a duty to obey the law? We will examine to what extent citizens have an obligation to abide by legal demands simply because those demands are legal. Prerequisite: One course in philosophy
PHIL 431/510A DIETRICH
Metaphysics
Morpheus said it best: "What is real? How do you define real? If you are talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain." Apparently, Morpheus was assuming brains are real. What if they aren't either? So what is real?
In this course we will try to find out what is Real, paying close attention to the role our strange minds play in conjuring up the "real." We will examine the fundamental nature of existence, universals, particulars, time, concepts, consciousness, quantum mechanics, artificial intelligence, and our own examining in hopes of finding something like our ordinary world in them somewhere.
FORMAT: Seminar/discussion. Grades based on papers and quizzes.
BOOKS: To be determined, and selected papers
Prerequisites: two courses in philosophy
PHIL 451/650C GUAY
Topics in Continental Philosophy: Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil
The main component of this class is a close reading of Nietzsche’s 1886 work, Beyond Good and Evil, with special attention to understanding Nietzsche’s conception of what lies “beyond” morality and why a move beyond morality might be compelling. To help us with this task, we shall start the semester by considering a number of alternative conceptions of the postmoral from more recent literature (e.g. Anscombe, Lovibond, Williams, MacIntyre, Taylor). Permission of the instructor is required to register for this class. Prerequisites: For undergrad: two courses in philosophy.
PHIL 456C SCALET
Public Philosophy
In this course we will study philosophy as it shapes leading public policy issues. Readings will include not only traditional philosophy texts but also great public and political documents, literature, film, and the arts. We will study philosophy as a life-long pursuit to interpret the world around us, a pursuit that travels through the broad range of the materials of life. Prerequisite: Two courses in philosophy
PHIL 457E REEVES
Problems: Law and Morality: Liberty and Justice
In this course, we will examine recent philosophical reflection on the nature of political liberty and distributive justice. Two questions will be our focus throughout. First, how far may a state legitimately regulate our affairs through law? Second, what is it for a state to be just and how far may it pursue, through legal mechanisms, distributive justice? A variety of approaches to these questions will be considered, including liberal, communitarian, libertarian, Marxist, and feminist accounts. Prerequisites: two courses in philosophy, of which one is a course in social, ethical or legal philosophy.
PHIL 457F GOODMAN
Religion, Ethics, and Law
In a diverse society, what should be the relationship between religious beliefs, moral theories, and legal norms? Should there be a strict wall of separation between church and state, and if so, why? To what extent can or should the state be neutral between different conceptions of the good? Should the state recognize the right of particular cultural groups to preserve their cherished traditions, or should it recognize only the individual right of its citizens to make their own choices? Through class discussions, examine and analyze these and other related questions in detail. Prerequisite: two courses in philosophy.
PHIL 458J JOHNSTON
John Stuart Mill and Liberalism
This course is an intensive undergraduate seminar on the social and political philosophy of John Stuart Mill. The seminar examines Mill’s contributions to the development of political liberalism and his formulation of liberal concepts and values. Specific topics include freedom of expression, individuality and autonomy, the harm principle, the principle of utility, representative government, democratic socialism, and liberal feminism. Readings will include Mill's canonical works on social and political philosophy as well as some of his lesser known writings. Prerequisite: two courses in philosophy.
PHIL 460B/540C DIETRICH
Spinoza, Berkeley and Kant
This course explores the philosophies of Spinoza (1632-1677), Berkeley (1685-1753), and Kant (1724-1804). We will read from their primary works, and along the way learn about rationalism, empiricism, dualism, dual aspectism, monism, idealism, transcendental idealism, and God (as the universe and as a being). We will also tackle fundamental problems in epistemology and metaphysics. The course is intended to give students a historical view of the development (or lack thereof) of philosophy during one its greatest ages, the Age of Enlightenment, when vast and tremendous philosophical systems were constructed to explain both the nature of universe and the humans that seem to inhabit it. Prerequisites: two courses in philosophy.
PHIL 480B/AAAS 480J/AFST 480S/COLI 480P/LACS 480P/WOMN 412B ALLEN
Feminist and Diasporic Performance Art
In forms ranging from spoken word poetry to multimedia installations to riffs on history and politics, contemporary performance artists represent the complex linkages of ethnicity, aesthetics, and theory. Performance art, at once analytic and creative, transforms the cultural repertories that it represents into intermediary sites of cultural relevance. The course will examine how an aesthetics that displaces the ethnographic privilege of Western interpretation concerning time, place, observer and observed is developed by some African-, Native-, Asian-, Euro-, and Latino-American performance artists, especially with reference to complex themes of immigration, community, body, and to perspectives on race, gender, class, sexuality. The representational logics and positional historicities of the interactive performance event, as studied, created and produced in the class, open possibilities for understanding aesthetics in post-colonial, transcultural contexts. Course work may be in essay form or, if a student wishes, may include performance, creative writing, installation, film, sound, or multimedia.Texts With the exception of items which are on library shelf reserve, all course materials are available electronically
PHIL 505 TESSMAN
20th Century Ethics
This course serves as the first-year ethics seminar for graduate students in the program in Social, Political, Ethical and Legal Philosophy (SPEL). The course includes a wide range of works in contemporary, mostly analytic, ethics, and is thematized by questions raised in debates about the value of ideal and nonideal theory, and about the existence and significance of genuine moral dilemmas. We will consider questions such as: What is the task of ethical theory? Should it provide a perfect decision procedure for resolving moral conflicts? Or are there some moral conflicts that are genuine moral dilemmas, namely situations in which there is a moral requirement to enact each of two possibilities, but where it is not possible to enact both? When a moral conflict can be resolved, does one of the conflicting moral requirements get cancelled or do both somehow remain in effect? Can moral wrongdoing be unavoidable? What moral conditions give rise to dilemmas? Do aspects of one’s social position (race, gender, etc.) affect which dilemmas one is likely to encounter? We will borrow insights from the moral dilemmas debate to try to understand problematic aspects of both ideal and nonideal theory.
