2012-2013

Topic: Language, Time, and Nature (instructor: M. Teichman)

Many philosophers have thought that studying the way we speak can lead to philosophical insight--that investigating language can itself be a way of doing philosophy.  This tutorial will investigate whether that is a viable endeavor.  We will look at Quine's influential argument to the effect that one can draw philosophical conclusions from linguistic investigations, followed by one its most serious criticisms.  Then, to answer that criticism, we will examine two topics in some depth.  First, through texts by such authors as Leibniz, Russell, Kenny, and Emmon Bach, we will consider whether tense and grammatical aspect have anything to tell us about the nature of time.  Second, through texts by such authors as Aristotle, Kripke, and Carlson, we will consider whether loose commonsense generalizations have anything to tell us about the status of natural or artificial kinds.  We will conclude the course by revisiting the major line of criticism against linguistic philosophy and considering whether, based on these two case studies, there is anything to say in response.

Topic: Rationality and Animal Minds (instructor: A. Browne)

The topic of animal minds has often proved divisive among philosophers.  Rene Descartes claimed that believing brutes think is ``the greatest of all prejudices we have retained from infancy'', while David Hume found no truth more evident than that ``beasts are endow'd with thought and reason as well as men''.  In this course we will be looking at a recent version of this controversy, one that stems from the idea that the concept of rationality should be central to our understanding of the mind and its place in nature. Our main concern will be where the minds of non-rational animals fit in this picture.  Along the way we will consider such questions as what it is to have a mind and how we recognize another, how our intellectual capacities differ from those of other creatures, and why philosophers have been led to say seemingly implausible things about the minds of non-human animals.  Authors we will read include Frege, Wittgenstein, Donald Davidson, Daniel Dennett, John McDowell, David Finkelstein, Jason Bridges, Susan Hurley, Elizabeth Camp, Alasdair MacIntrye, and Matthew Boyle.

Topic: Language, Time, and Nature (instructor: M. Teichman)
Many philosophers have thought that studying the way we speak can lead to philosophical insight--that investigating language can itself be a way of doing philosophy.  This tutorial will investigate whether that is a viable endeavor.  We will look at Quine's influential argument to the effect that one can draw philosophical conclusions from linguistic investigations, followed by one its most serious criticisms.  Then, to answer that criticism, we will examine two topics in some depth.  First, through texts by such authors as Leibniz, Russell, Kenny, and Emmon Bach, we will consider whether tense and grammatical aspect have anything to tell us about the nature of time.  Second, through texts by such authors as Aristotle, Kripke, and Carlson, we will consider whether loose commonsense generalizations have anything to tell us about the status of natural or artificial kinds.  We will conclude the course by revisiting the major line of criticism against linguistic philosophy and considering whether, based on these two case studies, there is anything to say in response.

Topic: Rationality and Animal Minds (instructor: A. Browne)

The topic of animal minds has often proved divisive among philosophers.  Rene Descartes claimed that believing brutes think is ``the greatest of all prejudices we have retained from infancy'', while David Hume found no truth more evident than that ``beasts are endow'd with thought and reason as well as men''.  In this course we will be looking at a recent version of this controversy, one that stems from the idea that the concept of rationality should be central to our understanding of the mind and its place in nature. Our main concern will be where the minds of non-rational animals fit in this picture.  Along the way we will consider such questions as what it is to have a mind and how we recognize another, how our intellectual capacities differ from those of other creatures, and why philosophers have been led to say seemingly implausible things about the minds of non-human animals.  Authors we will read include Frege, Wittgenstein, Donald Davidson, Daniel Dennett, John McDowell, David Finkelstein, Jason Bridges, Susan Hurley, Elizabeth Camp, Alasdair MacIntrye, and Matthew Boyle.

This course attempts to provide a broad survey of German philosophy from the time of Kant into the nineteenth century. Topics covered include: Kant's transcendental idealism; Herder's philosophy of language; Romantic theories of interpretation and translation; Hegel's project in the "Phenomenology of Spirit"; Marx's theory of ideology and critique of religion; and Nietzsche's critiques of religion and traditional morality. The course consists mainly of lectures, but discussion is also encouraged.

This course is an introduction to some of the major thinkers and movements in the philosophy of the medieval and early modern periods. This course will aim at providing a broad overview, with special attention to developments in metaphysics, epistemology and the philosophy of mind. Figures discussed will include Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Leibniz, Locke and Hume.

In this course, we will read selected texts by Kierkegaard and Nietzsche with an eye toward broaching certain fundamental questions in ethics and the metaphysics of human agency, such as: What are the limits of rational reflection? What consequences might these limits have for our notion of moral responsibility, and our understanding of how to live well? Is ethical persuasion possible, and if so, how? What does it mean to be a person, an agent—and in what sense are personhood and agency something valuable? We will be particularly interested in determining how the stylistic peculiarities of Kierkegaard’s and Nietzsche’s respective authorships afford us a distinctive way of approaching these questions.

In this course we will explore some of the central questions in epistemology and metaphysics. In epistemology, these questions will include: What is knowledge? What facts or states justify a belief? How can the threat of skepticism be adequately answered? How do we know what we (seem to) know about mathematics and morality? In metaphysics, these questions will include: What is time? What is the best account of personal identity across time? Do we have free will? We will also discuss how the construction of a theory of knowledge ought to relate to the construction of a metaphysical theory—roughly speaking, what comes first, epistemology or metaphysics? (B)

Decisions about medical treatment take place in the context of changing health care systems, changing ideas about rights and obligations, and among doctors and patients who have diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. By means of historical, philosophical, and medical readings, this course examines such issues as paternalism, autonomy, the commodification of the body, and the enhancement of mental and/or physical characteristics.

This course will provide a general introduction to the most widely discussed proposals for how to analyze the meaning of counterfactual (or subjunctive) conditional claims, such as “If Oswald had not shot Kennedy, then somebody else would have.” In addition to the standard Stalnaker-Lewis “possible worlds” semantics for counterfactuals, we will also examine epistemic interpretations of counterfactuals, such as those proposed by Ramsey and Ginsberg. Readings for the course will include works by Goodman, Adams, Lewis, Fine and Bennett, among others. (B)

This workshop is open only to PhD Philosophy graduate students planning to go on the job market in the fall of 2012. Course begins in late Spring quarter and continues in the Autumn quarter. Pass/Fail.