2012-2013

Book Zeta of the Metaphysics, sometimes characterized as ‘the Mount Everest of ancient philosophy’, is concerned with the question, What is substantial being (ousia)? Aristotle explores several potential answers to this question, specifying substantial being as subject, essence, universal, or genus. His discussion is based on the distinction between form and matter of composite beings. Further questions discussed in Zeta include: Do non-substantial beings have an essence or definition? Why do definitions constitute a unity? What role do essences play in scientific explanations? The seminar will be a close reading of Zeta. (III) (IV)

Plotinus (205-270 AD) was the founder of Neoplatonism—a movement and mode of thought that pervaded Late Antiquity and set permanent marks on the philosophical tradition in Europe and among the Muslims. In this seminar we shall read two treatises of Plotinus, Ennead V.1, On the three principal hypostases and Ennead VI.8, On free will and the will of the One.

Modern political philosophy is an inquiry into the legitimacy of political authority (why should I be submitted to a Sovereign?). Social philosophy is an inquiry into the meaning of social action : what does it take for an agent to be acting socially? According to the French School of sociology (Durkheim, Mauss, Lévi-Strauss, Dumont), human beings are social beings insofar as their lifes are governed by collective representations and institutions. This view can be presented as a way of dealing with the paradoxes of a purely political view of social life as found in social contract theories of political sovereignty.First, we will assess Durkheim’s reading of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Social Contract as having anticipated the sociological understanding of social life by overcoming a purely atomistic view of political associations (with the concept of a “general will” and its foundation in the “moral” constitution of the people, i.e. its collective habits and social institutions).Then, we will consider contemporary proposals to locate the concept of institution within the framework of a philosophy of action (Anscombe, “On Brute Facts”; Castoriadis, The Imaginary Institution of Society).

What can justify one nation’s intervention in the affairs of another? And what can justify one nation arresting a citizen of another nation and prosecuting him or her for an act that was not against the law in the nation in which it occurred? Indeed, what can justify one nation arresting the head of state of another and prosecuting him or her? What is the conception of national sovereignty such that it could be consistent with such apparent violations of sovereignty? These are questions that need to be answered if we are to understand when and why it is permissible or even obligatory for one state to interfere in the affairs of another in order to protect human rights or to punish their violation. (I)

The Workshop will explore a broad range of topics that arise in ethics, philosophy of action, and philosophy of criminal law related to questions of freedom and responsibility: what is it to act freely? Is responsibility compatible with the causal determination of action? Does the assignment of responsibility in the criminal law make philosophical sense? How does addiction or mental illness affect ascriptions of responsibility in the law, and how should it? Readings will be drawn from philosophy, psychology, and criminal law theory.
Coates and Leiter will meet with enrolled students for two two-hour sessions in October to go over some classic readings on the subject of freedom and responsibility. We will then host six or seven outside speakers addressing these issues. Coates or Leiter will meet with the students a week in advance for one hour to go over the readings. Confirmed speakers so far include Pamela Hieryonmi (Philosophy, UCLA), Stephen Morse (Law & Psychiatry, Penn), Hanna Pickard (Philosophy, Oxford), Derk Pereboom (Philosophy, Cornell), and Gary Watson (Law & Philosophy, Southern California).

Attendance at all sessions of the Workshop is a requirement. JD students should contact bleiter@uchicago.edu with a resume and a brief statement of background and/or interest in the topic in order to secure permission to enroll. Philosophy PhD students may enroll without submitting these materials.

The distinction between essence and existence was introduced as part of metaphysical doctrine of creation in Islamic theology. This doctrine cannot be found among the ancient philosophers but became central to the Scholastics. In the seminar we shall read works by Avicenna, Averroes, and Thomas Aquinas. We shall compare Descartes' and Spinoza's receptions of the creation doctrine. I will propose that central concepts of contemporary philosophy such states of affairs or facts and notions of the mind and of the world that go with them can be traced to the doctrine of creation.

In the first part of this course, we will examine Stoicism as a way of life through a reading of Pierre Hadot’s commentary (in French) on Epictetus’ Manual, supplemented by other writings of Hadot. The second part of the course will be devoted to the topic of Judaism as a way of life, focusing on the writings of Joseph Soloveitchik. The third part of the course will consider a number of historically and theoretically heterogeneous essays that take up different aspects of our theme. Depending on the interests of the seminar participants, texts for this part of the course may include the writings of Francis of Assisi, essays by Michel Foucault, Hilary Putnam, and Wittgenstein’s “Lectures on Religious Belief”. (I)

Note: This course meets twice a week during weeks 1-6.  In this class we will draw together work on vagueness that has been done, over the last forty years, within philosophy, linguistics and formal logic. The overarching aim is to develop a coherent picture of what may appear to be (increasingly) diverging approaches to a single central theme.  Among those from whose work we will draw are (in alphabetical, not thematic, order): Dummett, Edgington, Fine, Graff-Fara, Greenough, Raffman, Shapiro, Van Rooy, Varzi, Williamson, Wright.  I will also draw on my own work, distant as well as more recent.  Through much of the course the context dependence of vague predicates will play a prominent part.  Students enrolled in the course will be expected to write an essay (of about 3000 words), which will be due at the end of the quarter. (II)

This course meets in Autumn and Winter quarters.