PHIL

“You cannot know what is not—that is impossible—nor utter it; for to be thought and to be are the same.” Beginning with Parmenides, a deep but poorly understood current in ancient Greek philosophy is the idea that, in some sense, a being and the thought of that being are identical. This class will examine the identity of thought and being in Aristotle’s metaphysical and psychological texts. We will focus on three main issues: the law of non-contradiction as both a law of being and of thought (Metaphysics Γ), the possibility of knowledge as grounds for the identity of being and thought (Metaphysics Z, De Anima 3), and the notion that thought itself is a primary kind of being (Metaphysics Λ). (B)

How did minds evolve? How unique is the human mind in nature? Are humans the only species on this planet capable of thinking? What does this even mean? How could we tell? Can other species form beliefs and concepts about the world? Do some animals possess the capacity for language? Do other species have a rudimentary sense of morality? If so, what challenges would this raise toward traditional notions of “human nature”? Furthermore, what might these questions tell us about our moral obligations to other species? This class offers a detailed look into contemporary debates in the philosophy of animal minds. These debates are inherently multi-disciplinary, ranging from questions in evolutionary biology, cognitive science, developmental psychology, the philosophy of mind, and even questions about the future of artificial intelligence. 

 

In this introductory class, we shall explore the Jewish tradition of interpreting the first chapters of genesis: We will read from the Midrash Bereshit Rabba, the mystical midrash of the Zohar, the great medieval commentators (Rashi, Nachmanides), and the philosophical commentaries of Maimonides. 

A close reading of the book Nietzsche considered the most accessible and thorough account of his views. (IV) (A)

In 1927 Heidegger published a partial version of this book in a German journal and it quickly became a sensation, challenging the deepest assumptions of the entire Western philosophical tradition. Heidegger claimed that philosophy in this tradition had “forgotten” the most important question in philosophy, the “meaning of being,” and he proposed to begin to raise this question anew by a preliminary attention to the meaning of human being. This began what came to be known as “existentialism” and it revolutionized philosophical anthropology, literary and art criticism, theology, as well as numerous areas in philosophy, especially the study of the history of philosophy. (B) (IV)

Theme: Political Realism

The Workshop will introduce and asses "political realism," both its history (in figures like Thucydides and Machiavelli) and its contemporary manifestation (in writers like Bernard Williams and Raymond Geuss), often framed in reaction to the approach to political philosophy associated with John Rawls. Alison McQueen (who will be speaking at the Workshop) characterizes political realism in terms of four central ideas : (1) politics is a distinct realm, with its own norms; it is not simply applied moral philosophy; (2) "politics is agnostic or conflictual," a fact that arises from various possible causes: "human nature and the limits of rationality, competing identities and interests, and value pluralism"; (3) "the requirements of order and stability" take priority "over the demands of justice," precisely because the former cannot be taken for granted and are difficult to maintain; and (4) realists reject approaches to politics that "fail to take seriously the psychological, sociological, and institutional constraints on political action." Workshop sessions will explore and complicate this picture of political realism, as well as try to assess the merits of this as a position in theorizing about politics; connections with legal realism in jurisprudence will also be discussed. Speakers will include Alison McQueen, William Galston, Matt Sleat, Enzo Rossi, Alex Worsnip, and the instructors, among others.

Theme: Political Realism

The Workshop will introduce and asses "political realism," both its history (in figures like Thucydides and Machiavelli) and its contemporary manifestation (in writers like Bernard Williams and Raymond Geuss), often framed in reaction to the approach to political philosophy associated with John Rawls. Alison McQueen (who will be speaking at the Workshop) characterizes political realism in terms of four central ideas : (1) politics is a distinct realm, with its own norms; it is not simply applied moral philosophy; (2) "politics is agnostic or conflictual," a fact that arises from various possible causes: "human nature and the limits of rationality, competing identities and interests, and value pluralism"; (3) "the requirements of order and stability" take priority "over the demands of justice," precisely because the former cannot be taken for granted and are difficult to maintain; and (4) realists reject approaches to politics that "fail to take seriously the psychological, sociological, and institutional constraints on political action." Workshop sessions will explore and complicate this picture of political realism, as well as try to assess the merits of this as a position in theorizing about politics; connections with legal realism in jurisprudence will also be discussed. Speakers will include Alison McQueen, William Galston, Matt Sleat, Enzo Rossi, Alex Worsnip, and the instructors, among others.

Theme: Political Realism

The Workshop will introduce and asses "political realism," both its history (in figures like Thucydides and Machiavelli) and its contemporary manifestation (in writers like Bernard Williams and Raymond Geuss), often framed in reaction to the approach to political philosophy associated with John Rawls. Alison McQueen (who will be speaking at the Workshop) characterizes political realism in terms of four central ideas : (1) politics is a distinct realm, with its own norms; it is not simply applied moral philosophy; (2) "politics is agnostic or conflictual," a fact that arises from various possible causes: "human nature and the limits of rationality, competing identities and interests, and value pluralism"; (3) "the requirements of order and stability" take priority "over the demands of justice," precisely because the former cannot be taken for granted and are difficult to maintain; and (4) realists reject approaches to politics that "fail to take seriously the psychological, sociological, and institutional constraints on political action." Workshop sessions will explore and complicate this picture of political realism, as well as try to assess the merits of this as a position in theorizing about politics; connections with legal realism in jurisprudence will also be discussed. Speakers will include Alison McQueen, William Galston, Matt Sleat, Enzo Rossi, Alex Worsnip, and the instructors, among others.

Topic: The Philosophy of Games

In this course we will investigate two main questions. What characteristics make a certain activity a game? And what is the value of playing games? Along the way, we will consider several further questions about the place of games in our practical lives. How does game playing relate to consumption of fiction, and how should we make sense of works that are both fictions and games? Are there moral or epistemic hazards of game playing under certain circumstances, or of ‘gamifying’ certain activities? What can a philosophical investigation into games teach us about the shape of our practical agency more generally? Readings will include portions of Bernard Suits’ classic work on games, The Grasshopper, as well as more recent writings by C. Thi Nguyen and other philosophers currently working on games. This course will involve readings in several areas of philosophy as they apply to an investigation of the nature of games, including metaphysics, the philosophy of action, ethics, and aesthetics/the philosophy of art.

Topic: The Ontological Argument

This course will cover the history of the ontological argument for the existence of God. We will find that there is in fact no single ‘ontological argument,’ but many arguments that share in common an underlying set of concerns, all of them attempting to demonstrate the existence of a divine mind through reflection upon the activity of thinking. This subject is of interest not only for the philosophy of religion, but also for metaphysics and epistemology more broadly, because it seeks to vindicate the objectivity of thought through analysis of the structure and conditions of thought itself. Assigned readings for the course will include works by Plato, Sts. Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas and Bonaventure, Bl. Duns Scotus, Descartes, Kant, and Hegel, among others.