PHIL

In this course, we will read, write, think, and talk about moral philosophy, focusing on two classic texts, Immanuel Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals and John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism. We will work through both texts carefully, and have a look at influential criticisms of utilitarianism and of Kant's ethics in the concluding weeks of the term. This course is intended as an introductory course in moral philosophy. (A)

The seminar will be devoted to conceptions of the sacred. We shall read Rodulf Otto ("The Idea of the Holy"), Marcia Eliade ("The Sacred and the Profane"), and Sigmund Freud ("Totem and Taboo"). We shall review the Kant's discussion of sublime as the origin of Otto's very influential phenomenological conceptions of the Sacred. We shall then proceed to discuss various positions concerning the essential links of art, philosophy, and the sacred.

Global poverty is a human tragedy on a massive scale, and it poses one of the most daunting challenges to achieving a just global order. In recent decades, a significant number of philosophers have addressed this issue in new and profoundly important ways, overcoming the disciplinary limitations of narrowly economic or public policy oriented approaches. Recent theories of justice have provided both crucial conceptual clarifications of the very notion of ‘poverty’—including new measures that are more informed by the voices of the global poor and better able to cover the full impact of poverty on human capabilities and welfare—and vital new theoretical frameworks for considering freedom from poverty as a basic human right and/or a demand of justice, both nationally and internationally. Moreover, these philosophers have pointed to concrete, practical steps, at both the level of institutional design and the level of individual ethical/political action, for effectively combating poverty and moving the world closer to justice. The readings covered in this course, from such philosophers as Peter Singer, Thomas Pogge, David Graeber, and Martha Nussbaum, will reveal, not only the injustice of global poverty, but also what is to be done about it.

A paradox is a piece of reasoning that proceeds from reasonable assumptions and seems to be valid but which yields a conclusion that cannot be accepted. The analysis of paradoxes often teaches us something about what exists, what we can say, and how we should reason. In this course, we will explore some famous paradoxes of both deductive and non-deductive logic in order to see what we may learn from them about the nature and limits of deductive and non-deductive reasoning. Possible topics include the liar paradox, the paradox of the unexpected hanging, the so-called semantic paradoxes, the sorites paradox, Russell's paradox and some of the paradoxes associated with the concept of probability. (B)

This course centers on a close reading of the first volume of Michel Foucault’s The History of Sexuality, with some attention to his writings on the history of ancient conceptualizations of sex. How should a history of sexuality take into account scientific theories, social relations of power, and different experiences of the self? We discuss the contrasting descriptions and conceptions of sexual behavior before and after the emergence of a science of sexuality. Other writers influenced by and critical of Foucault are also discussed.

This is a course in Ancient Greek Philosophy. We will study major works by Plato and Aristotle, ones that introduced the philosophical questions we struggle with to this day: What are the goals of a life well-lived? Why should we have friends? How do we explain weakness of will? What makes living things different from nonliving things? What is the difference between knowledge and belief? What is definition and what is capable of being defined?

Topic: Relativism and Universalism (instructor: A. Luboff)
Are our normative claims about what is good, what is right, even what is true, constrained to a particular culture, or way of life?  Or, are there universal principles to which all people, of all places and times, either (implicitly or explicitly) adhere, or should adhere? In this course, we will examine the rich, complex relationship between these two views, relativism and universalism.  Our readings will draw from both philosophy and anthropology, giving us the opportunity to consider closely the interplay between theory, examples and context. Authors include M. Krausz, D. Wong, C. Geertz, R. Shweder and M. Nussbaum.

Topic: Knowledge and the Concept of Mind (instructor: N. Koziolek)

What is knowledge? How do we acquire it? Do we really have any? These are, typically, taken to be the central questions of epistemology, i.e., the theory of knowledge. But attempts to answer them are intimately connected with the arguably broader issue of how to understand the nature of the mind. Different conceptions of mind suggest different answers to these questions, different answers—indeed, even approaches—to these questions encourage different conceptions of mind. In this course, we will trace out some of the connections between epistemology and philosophy of mind as they appear in the history of epistemology, with a focus on the late twentieth century. We will consider both the analytic approach to epistemology instituted by Edmund Gettier, including the now well-known criticisms of the approach due to Timothy Williamson, as well as the more historically oriented approach represented in the works of Wilfrid Sellars and his followers, including Donald Davidson and John McDowell.

Topic: Relativism and Universalism (instructor: A. Luboff)
Are our normative claims about what is good, what is right, even what is true, constrained to a particular culture, or way of life?  Or, are there universal principles to which all people, of all places and times, either (implicitly or explicitly) adhere, or should adhere? In this course, we will examine the rich, complex relationship between these two views, relativism and universalism.  Our readings will draw from both philosophy and anthropology, giving us the opportunity to consider closely the interplay between theory, examples and context. Authors include M. Krausz, D. Wong, C. Geertz, R. Shweder and M. Nussbaum.

Topic: Knowledge and the Concept of Mind (instructor: N. Koziolek)

What is knowledge? How do we acquire it? Do we really have any? These are, typically, taken to be the central questions of epistemology, i.e., the theory of knowledge. But attempts to answer them are intimately connected with the arguably broader issue of how to understand the nature of the mind. Different conceptions of mind suggest different answers to these questions, different answers—indeed, even approaches—to these questions encourage different conceptions of mind. In this course, we will trace out some of the connections between epistemology and philosophy of mind as they appear in the history of epistemology, with a focus on the late twentieth century. We will consider both the analytic approach to epistemology instituted by Edmund Gettier, including the now well-known criticisms of the approach due to Timothy Williamson, as well as the more historically oriented approach represented in the works of Wilfrid Sellars and his followers, including Donald Davidson and John McDowell.

This course will consist in a close reading and discussion of Descartes' Meditations. Our main aims will be to understand what Descartes attempts to achieve in this work, and to consider how successful he is in doing so. Topics to be discussed are doubt and certainty, the nature and existence of external objects, truth and error, and the alleged Cartesian circle. We will also study proofs for God's existence and veracity, the real distinction between mind and body, and the notion of mind-body union.

Students are required to submit the college reading & research course form.