PHIL

Many of the toughest ethical and political challenges confronting the world today are related to environmental issues: for example, climate change, loss of biodiversity, the unsustainable use of natural resources, pollution, and other threats to the well-being of both present and future generations. Using both classic and contemporary works, this course will highlight some of the fundamental and unavoidable philosophical questions presented by such environmental issues. Can a plausible philosophical account of justice for future generations be developed? What counts as the ethical treatment of non-human animals? What do the terms "nature" and "wilderness" mean, and can natural environments as such have moral and/or legal standing? What fundamental ethical and political perspectives inform such positions as ecofeminism, the "Land Ethic," political ecology, ecojustice, and deep ecology? And does the environmental crisis confronting the world today demand new forms of ethical and political philosophizing and practice? Are we in the Anthropocene? Is "adaptation" the best strategy at this historical juncture? Field trips, guest speakers, and special projects will help us philosophize about the fate of the earth by connecting the local and the global. (A) (B)

Students writing senior essays register once for PHIL 29901, in either the Autumn or Winter Quarter, and once for PHIL 29902, in either the Winter or Spring Quarter. (Students may not register for both PHIL 29901 and 29902 in the same quarter). The Senior Seminar meets all three quarters, and students writing essays are required to attend throughout.

We will do a close reading of G.E.M. Anscombe's Intention and some of the related essays.

In this course, we will explore Western philosophy's rich skeptical tradition with an eye toward answering two surprisingly difficult questions: 'What is philosophy?' and 'What is skepticism?' The guiding thought (which goes back to the German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel) is that philosophy and skepticism are entwined to such an extent that the one can be properly understood only in relation to the other. We will endeavor to decide whether, or to what extent, this is true. Historical topics will include: the origins of philosophy, ancient skepticism, the reemergence of philosophy in medieval Europe, early-modern skepticism, and skepticism in Kant and post-Kantian German philosophy. Philosophical topics will include: fideism, relativity, disagreement, the Agrippan Trilemma, Cartesian skepticism, ethical skepticism, and sociopolitical skepticism. No prior familiarity with the history of skepticism - only a sense of wonder - will be assumed.

In this course, we will explore Western philosophy's rich skeptical tradition with an eye toward answering two surprisingly difficult questions: 'What is philosophy?' and 'What is skepticism?' The guiding thought (which goes back to the German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel) is that philosophy and skepticism are entwined to such an extent that the one can be properly understood only in relation to the other. We will endeavor to decide whether, or to what extent, this is true. Historical topics will include: the origins of philosophy, ancient skepticism, the reemergence of philosophy in medieval Europe, early-modern skepticism, and skepticism in Kant and post-Kantian German philosophy. Philosophical topics will include: fideism, relativity, disagreement, the Agrippan Trilemma, Cartesian skepticism, ethical skepticism, and sociopolitical skepticism. No prior familiarity with the history of skepticism - only a sense of wonder - will be assumed.

An examination of ancient Greek philosophical texts that are foundational for Western philosophy, especially the work of Plato and Aristotle. Topics will include: the nature and possibility of knowledge and its role in human life; the nature of the soul; virtue; happiness and the human good.

This is a survey of some of the central questions in the philosophy of mind. These questions include: What is consciousness? How can mental states represent things in the world? How do our minds relate to our bodies? Do we have free will? Can we blame someone for the beliefs or desires she has? What are the emotions? To help us with these questions, we will focus on 20th century analytic work (by Putnam, Nagel, Searle, Jackson, Dennett, Chalmers, Block, Dretske, and others), but we will also read important historical texts on the nature of the mind by Aristotle, Descartes, and Hume. (B)

Course begins in late Spring quarter and continues in the Autumn quarter.

Aristotle's investigation into the nature of primary being (or substance, ousia) in the middle books of his Metaphysics proceeds against the backdrop of two structural commitments: (i) categorialism; and (ii) the modalities of being, namely actuality and potentiality. Metaphysics È is given over in large measure to (ii), though it proceeds alert to the role of (i) as well. We will proceed in two phases. In the first phase, we will work minutely through every chapter save the last of Metaphysics È, attending closely to the text-elucidating, interpreting, and assessing. In the second phase, we will work through the same text again, now thematically, primarily with a view to understanding four interconnected issues: the natures of potentiality and actuality; the priority of actuality; the role of the modalities in the science of being qua being; and the broader relation between the modalities and categorialism. Naturally these sorts of questions will be in view in our first pass through the text, but we will largely hold them in abeyance until the second pass, we will also make freer use of the entire Aristotelian corpus in our discussions.