Undergraduate

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)

Key contemporary debates in the philosophical literature often rely on formal tools and techniques that go beyond the material taught in an introductory logic class. A robust understanding of these debates---and, accordingly, the ability to meaningfully engage with a good deal of contemporary philosophy---requires a basic grasp of extensions of standard logic such as modal logic, multi-valued logic, and supervaluations, as well as an appreciation of the key philosophical virtues and vices of these extensions. The goal of this course is to provide students with the required logic literacy. While some basic metalogical results will come into view as the quarter proceeds, the course will primarily focus on the scope (and, perhaps, the limits) of logic as an important tool for philosophical theorizing. (B)

In this course we shall seek to understand Hegel's 1821 book, Elements of the Philosophy of Right. This book is traditionally understood to contain Hegel's "political philosophy," but the book also proposes a metaphysics of human agency, claims about the relation of philosophy to its own historical time, a rejection of utopian political thinking, a theory of crime and punishment, and a theory of the relationship between individual and communal life that he says is based on his "speculative philosophy," and so is "dialectical." In Hegel's terms, the book should be understood as his theory of "objective spirit," and we shall attempt to understand what that subject matter might be. (V)

This will be a careful reading of what is widely regarded as the greatest work of modern philosophy, Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Our principal aims will be to understand the problems Kant seeks to address and the significance of his famous doctrine of "transcendental idealism". Topics will include: the role of mind in the constitution of experience; the nature of space and time; the relation between self-knowledge and knowledge of objects; how causal claims can be justified by experience; whether free will is possible; the relation between appearance and reality; the possibility of metaphysics. (B) (V)

As we read this work we will be concerned with its place in history of philosophy and we shall engage with some of its contemporary readers.

There is perhaps no better introduction to St. Thomas Aquinas's philosophy of human nature than his commentary on Aristotle's classic treatment of the fundamental principles of earthly life, the De anima. Of course Aquinas also had other sources, as well as some ideas of his own, but the De anima provides him with the basic philosophical terms and framework. His interpretations continue to engage readers of Aristotle; and without some grasp of them, his theological writings on man are hardly intelligible. This course will be a close reading and discussion of the commentary, with occasional references to other works and other thinkers. (A) (I)