Winter

Modern theories of the subject – theories that answer the questions of what we are, how we are, and how we relate to others – have their roots in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Philosophers of the era, finding themselves free to diverge from classical accounts of the human and its world, pursued anew such questions as: What is the mind and how does it come by its ideas? How do we attain a sense of self? Are we fundamentally social creatures, or does the social (at best) represent a restriction on our animal drives and passions? Literature, meanwhile, examined these questions in its own distinct manner, and in doing so witnessed what many scholars recognize as the birth of the novel – a genre for which accounts of the subject are of central importance. This interdisciplinary course will read widely in Early Modern and “Enlightenment” literature and philosophy to better understand the roots of contemporary accounts of the subject and the social. Philosophical readings will include texts by John Locke, David Hume, Adam Smith, Mary Astell, Thomas Reid, Marya Schechtman, and Stephen Darwall. Literary readings will include Richard Steele, Alexander Pope, Horace Walpole, Eliza Haywood, John Cleland, Ignatius Sancho, Laurence Sterne, and Jane Austen. (A)

Nietzsche claims that “genuine philosophers” (unlike “philosophical laborers” like Kant and Hegel, who simply “press into formulas” existing moralities) are creators of value, or, as he puts it, “commanders and legislators:  they say, ‘Thus it should be,’ they determine first the ‘where to?’ and ‘what for’ of a people” (Beyond Good and Evil, section 211).  If Kant and Hegel are not “genuine philosophers” in this sense, then who is?  Homer?  The Presocratics? Plato? Nietzsche?  And what values then does Nietzsche create?

The first half of the seminar will examine Nietzsche’s reasons for treating moralities as historical artifacts, that can be explained in terms of the psychological needs of particular peoples at particular times, rather than timeless or objective standards governing human conduct.  We then consider the possibility that Nietzsche is a “genuine philosopher,” a “creator of values,” and try to understand what that means.  In the second half of the seminar, we consider whether several major Greek figures--Homer, whom Nietzsche lauds; the Presocratics, whom he, likewise, admires; and Plato, about whom Nietzsche is decidedly more ambivalent--created new values.

Nietzsche readings will be from Daybreak, The Gay Science, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morality, and Twilight of the Idols, as well as his early lectures on Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks and “Homer’s Contest.”  From the Greeks, we will consider portions of Homer’s Iliad, Plato’s Apology and Crito, as well as selections from Heraclitus and Parmenides.

India has made important contributions to political and legal thought, most of which are too little-known in the West.  These contributions draw on ancient traditions, Hindu and Buddhist, but transform them, often radically, to fit the needs of an anti-imperial nation aspiring to inclusiveness and equality.  We will study the thought of Rabindranath Tagore (Nationalism, The Religion of Man, selected literary works); Mohandas Gandhi (Hind Swaraj (Indian Self-Rule), Autobiography, and selected speeches); B. R. Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Indian Constitution (The Annihilation of Caste, The Buddha and his Dhamma, and selected speeches and interventions in the Constituent Assembly); and, most recently, Amartya Sen, whose The Idea of Justice is rooted, as he describes, both in ancient Indian traditions and in the thought of Tagore. We will periodically contrast the thought of the founding generation with the ideas of the Hindu Right, dominant today. (I)

Abortion is a complex and fraught topic. Morally, a very wide range of individual, familial, and social concerns converge upon it. Politically, longstanding controversies have been given new salience and urgency by the Dobbs decision and the ongoing moves by state legislatures to restrict access to abortion. In terms of moral philosophy, deep issues in ethics merge with equally deep questions about the nature of life, action, and the body. In terms of political philosophy, basic questions are raised about the relationship of religious and moral beliefs to the criminal law of a liberal state. We will seek to understand the topic in all of this complexity. Our approach will be thoroughly intra- and inter-disciplinary, drawing not only on our separate areas of philosophical expertise but on the contributions of a series of guest instructors in law, history, and medicine. (A) (I)

Topic: Heidegger’s Critique of German Idealism

Martin Heidegger claimed that the entire western philosophical tradition reached its ‘culmination’ in the philosophy of German Idealism. In this course we will take this diagnosis seriously, work to understand its presuppositions and implications, and attempt to assess its cogency. We will read closely Heidegger’s major works on Kant, as well as his central writings on Kant’s immediate successors. In addition to supplementary readings from Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel, we may also read excerpts from Aristotle, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Christian Wolff, and Alexander Baumgarten.

This will be an introduction to philosophy through the music of Taylor Swift. We'll explore a range of philosophical themes using Swift's lyrics as a starting point. Such themes include the nature of love and desire, the ethics of fantasy, memory and nostalgia, revenge, aesthetics, and autonomy. No prior experience with philosophy required, nor does one have to be a Swiftie. (A)

This course is a survey of recent work in feminist political philosophy. We’ll focus on three interrelated themes: objectification; the relation of gender oppression to the economic structure of society; and the problem of “intersectionality,” that is, the problem of how to construct adequate theories of gender injustice given that gender “intersects” with other axes of oppression, e.g. race and class. Authors we’ll read include: Martha Nussbaum, Sandra Bartky, Angela Davis, Iris Marion Young, Nancy Fraser, Patricia Hill Collins, bell hooks, and Serene Khader. (A)

Plato’s theory of forms is perhaps the first complete philosophical idea in the Greek tradition. It is so fundamental to the activity of philosophy, that the entire subject might be summarized as “a series of alternatives to Plato’s theory of Forms.” We sketch out the development of this theory from its earliest presentations in dialogues like the Republic through Plato’s own reconsideration of the theory in Parmenides, to the late presentations of the theory in Sophist and Philebus. (B)