Winter

A close reading of Aristotle’s Metaphysics Θ, along with Jonathan Beere’s Doing and Being. (III)

A close reading of Plato’s Hippias Major, Protagoras, and Gorgias. (A)

An exploration of some of the central questions in metaethics, moral theory, and applied ethics. These questions include the following: are there objective moral truths, as there are (as it seems) objective scientific truths? If so, how can we come to know these truths? Should we make the world as good as we can, or are there moral constraints on what we can do that are not a function of the consequences of our actions? Is the best life a maximally moral life? What distribution of goods in a society satisfies the demands of justice? Can beliefs and desires be immoral, or only actions? What is “moral luck”? What is courage? (A)

(A) (I)

This course will be an introduction to the philosophy of law. The first third will cover some historical classics: Plato's Crito, and selections from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Kant's Doctrine of Right, Hegel's Outline of the Philosophy of Right, and Austin's The Province of Jurisprudence Determined. The second third of the course will cover some classics of postwar Anglo-American jurisprudence, including selections from H.L.A. Hart, Ronald Dworkin, Richard Posner, and Ernest Weinrib. The final third of the course will explore in a little further detail philosophical problems that arise in the following areas: the philosophy of tort law, theories of constitutional interpretation, and feminist jurisprudence. (A)

A study of the Transcendental Dialectic of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. (IV)

A study of conceptions of the relation of the human intellect to reality in medieval and early modern Europe. Figures studied include Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Descartes, Elisabeth of the Palatinate, Conway, Locke, Leibniz, Hume, and Kant.

Between 1600 and 1800, the transatlantic slave trade perpetrated by Europeans reached its height; Ottoman and Barbary Coast slavery along the coast of the Mediterranean were well-known all across Europe. During these two centuries, activists, philosophers and politicians engaged in lively debates about slavery. These debates contain both the origins of our modern conception of equality as well as the modern conception of “race.” Our reading of these debates will be guided by several persisting questions: how did the practice of slavery influence our conception of equality? How did debates about the slave trade influence the emergence of modern notions of “race”? Are there things that should be known without argument? And what is the appropriate response to thinking that has “gone off the rails”? Through these questions, we will also engage a meta-philosophical problem about the purpose of doing philosophy. If the failure of many early modern philosophers to unequivocally condemn slavery were a failure of their philosophy, how can philosophy avoid similar mistakes today? By contrast, if the early modern philosophers’ failure to condemn slavery were “merely” a failure of cultural prejudices or false empirical beliefs, does philosophy still have anything relevant to say against injustice? (A)

This course explores the Western philosophical tradition of reasoned reflection on religious belief. Our questions will include: what are the most important arguments for, and against, belief in God? How does religious belief relate to the deliverances of the sciences, in particular to evolutionary theory? How can we reconcile religious belief with the existence of evil? What is the relationship between religion and morality? In attempting to answer these questions we will read work by Plato, Augustine, Anselm, Nietszche, and Freud, as well as some recent texts. (B)

This is a workshop for 3rd year philosophy graduate students, in which students prepare and workshop materials for their Topical Exam.