DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY. Course Descriptions Undergraduate and Graduate SPRING /07/19-04/27/19

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1 DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY Course Descriptions Undergraduate and Graduate SPRING /07/19-04/27/19 *indicates Section can be taken for honors credit PHIL INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY The course satisfies: University Core Curriculum Humanities/Human Cultures, College of Liberal Arts Western Heritage, College of Sciences Language & Culture, and General Education s, College of Agriculture s International Understanding & Humanities s, College of Education s Other Department for Social Studies Education, College of Health and Human Sciences HSCI Humanities, * TR 3:00 PM 4:15 PM BRNG 1230 Draper, Paul * TR 12:00 PM 1:15 PM BRNG 1268 Draper, Paul * TR 1:30 PM 2:45 PM BRNG 1268 Davis, Taylor MWF 9:30 AM 10:20 AM BRNG 1268 Grad Staff *019LLEC TR 2:30 PM 3:20 PM BRWN 1154 Löwe, Can Laurens MWF 2:30 PM 3:20 PM BRNG 1230 Grad Staff Y01/DIS Arr Hrs Grad staff The basic problems and types of philosophy with special emphasis on the problems of knowledge and the nature of reality. Draper: The objective of this course is to introduce students to philosophical inquiry about consciousness, morality, knowledge, free will, and God. The course begins by examining Plato's account of the trial and death of Socrates. Each of Plato's three main themes Socratic method, Socratic wisdom, and Socratic virtue tells us something important about the nature and goals of philosophy. Next, the course examines five philosophical problems. (1) The mind-body problem: what are minds or mental events and how are they related to the physical world? (2) The abortion problem: under what circumstances, if any, is it morally permissible to get an abortion? (3) The problem of the external world: how, if at all, is it possible to know that there is an external world? (4) The free will problem: how, if at all, is it possible for some of our choices to be free? (5) The problem of evil: does the evil in the world prove that God does not exist? In this course, these problems are presented as trilemmas: every attempt to solve them involves rejecting one of three highly plausible but inconsistent claims. This approach to formulating these problems demonstrates why the five questions listed above are problems (as opposed to just questions) and also why each problem must have a correct solution (inconsistent claims cannot all be true), even if philosophers don't yet agree on what that solution is. PHIL ETHICS MWF 08:30 AM-09:20 AM BRNG 1268 Grad staff MWF 10:30 AM-11:20 AM BRNG 1268 Grad staff MWF 02:30 PM-03:20 PM BRNG 1268 Grad staff MWF 12:30 PM-01:20 PM BRNG 1268 Grad staff MWF 01:30 PM-02:20 PM BRNG 1268 Grad staff Y01/DIS MWF Arr Hrs Grad staff A study of the nature of moral value and obligation. Topics such as the following will be considered: different conceptions of the good life and standards of right conduct; the relation of nonmoral and moral goodness; determinism, free will, and the problem of moral responsibility; the political and social dimensions of ethics; the principles and methods of moral judgment. Readings will be drawn both from contemporary sources and from the works of such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Butler, Hume, Kant, and J. S. Mill. PHIL 114 Global Moral Issues Education s Other Department for Social Studies Education, College of Health and Human Sciences HSCI Humanities, Behavioral/Social TR 04:30 PM - 5:45 PM BRNG 1268 Mollison, James MWF 11:30 AM 12:20 PM BRNG 1230 Grad staff Y Arr Hrs Grad staff A systematic and representative examination of significant contemporary moral problems with a focus on global issues such as international justice, poverty and foreign aid, nationalism and patriotism, just war, population and the environment, human rights, gender equality, and national self-determination. 1

2 PHIL PRINCIPLES OF LOGIC This course satisfies: University Core Curriculum Quantitative Reasoning College of Agricultures Humanities, College of Health and Human Sciences HSCI Humanities, Behavioral/Social Sciences * TR 3:00 PM 4:15 PM BRNG 1268 Tulodziecki, Dana This course is an introduction to the basic concepts and methods of modern logic, with emphasis on the construction and appraisal of complex patterns of reasoning. Some of the things expected will be the recognition and reconstruction of arguments in ordinary language, the symbolization of propositions and arguments from English into logical notation, the testing of arguments for validity, and understanding and constructing proofs. You will be expected to know the notation and the techniques of propositional and predicate logic. Put less formally, you will learn what it means for a claim to follow from others, and to recognise and construct good arguments of your own. PHIL PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION * TR 10:30 AM-11:45 AM BRNG 1268 Bergmann, Michael The course will be divided into three parts. The first part of the course will deal with a question that has loomed large in the philosophical history of western monotheism (Judaism, Christianity and Islam): is belief in God rational? The focus here will be on arguments for God s existence (such as the argument from the fact that the universe seems to have been designed), on arguments against God s existence (e.g., the argument that a perfect God wouldn t permit terrible things to happen and yet they happen), and on whether belief in God can be rational if it isn t supported by argument. The second part of the course will focus on the fact that there are many different religions in the world, most of which claim to be the only religion that is right about the most important truths. Our question here will be whether, in the face of this plurality of religions, it can be rational to think that one s own religion is right and that other religions incompatible with it are mistaken. The third part of the course will focus on some questions in philosophical theology questions such as: Can we be free if God foreknows what we will do? Does it make sense to make requests of God in prayer given that, whether we pray or not, a perfect being would know what we want and would do what is best? The course requirements will include some short writing assignments, a midterm exam, and a final exam. PHIL ETHICS FOR TECHNOLOGY, ENGR DESIGN This course satisfies: University Core Science, Technology & Society requirement, College of Liberal Arts Social Ethics, College of Sciences General Education, College of Agricultures Humanities, College of Education s Other Department for Social Studies Education, College of Health and Human Sciences HSCI Humanities, Behavioral/Social * TR 3:30 PM 4:20 PM BRWN 1154 Davis, Taylor This course is designed with the educational goals of increasing your understanding of professional and ethical responsibilities in national, international, and cross-cultural environments, and helping to anticipate, understand, and navigate issues that will likely arise in your working life as an engineer or designer. Toward this end, reflection on your own engineering experience and its ethical ramifications is a fundamental component. The main concern of the course will be with developing your ability to apply a general ethical framework to new and unique situations, as well as an understanding of the relation between engineering and issues arising from global cultural and environmental contexts. The course covers how this ethical framework should be constituted, and also provides practice in applying such a framework to specific, concrete cases. Together, these components work toward your development as a better engineer and a more responsible global citizen. The readings, case studies, and exercises are geared towards the development of a well-researched original case study, informed by your past experiences and future aspirations related to engineering, which you will present to the class. PHIL 23000/REL23000 RELIGIONS OF THE EAST * MWF 9:30 AM 10:20 AM WALC B066 Purpura, Ashley M. This course offers an interdisciplinary introduction to the academic study of Indian, Southeast Asian, Chinese, and Japanese religious traditions, including: Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, and Zoroastrianism. The philosophical and religious contexts of each tradition will be considered by examining its history, primary texts, key teachings, rituals, present practice, and diverse cultural expressions. PHIL 23100/REL23100 RELIGIONS OF THE WEST This course satisfies: College of Sciences Language & Culture, and General Education s College of Agricultures International Understanding, Multicultural Awareness, and Humanities s, College of Managements International Elective, College of Health and Human Sciences International Selective, Cultural/International Diversity, HSCI Humanities, Behavioral/Social Sciences, Global Perspectives and International Cultures s * MWF 11:30 AM-12:20 PM BRNG 1268 Ryba, Thomas The purpose of this course is to provide a systematic survey of those religions variously described, in the West, as Western Religions or Religions of the West. Immediately, a problem arises because the adjective, Western, is questionable. The descriptions Western or of the West have been understood as designating a problematic geo-cultural location but also a homogeneous style of religious thought because of their common origins as Abrahamic monotheisms. Contemporary scholars of religion, and indigenous believers, often contest 2

3 this imputed homogeneity and have pointed to the incredible complexity and fluidity of these traditions, characteristics which resist simplistic classification. Well aware of the challenges such descriptions present, we, in this course, will engage in a comparative study of the systems of belief and thought traditionally termed Religions of the West by Western scholars of religions. This will be accomplished through a series of readings on these systems histories, philosophies, and scriptures. PHIL 24000/POL SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY * TR 9:00 AM 10:15 AM BRNG 1268 McBride, William What have been some of the great social aspirations and values of the past, and how are they related to our own? In this course, a number of the major issues and writers in Western social and political thought will be introduced and discussed. There will be classical readings from Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Marx, followed by a segment devoted to contemporary writers and issues. During the latter, each student will be asked to select a book to present briefly to the class; this will serve as the basis of a final term paper. (Other requirements, in addition to class participation and meeting with the instructor, will be a shorter paper early in the term and a mid-term and final examination.) Text: Michael S. Morgan, ed., Classics of Moral and Political Theory, 5 th edition Hackett paperback, PHIL PHILOSOPHY AND LAW This course satisfies: University Core Curriculums Information Literacy and Written Communications s, College of Liberal Arts Social Ethics, College of Sciences General Education, College of Agricultures Humanities, College of Health and Human Sciences HSCI Humanities, * LLEC TR 3:30 PM 4:20 PM WTHR 172 Jacovides, Michael We ll examine some of the central questions of philosophy of law How ought judicial decisions be decided? What are laws? What s the relation between law and morality? Under what conditions do laws have authority over us? To what extent is it proper for laws to limit freedom? What constitutes a just system of punishment? There will be two short papers, one a legal brief and the other a philosophy paper. There will be two research exercises leading up to the papers. Students will also be required to write a question or comment on the reading for most classes. PHIL BIOMED ETHICS This course satisfies: University Core Science, Technology & Society requirement, College of Liberal Arts Social Ethics, College of Sciences General Education, College of Agricultures Humanities, College of Health and Human Sciences HSCI Humanities, Behavioral/Social Sciences, Culture and Diversity, and Social Ethics. * LLEC TR 1:30 PM 2:20 PM PHYS 112 Parrish, Lynn An examination of the moral and social problems raised by developments in medicine and the biomedical sciences. Topics include abortion, reproductive technologies, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, experiments involving human subjects, and healthcare delivery. PHIL ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS YO1/DIS ARR HOURS Grad Staff An introduction to philosophical issues surrounding debates about the environment and our treatment of it. Topics may include endangered species, deep ecology, the scope and limits of cost-benefits analyses, and duties to future generations. PHIL ETHICS FOR DATA SCIENCES M 1:30 PM 2:20PM WALC 3154 Kroll, Matthew A critical examination of some special topic or topics in philosophy. Details concerning topics selected for treatment in a given semester may be obtained in advance from the Department of Philosophy. Sections of this course may sometimes be initiated by students upon petition to the department. PHIL ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Education s Other Department for Social Studies Education, College of Health and Human Sciences HSCI Humanities, Behavioral/Social * TR 10:30 AM 11:45 AM BRNG 1230 Curd, Patricia Thales and his Presocratic counterparts are generally reckoned to be the first western philosophers. This course will trace the development of philosophy in Greece from its beginning in Thales and the Milesian school through to Aristotle. Along the way we shall consider the questions the Greek philosophers asked: What is it to be real? What is the nature of knowledge? Can we explain change? Can I know anything about the ever-changing world of sense-experience? What would such knowledge be like? Is moral knowledge possible? Emphasis will be placed on the works of Heraclitus, Parmenides, Plato, and Aristotle. 3

4 PHIL 30200H (Honors) HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY This course satisfies: University Core Curriculum s Human Cultures/Humanities, College of Liberal Arts Western Heritage, College of Sciences Language & Culture, and General Education s, College of Agriculture s Humanities, College of Health and Human Sciences HSCI Humanities, Behavioral/Social Sciences H TR 12:00 PM-01:15 PM BRNG 1230 Brower, Jeffrey A survey of the main trends and figures of medieval philosophy, with an emphasis on metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Readings (in English translation) may include Augustine, Boethius, Avicenna, Anselm, Abelard, Maimonides, Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham and Suarez. PHIL HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY This course satisfies: University Core Curriculum s Human Cultures/Humanities, College of Liberal Arts Western Heritage, College of Sciences Language & Culture, and General Education s, College of Agriculture s Humanities, College of Health and Human Sciences HSCI Humanities, Behavioral/Social Sciences * TR 1:30 PM 2:45 PM BRNG 1230 Jacovides, Michael Philosophy flourished in the early modern period (for us, between 1633 and 1783). We shall examine the central doctrines of Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. Our central epistemic topics will be the problem of skepticism, whether we have any innate ideas, and how we can know anything about the outside world. Our central metaphysical topics will include the nature of minds, the nature of bodies, and the relation between them. We shall also consider how these philosophers attempted to fit God into their newly scientific worldviews. Three papers will be assigned, along with a requirement to write a question or comment on the reading for most classes. PHIL MODERN ETHICAL THEORY * MWF 1:30 PM 2:20 PM BRNG 1230 Lambeth, Morganna This course will consider the revolutionary moral theory offered by Immanuel Kant, and the critical reception of this theory by Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. After reviewing Kant s arguments that there are universal moral laws that all humans are obligated to follow, we will ask, with Kierkegaard: is there something to which we can aspire that is higher than following a universal moral law? With Nietzsche, we will ask: is Kant offering an ahistorical moral law, or one that arose at a certain moment in history? If the latter, is Kant s moral system still apt for our historical moment? Throughout the course, students will learn how to read complex philosophical texts, and how to write and discuss philosophy. PHIL METAPHYSICS * TR 9:00 AM 10:15 AM BRNG 1230 Cover, Jan The French philosopher J. Maritain once said A philosopher is not a philosopher if he is not a metaphysician. He meant this to be true of any philosopher or, as the case might be, non-philosopher: perhaps epistemologists and ethicists are not philosophers; or perhaps instead epistemologists and ethicists are metaphysicians. Consider Bergmann, the epistemologist: if he were a philosopher who failed to be a metaphysician, would we have in him a case of a philosopher failing to be a philosopher? This question begins approaching issues of (i) Modality and Essentialism, which will make up a third of the issues we shall discuss in this course. The other two are issues of (ii) Ontology and of (iii) Identity, Persistence, and Change. In connection with (i), we ll work toward a principled approach to such claims as these: -- Since nine is the number of planets, and the number of planets could have been greater than it is, nine isn t essentially odd. -- If a claim is necessarily true, that is owing to the meanings of words (think of All bachelors are unmarried ). But of course no claim to the effect that thus-and-so exists can be true merely owing to the meanings of words. So, nothing exists necessarily, not even God, or the number five, or the principle of non-contradiction. In connection with (ii), we ll figure out how to approach and evaluate claims such as these: -- If Plato showed courage and courage is a virtue, then there exist at least two things: Plato, and courage. -- Everything is the correct (and important) answer to the question What exists? -- My cheese has four holes and your cheese has five; there are numbers; but there are no holes. And, in connection with (iii), such claims as these: -- According to Leibniz s Law, if x = y, then (of course!) x can t have properties that y lacks. The son of Jack and Eunice Cover, born on 26 June 1958, weighed seven pounds. Professor Cover weighs 127 pounds. So, Professor Cover can t be the son of Jack and Eunice Cover. -- Since Lois believes that Superman can fly, Superman has the property of being believed by Lois to be able to fly. Since Lois doesn t believe that Clarke Kent can fly, Clarke Kent lacks the property of being believed by Lois to be able to fly. So then, Superman has a property that Clarke lacks, and hence by Leibniz s Law Clarke isn t Superman. But Clarke is Superman. Thus, Leibniz s Law is false. [But Leibniz s Law is true. So um.] -- Either there is no such thing as Descartes right hand, or else two things can exist in the same place at the same time. PHIL EXISTENTIALISM TR 10:30 AM 11:45 AM BRNG 1248 McBride, William This course will combine historical survey with in-depth analysis of a few major works in the existentialist tradition. It will consider individual works by Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, essays by Heidegger in the volume edited by David Krell, and by Simone de Beauvoir in a volume edited 4

5 by Margaret Simons, and sections of Sartre s Being and Nothingess. Each participant will be asked to give a class presentation on a work that is not part of the common readings, and to write a term paper. PHIL DECONSTRUCTIVISM AND POSTMODERN M 11:30 PM 2:20 PM BRNG 1248 Smith, Daniel This seminar has a variable content, and in Spring 2019 the seminar will be focused on Gilles Deleuze s 1968 magnum opus Difference and Repetition, and the metaphysical system he develops in it. Our discussions will (tentatively) be organized around two topics: immanent ethics (with readings from Nietzsche and Philosophy and Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza) and the theory of time (with readings from Bergsonism and The Time-Image). Seminar presentations and a final paper. PHIL STUDIES IN THEORY KNOWLEDGE TR 1:30 PM 2:45 PM BRNG 1248 Bergmann, Michael The focus of the course will be contemporary analytic epistemology. The four main topics we will look at are: 1. the foundationalism-coherentism debate; 2. the internalism-externalism debate; 3. skepticism and responses to it; 4. the epistemology of testimony. Course requirements: keeping up with the reading, a short paper, a long paper, a class presentation, and several shorter written assignments (no exam). PHIL SPECIAL TOPICS IN ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY W 2:30 PM 5:20PM BRNG 1248 Curd, Patricia For Aristotle what has come to be called metaphysics is the study of being as such ( being qua being as he calls it). In the Categories, he identifies it with primary substance (an individual this, the subject for all other predications). In other works, he considers form (in form/matter compounds) as substance; in de Anima and the biological works, it is identified with soul; in the middle books of the Metaphysics, he considers a number of candidates, apparently settling on essence and actuality. This seminar examines these various moves, and considers the questions of whether, and why (or why not) in opting for essence the Metaphysics rejects the Categories account that it is individual things that are most real. Along the way, we examine questions about matter (and form), the roles of soul and actuality, and the so-called problem of individual forms. PHIL DISSERTATION WORKSHOP M 02:30 PM-05:20 PM BRNG 1248 Jacovides, Michael The aim of this course is to provide a constructive forum for the development of graduate students dissertation projects, to help sustain progress on research and maintain participation in a supportive intellectual community. The course will also serve as a key component of students' preparation for the job market. Each student will present work of their own--e.g., an overview of their dissertation project, or a chapter or a part of a chapter from their dissertation, for discussion with the other graduate students in the seminar and the faculty instructor. The number of presentations will depend upon enrollment, but the ideal meeting will consist in two hours of a simulated colloquium talk with a question and answer session, followed by an hour of constructive suggestions for improvement from the class. Regular attendance is expected of all participants. Prerequisite: 6 credit hours at the graduate level in Philosophy. PHIL CONTINENTAL RATIONAL W 11:30 AM 2:20 PM BRNG 1248 Cover, Jan Not all that long ago Hume wasn t on the curricular or scholarly radar of philosophers. Seventeenth century philosophy had that giant Descartes, who died exactly mid-century; after him and Cartesianism (but before Voltaire), who and what? Malebranche was in his day, and like Hume is again now, recognized as an intellectual giant of his age. Some say he was a better Cartesian than Descartes; others have said Descartes had no stauncher critic. No-one would call him predictable or boring: he was smart and unorthodox (and as philosophers go lands well beyond Voltaire, who stood altogether on Newton s shoulders whilst refusing to do any serious metaphysics or epistemology). One can learn a good deal from one s philosophical opponents: Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume (and Foucher and Régis and Arnauld and ) did so, with Malebranche, on two topics pivotal to the seventeenth century. // The first half of the course is on the epistemology and metaphysics of ideas. Do we need ideas? What are they? (Come to think of it, where are they?) The second half of the course like unto the first in its questions is on causation. Here too Malebranche was clever and unorthodox. As secondary causation goes, what is it, and how much is needed or possible? Reading old texts (one main book) will guide us. If the threads of fate weave our way, we ll also enjoy or suffer brief interludes topical and polemical on varieties of skepticism, versions of perceptual realism, doctrines of substance and accident, laws of nature, and a mix of historical voices informing, and influenced by, Malebranche s central contribution to the history of early modern philosophy. // s during the semester: reading, talking, bits of writing, and a final paper. 5