DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY UPPSALA UNIVERSITY COURSES THOUGHT IN ENGLISH FALL TERM 2012 Philosophy of Mind Instructor: Sharon Rider Literature: information not yet available. Monday 12 November Monday 19 November Friday 23 November Monday 26 November Friday 30 November Monday 3 December Friday 7 December Monday 10 December Friday 14 December Monday 17 December 10-13 Eng2-0022 More info: sharon.rider@filosofi.uu.se Population ethics Instructor: Erik Carlson Literature: information not yet available. Wednesday 3 October Monday 8 October Wednesday 10 October Monday 15 October Wednesday 17 October Monday 22 October Wednesday 24 October Monday 29 October Tuesday 30 October Thursday 1 November 13-15 Seminarierummet Eng2-1022 More info: erik.carlson@filosofi.uu.se
Introduction to Philosophy of Science Web-based distance course in September-October Instructor: George Masterton Literature: Johansson, Lars-Göran, Philosophy of natural and human sciences, manuscript available at the department. More info: george.masterton@filosofi.uu.se The Idea of a University Instructor: Sharon Rider Schedule: Friday September 7 Thursday September 13 Friday September 21 Friday September 28 Friday October 12 Thursday October 18 Friday October 26 10-13 Eng2-0022 10-12 Eng7-1020 10-13 Eng2-1025 10-13 Eng2-K1024 10-13 Eng2-0024 10-13 Eng2-1024 10-13 Eng2-1024 The course will take the form of seminars, with short introductory lectures by the instructor. In the event of scheduling conflicts with other courses, notify the instructor. While participation in the seminars is expected, arrangements can be made if the student cannot attend every one. The aim of the course is to provide the student with the occasion to reflect critically and systematically upon his own assumptions, norms and values and even, or perhaps especially, his or her prior intellectual training, by placing current prevalent notions concerning study, science and scholarship in a broader historical, social and epistemological context. The emphasis of the course is not, however, historical or sociological. Rather, we will concentrate on certain conceptual questions and problems associated with the idea of a university and its development, i.e. with the meaning of and relationship between such diverse notions as research, scholarship, higher education, culture, critical thinking, scientific training, professional judgment, Bildung, etc., especially with regard to the place of the university in a geopolitical and economic context. The primary expected outcome of the course is that the student will have improved his or her capacity to formulate, analyze and reason independently about a concrete problem about the nature of knowledge
production and science in all its complexity while retaining and developing focus and clarity. Because the course assumes prior acquaintance with academic study at a reasonably high level, it is open only to students registered at the MAor PhD-level. Required Reading: 1) Bill Reading, The University in Ruins Harvard University Press, 1995 2) A compendium available at the department of philosophy one week before the start of the course, including selections from among the following: Hannah Arendt: The Crisis in Education, from Between Past and Future Wendell Berry, The Loss of the University, from Home Economics John Dewey, Democracy and Education Johan Gottlob Fichte, Some Lectures Concerning the Scholar s Vocation José Ortega Y Gasset Mission of the University Martin Heidegger, The Age of the World Picture, from The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays Wilhelm von Humboldt Om den inre och yttre organisationen av de högre vetenskapliga läroanstalterna i Berlin Immanuel Kant, The Contest of the Faculties, from Political Writings Jean-Francois Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University Helga Nowotny, Peter Scott and Michael Gibbons The Role of Universities in Knowledge Production, in Re-Thinking Science Thorsten Veblen, The Place of the University in Modern Life, in The Higher Learning in America Max Weber: Science as a Vocation The students are expected to have read Readings book in advance of the beginning of the course, and thus be able to participate actively in seminar discussion. The compendium readings can be read in conjunction with seminars and in preparation of the final paper (in English or Swedish, TNR, 12 pts, 1,5
spacing; 2-12 pages for students at the masters level, 12-5 pages for doctoral students). The topic of which will be proposed by the student in consultation with me. Contact information: sharon.rider@filosofi.uu.se Quine s Word and object Instructor: Lars-Göran Johansson Course book: Quine, W.V. Word and object. 1960 or later editions. One of the most influential books in philosophy of language is W.V. Quine's Word and Object, published 1960. In this book, Quine starts by reflecting on how a child learns its native language: it has no knowledge about their parents thoughts from start; all it has to go on is their behaviour and the sounds they utter. But in less than three years, most childen learn and understand their first language. Likewise, field anthropologists are able to learn the language of natives and to communicate with them, just by interacting with them in their natural environment.by analysing these processes, Quine is able to provide profound insights into language, meaning, interpretation, and most topics in the philosophy of language and thought. The course will consist of a thorough study of this book. Schedule: Wednesday October 31 Monday November 5 Wednesday November 7 Wednesday November 14 Wednesday November 21 Monday November 26 Wednesday November 28 Wednesday December 5 Wednesday December 12 Wednesday December 19 11-13 Eng2-0026 11-13 Eng2-0025 More info: lars-goran.johansson@filosofi.uu.se Ancient Philosophy of Action and Agency Wednesday November 14 Thursday November 15 14-16 Seminarierummet Eng2-1022 14-16 Eng2-0027
Wednesday November 21 Thursday November 22 Wednesday November 28 Thursday November 29 Wednesday December 5 Thursday December 6 14-16 Seminarierummet Eng2-1022 14-16 Eng2-0027 14-16 Eng2-0028 14-16 Eng2-0027 14-16 Eng2-1023 14-16 Eng2-0026 Lecturer: Pauliina Remes What are actions and where do they fit in in ontology? What makes someone an agent? What is a rational agency, and which psychological operations are typically connected to action? What is it to act intentionally, to act for a reason? What is the role of beliefs and desires in action? When is action voluntary and when involuntary? What value and what kind of place in a good life does action have? These are all questions that occupied thinkers from the same time onwards, roughly, that philosophy in its Western form became to be practised. The course will guide to the central texts and discussions on agency and action in antiquity, covering Plato, Aristotle, and Hellenistic philosophers, and concluding with some late ancient developments. From a modern and contemporary point of view, agency may appear problematic: naturalistic explanations seem somewhat ill-suited to accomodate, or to do full honour, to the particularity of the phenomenon discussed. Ever since Elisabeth Anscombe, contemporary philosophers have looked back to ancient philosophy for help. Especially Aristotelian conceptions have had several revivals. While both the understanding of what a human being is as well as of the concept of nature have gone through significant changes, ancient discussions about e.g. voluntariness and responsibility continue to appeal to and to challenge the interpreter. The course s focus will accordingly be on the main texts of Aristotle and on the newest readings given of them. Yet the attempt is, further, to give a richer view of ancient philosophy of action, leaving place also to other approaches, ideas and thinkers, such as the Hellenistic problems of accomodating agency with different forms of determinism, or the neoplatonist considerations on the relationship between theoretical activity and action. The course material can be purchased at the Department of Philosophy ca. two weeks before the first lecture. The course consists of lectures, and (provided that the group is not too large) shared seminars where the ancient texts will be discussed. Besides normal attendance on the course, the students striving for the 7,5 credits will write a 7-9 page essay (either in English or in Swedish) based on the lectures and on course materials. The purpose of the essays is also in giving a possibility of deepening one s acquaintance from the level of an overview on ancient philosophy of action to a closer study of one thinker/text/problem. The topics will be provided during the lectures.
The students are kindly asked to register on the course by the first of November 2012, by sending an email to the lecturer (pauliina.remes@filosofi.uu.se).