Philosophy (PHIL)
Prerequisites: Permission from philosophy graduate adviser
Description: Seminar for beginning graduate students whose primary goal is the development of basic philosophical skills such as the analysis of primary texts, the writing of philosophical papers, and sustained oral discussion. Readings include a significant number of important works drawn from diverse areas of philosophical inquiry. Class meetings devoted primarily to student presentations of reading materials and their own written work. Effective oral discussion on the part of the student required.
Prerequisites: 9 hours PHIL.
Description: Introduction to some of the basic concepts and problems in the philosophy of language. Topics to be discussed include reference, definite descriptions, names, demonstratives, truth, meaning, speech acts, and the logic of expressions involving so-called "propositional attitudes." Authors studied include Frege, Russell, Tarski, Austin, Grice, Strawson, Quine, Kripke, Kaplan and Davidson.
Prerequisites: 9 hours PHIL.
Description: Intensive study of basic problems in the Theory of Knowledge: the nature of knowledge, the analysis of perception and memory, the justification of induction, the problem of how one knows other minds, and the analysis of a prior knowledge. Readings from recent work.
Second course in symbolic logic.
Description: An advanced course in symbolic logic, covering metatheoretical results about selected systems of logic. Topics may include: the soundness and completeness of classical propositional logic, and of some propositional modal logics; non-classical propositional logics; and extensions of and alternatives to classical first-order predicate logic
Prerequisites: 9 hours PHIL.
Description: Main problems in the philosophy of mind, including dualism and materialism, instrumentalism and eliminativism, wide and narrow content, qualia, and mental causation.
Prerequisites: 3 hours PHIL or graduate standing
Description: Intensive study of some main problems in the philosophy of science: explanation and prediction in the sciences, the nature of scientific laws, functional explanations in the sciences, the structure of scientific theories, the ontological status of theoretical entities, the reduction of scientific theories, and the confirmation of scientific hypotheses.
Prerequisites: 9 hours PHIL.
Description: Intensive study of main problems in metaphysics, especially universals and particulars, the relation of mind and matter, the categories of the real, criteria of identity, and existential propositions. Readings from recent philosophers.
Prerequisites: 9 hours PHIL.
Description: The epistemological character of the social sciences. Character and explanatory role of social scientific generalizations, various explanatory strategies for social matters, the continuity or discontinuity of the social sciences with the special sciences, the importance of interpretation, and the place of rationality.
Prerequisites: 9 credit hours in PHIL
Description: Explore the foundations of ethics with consideration of major historical and contemporary views about the source of ethical obligation, practical normativity and morality.
Prerequisites: 9 hours PHIL.
Description: Critical study of leading theories in ethics, with close attention to major works, chiefly modern and contemporary. Includes naturalism, intuitionism, emotivism, utilitarianism, Neo-Kantian ethics, and various current positions.
Prerequisites: 9 hours PHIL.
Description: Foundational issues in human action, including the nature of intentional action, practical reasoning, moral responsibility, group agency, and various forms of irrationality.
Prerequisites: 9 hours PHIL.
Description: Critical study of main problems and leading theories in social and political philosophy. Origin and justification of political obligation, with emphasis on social contact theories; the nature and foundation of individual rights and the strength of these rights when they conflict with each other and with concern for the common good; the principles of social justice and the obligation to protect the welfare of others; and the concepts of personal autonomy, liberty, equality, and freedom. Readings from a combination of historical and recent work, and emphasis on relating the various issues to current problems in society.
Description: Examination of classic books of 20th century jurisprudence. Topics include the relationship between law and morality and the development of legal positivism and its critics.
Prerequisites: 9 hours PHIL.
Description: Advanced survey of ancient philosophy from the pre-Socratics through Aristotle, concentrating on central epistemological and metaphysical issues.
Prerequisites: 9 hours PHIL.
Description: Advanced survey of early European philosophy from the late renaissance through the Enlightenment, concentrating on central epistemological and metaphysical issues.
Prerequisites: 9 hours PHIL.
Description: Kant's philosophy, and of problems in the interpretation of his writings. The primary text will be the First Critique.
Prerequisites: 9 hours PHIL
Description: Survey of "Classical" German Idealism. Figures discussed include Kant, Jacobi, Reinhold, Schulze, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. Focus on four lines of thought prominent in German Idealism-viz. Spinozism, skepticism, self-consciousness, and the relationship between the senses and the intellect.
Prerequisites: Permission.
Description: Independent and significant research project.
Prerequisites: Admission to masters degree program and permission of major adviser
Prerequisites: Graduate standing in the humanities
Description: Intensive discussion of one or more of the main problems of social and political philosophy. Variable content. Possible topics are: political obligation, the concept of political authority, natural rights, the public interest, the aims of the state, and distributive justice.
Prerequisites: Admission to doctoral degree program and permission of supervisory committee chair