PHIL. 001-001     INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY           GROSS                  M W   11:00-12:00
REGISTRATION REQUIRED FOR LECTURE AND RECITATION
 
            RECITATION 201                                                            STAFF                    F  10:00-11:00
            RECITATION 202                                                            STAFF                    F  11:00-12:00

An introductory examination of four important philosophical topics: free will and determinism, arguments for and against the existence of God, scepticism and the nature of scientific reasoning, and moral relativism.           GENERAL REQUIREMENT II: HISTORY & TRADITION

PHIL. 001  INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
             SEMINAR 301                                                                STAFF                    T TH   9:00-10:30
             SEMINAR 302                                                                T. MEYER             T TH  10:30-12:00
             SEMINAR 303                                                                BOWMAN             T TH   1:30-3:00

          ENROLLMENT RESTRICTED TO FRESHMEN

An introduction to such topics as our knowledge of the material world, the   relation of mind and body, the existence of God, the nature of morality.
GENERAL REQUIREMENT II: HISTORY & TRADITION

PHIL. 004-001 HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY        HATFIELD           M W  10:00-11:00
REGISTRATION REQUIRED FOR LECTURE AND RECITATION

             RECITATION 201                                                            STAFF                 F    10:00-11:00
WATU-RECITATION 202                                                            STAFF                 F    10:00-11:00
             RECITATION 203                                                            STAFF                 F    11:00-12:00 
WATU-RECITATION 204                                                            STAFF                 F      1:00-2:00

An introduction to the history of modern philosophy through representative texts and problems from the writings of Descartes, Hume, Kant, and Hegel.  Emphasis on metaphysics and the theory of knowledge, including questions about the existence and attributes of mind, matter, and God, the limits of human knowledge, and the possibility of human freedom.
GENERAL REQUIREMENT II: HISTORY & TRADITION
WATU-FULFILLS ½ COLLEGE WRITING REQUIREMENT

Systematic development of the formal systems of classical first order propositional and predicate logic, including identity, descriptions, definitions, and functional calculus.  Study of syntax and semantics of these systems with special regards to their consistency, completeness and decide ability. Hands-on application of classical logic to translation and analysis of natural language arguments, scientific inferences, informal fallacies, and logical puzzles. Special attention is being paid to the development of basic skills and techniques, used in formulating and assessing deductive arguments.
GENERAL REQUIREMENT IV: FORMAL REASONING & ANALYSIS

Propositional logic: semantics, formal deductions, resolution method.  First order logic: validity, models, formal deductions; Godel’s completeness theorem, Lowenheim-Skolem theorem: cut-elimination, Herbrand’s theorem, resolution method.  Computability: finite automata, Turing machines, Godel’s incompleteness theorems.  Algorithmically unsolvable problems in mathematics.

          WATU-RECITATION 402                                             STAFF                    F 12:00-1:00
                       RECITATION 403                                             STAFF                    F 10:00-11:00
                       RECITATION 404                                             STAFF                    F 12:00-1:00
          WATU-RECITATION 405                                             STAFF                    F  2:00-3:00

This course examines the role of social contract doctrines in Western thought and culture.  We will focus on the political writings of the major modern proponents of social contract theory: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Rawls.  We will contrast their views with    the utilitarian tradition, as represented by the political and economic philosophy of David Hume and Adam Smith. The relationship between social contract doctrine and the theory of rational choice is also discussed, as well as contemporary libertarianism.  The course is designed to provide an introduction to some of the main issues in modern political philosophy.  It is a requirement for the PPE major.
WATU CREDIT OPTIONAL - SEE INSTRUCTOR
WATU-FULFILLS ½ COLLEGE WRITING REQUIREMENT
GENERAL REQUIREMENT I: SOCIETY

 WATU-RECITATION 402                                         STAFF                     F   12:00-1:00
              RECITATION 403                                         STAFF                     F   10:00-11:00
              RECITATION 404                                         STAFF                     F   12:00-1:00
 WATU-RECITATION 405                                         STAFF                     F    2:00-3:00

This course examines the role of the social contract doctrine in Western thought and culture.  We will focus on the political writings of the major proponents of social contract theory: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Rawls.  We will contrast their views with the utilitarian tradition, as represented by the political and economic philosophy of David Hume and Adam Smith.  The relationship between social contract doctrine and the theory of rational choice is also discussed, as well as contemporary libertarianism.  The course is designed to provide an introduction to some of the main issues in modern political philosophy.  It is a requirement for the PPE major.
WATU CREDIT OPTIONAL - SEE INSTRUCTOR
WATU-FULFILLS ½ COLLEGE WRITING REQUIREMENT
GENERAL REQUIREMENT I: SOCIETY

In this course, we will investigate feminist philosophers’ efforts to develop a perspective of their own.  The class will examine feminist contributions in the traditional philosophical areas of ethics, political philosophy, and epistemology.  We will examine feminist criticisms of both society in general and philosophy in particular on such topics as the family, pornography, sexual harassment, abortion, gender, and race relations.  We will analyze how different schools of feminism (such as social, radical, Marxist, liberal and post-modern) describe women’s oppression, the causes of that oppression, and ways of fighting this oppression.  Topics for writing and discussion may include such questions as: Is reason gendered?  Is feminist philosophy “real” philosophy?  Is the notion of “woman” a social construct?  Can different feminist theories change our perspective on the family, the workplace, and the bedroom?  Such questions will serve as the catalyst for students to develop their critical reasoning skills.  The course is designed to aid students in learning to analyze such questions clearly and effectively in prose.
MAY NOT BE COUNTED TOWARD A PHILOSOPHY MAJOR. RESTRICTED TO FRESHMEN & SOPHOMORES
FULFILLS THE COLLEGE WRITING REQUIREMENT

PHIL 009 -302 WRITING ABOUT MORAL ISSUES                     STAFF                T TH  9:00-10:30

Discussion of several contemporary ethical topics such as limitations on freedom of expression, civil disobedience, affirmative action, privacy rights, treatment of animals, euthanasia, health care distribution, informed consent, and obligations to future generations.  Readings from philosophical and non-philosophical sources.
MAY NOT BE COUNTED TOWARD A PHILOSOPHY MAJOR. RESTRICTED TO FRESHMEN & SOPHOMORES
FULFILLS THE COLLEGE WRITING REQUIREMENT

PHIL 009-303 WRITING ABOUT ETHICS                                SCHOSSBERGER    T TH 12:00-1:30

An historical introduction to ethics.  The aim of the course is to acquaint students with distinctively philosophical ways of thinking about morality and its role in our lives.  It will focus on conceptions and ideals of the self in the moral philosophies of Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Mill, and Nietzsche (among others).  Particular topics addressed will include the nature of human agency; the relations between the ethical life and the good life; the interaction of reason and the emotions; and the problems and prospects for objectivity in ethics.
MAY NOT BE COUNTED TOWARD A PHILOSOPHY MAJOR. RESTRICTED TO FRESHMEN & SOPHOMORES
FULFILLS THE COLLEGE WRITING REQUIREMENT

 PHIL. 032-301  CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY                           ROSS                          T TH   1:30-3:00
GENERAL HONORS - BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SCHOLARS

Reading, discussing and writing about several recent books (Dummett, McDowell and Craig/Smith).  A two page paper will be due by e-mail alternate Sunday evenings, mainly your explanations of parts of assigned readings.  Two longer papers 5-6 pages which can be revised, one 1-12 page  paper near end of course and a take-home final on the readings.  Class attendance and participation required.
WATU CREDIT OPTIONAL-SEE INSTRUCTOR
GENERAL HONORS - BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SCHOLARS
WATU-FULFILLS ½ COLLEGE WRITING REQUIREMENT
DISTRIBUTION II: HISTORY & TRADITION

PHIL 044-401  INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE SCIENCE           JOSHI                     T TH  1:30-3:00
CROSS LISTED WITH CSE 140, LING 105, PSYC 107, COGS 001

This course will introduce the range of questions that are addressed in Cognitive Science and the range of formal devices that are used in their analysis with an emphasis on the distinctive role of computation in such theories.  To show how the different views from the parent disciplines interact, and to identify some common themes among the theories that have been proposed.
GENERAL REQUIREMENT IV: FORMAL REASONING & ANALYSIS

PHIL. 055-001  EXISTENTIALISM                                                       BOWMAN            M W   11:00-12:00
REGISTRATION REQUIRED FOR LECTURE AND RECITATION

               RECITATION 201     STAFF F    9:00-10:00
               RECITATION 202     STAFF F   11:00-12:00

Our first task will be to give content to the idea of existentialism, and one way to do this is to look at Hegel.  By contrasting his views with those of the Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Sartre, we will be able to understand typical existentialist ideas more readily.  Many of these ideas center around the notion of the individual.  They include the following: the authentic individual, the relation of the individual to the divine, and the relation of the individual to society.  Since existentialism considers the individual in the context of the notions of alienation and autonomy, these ideas shall be contrasted with the more frequently discussed notions of free will and determinism.  Finally, existentialism also concerns itself with the ability of philosophy to promote or hinder the development of individuality.
DISTRIBUTION II: HISTORY & TRADITION

 This course deals with several central problems about the nature of mental phenomena.  Among the topics that will be covered are the problem of consciousness, the traditional mind-body problem and the issue of whether or not animals can have minds.  Readings will be taken primarily from contemporary sources.
DISTRIBUTION II: HISTORY & TRADITION

PHIL. 361-301  PLATO                                                                    KAHN                 T TH    1:30-3:00

Plato’s analysis of knowledge.  A close reading of the Theaetetus against the background of Plato’s earlier discussions of knowledge in Meno, Phaedo and Republic.  Alternative interpretations of the Theaetetus by Cornford and Burnyeat will be considered.  We will also read the account of Being and Not-Being in the Sophist, Plato’s sequel to the Theaetetus.
PHILOSOPHY MAJORS ONLY
PREREQUISITE: PHIL 003

Starting with the critique of mid-century non-cognitivist theories of practical reasoning, the modern virtue ethics movement has grown in prominence to become one of the most important forces influencing the direction of research in modern ethical theory and moral psychology.  In this seminar, we will study the major writings of the philosophers most frequently associated with the virtue ethics movement, focusing in particular on their contributions to the study of moral psychology.  Philosophers whose writings we will consider include Anscombe, Foot, Murdoch, Cavell, Hare, Stevenson, Hampshire, Stocker, McDowell, Williams Nussbaum, Taylor and MacIntyre.
PHILOSOPHY MAJORS ONLY
PREREQUISITE: PHIL 002 (or consent of the instructor)

A general introduction to the philosophy of mathematics.  The class will begin with some classical texts of Dedekind and Cantor, and then consider the principal philosophers of mathematics of the twentieth-century, with a focus on Poincare, Russell, Brouwer, and Hilbert.

PHIL. 425-301   PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE                            DOMOTOR                M   3:00-6:00
CROSS LISTED W/HSSC 425-301

Historically oriented survey and contemporary analysis of the basic concepts and arguments in philosophy of science.  As in-depth examination of the nature of scientific theories, their confirmation and theory-world relations, laws of nature and their role in unification and explanation, causation, and teleology, reductionism and supervenience, values and objectivity.  Additional topics covered include arguments concerning scientific realism, the ontological status of theoretical entities, the Quine-Duhem thesis, Kuhn’s paradigm shifts, Bayesianism, and the success of science.
PREREQUISITE: Background in elementary logic and some rudiments of science.

PHIL. 434-301   PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION                           ROSS                      M 3:00-6:00

Readings, discussions and papers: On the human condition, proofs for the existence of God, the problem of evil, relations of faith to reason, paganism/polytheism vs. monotheism and pantheism, petitionary prayer, ecumenism and truth, awe and atheism.  Required: Besides participation in class, are three short (3-5pp) papers, one longer paper (12-15pp) and a take-home final on the readings.
DISTRIBUTION II: HISTORY & TRADITION
 

The seventeenth century witnessed a transformation of the projects and methods of philosophy.  Descartes, with whom modern philosophy begins, Spinoza, Malebranche, and Leibniz are traditionally grouped together as “rationalists”.  Despite deep disagreements, these four philosophers share a commitment to mechanism in natural philosophy; they aim to integrate theology into that natural philosophy; and they hope to safeguard philosophy against error by the application of method.  This course will study central texts of these four philosophers and examine the intellectual and social context in which their views were put forward.
DISTRIBUTION II: HISTORY & TRADITION
PREREQUISITE: PHIL 004 OR PERMISSION OF INSTRUCTOR

Disputes about rationality and objectivity have played a pivotal role in the social and political sciences.  This course will focus on a number of such disputes.  Topics will include: What is rationality?  Are rationality and objectivity always relative to specific cultures?  Can there be an objective science of society?  What, if anything, does empirical psychology have to tell us about the intrinsic rationality of human beings?

PPE. 475-401  RATIONALITY & SOCIAL SCIENCE              SAMUELS                 T TH  1:30-3:00
CROSS LISTED W/PHIL 475-401

Disputes about rationality and objectivity have played a pivotal role in the social and political sciences.  This course will focus on a number of such disputes.  Topics will include: What is rationality?  Are rationality and objectivity always relative to specific cultures?  Can there be an objective science of society?  What, if anything, does empirical psychology have to tell us about the intrinsic rationality of human beings?
CAPSTONE SEMINAR - PPE MAJORS ONLY

Systematic development of the formal systems of classical first order propositional and predicate logic, including identity, descriptions, definitions, and functional calculus.  Study of syntax and semantics of these systems with special regards to their consistency, completeness and decidability.  Hands-on application of classical logic to translation and analysis of natural language arguments, scientific inferences, informal fallacies, and logical puzzles.  Special attention is being paid to the development of basic skills and techniques, used in formulating and assessing deductive arguments.
UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION

Propositional logic: semantics, formal deductions, resolution method.  First order logic: validity, models, formal deductions; Godel’s completeness theorem, Lowenheim-Skolem theorem: cut-elimination, Herbrand’s theorem, resolution method.  Computability: finite automata, Turing machines, Godel’s incompleteness theorems.  Algorithmically unsolvable problems in mathematics.
UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION

This seminar will investigate the upshot of context-sensitivity in language use for a variety of issues in the philosophy of language and other areas of philosophy. Topics to be discussed include: accommodating context-sensitivity in truth-conditional semantics; vagueness and the sorites paradox; perspectivalism and the in-principle eliminability (or not) of linguistic context-sensitivity; scepticism and the context-sensitivity of
knowledge attributions; and forms of ontological relativity.
PREREQUISITES: Basic familiarity with logic and the philosophy of language.
UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION

PHIL. 564-301  POST-KANTIAN EPISTEMOLOGY               GUYER                 W    3:00-6:00

This course will examine the influence of Kant’s theoretical philosophy on “analytical” philosophy since 1950.  My hypothesis is that after the attack of W. V. Quine and Morton White on the “analytic/synthetic” distinction, and thus on the original project of “analytical” philosophy properly so called, as exemplified by the projects of Russell, the early Wittgenstein, and Carnap, British and American philosophers who should properly be called “post-analytical” philosophers returned to Kant in the hope of continuing the project of philosophy by reconstructing some version of Kant’s conception of synthetic a priori cognition.  Works to be examined will include P. F. Strawson, The Bounds of Sense; Wilfrid Sellars, Science and Metaphysics; Hilary Putnam, History, Truth, and Reason; John McDowell, Mind and World; papers by authors such as Stroud, Rorty, and Guyer on “transcendental arguments”; and several papers by Michael Friedman.
I would like to run the class as a seminar, with an oral presentation and term paper by each participant.
Students taking the course for credit should be familiar with the Critique of Pure Reason.  Undergraduates who have successfully completed Philosophy 465 or an equivalent study of the Critique will be welcome in the class.
UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION

PHIL. 573-301  CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF BIOETHICS        MAGNUS         TH     4:00-6:30

This course examines the various theoretical approaches to bioethics, and critically assesses their underpinnings.  Topics to be covered include an examination of various versions of utilitarianism; deontological theories; virtue ethics; ethics of care; the fundamental principles of bioethics (autonomy, beneficence, distributive justice, non-maleficence); casuistry, and pragmatism.  The course will include the application of the more theoretical ideas to particular topics, such as informed consent and confidentiality.
UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION

PHIL. 578-301  CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY                 FREEMAN          TH    3:00-6:00

The seminar will focus on recent work by John Rawls and Juergen Habermas, including Rawls’ books on Political Liberalism and on The Law of Peoples, and Habermas’ book, Between Facts and Norms.  We will also look at some recent literature on deliberative democracy.
DISTRIBUTION I: SOCIETY
UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION

An examination of Hume’s philosophy of mind in the Treatise and first Enquiry, in connection with recent work on Hume’s philosophy.

PHIL. 672-301  VIRTUE ETHICS                                                           S.MEYER/KUMAR             T    3:00-6:00

An increasing number of moral theorists in the last 50 years, loosely identified as proponents of “virtue ethics”, have claimed that much of twentieth century moral theory has suffered from a failure to be appropriately attentive to the lessons to be learned from studying the tradition of ethical theorizing most famously articulated in the writings of Plato and Aristotle.  Central to this tradition are concerns about the nature of virtue and character, as part of a general pre-occupation with the study of moral psychology, understood by the Greeks as a prerequisite to any kind of more substantive ethical inquiry.  Our aim will be to explore both the historical roots and certain contemporary aspects of the virtue ethics tradition.  We will begin with Aristotle as an exemplar of the ancient tradition.  In what way is his ethical theory “eudaimonist” (a common feature of virtually all ancient moral philosophy)?  Are the virtues of character he describes properly “moral” virtues?  In what way does he think these virtues are distinctly rational?  What is the nature of moral deliberation and perception?  Does this theory provide resources for solving difficult normative questions–e.g. what is the right thing to do in particular circumstances?  The twentieth century revival of interest in virtue ethics begins with the writings of G.E.M. Anscombe, Philippa Foot and iris Murdoch.  We will consider their views in context, as standing in opposition to the neo-Humean value theories of Stevenson and Hare, and in partial defense of Moore’s advocacy of some form of value realism.  This will set the stage for a detailed exploration of what is arguably the most important and influential project in contemporary Aristotelian ethics, as developed in several recent papers by John McDowell.                         THIS SEMINAR IS RESTRICTED TO GRADUATE STUDENTS.  UNDERGRADUATES CANNOT BE ADMITTED.

An introduction of such topics as our knowledge of the material world, the relation of mind and body, the existence of God, the nature of morality.  Readings from historical and contemporary sources.
GENERAL REQUIREMENT II: HISTORY & TRADITION

PHIL. 002-601 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS                                MELE                       TH   6:30-9:10

This course introduces students to the major theories of philosophical ethics and their methods of moral evaluation.  Among the normative theories examined are consequentialism, deontology, contract ethics and virtue ethics.  Our study will include conceptions of value and principles of right conduct, theories of happiness or the good life, the person as a moral agent, and the nature of morally good character.  We will also examine assumptions about human motivation and practical reason presupposed by normative ethics, aw well as meta-ethical questions about the justification of moral judgments.
GENERAL REQUIREMENT I: SOCIETY

The course is intended, first, to develop the students’ ability to read, write and discuss philosophical issues in a rigorous manner.  Second, it aims at fostering an appreciation for the philosophical heritage and historical context of a traditionally important and influential corpus of classical texts.  To these ends, the course consider the thoughts and writings of several presocratic thinkers, select, early and middle Platonic dialogues, extended excerpts from several of Aristotle’s philosophical texts, the ethical and physical theories of Epicurus and then concludes with the Stoic philosopher, Epictetus.  Readings and discussions take up such subjects as the theory of knowledge, cosmology, philosophical psychology, and various ethical and political issues.
GENERAL REQUIREMENT II: HISTORY & TRADITION

A study of the philosophical evolution of the Conceptions of Space and Time from Mythology to Modern Science. We will focus on space and time in Early Greek philosophy.  Some attention will be given to space and time in the evolution of religious thought and Medieval cosmology: from the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic Cosmos to the Copernican heliocentric Cosmos as a unified structure.  Some lectures will be devoted to space and time in Classical Mechanics: Galileo and the principle of relativity, Newton and the conceptions of absolute and relative space and time, etc.  We will discuss the revolution in geometry: Non-Euclidean geometry and Kant’s conception of space and time.  Accordingly, we will discuss the status of space and time in philosophy of the XVIII-XIX centuries.  Then we will focus on the Crisis of the Mechanical Picture of the World (thermodynamics, optics, electrodynamics).  Some lectures will be devoted to the philosophical analysis of space and time in Physics and Cosmology of the XX century: Special Theory of Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, General Theory of Relativity, and Relativistic Cosmology (unified four-dimensional space-time, the beginning of time, Big Bang Cosmology, etc.).  We will also discuss the contemporary status and perspective of the Conceptions of Space and Time.
GENERAL REQUIREMENT VII: SCIENCE STUDIES

PHIL. 028-601  INTRODUCTION TO FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY         M. MEYER               M   6:30-9:10
CROSS LISTED WITH COML 208, WSTD 208

Feminist philosophy is as wide-ranging as philosophy itself.  Feminist philosophers have articulated radical view of philosophy of science, aesthetics, ethics, political philosophy and epistemology.  What they all have in common is the belief that each of these traditional areas of philosophy has been deformed by at best, ignoring women and, at worst actively devaluing women and women’s experience.  In this introduction to feminist philosophy we will focus on issues in feminist ethical and political theory, though given the nature of the feminist outlook we will also get glimpses of feminist epistemology, social theory and philosophy of science.  Feminist political and ethical theories are richly diverse.  But all such theories have three common functions.  First, the theories attempt to describe the nature of women’s oppression (What is oppression?  And how does it manifest itself in the lives of women).  Second, they attempt to explain the causes and consequences of that oppression.  And finally they attempt to prescribe strategies for ending women’s oppression.  We will investigate suggested answers to all three of these questions using contemporary sources.  The issues covered will be chosen from among work and family, sexuality, sexual harassment, abortion, date rape, beauty, pornography and affirmative action.  Requirements: Two short papers (5-6 pages, double-spaced, 30% each), a comprehensive final examination (25%) and regular attendance at the weekly class meeting and conscientious participation in its discussions and exercises (15%).
DISTRIBUTION I:     SOCIETY