Courses

Course Descriptions (Spring 2009)

Philosophy 001-01 / Introduction to Philosophy

Jeff McConnell / J+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 3:00-4:15
Metaphysics is the philosophical study of the ultimate character of reality. This section is an introduction to metaphysics. We will be examining some central metaphysical problems: What is the relation between the mind and the body? Do we have free will? Are our actions causally determined? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the origin of the order and of the complexity in the world? What makes us the same persons over time? What is truth? Throughout the course, we will be concerned with the relation between metaphysics and another area of philosophy, ethics. In particular, we will be worried about the nature of evil and how certain metaphysical arguments that have been made by philosophers grow out of a concern with the nature of evil. Readings will be drawn from classical texts as well as from contemporary authors. There will be regular writing assignments and a final take-home examination.

Philosophy 001-02 / Introduction to Philosophy

Gal Kober / K+MW / Monday, Wednesday 4:30-5:45
What is knowledge? What can we know? This course is an introduction to philosophy through seminal questions concerning knowledge. We will investigate such questions as how we acquire knowledge, what kinds of knowledge we may have, the ability to articulate our knowledge, the relation between theoretical and practical knowledge, and especially the relation between reality and what we can know of it. We will explore these issues through the writings of major figures in the history of Western philosophy, such as Plato, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Wittgenstein, and Moore.

All required texts will be posted on the course web site.

Philosophy 001-03 / Introduction to Philosophy

Gal Kober / M+MW / Monday, Wednesday 6:00-7:15
What is knowledge? What can we know? This course is an introduction to philosophy through seminal questions concerning knowledge. We will investigate such questions as how we acquire knowledge, what kinds of knowledge we may have, the ability to articulate our knowledge, the relation between theoretical and practical knowledge, and especially the relation between reality and what we can know of it. We will explore these issues through the writings of major figures in the history of Western philosophy, such as Plato, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Wittgenstein, and Moore.

All required texts will be posted on the course web site.

Philosophy 001-04 / Introduction to Philosophy

Jeff McConnell / L+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 4:30-5:45

Philosophy 001-04R / Mandatory Film Section

Tuesday, Thursday 7:30-9:30
This section is an introduction to philosophy by way of film. In a sense, films create their own "reality." What is this thing they create -- "reality"? How do they create it? Do they, in fact, "really" create it? Philosophers have not until very recently been much concerned with film, but they have had a longstanding concern with "reality" -- about what it is and about how we can know anything about it. We will discuss a variety of films, mostly cinema classics made between 1930 and 1960, which raise questions about how film itself can "create a reality." The films will raise questions as well about some related philosophical problems: the relation between mind and body, the existence of the soul and of God, and the nature of time, of truth and of possibility. The classic status of each of the films we discuss will be connected to the philosophical questions it raises; so in each case we will discuss what this connection is and why that connection makes it a film classic.

Throughout, we will read and discuss classical and contemporary texts by philosophers in connection with the films. There will be regular showings of the films to be discussed. Since this is a writing course, students will be expected to do regular writing assignments in conjunction with their viewing and reading, and there will be a final take-home examination.

Philosophy 001-05 / Introduction to Philosophy

Margaret Sadock / D+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:45 This course is intended to introduce students to four areas of philosophy: the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, epistemology, and aesthetics. We will explore a variety of philosophical issues such as the existence of God, the problem of evil, skepticism, the mind-body problem, free will and determinism, personal identity, and the nature of art and its appreciation. The course aims to be accessible without compromising the depth and the complexity of the issues being explored. Students will be encouraged to develop their critical thinking skills by evaluating and responding to the arguments that we will examine. The readings include both classical and contemporary texts and links will be made between current debates and the texts read. Films will be on reserve for optional viewing and some course materials will be posted online.

Philosophy 001-06 / Introduction to Philosophy

Margaret Sadock / F+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 12:00-1:15
This course is intended to introduce students to four areas of philosophy: the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, epistemology, and aesthetics. We will explore a variety of philosophical issues such as the existence of God, the problem of evil, skepticism, the mind-body problem, free will and determinism, personal identity, and the nature of art and its appreciation. The course aims to be accessible without compromising the depth and the complexity of the issues being explored. Students will be encouraged to develop their critical thinking skills by evaluating and responding to the arguments that we will examine. The readings include both classical and contemporary texts and links will be made between current debates and the texts read. Films will be on reserve for optional viewing and some course materials will be posted online.

Philosophy 001-07 / Introduction to Philosophy

David Etlin / K+MW / Monday, Wednesday 4:30-5:45
We will explore several fundamental problems of philosophy: the theory of knowledge, the relation between mind and body, and the freedom of the will. Readings are drawn from classical and contemporary sources. The class will involve a good amount of student participation, as well as frequent writing assignments.

Philosophy 001-08 / Introduction to Philosophy

David Etlin / M+MW / Monday, Wednesday 6:00-7:15
We will explore several fundamental problems of philosophy: the theory of knowledge, the relation between mind and body, and the freedom of the will. Readings are drawn from classical and contemporary sources. The class will involve a good amount of student participation, as well as frequent writing assignments.

Philosophy 001-09 / Introduction to Philosophy

Benjamin Allen / D+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:45
We'll begin with The Tao is Silent, by popular logician Raymond Smullyan. Smullyan's somewhat whimsical grappling with Taoism is packed with reasoning and invokes many of the philosophical puzzles of the Western tradition, while juxtaposing questions about the ultimate nature of reality and our attempt to live in it. Next we'll directly consider the question of how to live, reading Plato's Gorgias. We'll then turn to the question of what the world is really like, reading Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, by George Berkeley. With Plato and Berkeley we will focus on the small scale and the large, scrupulously examining arguments, while stepping back to consider their broader historical and philosophical settings. Finally we'll read a philosophical novel, Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground. We'll examine both the narrator's reasoning and his conduct as we consider the place of philosophy in life.

My goal is to use the assigned texts as starting points for philosophical reflection of our own. The course is an introduction to reading philosophy, writing philosophy, discussing philosophy, and thinking about philosophy. We will learn these things by doing them.

Philosophy 006 / Reasoning & Critical Thinking

Susan Russinoff / F+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 12:00-1:15
Reasoning and Critical Thinking is an introductory course intended for all students, regardless of academic major or interests. The skills learned and reinforced in Philosophy 006 are crucial for anyone who wants to think clearly, read carefully, speak effectively, and argue convincingly. You will develop a sensitivity to language, become better able to uncover arguments, and learn to distinguish good argumentation from bad. Your ability to recognize and evaluate your own assumptions and those of others will improve, and you'll come away better able to provide compelling reasons for your own views and to evaluate critically the views of others. You will learn to reason about various subjects, including science, ethics, philosophy, and the law and have the opportunity to evaluate and closely analyze articles from a variety of texts and editorials from leading newspapers and periodicals. In addition to regular written exercises, the class will engage in oral debate. The tools you will develop in this course are important to all the disciplines.

Note: Philosophy 0006 cannot be taken for credit by those who have already taken Philosophy 0033. You may take Philosophy 0006 and then take Philosophy 0033 for credit. Unlike Philosophy 0033, this course does not satisfy the mathematical sciences requirement.

Philosophy 016 / Philosophy of Religion

Elizabeth Lemons / F+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 12:00-1:15
This course offers an introduction to the philosophical analysis of major religious issues. We will explore such topics as the nature of religion, religious experience, and ultimate reality, the problem of evil or suffering, and the relationship between faith and reason and between religion and science. By exploring different philosophical approaches to the study of religion--including existential, phenomenological, linguistic and comparative, students will develop constructive responses to the variety of ways in which philosophers analyze religious beliefs and practices in diverse world religions.

Philosophy 024 / Introduction to Ethics

David Denby / G+MW / Monday, Wednesday 1:30-2:45
At this moment, like every other, you're faced with a question: What should I do? People often say that, in general, what you should do is help others. But then they would, wouldn't they? Perhaps what you really should do is always act in your own self-interest. Perhaps that is what everyone else is already doing anyway (despite what they say).

Some people say that you should promote the values of your community or society. But some societies have vile values. Indeed, don't the values of our society need at least a little adjustment? Anyway, why should the fact that a society is yours mean that you should promote its values, especially if doing so is contrary to your self-interest?

Some people say that you should act according to God's will. But what does God will, exactly? And surely we should obey Him only if He is good and commands us to do what is right. Yet that seems to mean that morality is independent of Him.

Some philosophers have argued that whether you should do an action depends entirely on its consequences (compared to those of its alternatives). But should you really ignore the past? Doesn't just punishment, for instance, depend on whether the person is actually guilty -- a fact about the past? Other philosophers have focused instead on the motives behind an action, in particular on whether you're acting out of respect for others (and yourself). Still others have argued that whether you should do an action depends on a combination of these and perhaps other factors. But each of these suggestions faces problems: What on earth is "respecting others"? What is it to "combine" the various factors?

Self-interest then? Maybe, but even self-interest is a tricky notion. Something is not in your self-interest simply because you want it, as every smoker knows. And maybe our interests, or at least the best means for achieving them, are mutually interdependent: perhaps the best way for you to get what you want depends on what I do and vice versa.

We will discuss all this in this course. After a brief introductory discussion of logic and the nature of ethical theory we will spend most of the semester critically evaluating a number of normative ethical theories. These will include various forms of Relativism, religiously-based theories, Utilitarianism, Kantianism, Egoism and Social Contract theories. We will also discuss self-interest, values, and other matters. Finally, we will discuss how to apply what we've learned to an issue of contemporary moral concern – probably abortion.

Philosophy 038 / Rational Choice

Patrick Forber / H+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 1:30-2:45
Decision making and strategic interaction are activities we engage in every day. But do we make the right decisions? Do we adopt the most advantageous strategies? This course will approach these questions by using a set of formal philosophical methods for analyzing decisions and strategies: decision theory and game theory. We will cover the basics of formal frameworks of probability and game theory and their application to problems in decision making and strategic thinking. We will also look at promising applications of game theory to understanding evolution in both biological and cultural domains.

Philosophy 042 / Western Political Thought II

Robert Devigne (PS) / J+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 3:00-4:15
The course introduces students to the central concepts of modern political thought. It begins with the views of Rene Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, and Adam Smith, identifying and analyzing the main transformations of political thinking that characterized the Enlightenment, an outlook centered on the possibility of humanity – not the gods - taking responsibility for human fate. The course reviews Rousseau's powerful indictment of the Enlightenment that contributed to the French Revolution and explores the alternative conceptions of liberty and morality that he introduced to modern political thought, setting the stage for protracted conflict in Western civilization for the following two centuries. We will then examine how Kant further developed Rousseau's positions, challenging and radicalizing the Enlightenment project.

Finally, the course reviews Mill's attempt to heal the divisions in Western political thought that had developed between the Enlightenment and its critics and Nietzsche's charge that such reconciliation projects reflects Western thought's decay and atrophy. We review Mill and Nietzsche's distinct critiques of modern societies, analyzing why Mill felt modern liberal societies could be reformed to generate more human creativity and equality and Nietzsche believed modernity must be fundamentally challenged. Throughout the semester we will analyze whether Western thought has reconciled the divisions - liberty and virtue, self-interest and morality, equality and human excellence – that has characterized its development. We will particularly focus on the debate that continues to animate modern political thought - the nature and requisites of human liberty.

Philosophy 052 / Aesthetics

Stephen White / M+MW / Monday, Wednesday 6:00-7:15
In the tradition of Anglo-American philosophy, aesthetics has played a largely marginal role. (Possible explanation: German romanticism was the product of philosophers; their closest British counterparts were poets.) There is good evidence that this situation is currently undergoing a profound change. Fundamental problems in aesthetics, long believed to be of relevance only to specialists in the philosophy of art, are rapidly emerging as central to a range of issues at the heart of contemporary philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and cognitive science. The problems of aesthetics include the nature of the expression of feeling in art and correlative issues in our understanding of the emotions, the notions of projection and identification in the context of the psychology of film spectatorship, and the nature of narrative. Central issues in philosophy include the problem of other minds, the problem of the definition of normative terms in meta-ethics and the problem of the characterization of human action, and the problem of grounding linguistic meaning in the concept of use. The issues in cognitive science are those surrounding the debate between proponents of the so-called "theory theory" of mental ascription and proponents of the competing simulation theory. I have special interests in the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, Georgio De Chirico, and Edward Hopper, in the photography of Bill Brandt and Lee Friedlander, in the films of Werner Herzog, Terence Malick, and Andre Tarkovski, in the cinematography of Vitorio Storaro and Christopher Doyle, in film noir, and in the films of such recent Korean "new wave" directors as Kim Ki-Duk (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring; Three Iron).

Philosophy 092 / Descartes to Kant: God, Soul, and the Will

David Denby / K+MW / Monday, Wednesday 4:30-5:45
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw a sea change in ways of thinking about our world and ourselves. In this course we will focus on some central epistemological and metaphysical questions about which the philosophers of this period had some brilliant and seminal, though often surprising things to say: What do we know (for certain), and how do we know it? What are the limits of knowledge? What is a substance? How do substances interact? How many different kinds of substance and different substances of each kind are there? Are there non-physical souls in addition to physical objects? Is there a God? Do we act freely? We will also look more briefly at several other issues, for instance, philosophical and scientific method, and causation. I'm sure other things will crop up too.

Our approach will be problem-centered rather than historical. These are live issues and we will approach the readings in that spirit and I hope there will be plenty of classroom discussion. But the course is also intended as an introduction to a golden age in philosophy. We will read Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant as well as smaller selections from other more minor figures. No previous acquaintance with philosophy is required.

Philosophy 094 / Honors Thesis

ARR
Honors Thesis. Prerequisite: consent.

Philosophy 117 / Philosophy of Mind

Stephen White / I+MW / Monday, Wednesday 3:00-4:15

Philosophy 117WW / Writing Workshop

KW / Wednesday 4:30-5:20
This course will focus on the nature of conscious experience, its relation to the subjective point of view, and their implications for the mind-body question and the question of other minds. We will be concerned not only with such questions such as whether computers could be conscious, but with the question of what is involved in seeing a world that contains opportunities for genuine action, states of affairs worth striving for, and agents like ourselves.

We will begin by examining the Cartesian conception of consciousness, which holds that the intrinsic features of conscious experience are fully manifest and completely given at the time the experience takes place. The intuition behind this conception is that consciousness experience has no hidden sides and no unnoticed features. This intuition supports the sense-data theories of consciousness and experience held by the major figures from Descartes to Kant and implicit in many contemporary arguments that there cannot be a materialistic account of "qualia."

We will go on to consider a wide range of problems for this conception of consciousness, including the perception of depth and seeing aspects. We will then look at some of the contemporary alternatives to the Cartesian conception, including behaviorism, physicalism, and functionalism, and we will explore the implications of such theories for a range of problems including narrow content, color perception, the representation of space, and bodily intentionality. Despite the success of some of these theories in handling a number of the problems, the objection remains that such theories fail to explain the depth and significance of the distinction between those entities that do and those that do not enjoy consciousness.

Finally, we will examine the relation between consciousness, self-consciousness, selfhood and the subjective point of view, and we will consider whether the significance that we normally attach to consciousness might be more appropriately attached to what is expressed by one of these latter notions. In order to do so we will explore some of the problems raised by personal identity, freedom, and the problem of other minds.

Writing Component

We will concentrate on two kinds of writing: writing to support a conclusion and writing to develop and internalize the kinds of models necessary to think creatively about difficult topics. Writing of the first kind will involve the detailed analysis of arguments from the philosophical literature and the mass media, as well as the creation of novel arguments. The goal is to produce valid and sound arguments that support genuinely interesting conclusions and advance the discussion in some area of inquiry. Such arguments are tools to help us reveal the logical, evidential, and explanatory relations that hold between the propositions in the area in question. The emphasis in constructing such arguments will be consistency, cogency, and the elimination of ambiguity.

The second kind of writing is intended to promote thinking that results in new solutions to problems, and, more generally, new perspectives in a given subject area. Paradoxically, one writes, performing an external activity (as opposed, say, to reading), in order to internalize the elements of what becomes the mental model one uses in thinking productively and creatively about a particular problem. One also writes in order to make oneself aware of the nature of the mental models one habitually employs in a given domain -- to examine their adequacy, and to compare them to alternatives. (The point is that meta-level thinking about the adequacy of one's own philosophical thought is easier to carry out in the context of one's writing, particularly one's informal writing, than in other ways.)

We will also give special emphasis to the earliest stages of our writing and thinking. In doing so we will not expect the kind of rigor aimed for in the finished product. Rather, we will focus on the use of metaphors and analogies, ways of generating different perspectives on problems, and the creative use of paradox and ambiguity to suggest new questions for investigation.

Prerequisites: Phil 0001 and another Phil course or consent.

A note about Philosophy Writing Workshop Courses: Students will not write more than the usual number of papers, but will learn to use their writing as an aid in conceptualizing the material more effectively and in responding to it in deeper, more sophisticated, and more creative ways. Both the instructor and other students will read early drafts of papers in order to provide suggestions for revision. Only final drafts will be graded. Enrollment is limited. In addition to any normal prerequisites for these courses, English 1 and 2 or their equivalents are required.

Philosophy 118 / Philosophy of Biology

Patrick Forber / L+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 4:30-5:45
We will examine the conceptual foundations of evolutionary biology and outstanding problems in the philosophy of biology. The course begins with Darwin, and his original presentation of natural selection in the Origin of Species. Then we will look at two very different "big picture" views on the nature of evolution and the importance of natural selection. The first, defended by Richard Dawkins, emphasizes the primacy of natural selection and the demand that evolutionary theory must explain the striking adaptive designs we see all around us. The second, defended by Richard Lewontin, emphasizes the complexity of the evolutionary process and the need to appeal to non-selective forces to explain it. The course continues by discussing specific philosophical and theoretical controversies, including the units of selection, the nature of evolutionary fitness, biological function and macroevolution.

Philosophy 120 / Metaphysics

Jody Azzouni / E+MW / Monday, Wednesday 10:30-11:45
Metaphysics addresses fundamental questions about the existence and reality of what there is: What kinds or categories of things are there? Are there, for example, mental objects as well as physical objects? Properties as well as things having properties? Abstract objects in addition to concrete ones? Leibniz said that whatever is, is one. What are the conditions under which something is one thing rather than two? Can one thing share all of its properties with another? How can a thing change and remain one and the same?

Beginning with an introduction to some ways in which philosophers have dealt with such questions, this course will focus upon those concerning unity and identity, especially over time: How is it that a thing remains one and the same object or individual when it undergoes more or less radical change? How can a butterfly have been a caterpillar when no butterfly is a caterpillar? How can someone with the feelings and thoughts of a child be the same person as one who is now a student at Tufts? What, if anything, is essential to an object or individual?

Readings: will be drawn from classical and contemporary sources: Russell, Quine, Ayer, Lewis, Kripke, and others.

Prerequisites: Phil 0001, Phil 0033, or consent

Philosophy 124 / Bioethics

Mitchell Silver / 11 / Tuesday 6:30-9:00
This course examines standard moral theories and fundamental principles of health care ethics. After an initial consideration of general issues in health care ethics, real and hypothetical case studies will be used to explore such issues as: abortion, euthanasia, informed consent, reproductive technology, doctor-patient relations, psychiatric authority and justice in the distribution of health care.

No previous work in philosophy is required, but one course in philosophy, especially 0001 or 024, is recommended. Students are expected to have Junior or Senior standing (the course is also open to graduate students). Sophomores must have consent of the instructor. Freshmen will not be admitted. Texts: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall by Fadiman, The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy & Biomedical Ethics by Mappes & DeGrazia.

Philosophy 140 / Liberalism and its Philosophical Critics

Robert Devigne (PS) / N+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 6:00-7:15
This class examines alternative conceptions of reason, liberty, and justice developed by critics of the Enlightenment. We open by studying the thinking of Friedrich Nietzsche, analyzing his charge that the Enlightenment has been characterized by restricted and escapist views of reason, a morality that produces enervated individuals, and a debased culture that celebrates mediocrity. We will discuss Nietzsche's charge that modern life is a culmination of a Western philosophic and religious tradition that is concerned for the human need of security and nothing else. We will study why Nietzsche considered the death of God both an opportunity and danger for Western civilization. We also will analyze Nietzsche's alternative conceptions of reason, justice, and freedom.

The second half of the class will be devoted to the 20th century thinker, Leo Strauss, who argued that the Enlightenment's fundamental principles - if not countered - will lead to the denigration of reason and the end of virtue. We will discuss Strauss's thesis that modern life must necessarily engender a philosophic and moral crisis where both intellectuals and the public lose the ability to distinguish better and worse ways of life, creating the pre-conditions for periodic political crises. Finally, we will examine Strauss's thesis, contra Nietzsche, that the Enlightenment project is break from the Western philosophic and religious tradition and that the Enlightenment goal to limit the role ofGod in Western civilization will fail.

Throughout the course we examine continuities and breaks between Nietzsche's and Strauss's thinking in regard to reason, justice, culture, religion, and the entire Western philosophic and religious tradition.

Philosophy 141 / Global Justice

Lionel McPherson / F+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 12:00-1:15
Issues of justice in a global context have taken on greater urgency in recent years. They also have been the subject of heightened philosophical attention. This course will explore global justice, at both theoretical and practical levels, through a survey of contemporary writings in political philosophy. The main topics will be inequality across countries, human rights, multiculturalism, war, and terrorism. Readings will include Rawls, Singer, Okin, and Walzer. Prerequisite: 1 Phil Course, or Junior Standing.

Philosophy 192-01 / Collective Responsibility

Erin Kelly / D+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 10:30-11:45

Philosophy 192-01WW

Optional Writing Workshop / EF
This course will be concerned with collective wrongdoing, liability, guilt, and apologies. We will analyze the moral and legal dimensions of conspiracy and complicity, including felony murder statutes. We will examine the moral and legal accountability of corporations and their shareholders, especially in connection with environmental justice. We will also consider what alternatives there might be to vengeance-based responses to the collective violence of oppression, unjust wars, and genocide. In particular, we will consider truth and reconciliation commissions and will evaluate the possibilities for reparative justice. Readings from N. Smith, M. Gilbert, B. Barry, C. Kutz, De Greiff, M. Minow, and others.

The optional writing workshop provides an opportunity for further analysis of course material in a relaxed, small group environment. It will emphasize informal ungraded writing exercises on the readings and themes of the course, and will aim to promote greater understanding, to stimulate creative thought and expression, and to advance formal writing skills. Writing will also be used to facilitate discussion. Peer review of papers written for the course will enable you to gather critical feedback and to revise your work.

Prerequisite: one philosophy course or consent of instructor.

Philosophy 192-02 / Personal Identity

Lionel McPherson / J+TR / Tuesday, Thursday 3:00-4:15
We ordinarily take personal identity for granted: it would seem obvious, if we were to have the thought at all, that "The person having this thought is and has always been ‘me'." Yet as philosophers from Locke to Parfit have recognized, determining what personal identity consists in is no easy matter. Is a person essentially her body generally, her mind in particular, or her immaterial ego/soul? This is no merely philosophical issue, since there can be practical stakes depending on the answer. Consider the following, more specific questions:

Will "I" continue to exist after my body has died? If yes, why should I be especially worried about my physical death? If no, does this imply that "I" am nothing over and above my brain and/or body? If "I" were to undergo a radical psychological transformation, would I literally become a different person? If yes, and "I" had committed a serious crime, would it be legitimate to punish the different person who now inhabits the same body as the person who committed the crime? Would it still be "me" if my brain were transplanted into a different body? If yes, would there be two of "me" if my brain were divided and one of the halves transplanted into a different body, or each half transplanted into two different bodies? If no, where would "I" be?

Readings for the course will revolve around Derek Parfit's contemporary classic Reasons and Persons. Other readings will be drawn from historical (e.g., Locke, Hume) and contemporary (e.g., Nagel, Perry) sources.

Prerequisite: one philosophy course.

Books:
Derek Parfit. Reasons and Persons. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984.
John Perry, ed. Personal Identity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975.

Philosophy 192-03 / Talking About Nothing

Jody Azzouni / 6 / Tuesday 1:30-4:00
We talk -- all the time -- about fictional characters, and we attribute properties to them. Sherlock Holmes is depicted in Doyle's short stories as living in London. Spider-man is much less witty in the movies than he is in the comics. Those studying hallucinations also talk about the content of those hallucinations: S often hallucinates the same little man who looks to him like Mickey Rooney.

What's striking is that these kinds of statements have several properties that seem incompatible. First, they are seen as true or false. Sherlock Holmes is depicted in Doyle's stories as living in London; he's not depicted as living in New York. Second, they are seen as being about different things. Sherlock Holmes is depicted in Doyle's stories as living in London; it's not the Greek god Hermes who is depicted in Doyle's stories as living in London. But third, they are seen as being about nothing at all. There is no Sherlock Holmes. There is no Hermes. But if there are no such things, how can we talk about them, and how can we say true or false things about them?

This course is about how we do this, and what philosophers have claimed about how we do this. Some philosophers claim that we can't talk about Hermes and Sherlock Holmes. We can only talk about pictures of Hermes and stories about Sherlock Holmes. We can only talk about what's real. Other philosophers claim we do talk about Hermes and Sherlock Holmes. Hermes and Sherlock Holmes are objects (that we talk about) that don't exist. They say: there are such objects but they don't exist. (Otherwise what are we talking about?) Yet other philosophers claim that we can't talk about Hermes and Sherlock Holmes because there are no such things (in any sense at all); we can only pretend to be talking about them.

This course is about how we talk about the nonexistent. (It's also about the nonexistent, if there are any things like that.)

Some of the philosophers we'll be reading: Tyler Burge, Gareth Evans, Amie Thomasson, Peter van Inwagen, Jody Azzouni.

Philosophy 194 / Undergraduate Independent Study

ARR
Consent required.

Philosophy 195-01 / Plato's Republic

Benjamin Allen / 10 / Monday 6:30-9:00
Long the object of fascination, often a source of embarrassment, puzzling at best, the Republic is strange. It features a dictatorship of "Guardians" who lie to the people for their own good, but also a stirring liberation from a a cave of falsehood, a rising up from a pit of lies to see reality as it really is. It is a work of literary genius in which poets are banished from the city. It is also a work that talks about itself. What does it say? Why does it traipse through metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics, aesthetics, mathematics, gymnastics, and the turning around of the soul? We'll try to figure it out.

The course will focus on reading the Republic as it is, as opposed to reading it to extract doctrines on one topic or another. We will spend the bulk of our time examining particular arguments, and considering how the work might fit together as a whole. We will also discuss Plato's use of the dialogue form, and will consider different approaches to reading Plato, and to the Republic. We will spend some time considering dialectic and mathematics as practiced in Plato's Academy, and their relation to the educational regime of the Guardians in the dialogue. And we will pay particular attention to the role of Socrates, as Socrates.

Philosophy 195-02 / Cognitive Attitudes

Neil Van Leeuwen / 12 / Wednesday 6:30-9:00
Consider this: London Bridge is on fire. Right now you only imagine this. But under other conditions you might believe precisely that -- London Bridge is on fire. So the same content is in play, but there are different (cognitive) attitudes your mind can take regarding that content. And belief and imagining aren't the only attitudes in question; among the cognitive attitudes are also hypothesis, assumption for the sake of argument, assumption just to be safe, hard-to-categorize forms of religious credence, and so on. The questions for this course are: what distinguishes those attitude types from each other? and how do we come up with a good theory of their important characteristics?

Readings will be from such contemporary authors as: Stephen Stich, Shaun Nichols, David Velleman, Nishi Shah, Tamar Gendler, Kendall Walton, Deena Skolnick Weisberg, Gregory Currie, and Ian Ravenscroft.

Philosophy 195-03 / Stanley Cavell and the Philosophy of the Ordinary

Nancy Bauer and Avner Baz / 8
Philosophy has traditionally had an ambivalent attitude toward everyday human experience. On the one hand, it has often viewed that experience with a certain suspicion: worrying about insurmountable barriers between human beings and their world, as in skepticism; seeking to understand human experience wholly in the terms of the natural sciences, as in forms of naturalism or empiricism; seeking to transcend human experience altogether with the aid of reason alone, as in various forms of rationalism; suggesting that ordinary language is somehow inadequate, not only for the purposes of science, but also for the purpose of understanding everyday concepts such as that of knowledge, or meaning, or moral goodness, as Russell for example has insisted; or simply denying that it has an obligation to do justice to everyday experience in its fullness and complexity. On the other hand, there have also been voices within philosophy -- rarer and not easily assimilated into the stories philosophers have told of the history of their pursuit -- that measure the value of philosophical theorizing against everyday experience, rather than the other way around.

Stanley Cavell is a contemporary philosopher whose work constitutes a persistent and multi-faceted attempt to think through this basic conflict within philosophy. Using Cavell's work as a home base, this course will address the following sorts of questions:

What might be the goal of philosophizing?
How are we to understand the deep divide in the past century in the West between the analytic and continental approaches to philosophy?
What is, and what should be, the relation between philosophy and its history?
What should we make of the relatively recent practice in philosophy of denying that there are ethical and aesthetic dimensions of "purely theoretical" questions in epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of language?
What makes writing philosophical? Is there any medium of expression other than words through which philosophy can be practiced?
Can we, in our ordinary lives, legitimately judge what is best when it comes to morality, politics, and art, without abjuring everyday concepts in favor of technical philosophical terms?

In mulling over these questions, we will focus on the following topics: the nature of philosophical terms of criticism, the role of the human voice in philosophy, moral perfectionism, and skepticism.

In addition to Cavell's early essays and his magnum opus The Claim of Reason, we will be studying writings by Kant (including the Critique of Judgment), Hume, Descartes, Wittgenstein, and Austin. During the second half of the term, we will be focusing on Cavell's work on Hollywood film comedies and melodramas of the 1930s and '40s, including, e.g., It Happened One Night, Letter From an Unknown Woman, Adam's Rib, The Lady Eve, Now, Voyager, Bringing up Baby, and Stella Dallas.

Prerequisites: 2 Philosophy courses or the consent of the instructors.

Philosophy 293 / Graduate Independent Study

ARR
Consent required.

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