Graduate
Courses: Fall 2009 Course Descriptions Spring 2009
Some additonal information about this semester's courses can be found at the Arts and Sciences course descriptions page.
2050/35811 Topics in History of Philosophy
Schafer, Karl| Thursdays 7:00-9:30
Hume's Treatise is often referred to as the finest work of philosophy in the English language. If true, this would mean that the high-point of English-language philosophy is a work that was publicly repudiated by its author. In this course, we will not consider the implications of this fact for English-language philosophy in general. Instead, taking the common evaluation of the Treatise more seriously than Hume's own, we will focus on giving a systematic account of the philosophy contained therein. Of particular interest will be the manner in which Hume presents us with a variety of philosophical naturalism akin, but crucially different, from the naturalism prevalent today. Particular efforts will be made to compare Hume's views with related views, both in the early modern period (Spinoza, Locke, Reid, Kant) and in contemporary debates.
Prerequisite(s): none
Check with the department on how often this course is offered.
2170/35812 Kant
Stephen Engstrom| Wednesdays 7:00-9:30
This course will continue the exploration of Kant’s conception of cognition and judgment that was begun in the Kant seminar offered in the fall of 2007. During the first few weeks we will focus mainly on the system of functions of thinking in judgment and their relation to the categories. The remainder of the semester will be devoted primarily to the account of the categories’ application expounded in the Schematism and in the System of the Principles of Pure Understanding. This course is offered as a research seminar.
Prerequisite(s): Graduate status. Some prior familiarity with the Critique of Pure Reason is recommended.
This course is offered at least once a year.
2245/35813 Analytic Philosophy
Brandom, Robert | Wednesdays 2:00-5:00
In this course we will read Wilfrid Sellars's most important papers, other than "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind." These are collected in In the Space of Reasons: Selected Papers of Wilfrid Sellars (HUP 2008). We will also read "Counterfactuals, Dispositions, and the Causal Modalities," which is not collected there. It is assumed that students will already have read EPM. We may also read some secondary literature. This is a research seminar.
Prerequisite(s): Graduate in philosophy or permission from instructor.
Check with the department on how often this course is offered.
2305/33036 Topics in Ethics
Otsuka, Michael | Tuesdays 9:30-12:00
A study of selected topics in ethics. Course may be repeated for credit if material is different. Description available at a later date.
Prerequisite(s): Graduate status or permission from instructor.
This course is offered at least once a year.
2315/35814 Moral Psychology
Boxer, Karin| Tuesdays 7:00–9:30
In a seminal 1992 article, David Velleman poses the question 'What Happens When Someone Acts?'. The purpose of this course is to develop an adequate answer to this question, one capable of accounting both for what Velleman refers to as 'human action par excellence' and for some of the less excellent specimens of human action, including, most notably, action against one's own better judgment. Only with such an account in hand can we address some of the central questions in moral philosophy--e.g., questions concerning the nature of virtue, moral responsibility, attributability, etc. We will begin by examining Velleman's claim that the standard causal theory of action leaves agents out of the picture. A central issue to be explored is to what extent this claim and the purported problem to which it points are themselves the byproduct of various reductionist assumptions Velleman shares with those he is criticizing. As we shall see, Velleman's theory of human action par excellence relies on a picture of action explanation as explanation by internal, causally interacting, entities or token states which simultaneously rationalize the actions they cause. Our task will be to examine the ontological assumptions underlying this picture, and to fill in the details, and ultimately, consider the moral implications, of an alternative picture--one based on a more adequate ontology of mind. Anscombe was right: moral philosophy must await an adequate philosophy of psychology. And, as I hope will become clear, an adequate philosophy of psychology must have at its base an adequate ontology of mind. Authors to read include Jen Hornsby, Helen Steward, Jay Wallace, Gary Watson, David Velleman, Christine Korsgaard, and Harry Frankfurt, among others. Description from previous year. Course plan may change.
Prerequisite(s): This course is intended for graduate students in philosophy. Other students may be admitted to any places remaining but only with the consent of the instructor.
Check with the department on how often this course is offered.
2335/35815 Topics in Contemporary Philosophy
Gupta, Anil | Thursdays 1:00-3:30
This seminar will be concerned with the role of experience in the rationality of perceptual judgments. We shall examine several accounts of experience, of judgment, and of the relationship between the two. This is a research seminar.
Prerequisite(s): Graduate status or permission from the instructor.
This course is offered infrequently.
2400/35816 Metaphysics-Epistemology (Core)
Brandom, Robert| Tuesdays 2:00-5:00
This course will be an introduction to some central concepts and problems in contemporary epistemology and metaphysics. This is a core seminar, and thus listed as a "Background Seminar".
Prerequisite(s): Enrollment is limited to first year students in Ph.D. program in Philosophy, except by permission of instructor.
This course is offered at least once a year.
2480/35817 Metaphysics
Rescher, Nicholas| Wednesdays 9:30-12:00
The course has two interrelated objectives: the one methodological, the other substantive. On the one side we will consider the nature of metaphysics as a branch of inquiry: its aims, its methods, and its validity as a cognitive enterprise. On the substantive side we will consider a variety of classical issues in metaphysics, such as: existence/inexistence; reality/appearance; realism/contrarealism; lawful/accidental; substance/process; particulars/universals; mind/body; reasons/causes; freedom/determinism; persons/things. Also considered will be metaphysical principles (such as the principle of sufficient reason and “Occam’s razor’) and metaphysical methodology. Text: Jaegwon Kim and Ernest Sosa (eds.), Metaphysics: An Anthology (Oxford: Blackwell).
Prerequisite(s): Graduate status or permission from instructor.
This course is offered infrequently.
2580/35818 Philosophy of Mathematics
Combined with HPS 2679
Manders, Kenneth | Mondays 7:00-9:30
The current tradition in Epistemology of Mathematics rests on a fruitful restriction, to questions of (primarily logical and foundational) justification. In this course, we pursue broader epistemological inquiry into the power of mathematical thought, and illustrate philosophical avenues of approach. These involve rethinking mathematical reasoning in non-foundational, practice conceptions and taking into account the quality of representational contributions to mathematical reasoning. We will discuss case studies of mathematical concept formation (negative quantities in analytic geometry) and ones comparing competing representations. This will open up novel perspectives on the philosophy of language (improving a language to better deal with a class of problems) that go beyond the philosophy of mathematics. There will also be student presentations of term paper projects.
Prerequisite(s): Graduate status or permission from instructor.
This course is offered infrequently.
2600/11332 Philosophy of Science (Core)
Combined with HPS 2501/11870
Norton, John|Wednesdays 9:30-12:00 (G-28 CL)
This course will focus on central topics in philosophy of science, from the era of logical positivism onwards: including explanation, confirmation, theory change, the meaning of theoretical terms, and scientific realism.
Prerequisite(s): Graduate status.
This course is offered at least once a year.
2625/34424 Recent Topics in Philosophy of Science
Combined with HPS 2622/34422
Massimi, Michela|Thursdays 9:30-12:00
Causation, laws of nature, and natural kinds are deeply interconnected metaphysical notions. Is causation an objective structural feature of nature? If so are there natural kinds as repository of causal dispositions? And, to what extent do our laws of nature express causal dispositions, and are read off natural kinds and their causal properties? Realists have traditionally answered the questions above in a positive way, while philosophers with empiricist leanings have answered the quest for causation, laws, and kinds with a moderate skepticism. The first aim of this course is to explore the motivation behind both realist and empiricist intuitions, and to assess their strengths and viability. The second aim is to try to explore whether a 'third way' about causation, laws, and kinds-somehow intermediate between realism and empiricism-is possible, or even desirable at all. Accordingly, the course is divided in three parts. In the first part, we focus on causation and read a selection of contemporary views (in special connection with the problem of asymmetry of time) from Price and Corry (eds.) (2007) Causation, Physics and the Constitution of Reality. Russell’s Republic Revisited (OUP). In the second part, we explore laws of nature and read a selection of contemporary views from Alexander Bird (2007) Nature’s metaphysics. Laws and properties (OUP) and from John W. Carroll (ed.) (2004) Readings on laws of nature (University of Pittsburgh Press). In part three, we turn to natural kinds in relation to meaning change and theory change (in special connection with the problem of essentialism in biology), and reading a selection from LaPorte (2004) Natural kinds and conceptual change (CUP), among other readings (including Boyd and Hacking)
Prerequisite(s): Graduate status.
This course is offered at least once a year.
2625/36925 Recent Topics in Philosophy of Science
Combined with HPS 2642
Earman, John|Wednesdays 3:00-5:30 (G-28 CL)
This seminar is intended as an introductory survey of major issues that arise in analyzing the concepts of determinism and causation. Roughly the first half of the course will be devoted to such questions as: What does it mean for the world to be deterministic? What are the relations among determinism, predictability, and randomness? What are the problems and prospects for determinism in various branches of physics? The second part of the course will survey the various approaches to causation, including counterfactual, interventionist, transference, and regularity accounts.
Prerequisite(s): Graduate status.
Check with the department on how often this course is offered.
2633/35852 Philosophy of Cognitive Science
Combined with HPS 2633/35853
Machery, Edouard|Tuesdays 3:30-6:00 (G-28 CL)
This course will survey the main philosophical questions raised by cognitive sciences. Students will acquire a comprehensive grasp of the main issues in this field. Lectures and readings will be taken from artificial intelligence, psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience. We will discuss questions such as: Is the mind modular? Is the mind embodied and situated? Do we ascribe mental states by simulation or by means of a theory? What is consciousness? What are concepts?
Prerequisite(s): Graduate status.
This course is offered at least once a year.
2689/35854 Explanations, Causes, and Mechanism
Combined with HPS 2689/35855
Machamer, Peter| Mondays 4:00-6:30 (G-28 CL)
The seminar will examine some recent philosophical writings on these three topcs. Specifically, we will analyze the nature of explanations by mechanisms in a variety of domains and fields, including social science, cognitive science, and neuroscience. We shall also consider multi-level explanations, such as those that relate persons to sub-personal states and environments. Along the way we shall discuss the issues of reduction, emergence, the space of reasons, and the nature of information as used in some sciences. If there is interest and time we may spend a session or two on discovery of mechanisms.
Prerequisite(s): Graduate status.
Check with the department on how often this course is offered.
