Graduate
Courses: Fall 2007
The department offers two kinds of seminars: Background Seminars and Research Seminars. For details, see the Graduate Student Handbook.
Background seminars
2041/20549 Studies in Aristotle
Allen, James | Tuesdays 7:00–9:30
Crosslisted with CLASSICS 2314 and HPS 2673
Aristotle invented formal logic, his groundbreaking contributions to which are contained in the Prior Analytics. He did not do so in a vacuum, however. The context for his logical inquiries was furnished by, on the one hand, an interest in the proofs or demonstrations by grasping which we can be said in the strict sense to know or understand (the subject of the Posterior Analytics), and, on the other hand, a long-standing interest in practices of argument like rhetoric and dialectic, and the corresponding argumentative disciplines mastery of which allows one to construct arguments suited to these practices and evaluate and respond to the arguments of other participants in them. (His versions of these disciplines are set out in the Rhetoric and Topics.) The aim of this seminar is to explore central themes in Aristotle's logic while attending to this broader context. To this end, we shall draw on material not only from the Prior Analytics, but also from the Topics, the Rhetoric and the Posterior Analytics.
2130/19234 Leibniz
Rescher, Nicholas | Wednesdays 9:30–11:55
A comprehensive examination of the philosophy of G. W. Leibniz, with primary emphasis on those of his ideas, primarily in logic, metaphysics and epistemology, which exercised a powerful influence upon later philosophers.
2400/13349 Metaphysics-Epistemology (Core)
Wilson, Mark | Mondays 2:00–4:25
The course will survey some basic literature in modern metaphysics and allied topics. Lots of reading will be required, as well as a number of short essays.
2600/10696 Philosophy of Science (Core)
Belot, Gordon | Wednesdays 1:00–3:25
Cross-listed with HPS 2501
This course will focus on central topics in general philosophy of science, from the heroic age of logical empiricism onwards: explanation, confirmation, theory change, the meaning of theoretical terms, scientific realism.
Research seminars
2061/22031 Studies in Hellenistic Philosophy
Cullyer, Helen | Thursdays 2:00–4:25
Crosslisted with LATIN 2220 and HPS 2673
In late 44 BCE, during the turbulent aftermath of Julius Caesar's assassination, Cicero wrote his De Officiis, an ethical treatise addressed to his son and based on the Stoic Panaetius' On Appropriate Actions. De Officiis not only provides us with valuable evidence of the applied ethics of the Greek Stoics, but also constitutes an innovative Roman contribution to ancient ethics. We will focus on the following issues and questions in this seminar: the possibility of and problems involved in reconstructing Panaetius' thought from Cicero's text, Cicero's appropriation of Stoic ethics for his own political ends, and the extent to which the explicitly Stoic standpoint of the De Officiis coexists in harmony, and sometimes in tension with Cicero's eclectic use of Platonic, Academic and Aristotelian arguments. Most importantly, we will investigate how, according to various Stoics, from Chrysippus to Hecato, and to Cicero himself, both perfectly virtuous and morally imperfect agents are supposed to deliberate and decide upon an appropriate course of action.
2170/13345 Kant
Engstrom, Stephen | Thursdays 7:00–9:30
This course will explore Kant’s conception of cognition through an investigation of his account of judgment. Special attention will be paid to his system of functions of thought in judgment (from which he derives his categories) and his treatments of the various types of judgment (theoretical, practical, aesthetic). The principal focus will be on relevant portions of the Transcendental Analytic in the Critique of Pure Reason, but we will also consider the doctrine of judgment in Kant’s logic (comparing it with some other familiar views) and the accounts of practical and aesthetic judgment found in his ethical writings and in the Critique of Judgment.
2330/13347 Political Philosophy
Thompson, Michael | Mondays 7:00–9:30
This is an intermediate to advanced graduate seminar in political philosophy. The exact contents of the course vary from one occasion to the next. Specifics available from department at a later date.
2335/13348 Topics in Contemporary Philosophy
Gupta, Anil | Thursdays 1:00–3:25
We shall study some philosophical accounts of conscious experience, such as those proposed by Russell, Sellars, Dretske, McDowell, and Martin.
2421/22574 Topics in Philosophy of Language
Brandom, Robert | Tuesdays 2:00–4:25
The seminar will conduct a detailed reading and study of Brandom's Making It Explicit. Topics covered range from large issues of theoretical strategy (relations of use to meaning, normativity and naturalism, representationalism vs. inferentialism, semantic atomism vs. holism) to detailed issues concerning semantic vocabulary, singular terms, anaphora, and propositional attitude ascribing locutions. We will discuss approximately one chapter per week. Students taking the course for credit will make seminar presentations and write a long paper.
2445/19236 Philosophy of Action
Boxer, Karin | Wednesdays 4:00–6:25
In a seminal 1992 article, David Velleman poses the question 'What Happens When Someone Acts?'. The purpose of this seminar 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. Key issues to be explored include the nature of rationalization, the relation between rationalization and causal explanation, the ontological status of beliefs, desires, intentions, etc., and the role of each of these 'states' in the causation and explanation of action.
2540/19237 Model Theory
Manders, Ken | Tuesdays 9:30–11:55
The class will introduce model theory, assuming the completeness theorem. Topics will include: applications of Compactness, Craig definability Theorem, Lindstrom's characterization of First-order logic, the method of elimination of quantifiers, model completeness and domain extensions.
2627/20556 Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics
Belot, Gordon | Mondays 9:30–11:55
Cross-listed with HPS 2667
This course will be an introduction to the philosophy of quantum mechanics. It will presuppose no special knowledge of physics or of philosophy of physics. We will survey the classic interpretative questions regarding locality, the measurement problem, and ontology. We will read parts or all of the introductory texts of David Albert, R.I.G. Hughes, and Michael Redhead. This will be a background seminar and for those interested in pursuing this field further can serve as a prequel to a more advanced course to be taught in the Spring semester by Earman and Ruetsche.
2641/20554 Experimental Philosophy
Machéry, Edouard | Tuesdays 4:00–6:25
Cross-listed with HPS 2641
During the last few years, a growing number of philosophers, along with a few psychologists and anthropologists, have tried to bring experimental methods to bear on philosophical debates, typically by investigating the folk's intuitive reactions to well-known thought-experiments in philosophy. Many of the results have been surprising and some of the conclusions drawn from them are extremely provocative. The seminar will be a survey of recent work in experimental philosophy. We will look at experimental studies aimed at advancing debates in a number of areas of philosophy including metaphysics, semantics, epistemology, philosophy of science and ethics. This seminar will also give students the opportunity to explore ways in which experimental methods can be brought to bear on philosophical issues.
2652/20559 Philosophy of Psychiatry
Schaffner, Kenneth; Machamer, Peter | Wednesdays 3:00–5:55
Cross-listed with HPS 2650
This course will examine some of the conceptual and methodological issues, as well as several historical topics, in psychiatry. We will assess the ways in which "scientific" psychiatry analyzes and proposes criteria for the definitions of psychiatric disorders and classifications, and discuss their reliability and validity. These issues will be considered in general, and also as they relate to the last edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) IV-TR of the American Psychiatric Association and the current project for revising this manual. More specifically, these topics include examining the organizing principles for psychiatric classification and the roles of etiological and non-etiological characterizations of disorders. The usefulness of reductive strategies and the mechanisms of disorders (including related genetic and neuroimaging research) will be reviewed. We may also consider how we should relate recent dimensional models for mental disorders to traditional, symptom- and treatment- driven categories. Our philosophical perspective is primarily analytical, however phenomenological and hermeneutical approaches will also be discussed. Historical topics will include the contrast between psychoanalytical, narrative approaches and biological psychiatry, and the transition of the discipline from the former to the latter. Extended consideration of schizophrenia and depressive disorders will be course themes. The seminar will close with a discussion of legal and ethical issues in psychiatry.
