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Graduate Classes

Symbolic Logic (Phil 101)

            Thomas Hofweber

Philosophy of Science (Phil 108)

            John Roberts

Philosophy of Psychology (Phil 109)

            C.D.C Reeve

Philosophy of Language (Phil 110)

            Dean Pettit

Philosophy of Law (Phil 113)

            Michael Corrado

Themes in Analytic Philosophy (Phil 116)

            Dorit Bar-On

Themes in Analytic Philosophy (Phil 120)

            Jerry Gaus

Moral Theory (Phil 260)

            T. Hill

Kenan Seminar (Phil 305)

           Simmons/Hofweber

Consciousness Reading Group (Phil 390)

           Bill Lycan

Thomas Hofweber

Symbolic logic as proven to be extremely influential in a variety of 20th century disciplines, like philosophy, linguistics, the foundations of mathematics, and computer science. This course is an introduction to the main topics and results in formal logic for graduate students. We will first cover the syntax and semantics of various formal languages, and the selection of proof systems for them. Then we will discuss and prove some of the central results in the meta-theory of first order logic: completeness, compactness, the Lowenheim-Skolem theorems, complete theories, notions inexpressible in first order logic, and some applications to first order mathematical theories, like non-standard models of arithmetic. Finally we will discuss the syntax and variety of semantics for second order logic, and finally, time permitting, a selection of intensional systems, like modal logic.

This course meets on Tuesday, and Thursday from11:00-12:15.

John Roberts

This course is an introduction to the central issues in the general philosophy of natural science intended for graduate students in Philosophy. Topics covered will include confirmation, theory choice, explanation, reduction, laws of nature, and the realism-antirealism debate.

This course meets on Monday from 4:00-6:30.

C.D.C Reeve

A study of some seminal texts on love, both classical and contemporary, by authors such as Plato, soren Kierkegaard, Arthur Schopenhauer, Marcel Proust, Sigmund Freud, Anthony Giddens, and Harry Frankfurt.

This course meets on Wednesday from 3:30-6:00.

Dean Pettit

This course will survey some traditional topics in the philosophy of language (theory of meaning, truth-theoretic semantics, proper names, descriptions, demonstratives, attitude reports, indeterminacy, and vagueness) as well as some topics in the philosophy of linguistics (the nature of language and the proper conception of the study of language). A broad issue of the course will be how the latter issues might bear on the former (e.g., how our conception of language should inform the theory of meaning). Other large-scale issues of the course will be why language should be of philosophical interest at all and what the place of philosophy of language is within philosophy as a whole. In the heyday of philosophy of language it was thought that all of philosophy amounts to philosophy of language, because philosophical issues were thought to concern the analysis of concepts or the meanings of words (e.g., epistemology concerns the meaning of 'x knows that p'). Philosophy of language is, on this conception, the über-field of philosophy. A more recent (and modest) conception would have it that philosophy of language is merely a sub-field of the philosophy of mind (albeit an important and interesting one).

This course meets on Thursday from 12:30-3:00.

Michael Corrado

What limits should there be on the state's us of power to prevent undesirable behavior? We will discuss such traditional topics as the harm principle and the debate between deterrence and retribution. But the most difficult issue we will address is something that lies outside of the traditional debates about criminalization and punishment the issue of preventive detention. May the state lock a person up solely on the basis of his dangerousness without convicting him of a crime? If the answer to that question is Yes, then all the established limits on state's power to prevent crime-- for one example, that the state may not interfere with a person's freedom, in the name of preventing crime, unless he has been convicted of a crime-- come to very little, and we must rethink the anser to the underlying question. We will look at the sequence of Supreme Court cases in which doctrine of preventive detention has been worked out, from Salerno v. United States (1988) through Zadvidas v. INS (2001), and into the terrorist cases of the last two years.

This course will meet on Wednesday from 3:30-6:00.

Themes in Analytic Philosophy (Phil 116)

Dorit Bar On

The course will trace current treatment of certain themes to their origins in Logical Positivism. Among the themes: the relation of language to the world, the role of language in philosophy, external world skepticism, semantic verificationism, the idea that language is essentially public. We will eamine the extent to which contemporary treatments of these issues remain within the positivist tradition and some of the ways in which they depart from it. The bulk of the course will be devoted to variations on positivist themes which can be found in Quine, Davidson, and Dummett (other philosophers we may touch upon: Wittgenstein, Putnam, Rorty).

The course will be run as a "teaching seminar", which means quite a lot of time will be spent on presenting materials, primarily by me. However, I will aslo allow substantial time for student participation, through questions, disucssion periods and voluntary presentations of course materials. Background in analytic philosophy will be necessary, but I will not assume specific familiarity with the positivists or with Quine, Davidson, or Dummett. Auditors are welcome.

This course will meet on Monday from 4:00-6:30.

Contemporary Moral and Social Problems: Individual Diversity and Social Morality (Phil120)

Jerry Gaus

Courses on moral problems often focus upon contentious moral issues, and sometimes take sides on the moral disagreements of our time: the permissibility of abortion or euthanasia, the value and protection of the environment, the merits of the welfare state, capitalism, Wal-mart, Gwen Stephani or the Buffalo Bills. In my view the crucial philosophical question is why such disagreements are endemic to our society and whether they undermine the possibility of a shared morality. Rawls tells us that this type of diversity is "the natural outcome of the activities of human reason under free enduring institutions." My aim in this course is to explore why free institutions reveal the deep diversity of human reason, and whether this diversity precludes a justified social morality and morally-informed political life. More specifically, we shall consider some sources of reasonable disagreement about morality, and, especially, proposals to cope with it coming from pluralists, Hobbesians, holists, deliberative democrats, epistemic democrats, Rawlsians and others.

This course will meet on Monday from 7:00-9:30pm.

Moral Theory (Phil 260)

T. Hill

In the first part we will examine critically some recent works representing different types of normative ethical theory: rule-utilitarianism, Kantian constructivism, and virtue ethics. Of special concern in this section is the question, what role, if any, should rules and principles have in moral deliberation and debate. Then, in the second part, we will take up various contemporary practical issues, partly to consider the implications of the theories but also to explore how moral theory can benefit from reflection on real moral issues. The issues to be considered may include questions about terrorism, torture, humanitarian interventions, punishment, and how we treat animals and the natural environment. (The selection will depend to some extent on the interests of the class members.) Requirements: participation, several short papers and presentations, and a longer term paper (which may be an expansion of a short paper).

This course will meet on Tuesday from 3:30-6:00.

Kenan Seminar (Phil 305)

Simmons/Hofweber

The main topics that will be covered are: deflationary of theories of truth, logic and apriority, logic and rationality. We will be bringing in four distinguished visitors: Paul Boghossian, Hartry Field, Graham Priest, and Wolfgang Künne. The course will be structured around work in progress of our visitors - for each visitor, we'll have one session providing background for the topic, a second session discussing the work in progress, and the third session with the visitor.

This course will meet on Thursday from 3:30-6:00.

Consciousness Reading Group (Phil 390)

Bill Lycan

We shall discuss recent work on conciousness. Topics will include: the Representational theory of qualia; the transparency of sense experience; phenomenal externalism; phenomenal unities (temporal issues and split-brain patients); conscious awareness; the Knowledge Argument; phenomenal concepts; the Explanatory Gap; and "phenomenal intentionality."

This course will meet Wednesday from 4:30-6:30.