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Undergraduate Classes

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Freshman Seminar: Ethics (Phil 66) (6F)

            Tom Hill

Issues in a World Society: Sports and Competition (Phil 67) (6F)

            Jan Boxill

Freshman Seminar: The Moral Life (Phil 68) (6F)

            Douglas MacLean

Honors Seminar: Self-Knowledge (HNRS 354)

            Dorit Bar On

Introduction: Main Problems (Phil 101) (20)

            David Landy

            Peter Hanks

            Michael Bruno

            Mark Phelan

            Seth Bordner

Main Problems - Honors (Phil 101H) (20H)

            Joshua Knobe

Introduction to Great Works (Phil 110) (24)

            David Frost

Making Sense of Ourselves (Phil 112) (26)

            C.D.C. Reeve

Philosophy of Religion (Phil 134) (32)

            Dean Pettit

            Warren Nord

Philosophy of Language (Phil 145) (35)

            Peter Hanks

Philosophy of Science (Phil 150) (31)

            Eric Mandelbaum

Introduction to Mathematical Logic (Phil 155) (21)

            Keith Simmons

            Thomas Hofweber

Introduction to Ethics (Phil 160) (22)

            Elizabeth Foreman

            Marc Baer

            Justin Jeffrey

            Dylan Sabo

           Margo Chiovoloni

Practical Ethics (Phil 163) (30)

            Marc Baer

Morality and Business (Phil 164) (39)

            Terry Price

Bioethics (Phil 165) (34)

           Terry Price

Social Ethics & Political Thought (Phil 170) (37)

            Peter Vanderschraaf

Modern Philosophy (Phil 220) (58)

            Alan Nelson

Experience & Reality (Phil 230) (38)

            Dean Pettit

Experience & Reality - Honors (Phil 230H) (38)

            Jesse Prinz

Ethics of Peace, War, and Defense (Phil 272) (42)

            Bernard Boxill

Social & Economic Justice (Phil 273) (66)

            Derek Boyd

African American Philosophy (Phil 274H) (55H)

            Bernard Boxill      

Philosophical Issues/ Feminism (Phil 275) (46)

            Meg Wallace

Morality and Law (Phil 280) (41)

            Sarah Scott

Philosophy of Physics (Phil 351) (82)

            John Roberts

Philosophy of Cognitive Science (Phil 353) (77)

            Jesse Prinz

Topics of Mathematical Logic (Phil 356) (71)

            Thomas Hofweber

Environmental Ethics (Phil 368) (68)

            Douglas McLean

Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (Phil 384) (84)

            Peter Vanderschraaf

Philosophy of Film (Phil 390) (80)

            Chris Grau

Aristotle (Phil 411) (151)

            C.D.C. Reeve

Symbolic Logic (Phil 455) (101)

            Keith Simmons

History of Ethics (Phil 460) (102)

            Thomas Hill

 

 

 

        

 

 

Freshman Seminar: Ethics -- Theoretical and Practical Issues (Phil 66) (6F)

Tom Hill

This seminar aims to encourage students to think seriously and clearly about ethical problems by means of class discussion, group research projects, and examination of philosophical and literary works. Theoretical issues to be considered include relativism, utilitarianism, deontological ethics, and virtue ethics. Practical issues may include abortion, substance abuse, treatment of animals and the environment, and sex, love, and marriage.

This course meets Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30.

Freshman Seminar: Issues in a World Society: Sports and Competition (Phil 67) (6F)

Jan Boxill

What is involved in competition? Is there too much emphasis on winning? Are college sports getting out of hand? Do competitive athletics belong on campus? This seminar examines ethical issues, including Title IX, gender equality, racism, sexism, violence, and drug use.

This course meets Tuesday's at 2.

Freshman Seminar: The Moral Life (Phil 68) (6F)

Douglas Maclean

What does it mean to live a moral life? Are moral instincts built into human nature? To what extent can we apply reason to understand our moral duties and give shape to our moral ideals? These are the questions we will explore in this seminar. The readings will be drawn from philosophy, literature, and science. We will examine the relationship between morality, religion, and the theory of evolution, and we will look at what some philosophers and other writers have said about moral ideals and the role of morality in a life that is healthy and flourishing. If time permits, we will also look at how these issues are presented in movies and art.

This course meets Wednesday from 3:30-6.

Honors Seminar: Self-Knowledge (HNRS 354) (006F)

Dorit Bar-On

We ordinarily assume that people have privileged knowledge of their own present states of mind. (So, if I say: 'I have a headache" or "I wish the rain would stop" then, assuming I'm sincere, my audience will not presume to challenge or correct what I say.) But if, as modern science suggests, our minds are nothing more than our brains and central nervous system, it becomes difficult to see how we could have such special knowledge. In this course, we will examine whether our commonsense belief in privileged self-knowledge is challenged by contemporary scientific findings about the mind.

This course meets on Thursday from 2-4:30.

Main Problems (Phil 101) (20)

David Landy

An introduction to the study of philosophy through the examination of major philosophical problems. Specific content varies with section. Consult Department of Philosophy for details

(Course registration is initially open to first year students)

This course meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9.

Main Problems (Phil 101) (20)

Peter Hanks

Most people have heard of the famous philosophers, e.g. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Wittgenstein. And most know that philosophy is about the big issues: reality, truth, God, knowledge, mind, goodness, justice, identity. Far fewer know or understand what philosophers have had to say about these problems. To many, philosophy can seem impractical, unworldly and strange. But deep and careful philosophical reflection on the big issues can enrich your life in unexpected ways. If you are curious about these problems and would like to learn about what philosophy is about then this is the course for you.

(Course registration is initially open to first/second year students)

This course meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 12.

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Main Problems (Phil 101) (20)

Michael Bruno

An introduction to the study of philosophy through the examination of major philosophical problems. Specific content varies with section. Consult Department of Philosophy for details.

This course meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 8.

Main Problems (Phil 101) (20)

Mark Phelan

An introduction to the study of philosophy through the examination of major philosophical problems. Specific content varies with section. Consult Department of Philosophy for details.

This course meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30.

Main Problems (Phil 101) (20)

Seth Bordner

An introduction to the study of philosophy through the examination of major philosophical problems. Specific content varies with section. Consult Department of Philosophy for details

(Course registration is initially open to first year students)

This course meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9.

Main Problems - Honors (Phil 101H) (20H)

Joshua Knobe

An introduction to philosophy focusing on four central questions. What is the nature of right and wrong? Do human beings have free will? What is the relationship between the mind and the body? And do we have rational grounds to believe in God? Readings will be drawn both from the history of philosophy and from the contemporary literature.

This course meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30.

David Frost

An introduction to the study of philosophy through examination of major texts that have shaped the history of philosophical thought.

This course meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 8.

C.D.C. Reeve

In this introductory course, we will explore the attempts made by a series of influential thinkers to understand who we are, what kind of world we live in, and how we should live our lives. As we will see, these questions are more connected than they might first appear. Authors include: Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, St. Matthew, Nietzsche, Freud, and Rand.

(Course registration is initially open to first/second year students)

This course meets on Monday and Wednesday at 12.

Philosophy of Religion (Phil 134) (32)

Dean Pettit

This course will be concerned primarily with a single question: Does God exist? Drawing on both historical and contemporary sources, we will address this question by a careful and critical examination of the traditional arguments for and against the existence of God. This project will confront us with fundamental issues about the grounds for knowledge, the scope of reason, the nature of God, the nature of reality, the basis of morality, and the meaning of life. In short, the course will introduce students to the enterprise of philosophy. Another central aim of the course is to help students develop the ability to clarify difficult conceptual problems and reason about them, to present their reasoning and critically assess the reasoning of others. No previous exposure to either philosophy or religious studies will be presupposed.

Note: This course is not intended to provide a survey of world religions. The central issue of the course presupposes monotheism and most of the relevant philosophical literature (from which readings for the course are drawn) is in the Judeo-Christian tradition. This is not meant to exclude other religious perspectives, but to give students a clearer idea of what they can expect from the course. Other religious perspectives that students might bring to class discussion will be both welcome and valued, since how we conceive of God may make a difference to our conclusion about whether God exists.

This course meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 11.

Philosophy of Religion (Phil 134) (32)

Warren Nord

The course is structured around the question: Is it reasonable to believe in God? Of course, a lot hinges on what we mean by "reasonable" and by "God" and we will explore the possibilities. We will discuss the two major reasons for disbelief: the existence of massive evil in the world, and the alternative interpretation of reality provided by modern science. And we will discuss the major reasons for belief: religious experience; the appearance of design in nature; and the witness of Scripture. We will conclude with a discussion of different ways of understanding the nature and respective merits of faith and reason. The readings will present a wide variety of views, religious and secular; most will be by contemporary philosophers, theologians, and scientists, with a few classical readings and excerpts from Scripture.

This course meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 2.

Philosophy of Language (Phil 145) (35)

Peter Hanks

.When we speak we make noises with our mouths and vocal cords. We use these noises to communicate and transmit information. How is this possible? How do we use these noises to communicate information? The philosophy of language is about this question. We will start with a seemingly easy case: the use proper names to refer to people and things in the world. When I use the name "Michael Jordan" I refer to someone, namely, Michael Jordan. How does this work? What is the connection between the name "Michael Jordan" and the man Michael Jordan? This seems like an easy question, but in fact it is one of the most difficult problems in contemporary philosophy. After proper names we will discuss several other kinds of words and the many different kinds of things we do with words, and we will look at a problem about whether language and meaning are possible. Along the way we will encounter the views of some of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century, including Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Saul Kripke.

This course meets on Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 3.

Philosophy of Science (Phil 150) (31)

Eric Mandelbaum

This course will be an introduction to some of the central issues in general philosophy of science (as opposed to, say, philosophy of physics or philosophy of biology). The topics we consider will all be variations on a common theme: Science purports to give us a great deal of knowledge on the basis of a certain kind of evidence, but the knowledge it purports to give us goes far beyond that evidence. The evidence consists of a finite body of facts about observable phenomena that have actually occurred and have been observed. The knowledge science purports to deliver goes beyond this in at least four different ways: It concerns phenomena that have not yet been observed (which is why it is useful for making predictions); in some cases it concerns phenomena that are not directly observable (such as quarks, unconscious psychological states, selection pressure, electromagnetic fields); in many cases it concerns not only what phenomena occur, but also the explanation of why they occur; in many cases it concerns not only the phenomena that actually occur, but also the laws of nature which govern not only all actual phenomena but also all physically possible phenomena (e.g., it isn't just that nothing ever DOES go faster than the speed of light; nothing CAN go faster than the speed of light). What is the method whereby science is able to extend our knowledge beyond the actually observed phenomena in all these ways? Is it really possible to acquire justified beliefs that go beyond our evidence in these ways, and if so, how?

This course meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8.

Keith Simmons

Logic is the study of certain precisely specified formal languages. In this course we will study these languages and their applications. Mathematical logic has proven to be extremely useful in a number of different disciplines. First, they are very helpful in the study of good and valid reasoning. We will use these formal languages to study valid and invalid forms of reasoning, and how to distinguish them. Secondly, logic is useful in the study of natural languages, and we will see some illustrative examples of this. Finally, logic is crucial for computer science and foundational issues in mathematics. Although these latter two areas quickly get into more advanced topics we will be able to discuss some highlights of these uses of logic.

This course meets on Monday and Wednesday at 12.

Thomas Hofweber

Logic is the study of certain precisely specified formal languages. In this course we will study these languages and their applications. Logic has proven to be extremely useful in a number of different disciplines. First, they are very helpful in the study of good and valid reasoning. We will use these formal languages to study valid and invalid forms of reasoning, and how to distinguish them. Secondly, mathematical logic is useful in the study of natural languages, and we will see some illustrative examples of this. Finally, logic is crucial for computer science and foundational issues in mathematics. Although these latter two areas quickly get into more advanced topics we will be able to discuss some highlights of these uses of logic.

This course meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30.

Elizabeth Foreman

An introduction to the study of moral issues and philosophical questions concerning morality.

(Course registration is initially open to first/second year students)

This course meets on Tuesday, and Thursday at 8.

Marc Baer

An introduction to the study of moral issues and philosophical questions concerning morality.

(Course registration is initially open to first year students)

This course meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 2.

Justin Jeffrey

An introduction to the study of moral issues and philosophical questions concerning morality.

This course meets on Tuesday, and Thursday at 2.

Dylan Sabo

An introduction to the study of moral issues and philosophical questions concerning morality.

This course meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9.

Margo Chiovoloni

An introduction to the study of moral issues and philosophical questions concerning morality.

This course meets on Monday and Wednesday at 6.

Marc Baer

An introduction to applied ethics surveying a variety of moral issues. Topics may include: war, medical ethics, media ethics, sexual ethics, business ethics, racism, sexism, capital punishment, and the environment

This course meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9.

Terry Price

A philosophical introduction to the central ethical issues in business, management, and leadership. Topics include truth telling, property, profit, justice, employment at will, whistle blowing, relativism, diversity, marketing, and the environment. Historical readings from Immanuel Kant, John Locke, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and Andrew Carnegie. Contemporary readings from Norman Bowie, Patricia Werhane, Robert Solomon, George Brenkert, John Rawls, Robert Nozick, Michael Walzer, Richard Epstein, Lynne Sharp Paine, Milton Friedman, and Ed Freeman. The course concludes with an extended examination of leadership and leader immorality.

This course meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 11.

Terry Price

A philosophical introduction to the central ethical issues in medicine and health care. Topics include abortion, euthanasia, disability, and experimentation with human and non-human animals. Historical readings by Immanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham, and John Stuart Mill. Contemporary readings from John Finnis, Judith Jarvis Thompson, Derek Parfit, Jonathan Glover, James Rachels, Peter Singer, and Ronald Dworkin. The course concludes with a sustained and systematic analysis of the moral and political implications of advances in genetic technology.

This course meets on Monday and Wednesday at 9.

Peter Vanderschraaf

This course will focus on the legitimacy of collective institutions. All people belong to a number of collective institutions, such as families, clubs, churches, schools, and especially countries. (All people are also influenced by institutions that are not collective, such as norms or rules, many of which are part of the culture of collective institutions.) Most if not all collective institutions make demands on their members and provide their members with certain benefits. Some of the questions we will consider in this course include: (1) What can an organization legitimately require of its members? (2) What are the ways an organization should deal with dissenting members? (3) Can one have involuntary obligations to an institution? (4) What sorts of "diversity"should an organization permit or encourage among its members? (5) What are the legitimate functions, if any, of governments? (6) What, if any, kinds of government are justified at all? (This is obviously not an exhaustive list!) Our discussion will be motivated in part by our study of the classic works by Aristotle and Hobbes on political philosophy together with two very recent and exciting works by Brian Barry and Christopher Morris.

This course meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 1.

Alan Nelson

The beginning of the modern period in western philosophy coincides with the high point of the Scientfic Revolution. Descartes was a contemporary of Galileo’s; Leibniz and Locke, contemporaries of Newton’s. The turmoil caused by the Thirty Years’ War and the English Civil War also led to the great political revolutions of the 18th century. So we’ll be studying a particularly rich and exciting period in which philosophers were building revolutionary new systems in an attempt to integrate emerging scientific knowledge with changing religious and political thought.

Descartes is foundational for understanding modern philosophy so we’ll concentrate on his system, but we’ll also see its transformation in the philosophy of Leibniz. These “rationalist” developments will be contrasted with the “empiricism” in Hobbes, Gassendi, Berkeley, and Hume. At issue are the ambitions and limits of human knowledge, and the basic structure of the universe!

This course meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30.

Dean Pettit

An introduction to metaphysics, exploring issues such as the nature of persons, our experience of things, the mind-body relation, appearance vs. reality, space and time, the character of the external world, a deity

This course meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 2:00.

Jesse Prinz

In this course we will explore some philosophical questions about experience and reality. No prior course in philosophy are required. Questions will include: What is conscious experience? Could it be nothing more a process in the brain? What is the self? What makes you the same self as you change over time? What is reality? Is it merely a subjective construction of the mind or is it objective? Are there objective facts about values? For example, are there objective facts about morality or about beauty, or are these things in the eye of the beholder?

This course meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30.

Ethics of Peace, War, and Defense (Phil 272) (42)

Bernard Boxill

The course will introduce students to some of the moral issues of war and peace. For example: Can war ever be morally justified? Can pacifism be morally justified? Can terrorism ever be morally justified? Can intervention ever be morally justified? Is there a moral duty to seek peace? Is the idea of a national interest a moral notion? What is Just War Theory, and what are its moral presuppositions? What are the moral rights of prisoners of war? Can it ever be morally justified to target civilians in war? Who has the moral and legal right to declare war? What are causes of war? What are the moral presuppositions of Realism and Liberalism in international affairs? Do the moral presuppositions of functioning democracies help to explain their alleged tendency not to fight one another? What are the ethical responsibilities of multinational corporations? What is the relation between global distributive justice and peace?

This course meets on Monday and Wednesday 10.

Social and Economic Justice (Phil 273) (66)

Derek Boyd

This course will focus on justice and the common good, applying theoretical justifications to contemporary social and economic issues. Readings will include classical and contemporary literature on the nature of justice and rights.

This course meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30.

African American Philosophy (Phil 274H) (55H)

Bernard Boxill

In Philosophy 274H we will undertake an in depth study of the theory of Black Nationalism. For classic presentations of the theory we will focus on the writings of Martin Delany, W.E.B. DuBois, and Marcus Garvey. For a very recent qualified version of classic Black Nationalism we will study Tommie Shelby’s book We Who are Dark. For critiques of the theory we will focus on the writings of Frederick Douglass and of some contemporary philosophers. Throughout I will endeavor to place Black Nationalism in the context of broader theories of the state and society like liberalism and nationalism in general.

This course meets on Wednesday from 2-4:30.

Meg Wallace

This course meets on Tuesday and Thursday at 3:30.

Sarah Scott

This course will focus on justice and the common good, applying theoretical justifications to contemporary social and economic issues. Readings will include classical and contemporary literature on the nature of justice and rights.

This course meets on Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 1:00.

Philosophy of Physics (Phil 351) (82)

John Roberts

This course will be an introduction to the philosophy of physics, which can be defined as the attempt to answer metaphysical questions about the nature of reality in the light of what physics has discovered.

The course will use the concept of locality as its unifying theme. Locality is roughly the idea that the relation between cause and effect is such that an effect must be adjacent to its cause, in both time and space; in other words, there can be no “action at a distance.” One of the pillars of twentieth-century physics—relativity theory—affirms locality, and can be fruitfully interpreted as a way of working out the idea of locality with great rigor. But the other pillar—quantum theory—appears to be incompatible with locality, due to a result called “Bell’s theorem.” This is rather mysterious—is locality correct, or isn’t it?

In order to come to terms with the concept of locality, we will explore a network of fundamental metaphysical concepts that are intimately related to it, including causation, intrinsic properties, categorical properties, dispositions, laws of nature, explanation, space, and time. We will also explore the roles played by locality and its denial in classical physics, especially the classical theory of electricity and magnetism. That theory introduces the concepts of the field. If the field really exists, then locality seems to be true, but some physicists have argued that the field is not a real physical entity but rather a convenient mathematical device that enables us to calculate the values of non-local forces (while others have argued that the question of whether the field is a real physical entity is a meaningless question). So, is the field something that really exists in the physical world, or is it just a handy mathematical device? This is one example of a way in which physical theorizing raises questions about what really exists in the world, the answers to which cannot be settled simply by looking at the physical theories. We will explore the way in which thinking about locality and other issues raised by classical electromagnetism led Einstein to the special theory of relativity, the way in which that theory transforms our concepts of space and time, and the way in which certain features of quantum mechanics raise challenges to the idea of locality.

We will use the text An Introduction to the Philosophy of Physics by Marc Lange.

How much background do you need to have in order to take this course? Well, the only official prerequisite is one philosophy course other than logic (Philosophy 155/021). But really, to follow the course, a little more background than that will be needed. On the physics side, you will need to be familiar with Newton’s laws of motion and the basic ways in which they are applied, and with the basics of electricity and magnetism. (If you have taken Physics 24 and 25 at UNC-CH, or a comparable course at another institution, that should be sufficient.) On the philosophy side, you should certainly have taken a philosophy course other than symbolic logic, but it will help tremendously if you have taken a course that covered a substantial amount of epistemology and/or metaphysics—such as Philosophy 38 or Philosophy 58.

This course meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00.

Jesse Prinz

Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of the mind. In encompasses psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, computer science, philosophy, and anthropology. In this course, we will look at questions that arise in these fields: Can computers think? Is the human mind a computer? Is language innate? Does language affect thought? Does culture affect thought? Do we perceive as much as we think we do? Are we as free as we think we are? Are we rational? How rational in moral judgment? What are emotions? How is conscious experience related to the brain? Why do we dream?

This course will meet on Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30.

Topics of Mathematical Logic: The foundations of mathematics (Phil 356) (71)

Thomas Hofweber

In this course we will focus on the foundations of mathematics and the influence that logic had in this area. We will cover such topics as: the paradoxes of the infinite and of naive set theory, Hilbert's Program in the philosophy of mathematics, Goedel's Incompleteness Theorems and their philosophical upshot, set theory as a foundational system, and others. The course is partly a technical course, focusing on proofs, and partly a philosophical course, discussing the philosophical significance of these proofs. A good background in first order logic is required (Phil 21 or better).

This course will meet on Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30.

Douglas Maclean

This course will examine the nature of environmental values and their role in decisions and public policies involving environmental protection. Some of the questions we will address include: What is the relation between the environment and human health and well-being? Are there reasons other than human health and well-being for protecting the environment? How do we compare environmental values against other values in making reasonable decisions? What are the ethical issues involved in cost-benefit analysis? How do we make reasonable and ethical decisions in the face of uncertainty? What are our duties to future generations and non-human animals? What kind of ethical issues are raised by the prospects of global warming?

This course will meet on Monday and Wednesday at 9.

Introduction PPE (Phil 384) (84)

Peter Vanderschraaf

In this course we will explore a number of issues at the intersection of philosophy, political theory and economic theory. We will consider what, if any, ways discoveries in political science and economics can advance some debates in traditional political and moral philosophy. Conversely, we will consider how the insights and methods of philosophy have influenced and continue to influence economics and political science. Some of the specific topics we will study and discuss together will include: (1) Theories of rational decision., (2) Social choice, that is, alternative methods of group decisions and the prospects for deriving a satisfactory normative account of group decisions., (3) Game theory, that is, the theory of interactive decision., (4) The relationship between rational choice and distributive justice., and (5) The relationship between ethics and rational choice.

This course meets on Monday and Wednesday at 4:25-5:40.

Chris Grau

Does film have an essence that distinguishes it from other art forms? Should films attempt to represent reality? Should they instead seek to diverge from realism? Does a film have an author? What is a genre? Does it make sense to think of all films as having narrators? Can Hollywood films actually provide philosophical illumination? Can films provide moral guidance? Can they corrupt the viewer? These are some of the questions we will explore in this introduction to the philosophy of film. We will reading assorted essays, but we will be primarily focusing on three books: V.F. Perkins’ Film as Film, George M. Wilson’s Narration in Light, and Stanley Cavell’s Pursuits of Happiness.

PLEASE NOTE: The Monday evening film screenings (7:30-9:30) are a required part of the course.

This course will meet on Tuesday and Thursday at 11-12:15, with recitations (actually, screenings) on Monday evenings.

C. D. C. Reeve

The focus of the seminar is Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics from the perspective of recent scholarship. The course is designed for graduate students and advanced undergraduates with a strong background in philosophy.

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

Keith Simmons

Symbolic logic has 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. We will first cover the syntax and semantics of various formal languages, and a 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 Löwenheim-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 a variety of semantics for second order logic, the meta-theory of second order logic, and a selection of intensional systems, like modal logic.

This course will meet on Monday and Wednesday from 10-11:15.

Thomas Hill

In this course we will examine some classic works in moral philosophy from the modern period. Readings will be selections from the work of Thomas Hobbes and Joseph Butler, and will include some major works of David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and John Stuart Mill. The topics include: aspects of human nature that underlie moral practices, ideas of justice and injustice, reason vs. sentiment as the source of moral requirements, and the extent to which consequences determine what is right. The aim is to understand, compare, and discuss critically the central ideas in these texts at a higher level than is possible in more introductory courses. The course is open to both advanced undergraduates and graduate students. (Note: Philosophy 360 [old number 70] , a more comprehensive course in the history of moral philosophy for upper division undergraduates will be offered in the Spring Semester.)

This course will meet on Tuesday from 12:30-3.