Department of Philosophy

GEOFFREY SAYRE-MCCORD, Chair

Professors

Dorit Bar-On (29) Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind, Epistemology

Bernard Boxill (26) Social and Political Philosophy, African American Philosophy

Simon Blackburn, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Psychology, Metaethics

Geoffrey Brennan, Political Philosophy, Economics, Rationality

Thomas E. Hill Jr. (24) Ethics, Political Philosophy

Marc Lange (44) Philosophy of Science, Metaphysics, Epistemology

William G. Lycan (22) Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language, Epistemology

Alan Nelson, History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science

Douglas MacLean (38) Moral Theory, Social and Political Philosophy

Gerald J. Postema (20) Legal Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Ethics

Jesse Prinz (42) Philosophy of Mind, Cognitive Science

C. D. C. Reeve (39) Ancient Philosophy, Metaphysics, Moral Psychology, Ethics

Geoffrey Sayre-McCord (25) Moral Theory, Metaethics, Epistemology, History of Modern Philosophy

Keith Simmons (27) Logic, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind

Susan Wolf (40) Moral Theory and Moral Psychology

Associate Professors

Thomas Hofweber (42) Metaphysics, Philosophy of Language, Epistemology, Philosophy of Mathematics

John T. Roberts (37) Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Physics, Metaphysics

Assistant Professors

Joshua Knobe (46) Cognitive Science, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of Psychology

Matthew Kotzen Epistemology, Philosophy of Science

Ram Neta (43) Epistemology, Philosophy of Mind

Ryan Preston Political Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion

Lecturers

Warren A. Nord (34) Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Education

Jeanette M. Boxill (33) Social and Political Philosophy, Feminism

Adjunct Professors

Michael Corrado, Philosophy of Law

Rebecca Walker, Bioethics, Ethical Theory

Professors Emeriti

Edward Galligan

Douglas Long

Stanley Munsat

Michael Resnik

George Schlesinger

Richard A. Smyth

Robert D. Vance

The graduate courses in philosophy are designed to present and discuss classics, current literature and basic problems, to stimulate critical and original philosophical thought and to prepare students for college and university positions in philosophy.

The Department of Philosophy offers a program of study leading to the degrees of master of arts and doctor of philosophy. Prerequisite for admission to graduate work in the department is a B.A. degree or equivalent, typically with a major in philosophy, with a broad range of courses.

Candidates for the master's degree must satisfactorily complete 30 semester hours of graduate work. They are normally required to participate in a first-year program including PHIL 700 and PHIL 455; there may be adjustments with the consent of the department. Successfully completing an M.A. thesis is a condition for receiving the degree of master of arts.

Candidates for the doctoral degree must satisfactorily complete 60 semester hours of graduate work, including six hours of Ph.D. dissertation credit.

The candidate for the degree of doctor of philosophy must pass two examinations. First, there is the Admission to Candidacy examination, which itself has two parts—a written general portion and a special oral portion. The written portion, normally taken in the spring term of the third year, is in the student's field of specialization. The oral portion tests the feasibility of the dissertation proposal and is normally taken in the fall term of the fourth year. Second, there is an oral defense of the completed dissertation. For further details on degree requirements, see the Graduate Degree Requirements section of this catalog.

The department offers several nonservice fellowships. These include the Graham Kenan Fellowship and the Horace Williams, Mary Taylor Williams and Bertha Colton Williams Fellowships. The department has available teaching assistantships with stipends of $14,000. In addition, The Graduate School offers a variety of fellowships and assistantships with stipends up to $18,000 that are open to students in philosophy.

The department maintains close relations with the Department of Philosophy at Duke University. Graduate students in either institution may register for credit in graduate courses or seminars at the other institution for a nominal fee and without special matriculation. Library facilities are available to students at each institution.

Courses for Graduates and Advanced Undergraduates

(Prerequisite, one course below 400 or consent of the instructor.)

411 [151] ARISTOTLE (3). An examination of some representative works of Aristotle, with reference to common emphases and basic problems, together with an analysis of their philosophic content. Fall or spring. Reeve.

412 [150] PLATO (3). An examination of some representative works in the context of contemporary scholarship. Fall or spring. Reeve.

415 [152] TOPICS IN MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY (3). An intensive study of some medieval philosophical author (e.g., Aquinas, Scotus or Ockham) or topic (e.g., arguments for the existence of God, universals, knowledge of individuals). Spring.

421 [153] RATIONALISM (3). An examination of the view of the rationalist philosophers (Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz) that reasoning can give us knowledge of the world and of our place in it. Fall or spring. Nelson.

422 [154] EMPIRICISM (3). An examination of the view of the empiricist philosophers (Locke, Berkeley and Hume) that the only way to gain knowledge of the world is by means of the senses. Fall or spring. Nelson, Sayre-McCord.

423 [155] KANT (3). An intensive introduction to Kant's accounts of space, time, concepts, perception, substance, causation and the thinking self through a careful study of his masterwork, The Critique of Pure Reason. Fall or spring. Rosenberg, Hill.

427 [156] HEGEL (3). In-depth study of Hegel's systematic philosophy emphasizing its roots in Kant's critical philosophy. Primary focus on Phenomenology of Spirit, supplemented by selections from the Encyclopedia and Philosophy of Right. Fall or spring. Postema.

428 [159] HISTORY OF AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY (3). Transcendentalists, pragmatists, Quine, Rorty and others. Fall or spring. B. Boxill.

432 [114] THE BEGINNINGS OF ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY (3). Prerequisites, two courses in philosophy other than PHIL 155 or permission of the instructor. Frege, Russell, Moore and Wittgenstein among other are considered. Fall or spring. Neta, Rosenberg, Lycan.

433 [116] CURRENT ISSUES IN ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY (3). Prerequisites, two courses in philosophy other than PHIL 155 or permission of the instructor. Recent work in epistemology and metaphysics. Fall or spring. Bar-On, Lycan, Prinz, Rosenberg.

440 [117] PHILOSOPHY OF MIND (3). Prerequisites, two courses in philosophy other than PHIL 155 (PHIL 340 recommended) or permission of the instructor. An examination of dualism, behaviorism, the identity theory and forms of functionalism with special focus on the problems of mental aboutness. Fall or spring. Bar-On, Lycan, Neta, Prinz.

445 [110] PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE (LING 445) (3). Prerequisites, two courses in philosophy other than PHIL 155 (PHIL 345 recommended) or permission of the instructor. How does language represent? Does it mirror the structure of the world? Does it reflect the structure of the mind? Fall or spring. Lycan, Bar-On.

450 [108] PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL SCIENCES (3). Concept formation, verifiability, law, explanation, the role of logic and mathematics in the sciences, and other topics. Fall or spring. Lange, Roberts.

451 [122] PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS (3). Topics may include the nature of space and time, the ontological status of fields and energy, or causation and locality in quantum physics. Fall or spring. Lange, Roberts.

452 [123] PHILOSOPHY OF BIOLOGY (3). The logical structure of evolutionary theory, fitness, taxonomy, the notion of a living thing, reductionism, evolutionary explanations, teleology. Fall or spring. Lange, Roberts.

453 [109] PHILOSOPHY OF PSYCHOLOGY (3). Topics may include reasoning, the relationship between language and thought, concepts, moral cognition and emotions. Fall or spring. Knobe, Prinz

454 [107] PHILOSOPHY, HISTORY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (3). The nature of historical explanation, structural and functional explanation, the weighing of historical testimony, the concept of meaning, normative judgments and predictions in the social sciences. Fall or spring.

455 [101] SYMBOLIC LOGIC (LING 455) (3). Introduction for graduates and advanced undergraduates not taking the PHIL 155–356 sequence. Fall. Hofweber, Simmons.

456 [111] ADVANCED SYMBOLIC LOGIC (3). Prerequisite, PHIL 455 or permission of the instructor. Presupposes propositional and quantificational logic as a basis of further deductive development with special attention to selected topics: alternative systems, modal and deontic logic, inductive logic, the grammar of formalized languages, paradoxes and foundations of mathematics. Fall or spring. Simmons.

457 [190] SET THEORY AND LOGIC (3). Prerequisite, PHIL 455 or permission of the instructor. Natural and real numbers. Infinite cardinal and ordinal numbers. Alternative axiom systems and their consistency problems. Fall or spring. Hofweber, Simmons.

459 [106] PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS (3). Prerequisite, PHIL 455 or permission of the instructor. Philosophical problems concerning logic and the foundation of mathematics. Fall or spring. Hofweber, Simmons.

460 [102] SELECTED TOPICS IN THE HISTORY OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY (3). Prerequisites, two courses in philosophy other than PHIL 155 (PHIL 360 recommended) or permission of the instructor. Examination of classic texts of Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hobbes, Butler, Hume, Kant and Mill. Selections may vary from year to year. Fall. Hill, Maclean, Reeve, Sayre-McCord, Wolf.

462 [112] CONTEMPORARY MORAL PHILOSOPHY (3). Prerequisites, two courses in philosophy other than PHIL 155 (PHIL 362 recommended) or permission of the instructor. Fact and value, reason and morality, the nature of morality. Fall of spring. Hill, Sayre-McCord, Wolf.

463 [120] CONTEMPORARY MORAL AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS (3). Prerequisites, two courses in philosophy other than PHIL 155 or permission of the instructor. A detailed examination of one or more of the following contemporary issues: environmental ethics, animal rights, abortion, euthanasia, pornography, racism, sexism, public versus private morality. Fall or spring. B. Boxill, Brennan, Hill, MacLean, Sayre-McCord.

465 [175] JUSTICE IN HEALTH CARE (3). Prerequisite, one course in philosophy or permission of the instructor; medical students welcome. The course will focus on the question of how scarce health care resources ought to be distributed in order to meet the demands of justice. Spring. Walker.

468 [168] RISK AND SOCIETY (3). Prerequisites, PHIL 155 and one other course or permission of the instructor. The course examines attitudes toward risk and how they affect our preferences for different public policies in the areas of environmental protection, technology regulation and workplace and product safety. Spring. Maclean.

470 [105] POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY FROM HOBBES TO ROUSSEAU (3). Prerequisites, two courses in philosophy other than PHIL 155 (PHIL 170 or 370 recommended) or permission of the instructor. Explores the foundations of justice and authority in the idea of contract or covenant, the nature of law, rights, liberty and democracy in the work of Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Rousseau. Fall or spring. B. Boxill, Hill, Postema.

471 [104] HEGEL, MARX AND THE PHILOSOPHICAL CRITIQUE OF SOCIETY (3). An examination of central issues in social and political philosophy as they figure in the work of Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche and others. Fall or spring. Postema.

473 [160] AMERICAN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (3). Prerequisites, junior/senior status and one course in the Department of Philosophy other than PHIL 155. The issue of unity and diversity in America is analyzed through the writings of Jefferson, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, Calhoun, MacKinnon, DuBois and Rawls. Fall or spring. B. Boxill

474 FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (3). Prerequisite, PHIL 170 or equivalent or permission of the instructor. This course traces the emergence and development of central themes of modern political philosophy from the 13th through the 17th century.

475 [165] PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES IN GENDER, RACE AND CLASS (WMST 475) (3). Prerequisite, PHIL 275, WMST 101 or permission of the instructor. Examines in greater depth and complexity one or more of the issues addressed in PHIL 275, investigating issues of gender, race and class within the dominant theories of philosophy. J. Boxill.

476 [130] RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (3). Prerequisites, two courses in philosophy other than PHIL 155 (PHIL 370 recommended) or permission of the instructor. Investigation of major contemporary contributors (Rawls, Nozick, Dworkin, Cohen, Waldron, Arrow) to philosophical debate concerning justice, equality, liberty, democracy, public reason or rights versus community. Spring. B. Boxill, Brennan, MacLean, Postema.

480 [113] PHILOSOPHY OF LAW (3). An exploration of whether and under what conditions the state has the right to control crime by punishment of past crimes and preventive detention to prevent future crimes. Fall or spring. Postema.

482 [142] Philosophy and Literature (CMPL 482) (3). Philosophical readings of literary texts, including novels, plays, and poems. Fall or spring. Reeve.

485 [103] PHILOSOPHY OF ART (3). Competing theories of art and art criticism. The relationship between art and emotional expression, the formal character of art, and standards of taste. Fall or spring.

494 [158] EXISTENTIALISM AND PHENOMENOLOGY (3). A study of one or two major systematic works by Sartre, Heidegger, or Merleau-Ponty. Fall or spring.

495 [178] HEALTH CARE, SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY (3). Interdisciplinary course to develop critical thinking capacities through philosophical study of the nature of scientific presuppositions and concepts, including events, causality, and determinism, with specific application to health care issues. Walker.

560 ETHICS BOWL (3). Prerequisites, PHIL 160 or equivalent and one other ethics course above 300. Ethics Bowl provides a unique experiential opportunity for students to apply theory to practical global issues. Students will prepare cases to present locally and at Ethics Bowl competition.

698 PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS AND ECONOMICS II: CAPSTONE COURSE (ECON 698, POLI 698) (3). Prerequisites, PHIL 384 and permission of the instructor. This capstone course advances PHIL 384, focusing on such theoretical and philosophical issues as the analysis of rights or distributive justice and the institutional implications of moral forms.

Courses for Graduates

700 [200] PROTO-SEMINAR IN PHILOSOPHY (3).

705 [205] ADVANCED STUDIES IN SYSTEMATIC PHILOSOPHY (3).

710 [210] ADVANCED STUDIES IN ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY (3).

715 [215] ADVANCED STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY (3).

720 [220] ADVANCED STUDIES IN MODERN PHILOSOPHY (3).

725 [225] ADVANCED STUDIES IN 1-CENTURY PHILOSOPHY (3).

730 [230] ADVANCED STUDIES IN METAPHYSICS (3).

735 [235] ADVANCED STUDIES IN EPISTEMOLOGY (3).

740 [240] ADVANCED STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY OF MIND (3).

745 [245] ADVANCED STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE (LING 745) (3).

750 [250] ADVANCED STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE (3).

755 [255] ADVANCED STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY OF LOGIC (3).

760 [260] ADVANCED STUDIES IN MORAL THEORY (3).

765 [265] ADVANCED STUDIES IN VALUE THEORY (3).

770 [270] ADVANCED STUDIES IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (3).

775 [275] ADVANCED STUDIES IN FEMINISM (WMST 775) (3).

780 [280] ADVANCED STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY OF LAW (3).

790 [290] COLLOQUIUM SERIES SEMINAR (3).

800 [300] PRE-DISSERTATION SEMINAR IN PHILOSOPHY (3).

805 [305] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN SYSTEMATIC PHILOSOPHY (3).

810 [310] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY (3).

815 [315] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY (3).

820 [320] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN MODERN PHILOSOPHY (3).

825 [325] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY PHILOSOPHY (3).

830 [330] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN METAPHYSICS (3).

835 [335] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN EPISTEMOLOGY (3).

840 [340] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN PHILOSOPHY OF MIND (3).

845 [345] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE (3).

850 [350] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE (3).

855 [355] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN PHILOSOPHY OF LOGIC (3).

860 [360] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN MORAL THEORY (3).

865 [365] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN VALUE THEORY (3).

870 [370] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (3).

880 [380] RESEARCH SEMINAR IN PHILOSOPHY OF LAW (3).

890 [390] CURRENT RESEARCH GROUP SEMINAR (3).

993 [393] MASTER'S THESIS.

994 [394] DOCTORAL DISSERTATION.