printer friendly pagePHIL 178: Ethics in Society Honors Seminar (ETHICSOC 190)
For students planning honors in Ethics in Society. Methods of research. Students present issues of public and personal morality; topics chosen with advice of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Reich, R. (PI)
PHIL 178M: Introduction to Environmental Ethics (ETHICSOC 178M, ETHICSOC 278M, PHIL 278M, POLISCI 134L)
This course examines the following ethical questions about the environment: (1) how we ought morally to relate to animals; (2) attempts to expand the circle of moral concern beyond animals to other parts of nature; (3) economic approaches to environmental problems (e.g. cost-benefit analysis) and the justification of the precautionary principle; and (4) our moral obligations to future people. The class will conclude by considering whether the theoretical tools that we have examined help to address the problems of climate change, one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
Instructors:
Rose, J. (PI)
PHIL 180: Metaphysics (PHIL 280)
The course will be devoted to an exploration of the mereological structure of material objects, and the related notions of 'part', 'whole' and 'constitution'. For instance, an ordinary physical object is susceptible to an analysis in terms of material parts and a structure such that the material constitute that object in virtue of having a certain structure. Among other things, we will consider questions of identity, both at a time and through time, of material objects from this perspective. We will consider both the antecedents for this kind of analysis in Plato and Aristotle and contemporary developments in the mereological analysis of objects. Prerequisite: Philosophy 80 (or consent of instructor).
Last offered: Winter 2013
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
PHIL 181: Philosophy of Language (PHIL 281)
The study of conceptual questions about language as a focus of contemporary philosophy for its inherent interest and because philosophers see questions about language as behind perennial questions in other areas of philosophy including epistemology, philosophy of science, metaphysics, and ethics. Key concepts and debates about the notions of meaning, truth, reference, and language use, with relations to psycholinguistics and formal semantics. Readings from philosophers such as Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Grice, and Kripke. Prerequisites: 80 and background in logic.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Crimmins, M. (PI)
PHIL 181B: Philosophy of Language: Contemporary Debates (PHIL 281B)
This course builds on the material of 181/281, focusing on debates and developments in the pragmatics of conversation, the semantics/pragmatics distinction, the contextuality of meaning, the nature of truth and its connection to meaning, and the workings of particular linguistic constructions of special philosophical relevance. Students who have not taken 181/281 should seek the instructor's advice as to whether they have sufficient background.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Crimmins, M. (PI)
PHIL 182: Truth (PHIL 282)
Focus on the nature of truth; specifically, ongoing debates between so-called correspondence theorists and deflationists. The former generally think truth amounts to some kind of structural isomorphism between the world and our representations of it (like the relationship between a subway map and the subway route itself). Deflationists think the nature of truth is exhausted by something as trifling as the equivalence between affirming something and affirming that it's true: e.g., it's true that Modest Mouse is God's gift to indie rock if and only if Modest Mouse IS God's gift to indie rock. Related issues include the possibility of truth-value "gaps" (claims that are neither true nor false), degrees of truth, relativism and realism about arbitrary subject matters, the semantic paradoxes (like the Liar), the role of truth in the theory of meaning, and the value of true belief. Most readings were written after 1980. Previous courses in philosophy of language and/or metaphysics very strongly encouraged.
Phil 80 a must.
Last offered: Autumn 2012
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 184: Theory of Knowledge (PHIL 284)
What is knowledge? How are beliefs justified? Contemporary theories evaluated against central problems: the regress argument, Gettier problem, and skeptical paradox.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
PHIL 185: Memory
Structure, content, functional role, and epistemic authority of human memories. Sources include philosophical and psychological literature from different schools and historical periods.
Last offered: Autumn 2010
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
PHIL 186: Philosophy of Mind (PHIL 286)
(Graduate students register for 286.) Debates concerning the nature of mental states, their relation to physical states of the human body, how they acquire their content, how people come to know about them in themselves and others, and the roles they play in the explanation of human conduct.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Ettel, J. (PI)
;
Taylor, K. (PI)
PHIL 187: Philosophy of Action (PHIL 287)
(Graduate students register for 287.) Contemporary research in the philosophy of action. Topics include: What is it to be an agent? Is there a philosophically defensible contrast between being an agent and being a locus of causal forces to which one is subject? What is it to act purposively? What is intention? What is the relation between intention and belief? What is it to act intentionally? What is it to act for a reason? What is the relation between explaining why someone acted by citing the reasons for which she acted and causal explanation of her action? What is the relation between theoretical and practical rationality? What is the nature of our knowledge of our own intentional activity? What is it to act autonomously? What is shared cooperative activity? Prerequisite: 80..
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Bratman, M. (PI)
;
Hauthaler, N. (TA)
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