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1 - 10 of 315 results for: PHIL

PHIL 1: Introduction to Philosophy

Is there one truth or many? Does science tell us everything there is to know? Can our minds be purely physical? Do we have free will? Is faith rational? Should we always be rational? What is the meaning of life? Are there moral truths? What are truth, reality, rationality, and knowledge? How can such questions be answered? Intensive introduction to theories and techniques in philosophy from various contemporary traditions.
Terms: Aut | Units: 5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II

PHIL 2: Introduction to Moral Philosophy (ETHICSOC 20)

What is the basis of moral judgment? What makes right actions right and wrong actions wrong? What makes a state of affairs good or worth promoting? What is it to have a good or virtuous character? Answers to classic questions in ethics through the works of traditional and contemporary authors. Fulfills the Philosophy ethical reasoning requirement.
Terms: Win | Units: 5 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER

PHIL 7N: What is Truth

This question can be answered precisely in some important cases. We begin with the language of propositional logic where truth is defined by simple tables. This is already sufficient for description of many important problems and leads to a famous ($1 000 000) problem P=NP. We use Sudoku puzzles for illustration. Close connection between propositional truth and proof is established by the resolution method forming a basis of most automated theorem provers. The language of predicate logic covers much more and illustrates the notion of completeness. Register machines provide connection with computations and lead to a fundamental classification of problems of truth with respect to decidability. The language of arithmetic exhibits a new phenomenon of incompleteness that changed significant part of philosophy in 20-th century.
Terms: Spr | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors: Mints, G. (PI)

PHIL 8N: Free Will and Responsibility

In what sense are we, or might we be free agents? Is our freedom compatible with our being fully a part of the same natural, causal order that includes other physical and biological systems? What assumptions about freedom do we make when we hold people accountable morally and/or legally? When we hold people accountable, and so responsible, can we also see them as part of the natural, causal order? Or is there a deep incompatibility between these two ways of understanding ourselves? What assumptions about our freedom do we make when we deliberate about what to do? Are these assumptions in conflict with seeing ourselves as part of the natural, causal order?nWe will explore these and related questions primarily by way of careful study of recent and contemporary philosophical research on these matters.
Last offered: Winter 2011 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER

PHIL 11N: Skepticism

Preference to freshmen. Historical and contemporary philosophical perspectives on the limits of human knowledge of a mind-independent world and causal laws of nature. The nature and possibility of a priori knowledge.
Terms: Win | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum

PHIL 15N: Freedom, Community, and Morality

Preference to freshmen. Does the freedom of the individual conflict with the demands of human community and morality? Or, as some philosophers have maintained, does the freedom of the individual find its highest expression in a moral community of other human beings? Readings include Camus, Mill, Rousseau, and Kant.
Terms: Aut | Units: 3 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
Instructors: Friedman, M. (PI)

PHIL 20S: Introduction to Moral Philosophy

What makes right actions right and wrong actions wrong? Must right actions promote some further good? What is the role of consequences in the evaluation of actions as right or good? Focus is on traditional attempts to account for what determines which actions are right, what is worth promoting, and what kind of person one ought to be. Readings from primarily historical figures such as Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Mill, and others.
Last offered: Summer 2010

PHIL 22: Ethics in Theory and Practice (ETHICSOC 10)

Weekly talks by Stanford faculty on important questions of ethics that arise in private and public life. These questions arise in all disciplines and are central to many of the main problems confronting humanity today. Such questions include: what is our obligation to future generations? are there any human rights? what is the appropriate role of religion in politics? is capital punishment ever justified? what are the ethical obligations of a researcher? should the university teach moral values? what principles of justice should govern the distribution of K-12 education?nnClass meets Fridays from noon to 1:05. Format is an informal talk of about 35- 40 minutes, followed by discussion.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr | Units: 1 | Repeatable for credit
Instructors: Sockness, B. (PI)

PHIL 23G: Pessimism, Philosophy, and Human Nature

In different ways, Thucydides, Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, and Schopenhauer all emphasize a just so, descriptive account of humankind that, on the surface at least, reveals a profound pessimism with respect to their views about human nature. But for these thinkers pessimism represents a sort of intellectual honesty about human nature, and these insights invariably underscore a profound optimism, in spite of their pessimism, with respect to what they view as the more pressing question concerning what humankind can make itself to be. Our guiding question will be to explore whether and how each of these thinkers reconciles their philosophical optimism with their psychological pessimism about human nature.
Terms: Aut | Units: 2
Instructors: McLuckie, A. (PI)

PHIL 23H: Perfectionism: The Idea of the Perfect in Nature, Ethics, and Politics

Perfection is the full realization of what is best or most excellent. In this tutorial course we will explore philosophical thought on perfection in three different contexts: natural teleology, individual ethical life, and utopian and anti-utopian social thought. Throughout the course, we will ask the following questions: What is a perfect being? Why is perfection per se good or desirable? Do evaluative comparisons presuppose some absolute standard of perfection? Does it make sense to aim at perfection in ethical and political life? What are the virtues of imperfection? What are the hazards of pursuing perfection in the political realm? Is perfectionism compatible with pluralism about values? Is perfectionism compatible with government based on popular will? The primary emphasis is on close reading and discussion of classic texts in ethical theory, including selections from Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Rousseau, Kant, and Tocqueville, accompanied by contemporary selections.
Terms: Win | Units: 2
Instructors: Greene, A. (PI)
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