printer friendly pagePHIL 73: The Ethics and Politics of Collective Action (ETHICSOC 180M, POLISCI 131A, PUBLPOL 304A)
Collective action problems arise when actions that are individually rational give rise to results that are collectively irrational. Scholars have used such a framework to shed light on various political phenomena such as revolutions, civil disobedience, voting, climate change, and the funding of social services. We examine their findings and probe the theoretical foundations of their approach. What does this way of thinking about politics bring into focus, and what does it leave out? What role do institutions play in resolving collective action problems? And what if the required institutions are absent? Can we, as individuals, be required to cooperate even if we expect that others may not play their part? Readings drawn from philosophy, political science, economics, and sociology.
Last offered: Spring 2016
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
PHIL 74: Business Ethics (ETHICSOC 182M)
What do people mean when they say, "it's just business"? Do they mean that there are no moral norms in business or do they mean that there are special moral norms in business that differ from those of personal relationships and other spheres of social activity? In this class we will examine ethical questions that arise in the domain of business. We will ask, for example: What does the market reward and what should it reward? What are the moral responsibilities of a business owner in a competitive environment? Is it acceptable to employ "sweatshop labor"? How do the moral responsibilities of a business owner differ from that of a policy maker? What information does a seller (or buyer) have a moral duty to disclose? In real estate, is a strategic default morally wrong? How much government regulation of Wall Street is morally justified? We will use the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, J. S. Mill, Marx, Jevons and Menger, Hayek, Walzer, and Sandel, among others, to help us answer these questions. We will see, for example, what Aristotle thought about day trading.
Last offered: Spring 2013
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
PHIL 74A: Ethics in a Human Life (HUMBIO 74)
Ethical questions pervade a human life from before a person is conceived until after she dies, and at every point in between. This course raises a series of ethical questions, following along the path of a person's life - questions that arise before, during, and after she lives it. We will explore distinctive questions that a life presents at each of several familiar stages: prior to birth, childhood, adulthood, death, and even beyond. We will consider how some philosophers have tried to answer these questions, and we will think about how answering them might help us form a better understanding of the ethical shape of a human life as a whole.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-ER
Instructors:
Dannenberg, J. (PI)
;
Duffy, H. (PI)
;
Williams, J. (PI)
...
more instructors for PHIL 74A »
Instructors:
Dannenberg, J. (PI)
;
Duffy, H. (PI)
;
Williams, J. (PI)
;
Duffy, H. (TA)
;
Williams, J. (TA)
PHIL 75: Philosophy of Public Policy
This course aims to train students in the normative analysis of public policies. It offers a critical examination of diverse policy proposals from the perspective of moral and political philosophy. From healthcare to parliamentary reforms to educational policies, social and public policies are underpinned by normative justifications ¿ that is by different conceptions of what justice and fairness require. By analyzing these assumptions and justifications, we can in turn discuss and challenge the rightness of policy X or Y. Drawing on theories such as political liberalism, republicanism and feminist theory we will ask question such as: is workfare ever justified? What is wrong with racial profiling? When (if ever) is compulsory voting justified? Should children have the right to vote? Does affirmative action promote equality? Should freedom of expression ever be restricted? What are the duties of citizens of affluent countries toward asylum seekers and economic migrants? Do we have a right to privacy? Etc. We will work on a number of theories, texts and examples to make sense of the process of normative evaluation of public policy. By the end of the seminar, students will be prepared to take more advanced classes in ethics, political theory, as well as moral and political philosophy. They will have developed competences in the normative analysis of public policy and they will be able to deploy those competences to assess a broad range of other policies.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
Instructors:
Bidadanure, J. (PI)
PHIL 75S: Liberty and Equality
This course concerns recent attempts by social contract theorists to reconcile liberty and equality. We would begin my looking at Rawls¿s attempt to give due respect to both liberty and equality in his two principles. We would then look at criticisms of his attempt from Nozick, G.A. Cohen, possibly Mills and Okin or Pateman. I again would structure each session around a question, such as: Is there a conflict between equality and liberty? What is liberty? Equality. Equality of opportunity? Or equality of condition? What tools do these social contract theorists offer for criticizing racial or gender inequality?
Last offered: Summer 2015
PHIL 76: Introduction to Global Justice (ETHICSOC 136R, INTNLREL 136R, POLISCI 136R, POLISCI 336)
This course provides an overview of core ethical problems in international politics, with special emphasis on the question of what demands justice imposes on institutions and agents acting in a global context. The course is divided into three sections. The first investigates the content of global justice, and comprises of readings from contemporary political theorists and philosophers who write within the liberal contractualist, utilitarian, cosmopolitan, and nationalist traditions. The second part of the course looks at the obligations which global justice generates in relation to five issues of international concern ¿ global poverty, climate change, immigration, warfare, and well-being of women. The final section of the course asks whether a democratic international order is necessary for global justice to be realized.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
Instructors:
Datta, P. (PI)
PHIL 77S: Philosophy of Religion (RELIGST 36)
(Formerly
RELIGST 62S) Explores fundamental questions about the existence of God, free will and determinism, faith and reason, through traditional philosophical texts. Course is divided into four sections: first asks what is religion; second surveys the western philosophical tradition from Boethius through Descartes, Hume, Kant, and Kierkegaard regarding the foundation for theist beliefs; third investigates questions mystical experience raises through both western and Buddhist materials; and fourth takes up the ethics of belief, what we have a right to believe, through the Clifford and James debate and the opposing stances of Camus and Pascal.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
PHIL 80: Mind, Matter, and Meaning
Intensive study of central topics in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language and mind in preparation for advanced courses in philosophy. Emphasis on development of analytical writing skills. Prerequisite: one prior course in Philosophy or permission of instructor.
Terms: Aut, Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Crimmins, M. (PI)
;
Donaldson, T. (PI)
;
Espeland, A. (TA)
...
more instructors for PHIL 80 »
Instructors:
Crimmins, M. (PI)
;
Donaldson, T. (PI)
;
Espeland, A. (TA)
;
Ettel, J. (TA)
;
Fitzpatrick, M. (TA)
;
Gottlieb, D. (TA)
;
Kim, H. (TA)
;
Lee, P. (TA)
;
Simon, A. (TA)
;
Turman, J. (TA)
PHIL 81: Philosophy and Literature (CLASSICS 42, COMPLIT 181, ENGLISH 81, FRENCH 181, GERMAN 181, ITALIAN 181, SLAVIC 181)
Required gateway course for Philosophical and Literary Thought; crosslisted in departments sponsoring the Philosophy and Literature track. Majors should register in their home department; non-majors may register in any sponsoring department. Introduction to major problems at the intersection of philosophy and literature, with particular focus on the question of value: what, if anything, does engagement with literary works do for our lives? Issues include aesthetic self-fashioning, the paradox of tragedy, the paradox of caring, the truth-value of fiction, metaphor, authorship, irony, make-believe, expression, edification, clarification, and training. Readings are drawn from literature and film, philosophical theories of art, and stylistically interesting works of philosophy. Authors may include Sophocles, Chaucer, Dickinson, Proust, Woolf, Borges, Beckett, Kundera, Charlie Kaufman; Barthes, Foucault, Nussbaum, Walton, Nehamas; Plato, Montaigne, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Sartre. Taught in English.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
PHIL 90A: The Philosophy of John Perry
John Perry is among the most influential philosophers of the last several decades, making important contributions to the philosophy of language, metaphysics, and the philosophy of mind. Focus on Perry¿s work on indexicality, belief reports, reference, pragmatics, identity, personal identity, modality, and consciousness. Perry¿s work in these areas will be studied in conjunction with that of some key figures in the surrounding literatures, including Kaplan, Lewis, Stalnaker, Kripke, and Chalmers.
Last offered: Autumn 2010
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