61 - 70 of 499 results for: PHIL

Dramatic literature as a window into philosophical work on freedom of the will and indeterminism. Students participate in the production of original one-act plays.

Global climate change is among the greatest global political challenges of our time. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in 2014 that the warming of Earth's climate system is a certainty and that it is highly likely that human influence is the dominant cause of climate change. Without action to combat climate change, the effects will worsen and could become catastrophic within a century. The effects of climate change are already being felt across the world. Communities in low lying deltas and islands have been relocated or are facing relocation due to rising sea levels. Increased droughts, storm surges, and floods threaten the lives, health and basic needs of people around the world: poor communities are particularly vulnerable. Human-caused climate change raises many questions of justice: First, is it morally wrong to emit greenhouse gases, the major cause of climate change? Is it unfair for wealthy high emitters to continue emitting given the risks of climate change to other people? What priority should be given to the wellbeing of future generations given the costs of reducing GHGs to the current generations? Finally, despite a scientific consensus about climate change's human origins, there is deep political disagreement about the facts about climate change and its alleged human-origins, especially in the United States. How should the government go about making decisions in light of these disagreements; what role should scientific expertise play in democratic deliberations? This course considers justice and climate change across these four dimensions: corrective justice, distributive justice, intergenerational justice, and procedural justice. Our discussions, reading, and writings will work back and forth between the issue of climate change and broader questions within political philosophy. The course is designed to help students develop and practice the skills needed to think and read critically, to communicate effectively across differences through speaking and writing, and to construct arguments that can withstand scrutiny. Students of any discipline are welcome and encouraged to attend. No philosophical background required or presupposed.

The connection between research in positive psychology to determine what happiness is and the conditions under which human beings are happy with issues in moral philosophy regarding whether we should aim at happiness or think of it as a good. The assumptions about happiness made by positive psychologists. The philosophical insight into the question of how people should live that is gained by looking at the empirical results provide by psychologists.

It may seem obvious that it is good to 'be yourself, ' to be 'who you really are, ' or to do what you 'really' want to do ' but is it? Some believe that we are our true, or real, selves when we act on our values, what we love, or what we care most about. But if that is true, then is it still good to be yourself when what you value and care most about involves a commitment to acts of terrorism, torturing others, or a life of pain and boredom?nnnWe will look at contemporary philosophical attempts to make sense of the idea of 'being yourself, 'and what the nature of the value of this authenticity is."nnnAuthors include Bratman, Frankfurt, Korsgaard, Millgram and Williams.

In this course, we consider the political philosophy that culminated in the founding of the U.S. Constitution. We will consider, among other questions:n- What assumptions about human nature were made by thinkers in this tradition?n- What are rights and where do they come from?n- Why do we form government and what is the common good preserved or promoted by government?n- What is required to preserve our political institutions?n- What is the role of law in civil society?n- To what extent does the political success of the U.S. require virtue?nIn this discussion based seminar, we will read Machiavelli, Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Lincoln, and the American Founders.

Focusing on Descartes, Newton, and Leibniz, the course investigates foundational debates in metaphysics and epistemology of modern philosophy. We closely scrutinize Descartes¿ Meditations, which involves radical skepticism of the external world and subsequent proofs that I exist, that God exists, that material bodies exist, and that I am really distinct from my body. Next, we study Newton¿s criticisms of Descartes¿ physical theories of motion and space. We attempt a definition of Newton¿s important concept of `absolute space¿ and observe its role in his proof of universal gravity. Finally, we turn to Leibniz to raise significant philosophical issues with Newtonian spacetime and Cartesian physics. Though our focus is the seventeenth century, we will end with connections to contemporary debates in philosophy of physics.

Survey of important formal methods used in philosophy. The course covers the basics of propositional and elementary predicate logic, probability and decision theory, game theory, and statistics, highlighting philosophical issues and applications. Specific topics include the languages of propositional and predicate logic and their interpretations, rationality arguments for the probability axioms, Nash equilibrium and dominance reasoning, and the meaning of statistical significance tests. Assessment is through a combination of problem sets and short-answer questions designed to solidify competence with the mathematical tools and to test conceptual understanding. This course replaces PHIL 50.

Under what conditions does a set of true claims guarantee or make probable a particular conclusion? In this course we study rigorous tools and techniques supporting good reasoning, covering topics of particular significance to modern philosophy and logic. Contemporary philosophy continues a traditional focus on foundational problems related to value, inquiry, mind and reality, but with modern subject matter (often engaging natural, social and mathematical science) and rigorous methods, including set theory, probability theory and formal logic. This course introduces such methods, with a focus on core conceptual distinctions, motivations and debates, and basic practical skills. The presentation will be rigorous, but overly technical topics are avoided. Topics: propositional logic; valid argument forms; truth tables; Russell¿s paradox; infinite sets; kinds of truth; possibility and necessity; basic probability theory; subjective versus objective probability; Bayes¿ rule; correlation and causation. No previous philosophical or mathematical training pre-supposed. Appreciation of precise thinking an advantage. Useful preparation for relevant topics in mathematics, computer science, linguistics, economics and statistics.

The course covers formal techniques for logical reasoning with both diagrams and sentences. The sentential part covers the same material as a standard course on first-order logic, though in less depth. It includes syntax, semantics and proof theory, but does not include any meta-theory. The diagrammatic part is novel, focusing on techniques for solving reasoning problems using diagrams and sentences in concert. We take seriously the idea that diagrams convey information in the same sense that sentences do and that it is possible to provide forma criteria for logically correct reasoning with diagrams. We use the Hyperproof courseware package which includes desktop software, an online assessment service which allows student to experiment hands-on with the material, and other online resources.