PHIL 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:
Sockness, B. (PI)
PHIL 178M: Introduction to Environmental Ethics (ETHICSOC 178M, ETHICSOC 278M, PHIL 278M, POLISCI 134L)
How should human beings relate to the natural world? Do we have moral obligations toward non-human animals and other parts of nature? And what do we owe to other human beings, including future generations, with respect to the environment? The first part of this course will examine such questions in light of some of our current ethical theories: considering what those theories suggest regarding the extent and nature of our environmental obligations; and also whether reflection on such obligations can prove informative about the adequacy of our ethical theories. In the second part of the course, we will use the tools that we have acquired to tackle various ethical questions that confront us in our dealings with the natural world, looking at subjects such as: animal rights; conservation; economic approaches to the environment; access to and control over natural resources; environmental justice and pollution; climate change; technology and the environment; and environmental activism.
Last offered: Winter 2015
| UG Reqs: GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-ER
PHIL 179S: Moral Psychology, Reasons for Action, and Moral Theory (PHIL 279S)
What sorts of considerations does an ethical agent take to be good reasons for action? Work in moral psychology to illuminate the theory of practical reasons, and the theory of practical reasons to test the prospects for systematic moral theory. Can any systematic moral theory be reconciled with the moral psychology of ordinary, morally respectable agents? Reading include Bernard Williams, Rosalind Hursthouse, Peter Railton, T.M. Scanlon, and Barbara Herman.
Last offered: Winter 2007
PHIL 180: Metaphysics (PHIL 280)
This course is a survey of the philosophy of time and modality, as organized around the following central issue. There are two competing ways to think about time. On one conception, time is space-like. Just as space consists in a three-dimensional spatial manifold, time forms a one-dimensional temporal manifold. On another conception, time is modality-like, and should be understood on analogy with notions like possibility and necessity. Topics covered include the nature of time, time¿s passage, spacetime and relativity, modal realism, actualism, and powers-based theories of modality. Although modal logic and temporal logic will be introduced in the class, an independent background in logic is crucial. Students should have taken (i)
PHIL 49/50 or a higher-level logic course and (ii) a writing-intensive philosophy course such as
PHIL 80.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
DiBella, N. (PI)
;
Wang, J. (PI)
PHIL 180A: Realism, Anti-Realism, Irrealism, Quasi-Realism (PHIL 280A)
Realism and its opponents as options across a variety of different domains: natural science, mathematics, ethics, and aesthetics. Clarify the various conceptions that fall under these terms and outline the reasons for and against adopting realism for the various domains. Highlight the general issues involved. Prerequisites: 80, 181
Last offered: Autumn 2012
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
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: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
PHIL 182: Truth (PHIL 282)
Philosophical debates about the place in human lives and the value to human beings of truth and its pursuit. The nature and significance of truth-involving virtues such as accuracy, sincerity, and candor. Prerequisite
Phil 80 or permission of the instructor.
Last offered: Autumn 2014
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
PHIL 184: Epistemology (PHIL 284)
This is an advanced introduction to core topics in epistemology -- the philosophical study of human knowledge. Questions covered will include: What is knowledge? Can we know anything outside our own minds? Must all knowledge rest on secure foundations? Does knowing something require knowing that you know it? What are the connections between knowledge and rationality? Does 'knowledge' mean the same in the philosophy classroom as it does in everyday life? Prerequisite
Phil 80 or consent of the instructor.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Alshanetsky, E. (PI)
;
De Toffoli, S. (TA)
PHIL 184C: Epistemology of Testimony (PHIL 284C)
Many of our beliefs come from others, and not from direct experience. Is testimony a source of fundamental reasons¿reasons that do not have to be supported or validated by other sources like perception or inference? What sort of responsibility does one have to one¿s hearers, when one gives testimony?
Last offered: Winter 2012
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
PHIL 184F: Feminist Theories of Knowledge (FEMST 166, PHIL 284F)
Feminist critique of traditional approaches in epistemology and alternative feminist approaches to such topics as reason and rationality, objectivity, experience, truth, the knowing subject, knowledge and values, knowledge and power.
Last offered: Spring 2007
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-Gender
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