231 - 240 of 317 results for: PHIL

Are there distinctively feminist ways of thinking and theorizing? What does feminist theory contribute to our understanding of life's deepest questions concerning personal identity, human action, objective knowledge, and ethical reasoning? In this course, we cover some of analytic feminist philosophy's most transformative contributions to each of the major philosophical subdisciplines, from metaphysics and epistemology to political philosophy and aesthetics. Because feminist theorists often position themselves as reacting to oversights and missteps in mainstream, male-dominated analytic philosophy, students will cultivate a productive and charitable yet critical perspective on many traditional philosophical debates. And they will develop their own understanding of what it means to think like a feminist, historically and today.

In this course we'll survey some of the central topics in metaphysics. Here are some of the questions that we're likely to look at. Do things that exist now have some special status over things that existed in the past or will exist in the future? Can distinct objects be in exactly the same place at exactly the same time? What are you (a material object?, an immaterial soul?), and what kinds of changes can you undergo without ceasing to exist? Is the idea of someone traveling through time to the distant past or far future somehow incoherent? In virtue of what are some propositions necessarily true or necessarily false, whereas others are merely contingently true or contingently false? Throughout the sciences certain propositions are described as laws of nature, but what makes a proposition a law of nature? Is the existence of free will compatible with the results of our best scientific theories (which purport to show that our world is governed by deterministic laws of nature)? Finally, can all facts be explained? What about facts like that our universe is conducive to life, or that there is something rather than nothing? Our focus throughout will be on contemporary work. No prior familiarity with metaphysics will be presupposed. Undergrad Prerequisites: PHIL 80 and at least one other PHIL course numbered over 99 (both courses taken prior to this term.)

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.

Grads enroll in PHIL 281A. By uttering the words 'the cat is on the mat', you can get me to believe that the cat is on the mat. By writing a letter of reference that says my handwriting is outstanding, you can tell someone that I'm no good at philosophy. And with a sentence, the Queen can make you a Knight. In this course, we will explore the conditions that make these remarkable capacities possible, survey a number of theories that aim to explain them, and explore their significance for questions that are important across philosophy. Prerequisite: PHIL 80.

This course builds on the material of 181A/281A, 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 181A/281A should seek the instructor's advice as to whether they have sufficient background.

Grads enroll in 281C. What do slurs mean, and how do they cause harm? How is language gendered, and how gendered should it be? Do governments owe speakers of minority languages special consideration? How about speakers of different dialects? This course will survey recent philosophical work on questions like these, sometimes with a broad eye towards language as a social practice, sometimes with a focus on the mechanics of a particular piece of language.

tba

Ethicists often attempt to refine, systematize, and explain ordinary ethical convictions by getting them to follow from a small number of less familiar, more fundamental philosophical principles. Some ethicists challenge this theory-based conception of the subject, suggesting other pictures of the role philosophical reflection might play in our ethical lives. This course is an effort to understand and assess the work of four recent critics of large scale ethical theory: Iris Murdoch, Bernard Williams, Stuart Hampshire, and Philippa Foot.

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.