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PHIL 101A: History of Philosophy from Al-Kindi to Averroes (GLOBAL 139)

The rise of Islam saw a flourishing of philosophical and scientific activity across Islamic civilizations from Central Asia to Spain. Between the 7th to 13th centuries, many of the major philosophers in the history of philosophy lived in the Muslim world and wrote in Arabic. They saw themselves, just as later philosophers in medieval Europe, as working in part in the same tradition as Plato and Aristotle. This course surveys this important chapter in the history of philosophy, examining the key philosophical problems, analyses, arguments and ideas developed by philosophers such as Al-Kindi, Al-Razi, Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Al-Ghazali and Averroes, as well as their views on the role and aims of philosophy itself. We will look closely at their writings (in English translation) on philosophical topics in mind, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and politics.
Terms: Win | Units: 3-5 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors: Al-Witri, Z. (PI)

PHIL 102: Modern Philosophy, Descartes to Kant

Major figures in early modern philosophy in epistemology, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind. Writings by Descartes, Leibniz, Hume, and Kant.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, GER:DB-Hum

PHIL 108: Aristotle's Metaphysics Book Alpha (PHIL 208)

An introduction both to Aristotle's own metaphysics and to his treatment of his predecessors on causality, included the early Ionian cosmologists, atomism, Pythagoreans, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras and Plato. Prerequisite: one course in ancient Greek philosophy.
Last offered: Autumn 2013 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II | Repeatable for credit

PHIL 125: Kant's First Critique (PHIL 225)

(Graduate students register for 225.) The founding work of Kant's critical philosophy emphasizing his contributions to metaphysics and epistemology. His attempts to limit metaphysics to the objects of experience. Prerequisite: course dealing with systematic issues in metaphysics or epistemology, or with the history of modern philosophy.
Terms: Spr | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, GER:DB-Hum

PHIL 133S: Heidegger (RELIGST 181)

A close reading of Heidegger's Being and Time in light of the new paradigm for reading his work, as well as a study of his long-standing interest in mysticism and the question of the divine.
Terms: Win | Units: 5 | UG Reqs: WAY-A-II | Repeatable 2 times (up to 10 units total)

PHIL 137: Wittgenstein (PHIL 237)

(Graduate students register for 237.) An exploration of Wittgenstein's changing views about meaning, mind, knowledge, and the nature of philosophical perplexity and philosophical insight, focusing on the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations.
Last offered: Autumn 2015 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II

PHIL 165: Philosophy of Physics: Space, Time and Motion (PHIL 265)

Graduate students register for 265. The problem of absolute vs. relative motion from Descartes, Newton and Leibniz to Einstein and beyond. The principle of relativity: space and time to space-time. Mach¿s critique of Newton, his agenda to relativize inertia and its influence on Einstein in formulating the general theory of relativity. Space-time substantivalism and relationalism. The seeming conflict of determinism and general covariance in Einstein¿s Lochbetrachtung. ¿Background independence¿ as a requirement for fundamental physical theory.nNOTE: Phil 165/265 alternates topics yearly between "Philosophical Issues in Quantum Mechanics" and "Philosophical Problems of Space, Time and Motion". The course may be repeated with a different subject matter. nnIn Winter 2017-18, the subject is ""Philosophical Issues in QM"nnI. TOPICS: After introducing a simplified version of Dirac's 'bra-ket' vector space formalism for the quantum state (a.k.a. function), the first third of the term is a historical overview of Heisenberg's uncertainty relations, wave-particle duality, the problem of quantum measurement, and the non-classical nature of spin. We survey the treatment of these issues within Bohr's doctrine of complementarity and the so-called Copenhagen interpretation of QM. We review Einstein's several arguments for the incompleteness of QM, leading up to the famous EPR (Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen) paper of 1935, the resulting issue of quantum entanglement as discussed by Einstein and Schrödinger, and the complexities of Bohr's response to EPR. In the second third of the term, we examine a well-known 'no go' theorem on EPR-type experimental set-ups stemming from Bell in the 1960s, according to which no hidden variables theory satisfying a certain locality condition (apparently assumed by EPR) can reproduce all the predictions of QM. In the last third, we survey current variations of, or interpretive options for, standard QM: Bohmian mechanics (a.k.a. pilot wave theory), spontaneous collapse theories, and Everett's relative-state interpretation with its many worlds/ many minds variants. We end by scrutinizing the recent decoherence program (a.k.a.localization induced by the scattering of environmental particles) that purports to explain the quantum-to-classical transition, i.e., the emergence of the world of classical physics and macroscopic objects and properties from quantum physics. We consider whether decoherence is justifiably viewed as solving the quantum measurement problem. nnII. PREREQUISITES: No detailed knowledge of quantum physics or advanced mathematics is presumed. Some background in philosophy, natural science or mathematics will be helpful. Students will benefit from possession of a modicum of mathematical maturity (roughly equivalent to a familiarity with elementary single-variable calculus or the metatheory of first-order logic).
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-SMA | Repeatable for credit

PHIL 167A: Philosophy of Biology (PHIL 267A)

(Graduate students register for 267A.) Evolutionary theory and in particular, on characterizing natural selection and how it operates. We examine debates about fitness, whether selection is a cause or force, the levels at which selection operates, and whether cultural evolution is a Darwinian process. Prerequisites:  one PHIL course and either one BIO course or Human Biology core; or equivalent with consent of instructor.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II

PHIL 167D: Philosophy of Neuroscience (PHIL 267D, SYMSYS 167D)

How can we explain the mind? With approaches ranging from computational models to cellular-level characterizations of neural responses to the characterization of behavior, neuroscience aims to explain how we see, think, decide, and even feel. While these approaches have been highly successful in answering some kinds of questions, they have resulted in surprisingly little progress in others. We'll look at the relationships between the neuroscientific enterprise, philosophical investigations of the nature of the mind, and our everyday experiences as creatures with minds. Prerequisite: PHIL 80.n(Not open to freshmen.)
Terms: Win | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors: Cao, R. (PI)

PHIL 170: Ethical Theory (ETHICSOC 170, PHIL 270)

This course serves as a rigorous introduction to moral philosophy for students with little or no background. We will examine ideas from four important figures in moral thought: Plato, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and John Stuart Mill. Each of these philosophers played an integral role in the development of moral philosophy, because each offers thoughtful, compelling answers to some of the discipline's most central questions. These questions include: What is involved in being a good person or living a good life? What should we value, and why? How are we motivated by morality? How (if at all) is morality a matter of what is customary or conventional? How (much) do the consequences of our actions matter? Importantly, this course is not only about learning what others have thought about the answers to these (and related) questions. By considering and criticizing the ideas and arguments of these philosophers, the aim is to cultivate our own ability to think systematically, rationally, and reflectively, and to make up our own minds about how to answer these kinds of questions.
Terms: Aut | Units: 4 | UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, GER:EC-EthicReas, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
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