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 109A: Special Topics in Ancient Philosophy (PHIL 209A)
In this course we will read carefully Book I, Chapters 1-3, of Aristotle's *Physics* and the commentary on those chapters by John Philoponus. Topics to be covered include Aristotle's preliminary discussion of the principles of natural science and his detailed exposition and refutation of Eleatic Monism.
Last offered: Winter 2013
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
| Repeatable
3 times
(up to 12 units total)
PHIL 115: Problems in Medieval Philosophy: Islamic Aristotelianism and Western Scholasticism (PHIL 215)
The western world adopted Aristotle's metaphysics and natural philosophy as the foundation of its educational system and scholarly life between 1210 and 1255. Christian Europe was thereby following the example set by Islam in Spain and the Near East. Today some people believe that this development was independent, and others think that the scholastics copied even their methods from Arabic philosophers. Historical evaluation of those claims.
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
| Repeatable
for credit
PHIL 117: Descartes (PHIL 217)
(Formerly 121/221.) Descartes's philosophical writings on rules for the direction of the mind, method, innate ideas and ideas of the senses, mind, God, eternal truths, and the material world.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
De Pierris, G. (PI)
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
Instructors:
De Pierris, G. (PI)
PHIL 126B: Kant's Ethical Theory (PHIL 226B)
(Graduate students register for 226B.) Kant's moral philosophy based primarily on the
Groundwork of Metaphysics of Morals, Critique of Practical Reason, and
The Metaphysics of Morals.
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum
PHIL 127A: Kant's Value Theory (PHIL 227A)
(Graduate students register for 227A.) The role of autonomy, principled rational self-governance, in Kant's account of the norms to which human beings are answerable as moral agents, citizens, empirical inquirers, and religious believers. Relations between moral values (goodness, rightness) and aesthetic values (beauty, sublimity).
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II, WAY-ER
Instructors:
Hills, D. (PI)
PHIL 135: Existentialism (PHIL 235)
Focus is on the existentialist preoccupation with human freedom. What constitutes authentic individuality? What is one's relation to the divine? How can one live a meaningful life? What is the significance of death? A rethinking of the traditional problem of freedom and determinism in readings from Rousseau, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche, and the extension of these ideas by Sartre, Beauvoir, and Camus, including their social and political consequences in light of 20th-century fascism and feminism.
Last offered: Spring 2014
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-ER
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 2013
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
PHIL 164: Central Topics in the Philosophy of Science: Theory and Evidence (PHIL 264)
(Graduate students register for 264.) Is reductionism opposed to emergence? Are they compatible? If so, how or in what sense? We consider methodological, epistemological, logical and metaphysical dimensions of contemporary discussions of reductionism and emergence in physics, in the ¿sciences of complexity¿, and in philosophy of mind.
Last offered: Spring 2014
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
| Repeatable
for credit
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