printer friendly pagePHIL 1: Introduction to Philosophy
Is there one truth or many? Does science tell us everything there is to know? Can our minds be purely physical? Do we have free will? Is faith rational? Should we always be rational? What is the meaning of life? Are there moral truths? What are truth, reality, rationality, and knowledge? How can such questions be answered? Intensive introduction to theories and techniques in philosophy from various contemporary traditions. Once a week discussions will occur during scheduled meeting time (~50 minutes)
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Wong-Taylor, G. (PI)
;
Jordan, S. (TA)
;
Kang, S. (TA)
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Instructors:
Wong-Taylor, G. (PI)
;
Jordan, S. (TA)
;
Kang, S. (TA)
;
Koeksal, S. (TA)
;
Luo, A. (TA)
;
Tricks, T. (TA)
PHIL 3: Democracy and Disagreement (COMM 3, CSRE 31, HISTORY 3C, POLISCI 31, PSYCH 31A, PUBLPOL 3, RELIGST 23X, SOC 13)
Deep disagreement pervades our democracy, from arguments over issues ranging from foreign policy, free speech, and reparations to college admissions policy and the professionalization of college athletics. Loud voices drown out discussion. Open-mindedness, humility, and critical thinking seem in short supply among politicians, citizens, and other residents alike. Yet constructive disagreement is an essential feature of a democratic society. This class explores and models respectful, civil disagreement. Each week features scholars who disagree - sometimes quite strongly - about major policy issues. Students will have the opportunity to probe those disagreements, understand why they persist, and improve their own understanding of the facts and values that underlie them. The course may be taken for one or two units. The basic, one-unit class is open to all Stanford students, with other members of the Stanford community welcome to audit individual classes. The requirements are to do readin
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Deep disagreement pervades our democracy, from arguments over issues ranging from foreign policy, free speech, and reparations to college admissions policy and the professionalization of college athletics. Loud voices drown out discussion. Open-mindedness, humility, and critical thinking seem in short supply among politicians, citizens, and other residents alike. Yet constructive disagreement is an essential feature of a democratic society. This class explores and models respectful, civil disagreement. Each week features scholars who disagree - sometimes quite strongly - about major policy issues. Students will have the opportunity to probe those disagreements, understand why they persist, and improve their own understanding of the facts and values that underlie them. The course may be taken for one or two units. The basic, one-unit class is open to all Stanford students, with other members of the Stanford community welcome to audit individual classes. The requirements are to do readings in advance of each class, attend, and listen attentively and critically. Because the topics are different, students who took the course in 2023-24 may enroll this year as well. A limited number of undergraduates may take a second unit of credit. Students enrolled in the two unit course will participate in weekly small group discussion seminars about the topics discussed by guest presenters in the course that week. The discussion seminars will be led by peer facilitators, with the goals of developing critical thinking skills and discourse skills, such as active listening and curiosity. The peer facilitators are undergraduate students who have completed training in dialogue facilitation. Each discussion seminar will have a maximum of 10 students. If interest in discussion seminars exceeds the number offered, students will be chosen by lottery.
Terms: Win
| Units: 1-2
| Repeatable
4 times
(up to 8 units total)
PHIL 16N: External World Skepticism
Preference to frosh. Most of us assume we live in a three-dimensional, physical world of people, tables, chairs, squirrels and electrons. Very few of us worry that we might be in the infamous Matrix. But how do we really know that the external world exists? The only evidence available to us seems to be our ever changing sensations. Do those sensations really give us reliable evidence for the existence of the external world? We'll look at Descartes' classic arguments but most of the class will be focused on contemporary philosophical discussions of the issue. A significant portion of the class will involve learning the modern tools of mathematical logic, probability theory, and Bayesianism. The class will begin with a short test to figure out how much of that material needs to be covered based on the knowledge-level of the participants.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Hussain, N. (PI)
PHIL 20N: Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
Is it really possible for an artificial system to achieve genuine intelligence: thoughts, consciousness, emotions? What would that mean? How could we know if it had been achieved? Is there a chance that we ourselves are artificial intelligences? Would artificial intelligences, under certain conditions, actually be persons? If so, how would that affect how they ought to be treated and what ought to be expected of them? Emerging technologies with impressive capacities already seem to function in ways we do not fully understand. What are the opportunities and dangers that this presents? How should the promises and hazards of these technologies be managed?Philosophers have studied questions much like these for millennia, in scholarly debates that have increased in fervor with advances in psychology, neuroscience, and computer science. The philosophy of mind provides tools to carefully address whether genuine artificial intelligence and artificial personhood are possible. Epistemology (the
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Is it really possible for an artificial system to achieve genuine intelligence: thoughts, consciousness, emotions? What would that mean? How could we know if it had been achieved? Is there a chance that we ourselves are artificial intelligences? Would artificial intelligences, under certain conditions, actually be persons? If so, how would that affect how they ought to be treated and what ought to be expected of them? Emerging technologies with impressive capacities already seem to function in ways we do not fully understand. What are the opportunities and dangers that this presents? How should the promises and hazards of these technologies be managed?Philosophers have studied questions much like these for millennia, in scholarly debates that have increased in fervor with advances in psychology, neuroscience, and computer science. The philosophy of mind provides tools to carefully address whether genuine artificial intelligence and artificial personhood are possible. Epistemology (the philosophy of knowledge) helps us ponder how we might be able to know. Ethics provides concepts and theories to explore how all of this might bear on what ought to be done. We will read philosophical writings in these areas as well as writings explicitly addressing the questions about artificial intelligence, hoping for a deep and clear understanding of the difficult philosophical challenges the topic presents.No background in any of this is presupposed, and you will emerge from the class having made a good start learning about computational technologies as well as a number of fields of philosophical thinking. It will also be a good opportunity to develop your skills in discussing and writing critically about complex issues.
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Etchemendy, J. (PI)
PHIL 82: Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change (COMM 180, CS 182, ETHICSOC 182, POLISCI 182, PUBLPOL 182)
Examination of recent developments in computing technology and platforms through the lenses of philosophy, public policy, social science, and engineering. Course is organized around four main units: algorithmic decision-making and bias; data privacy and civil liberties; the power of private computing platforms; and the impact of generative AI. Each unit considers the promise, perils, rights, and responsibilities at play in technological developments. Prerequisite:
CS106A.
Terms: Win
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-ER
Instructors:
Ho, D. (PI)
;
Sahami, M. (PI)
PHIL 99: Minds and Machines (CS 24, LINGUIST 35, PSYCH 35, SYMSYS 1, SYMSYS 200)
(Formerly
SYMSYS 100). An overview of the interdisciplinary study of cognition, information, communication, and language, with an emphasis on foundational issues: What are minds? What is computation? What are rationality and intelligence? Can we predict human behavior? Can computers be truly intelligent? How do people and technology interact, and how might they do so in the future? Lectures focus on how the methods of philosophy, mathematics, empirical research, and computational modeling are used to study minds and machines. Students must take this course before being approved to declare Symbolic Systems as a major. All students interested in studying Symbolic Systems are urged to take this course early in their student careers. The course material and presentation will be at an introductory level, without prerequisites. Note that this is a hybrid course. Students should plan to enroll by the first day of the quarter and check their Stanford email account for instructions on how to access the course material. If you have any questions about the course, please email symsys1staff@gmail.com.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-FR, GER:DB-SocSci
Instructors:
Krejci, B. (PI)
;
Wu, J. (PI)
;
Bennett, S. (TA)
;
Chakravarthy, A. (TA)
;
Chen, K. (TA)
;
Cho, C. (TA)
;
Chon, A. (TA)
;
Fergesen, C. (TA)
;
Hsu, S. (TA)
;
Prystawski, B. (TA)
;
Sinha, K. (TA)
PHIL 102: Modern Philosophy, Descartes to Kant
This course is a survey of major themes and key figures in early modern philosophy. Topics include skepticism, freedom v. determinism, the mind-body problem, and the nature of causation. We will cover a range of figures from Rene Descartes to ImmanuelKant.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, GER:DB-Hum
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: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, GER:DB-Hum
Instructors:
Wong-Taylor, G. (PI)
PHIL 131: Introduction to Phenomenology (PHIL 231)
(Graduate students register for 231.) Phenomenology is one of the dominant philosophical traditions to arise in the 20th century. Its purpose is to investigate and describe the structures of consciousness, without theoretical or empirical bias. The study of phenomenology is both a precondition for understanding Continental philosophy and, more recently, a valuable interlocutor to philosophy of mind and cognitive science. In this class, we will learn the concepts and methods unique to phenomenology, and we will read the works of its major thinkers, including Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. PREREQS: 2 courses in philosophy prior to enrollment OR one of the following: PHI 132, PHI 134, PHI 134A, PHI 134B. This course is not repeatable.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
Instructors:
Jackson, G. (PI)
;
Amaral, J. (TA)
PHIL 151: Metalogic (PHIL 251)
In this course we will go through some of the seminal ideas, constructions, and results from modern logic, focusing especially on classical first-order ("predicate") logic. After introducing general ideas of induction and recursion, we will study a bit of elementary (axiomatic) set theory before then covering basic definability theory, viz. assessing the theoretical limits of what can and cannot be expressed in a first-order language. The centerpiece result of the class is the completeness - and closely related compactness - of first-order logic, a result with a number of momentous consequences, some useful, some philosophically puzzling. We will then study a connection with game theory, whereby a certain type of game characterizes precisely the expressive power of first-order logic. Further topics may include: the 0-1 law in finite model theory, second-order logic, and the algebraic approach to logic. Prerequisite: 150 or consent of instructor.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Math, WAY-FR
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