Descriptions of all courses, from the Graduate Bulletin

FALL 2009 GRADUATE COURSES (4 credits each):

PHI 512 - Metaphysics

#32183, TTH 2:45-4:05, SS-255

Instructor: P. Magnus

Shared Resource with PHI 412

PHI 516 - Philosophy of Mind

#32185, MWF 1:40-2:35, AS-14

Instructor: R. McClamrock

Shared resource with PHI 516

            An examination of the modern version of the traditional mind-body problem and issues connected with it. Topics to be covered will include varieties of dualism and materialism, the problem of mental causation, reductionism and the mind-body problem, the relevance of various kinds of scientific theorizing about mind to the traditional mind-body problem, and some puzzles concerning consciousness, qualia, embeddedness, and intentionality.

The grade for PHI 516 will come from a combination of two short papers, one longer paper, in-class exams, and online and in-class participation.

The readings for the course will come from David Chalmer's anthology "Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Approaches" and some papers made available as PDF's on the course E-Reserves page. More information (including a preliminary syllabus) can be found at the course web site at http://phi516.profron.net.

PHI 530 - Philosophy and Public Affairs

#32188, T 5:45-8:35, HU-123

Instructor: B. Steinbock

Undergraduate Prerequisites: senior class standing; permission of instructor

The seminar will cover ethical and policy issues in reproductive medicine, including the nature and scope of procreative liberty; the understanding of family as it relates to assisted reproduction; the arguments for and against paying people for their gametes; contract pregnancy (surrogacy); limits to free choice in assisted reproduction (including age limits, concerns about abilities to raise children, posthumous reproduction, etc.); prenatal testing and preimplantation genetic diagnosis for disability and (possibly) enhancement; sex selection; embryo research, including stem cell research; and reproductive cloning. The grade will be based on weekly shorties, class participation, and a term paper.

PHI 544 - British Empiricism

#32187, W 2:45-5:35, HU-123

Instructor: R. Meyers

            A study of Locke's Essay, Berkeley's Principles and Three Dialogues and Hume's Treatise and first Inquiry. Topics will include: Locke, Berkeley and Hume and the nature of empiricism; Locke on primary-secondary qualities, substance, "real essences", his accounts of language, knowledge, and faith and reason; Berkeley's idealism, attack on abstract ideas, and theory of science; and Hume on cause, necessity, personal identity and knowledge of the external world, miracles and the argument from design.

            Students will be expected to explore secondary material by recent interpreters of the period. Attendance is required.

            Work: three short papers.

PHI 555 - 19^th Century and Cont Philosophy

#32173, T 2:45-5:35, SS-131

Instructor: R. Howell

Undergraduate Prerequisites: senior class standing and permission of instructor.

            The course this semester will focus on the rise of various forms of absolute idealism in reaction to problems perceived in Kant's position on knowledge and metaphysics--the position stated in the Critique of Pure Reason and further developed in the Critique of Judgment. After several meetings devoted to Kant and the transition from Kant to Fichte, we will consider some main ideas in works by Fichte and Hegel. The seminar will conclude with one meeting each on Kierkegaard's and Marx's reactions to Hegel. The issues raised in this fascinating period of intellectual history reverberate today.

            Course requirements: Participation, readings, and (tentatively) one 15-page term paper on a subject to be selected after consultation with the instructor.

            Readings (tentative): selections from

                        Kant, Critique of Pure Reason and Critique of Judgment

                        Frederick Beiser, The Fate of Reason

                        Fichte, Introductions to the Science of Knowledge

                        Hegel, Phenomenology of Mind and Science of Logic

                        Kierkegaard, Concluding Unscientific Postscript

                                    (Bk. II, Pt. II, Ch. 2: "Truth is Subjectivity")

                        Marx, Theses on Feuerback, German Ideology Pt. I, and

                                    perhaps Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts

PHI 621 - Topics in Ethics

Topic: Character and Reason

#32171, W 5:45-8:35, ES-139

Instructor: R. Cohon

This will be an exploratory seminar investigating the concept of a character trait and the relation between good and bad character and reasons for action, or practical reason more generally. We will approach the issue through works written from the points of view of various ethical theories. Contemporary virtue ethics makes fundamental use of the concept of a character trait and yet gives no complete and rigorous account of what a character trait is; and some recent critics argue that there in fact is no such thing. The nature of character is of great interest to contemporary Kantians and consequentialists as well, and authors in these traditions have been developing interesting accounts. So broadly speaking the topic will be:what is a character trait? But I plan to aim the investigation toward accounts that explain character traits in part in terms of dispositions to recognize certain considerations as reasons for acting, or in terms of dispositions to deliberate in certain ways rather than others.

Prerequisites:students should have a strong foundation in Aristotle’s ethics, Kant’s ethics, and at least some form of consequentialism (such as utilitarianism). Familiarity with contemporary virtue ethics is especially helpful. Familiarity with contemporary forms of the other two types of theory is also good. Also helpful but not essential: familiarity with contemporary philosophy of action, particularly accounts of reasons for action. This is not the course for you if you have never studied the Nicomachean Ethics or the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals.