Spring 2009 Courses
Philosophy BC1001
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
Call Number: 09632 Points: 3
Day / Time: TR 9:10 am-10:25 am Location: 328 Milbank
Instructor: Alan Gabbey
Philosophy BC1001
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
Call Number: 02144 Points: 3
Day/ Time: TR 4:10 pm-5:25 pm Location: 805 Altschul
Instructor: Cheryl Mendelson
Philosophy BC1004
INTRO: TRUTH, VALUE, KNOWLEDGE
Call Number: 08150 Points: 3
Day / Time: MW 4:10 pm-5:25pm Location: 328 Milbank
Instructor: Sidney Felder
Philosophy V1401
ELEMENTARY LOGIC
Explicit criteria for recognizing valid and fallacious arguments, together with various methods for schematizing discourse for the purpose of logical analysis. Illustrative material taken from science and everyday life.
Call Number: 01647 Points: 3
Day/ Time: TR 1:25 pm-2:40pm Location: 328 Milbank
Instructor: Cheryl Mendelson
Philosophy V2100
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
Call Number: 02575 Points: 3
Day / Time: TR 1:10 pm-2:25 pm Location: 323 Milbank
Instructor: Patricia Rohrer
Philosophy BC2120
EXISTENTIALISM
Call Number: 05570 Points: 3
Day/ Time: TR 10:35 am-11:50 am Location: 118 Reid
Instructor: Katalin Makkai
Philosophy V2201
HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY II
PHIL V2101 is not a prerequisite for this course. Exposition and analysis of the metaphysics, epistemology, and natural philosophy of the major philosophers from Aquinas through Kant. Authors include Aquinas, Galileo, Gassendi, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant.
Call Number: 87046 Points: 3
Day/ Time: MW 1:10 pm-2:25 pm Location: 602 Hamilton
Instructor: Patricia Kitcher
Philosophy V3121
PLATO
Introduction to Plato's philosophy through analysis of selected dialogues.
Call Number: 12546 Points: 3
Day/ Time: TR 10:35 am-11:50 am Location: 703 Hamilton
Instructor: Wolfgang Mann
Philosophy V3351
PHENOMENOLOGY & EXISTENTIALISM
Reading and discussion of selected works of Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty. Topics include intentionality, consciousness and self-consciousness, phenomenological method, the question of being, authenticity and inauthenticity, bad faith, death, and the role of the body in perception.
Call Number: 00338 Points: 3
Day/ Time: MW 10:35 am-11:50 am Location: 307 Milbank
Instructor: Taylor Carman
Philosophy 3411/ G4415
SYMBOLIC LOGIC
Advanced introduction to classical sentential and predicate logic. No previous acquaintance with logic is required; nonetheless a willingness to master technicalities and to work at a certain level of abstraction is desirable. Discussion Section Required.
Call Number: 26280 Points: 4
Day/ Time: MW 11:00 am-12:15 pm Location: 209 Havemeyer
Instructor: Jeff Helzner
Philosophy V3601
METAPHYSICS
Systematic treatment of some major topics in metaphysics (e.g. modality, causation, identity through time, particulars and universals). Readings from contemporary authors.
Call Number: 62192 Points: 3
Day/ Time: TR 11:00 am-12:15 pm Location: 413 Kent
Instructor: John Collins
Philosophy V3701
MORAL PHILOSOPHY
Prerequisites: One course in philosophy. The first part of this course surveys four major ethical theories that provide justification for normative ethical practices: Aristotle's naturalistic interpretation of moral virtues as derivable from the understanding of the ends of human nature in Nicomanchean Ethics; Kant's rationalist analysis of moral principles as the universalizable imperatives of rational beings in Fundamental Principles of Metaphysics of Morals; Hume's empiricist derivation of ethical norms from sentiment; Hegel's two concepts of geist and dialectic as sources for moral relativism and moral absolutism. The second part of this course is an analysis of theses of ethical non-naturalism in twentieth-century philosophers, including Moore, Ayer, Stevenson, and Sarte as confronted by the ethical naturalist theses of Dewey, Austin, Hampshire, Foote, and Berlin.
Call Number: 61030 Points: 3
Day/ Time: TR 2:40 pm-3:55 pm Location: 310 Fayerweather
Instructor: David Sidorsky
Philosophy V3720
ETHICS AND MEDICINE
Call Number: 01519 Points: 3
Day /Time: TR 6:10pm-7:25pm Location: 302 Milbank
Instructor: Saul L. Fishman
Philosophy W3852
PHILOSOPHY OF LITERATURE
Call Number: 13448 Points: 3
Day/ Time: MW 2:40pm-3:55pm Location: 613 Hamilton
Instructor: David Sidorsky
Philosophy C3912
MAJORS SEMINAR IN PHILOSOPHY: Moral Philosophy
Theories of the Good. How should we understand the property "good"? What does it mean to say that something or someone is good? We discuss classic positions in 20th century metaethics (Moore, Hare, Pritchard, Stevenson, Foot, and others), historical positions that influence modern debates (Plato, Aristotle, Hume), and some recent contributions to the debate.
Call Number: 84691 Points: 3
Day/ Time: W 4:10 pm-6:00 pm Location: 716 Philosophy
Instructor: Katja Vogt
Philosophy C3912
MAJORS SEMINAR IN PHILOSOPHY: Subjects of Consciousness, The First Person
and Self-Knowledge
What is a subject of consciousness, perception, thought and action? Is a subject something constructed from mental events, or do subjects exist in their own right? What is the nature of first person thought? When we think about ourselves in the first-person way, are we thinking about such a subject? Do we have special ways of knowing about ourselves, our properties and our relations? If so, how are such special ways possible? And how do each of these topics and plausible philosophical positions on them relate to the empirical results of psychology and neurosciences? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this Seminar.
Call Number: 68246 Points: 3
Day/ Time: F 11:00 am-12:50 pm Location: 716 Philosophy
Instructor: Chris Peacocke
Philosophy BC3951
SENIOR ESSAY
Call Number: 08158 Points: 4
Day / Time: R 11:00 am-12:50 pm Location: 326 Milbank
Instructor: Alan Gabbey
PHIL C3997 SUPERVISED SENIOR RESEARCH
Call Number: See the Directory of Classes for section call numbers Points: 3
PHIL W3998
SUPERVISED INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH
Call Number: See the Directory of Classes for section call numbers Points: 3
Philosophy G4140
HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY: Scepticism
Ancient scepticism, and ancient debates between sceptics and non-sceptical philosophers. Topics include: belief, criteria of truth, proof, concepts, Stoic theory of cognitive impressions, Epicurean claim "all sense-perceptions are true," appearances, belief and action, belief and language.
Call Number: 72746 Points: 3
Day/ Time:M 4:10 pm-6:00 pm Location: 716 Philosophy
Instructor: Katja Vogt
Philosophy G4227
SPINOZA
Prerequisites: Undergraduates wishing to take this course must see the instructor beforehand or on the first day of class or must have taken Early Modern Philosophy (PHIL V3237). A study of the Ethics, parts of the Theologico-Political Treatise and of other works. Contextual issues for consideration include Spinoza's Jewish, Scholastic and Cartesian backgrounds.
Call Number: 03813 Points: 3
Day/ Time: W 9:00 am-10:50 am Location: 327 Milbank
Instructor: Alan Gabbey
Philosophy G4333
WITTGENSTEIN
The later work of Wittgenstein (centrally his Philosophical Investigations), with special attention to its influence on special debates.
Call Number: 07647 Points: 3
Day/ Time: M 11:00 am-12:50 pm Location: 407 Barnard
Instructor: Katalin Makkai
Philosophy G4337
FREGE, RUSSELL, WITTGENSTEIN: EARLY ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHERS
Call Number: 81496 Points: 3
Day/ Time: R 2:10 pm-4:00 pm Location: 408a Philosophy
Instructor: Haim Gaifman
Philosophy G4424
MODAL LOGIC
A logical treatment of necessity, possibility, and other intentional operators.
Call Number: 85279 Points: 3
Day/ Time: M 2:10 pm - 4:00 pm Location: 302 Fayerweather
Instructor: Haim Gaifman
Philosophy G4601
PHILOSOPHICAL TEXTS IN FRENCH
Prerequisites: Equivalent of two years of college French. A close reading and translation of sections from French philosophical texts with emphasis on the special problems of translating philosophical prose. Texts for Fall 2006: Descartes, Discours de la méthode, Les Passions de l'âme, Pascal, Pensées (selections).
Call Number: 08474 Points: 2
Day/ Time: M 6:10 pm-8:00 pm Location: 214 Milbank
Instructor: Katalin Makkai
Philosophy G4603
PHILOSOPHICAL TEXTS IN SPANISH
Careful reading and translation of Spanish philosophical texts. Emphasis on the special problems of reading and understanding non-England philosophical texts in the original. Open to students with the equivalent of two years of college Spanish.
Call Number: 05839 Points: 2
Day/ Time: M 6:10 pm-8:00 pm Location: 306 Milbank
Instructor: Fred Neuhouser
Philosophy G4675
DIRECTION OF TIME
A survey of the various attempts to reconcile the macroscopic directionality of time with the time-reversibility of the fundamental laws of physics. The second law of thermodynamics and the concept of entropy, statistical mechanics, cosmological problems, the problems of memory, the possibility of multiple time direction.
Call Number: 29568 Points: 3
Day/ Time: F 2:10 pm-4:00 pm Location: 716 Philosophy
Instructor: David Albert
Philosophy G4740
ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY
A study of what it meant for the Muslim world to open itself up to Greek philosophy and to create the tradition of philosophical thinking known as Falsafa (from the Greek philosophia). The relation between theology (kalâm) and philosophy as well as the works of major authors of the classical period (9th to the late 12th century) will be studied.
Call Number: 60954 Points: 3
Day/ Time: W 4:10 pm-6:00 pm Location: 520 Mathematics
Instructor: Bashir Diagne
Philosophy/ Economics G4950
PHILOSOPHY ECONOMICS SEMINAR
Explores topics in the philosophy of economics such as welfare, social choice, and the history of political economy. Sometimes the emphasis is primarily historical and sometimes on analysis of contemporary economic concepts and theories.
Call Number: 22246 Points: 3
Day/ Time: W 11:00 am-12:50 pm Location: 716 Philosophy Hall
Instructor: Philip Kitcher & Ron Findlay
Philosophy G6551
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
The logic of inquiry in natural sciences: substantive as well as methodological concepts such as cause, determination, measurement, error, prediction, and reduction. The roles of theory and experiment.
Call Number: 20947 Points: 3
Day/ Time: F 4:10 pm-6:00 pm Location: 408a Philosophy
Instructor: Jeff Helzner
Philosophy G6881
PROSEMINAR
The course aims to promote weekly writing by each student. A paper, or section of a book, wioth which every philosopher ought to be familiar, will be selected each week, adn one student will make a presentation on that target paper, while the others will hand in a brief essay about it. Essays will be returned, with comments, before the next meeting of the seminar. Each week a different member of the faculty, in addition to Professor Rovane, will participate in the discussion.
Call Number: 71996 Points: 3
Day/ Time: W 6:10-8:00 Location: 201d Philosophy
Instructor: Carol Rovane
PHIL G9002
Quodlibetal Study II
Call Number: See the Directory of Classes for section call numbers Points: 3
PHIL G9004
Quodlibetal Study IV
Call Number: See the Directory of Classes for section call numbers Points: 3
Philosophy G9485
PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE
An examination of the semantics and pragmatics of conditionals and modals. Topics include: possible-world analysis of modality, different flavors of modality, Lewis-Stalnaker analysis of counterfactual conditionals, problems with indicative conditionals, and non-truth-conditional accounts of modals and conditionals.
Call Number: 74779 Points: 3-6
Day/ Time: W 2:10 pm-4:00 pm Location: 716 Philosophy
Instructor: Daniel Rothschild
Philosophy G9509
FORMAL ONTOLOGY
Parts, wholes, and part-whole relations; extensional vs. intensional mereology; the boundary with topology; essential parts and mereological essentialism; identity and material constitution; four-dimensionalism; ontological dependence; holes, boundaries, and other entia minora; the problem of the many; vagueness.
Call Number: 73442 Points: 3-6
Day/ Time:T 11:00 am -12:50 pm Location: 716 Philosophy
Instructor: Achille Varzi
Philosophy G9515
TOPICS IN METAPHYSICS
This course will cover such issues as the mind-world relation, truth, the realism-relativism debate and the metaphysical status of value.
Call Number: 27029 Points: 3
Day/ Time: R 9:10 am-10:50 am Location: 716 Philosophy
Instructor: John Collins
Philosophy G9755
PROBLEMS OF SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY
Close reading of selected texts in critical theory. Texts this year include Rousseau's Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents, and Marcuse's Eros and Civilization. Prerequisites for undergraduates: permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited; preference given to graduate students.
Call Number: 04291 Points: 3
Day/ Time: T 9:00 am-10:50 am Location: 716 Philosophy
Instructor: Fred Neuhouser
Philosophy G9902
RESEARCH IN PHILOSOPHY
Call Number: 02253 Points: 3
Day/ Time: F 9:00 pm-11:00 am Location: 716 Philosophy
Instructor: Taylor Carman
Philosophy G9990
THESIS PREPARATION SEMINAR
Call Number: 88297 Points: 3
Day/ Time: R 2:10-4:00 PM Location: 716 Philosophy
Instructor: Daniel Rothschild
