Philosophy 8. Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy
Catalog Number: 8947
Alison Simmons
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 10. EXAM GROUP: 12
A survey of early modern philosophy with a focus on the major metaphysical and epistemological writings of Descartes, Locke, Hume and Kant. Topics include the natures of mind and body, causation, freedom, and human knowledge.
Philosophy 15. Political Obligation and Civil Disobedience
Catalog Number: 2507
Susanna Claire Siegel
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 11. EXAM GROUP: 13
An examination of political obligations: what they are; what makes them reasonable; what limits, if any, they have; in what sorts of communities they apply. Texts will be both philosophical and historical.
*Philosophy 97hf. Tutorial — Sophomore Year
Catalog Number: 1669
Richard G. Heck, Jr.
Half course (throughout the year). Hours to be arranged.
Note: Required of all sophomore concentrators.
*Philosophy 98hf. Tutorial — Junior Year
Catalog Number: 5533
Richard G. Heck, Jr.
Half course (throughout the year). Hours to be arranged.
Note: Required of all junior concentrators.
*Philosophy 99. Tutorial — Senior Year
Catalog Number: 4396
Richard G. Heck, Jr., and members of the department
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Hours to be arranged.
*Philosophy 107. Plato’s Republic: Proseminar
Catalog Number: 3115
Raphael Graham Woolf
Half course (fall term). F., 12–2. EXAM GROUP: 5, 6
An examination of the earliest and most famous attempt by a philosopher to give an account of an ideal society. Plato’s views on justice and happiness, the soul and the city, and the metaphysical and epistemological underpinnings of his ethical and political theories.
Philosophy 120. The Rationalists
Catalog Number: 2512
Alison Simmons
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 1. EXAM GROUP: 15
A study of some of the major works of Descartes, Spinoza, Malebranche and Leibniz, with primary emphasis on their contributions to metaphysics and epistemology.
Philosophy 129. Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
Catalog Number: 0614
Charles D. Parsons
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 11. EXAM GROUP: 4
Aims at a general understanding of the first Critique as a whole. An examination of the work’s central metaphysical and epistemological doctrines, with particular attention to its historical context.
Prerequisite: Philosophy 8 strongly recommended.
Philosophy 132. The Young Hegel
Catalog Number: 3768
Susan Kay Hahn (Johns Hopkins University)
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 12. EXAM GROUP: 5
Introduction to the dialectical thought and method of the young Hegel. Focuses on the place of his early writings in the development of his mature thought, beginning with his youthful reflections on love, labor, enslavement, and his first critical engagement with Kant’s ethics. Other topics: Hegel’s early relation to skepticism, the place of historicism in the development of his thought, how his theory of recognition and social conflict evolved out of his early period. Finally, our investigations will lead to reading the core chapters of the Phenomenology of Spirit, beginning with some background in the early logic.
Philosophy 134. Four Jewish Philosophers
Catalog Number: 5486
Hilary Putnam
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 2. EXAM GROUP: 16
Selected writings by Maimonides, Rosenzweig, Buber and Levinas (as well as Wittgenstein’s Lectures on Rational Belief) in order to think about the question: how do the concerns of religion and philosophy relate to and differ from one another? What happens to philosophy when it is in the service of religious transformation, and to religion when it becomes philosophical? Although these concerns will be explored in the context of the Jewish tradition, their wider relevance will also be considered.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 3679.
Philosophy 135. Pragmatism and Neo-Pragmatism
Catalog Number: 1517
Hilary Putnam and Cornel West
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 12. EXAM GROUP: 5
An examination of the variey of pragmatisms in the past and present, exploring the American origins—especially its New England and Harvard beginnings—of pragmatism, as well as its most recent versions. Readings include Emerson, Peirce, James, Dewey, Rorty, Cavell, Putnam and West.
Note: Offered jointly with the Divinity School as 2452
Philosophy 139. Phenomenology
Catalog Number: 7467
Charles D. Parsons
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 11. EXAM GROUP: 4
The background of Husserl’s phenomenology in the philosophy of Brentano. Husserl’s approach to intentionality and meaning. Selected further topics in his philosophy, such as truth, perception, the phenomenological method, the phenomenological reduction and the question of idealism, and the “life-world.” Brief consideration of some of the later development of phenomenology if time permits.
Philosophy 144. Logic and Philosophy
Catalog Number: 1111
Warren Goldfarb
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 10. EXAM GROUP: 3
Three philosophically important results of modern logic: Gödel’s incompleteness theorems; Turing’s definition of mechanical computability; Tarski's theory of truth for formalized languages. Discusses both mathematical content and philosophical significance of these results.
Note: Expected to be omitted in 2000–01.
Prerequisite: Some knowledge of deductive logic.
*Philosophy 145z. Philosophy of Language: Demonstratives: Proseminar
Catalog Number: 7508
Susanna Claire Siegel
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
An examination of demonstrative reference and of related mental states. Topics to include formal theories of demonstrative reference; proposals about what Fregean Senses of demonstratives might be; arguments that there are no such things.
Philosophy 146 (formerly Philosophy 146r). Philosophy of Language
Catalog Number: 3795
William G. Demopoulos (University of Western Ontario)
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 12. EXAM GROUP: 14
A study of the contributions to the philosophy of language by the two great founders of the contemporary approach to the subject, Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell; how their theories of meaning and reference departed from earlier approaches and how they developed in tandem with the emergence of modern logic. A review of prominent criticisms that have been urged against ideas emanating from Frege and Russell and an exploration of some alternative theories suggested by these criticisms.
Philosophy 147. Meaning and Communication
Catalog Number: 1407
Richard G. Heck, Jr.
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 10. EXAM GROUP: 12
Language is used for communication. In part, this is because words mean things and because we understand them. What is it to understand what someone says? What is it for words to mean what they do? How do we know what our words mean? And how does this knowledge enable us to use language as we do? Readings taken from Davidson, Dummett, Evans, Grice, Higginbotham, Putnam, Soames, Strawson, Wright and others.
*Philosophy 151z. Philosophy of Psychology: Proseminar
Catalog Number: 4062
Robert Nozick
Half course (fall term). M., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7
An examination of psychologists’ theories (and data) about positive psychological traits, experiences and functioning; of philosophers’ theories about the constituents of a good or a flourishing life; and of ways to integrate these related theories.
Philosophy 154. Non Scientific Knowledge
Catalog Number: 6141
Hilary Putnam
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 11. EXAM GROUP: 13
Knowledge outside the mature sciences: knowledge of language, knowledge and the arts, knowledge in the social sciences, and moral and religious knowledge.
[Philosophy 156. Philosophy of Mind]
Catalog Number: 3677
Richard G. Heck, Jr.
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 1. EXAM GROUP: 6
An introductory course focusing on the development of the subject in the 20th century. Approaches to the mind-body problem, including dualism, behaviorism, type- and token-identity theories, functionalism and their contemporary heirs, considering how these approaches address problems about consciousness, intentional content, and the mental causation of action. Readings from Armstrong, Block, the Churchlands, Dennett, Fodor, Kim, Lewis, Putnam, Ryle and many others.
Note: Expected to be given in 2000–01.
*Philosophy 157z. Perception: Proseminar
Catalog Number: 6037
Susanna Claire Siegel
Half course (spring term). F., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7
An overview of some contemporary problems and theories of consciousness and perceptual experience, which will also introduce many central issues in the philosophy of mind.
*Philosophy 160. Wittgenstein and Philosophy of Mind: Proseminar
Catalog Number: 1630
Richard Moran
Half course (spring term). Tu., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
Wittgenstein’s conception of philosophical psychology. Topics include 1) the nature of psychological concepts and psychological discourse; ‘expressivism’ and related issues; 2) the role of ‘grammar’ and ‘criteria’ and the question of realism or naturalism about the psychological; 3) privacy and incommunicability; other minds and skepticism about them; the ‘inner and the outer’; 4) the nature of the self and subjectivity; states of consciousness, mental processes, sensations, 5) meaning and understanding.
*Philosophy 164z. Metaphysics: Transcendental Arguments: Proseminar
Catalog Number: 1047
Susanna Claire Siegel
Half course (spring term). F., 12–2. EXAM GROUP: 5, 6
An examination of P. F. Strawson’s Individuals and related psychological and philosophical literature.
*Philosophy 165. Metaphysics of Color: Proseminar
Catalog Number: 8508
Alison Simmons
Half course (fall term). M., 3–5. EXAM GROUP: 8, 9
A consideration of such questions as: What is color? What is the relation between the appearance and the reality of color? Is color subjective or objective? Is it an intrinsic or a relational property of objects? Why should a philosopher (as opposed to a scientist) think she has anything to say about the matter? And how does the science of color bear on the philosophy of color?
[Philosophy 168. Kant’s Ethical Theory]
Catalog Number: 8361
Christine M. Korsgaard
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 12. EXAM GROUP: 5
A study of Kant’s moral philosophy, based primarily on the Groundwork of Metaphysics of Morals, the Critique of Practical Reason, and The Metaphysics of Morals.
Note: Expected to be given in 2000–01.
Philosophy 169. Morality and Action
Catalog Number: 8138
Thomas M. Scanlon, Jr.
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., at 1. EXAM GROUP: 15
Various views of the rational and motivational basis of action and their implications for the nature of moral requirements, moral appraisal and moral responsibility.
*Philosophy 170. The Nature of Normativity: Proseminar
Catalog Number: 1053 Enrollment: Limited to 20
Melissa Barry
Half course (fall term). M., 3–5. EXAM GROUP: 8, 9
An examination of influential contemporary accounts of the rational authority ("normativity") of moral claims. Topics to be discussed include the nature of normativity, the possibility of an objective account of normativity in a naturalistic framework, realism and antirealism, and reasons for action.
Philosophy 171 (formerly Philosophy 177). Political Philosophy
Catalog Number: 2266
Michael Blake
Half course (fall term). M., W., (F.), at 1. EXAM GROUP: 6
A critical introduction to issues of state authority, justice, liberty and equality through readings of major works in political philosophy, including the writings of such theorists as Hobbes, Locke, Mill, Marx, and Rawls.
*Philosophy 173. Philosophy of Law: Proseminar
Catalog Number: 1068
Michael Blake
Half course (spring term). M., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
An examination of some central questions in the philosophy of law, with primary focus on the private law of property and contract and consideration of the nature, justification and appropriate scope of such institutions.
Philosophy 174. Recent Ethical Theory
Catalog Number: 5525
Melissa Barry
Half course (fall term). Tu., Th., at 12. EXAM GROUP: 14
An examination of the strengths and weaknesses of consequentialist and deontological ethical theories. We will consider the foundations of these views, their underlying conceptions of actions and persons, and their resulting conceptions of moral reasoning.
Prerequisite: at least one course in philosophy, political theory, or moral reasoning
*Philosophy 185. Philosophy and the Ordinary: J.L. Austin and Others: Proseminar
Catalog Number: 2178
Stanley Cavell
Half course (fall term). W., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 7, 8
An assessing of Austin’s quarrels with, and provocations from, both Anglo-American analysis and Franco-German phenomenology and its aftermath, the latter represented in Derrida’s encounter, in his “Signature Event Context,” with Austin’s How to Do Things with Words, the former in Austin’s encounter, in his Sense and Sensibilia, with A.J. Ayer’s Foundations of Empirical Knowledge. Some experience with Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations will be helpful.
Philosophy 187. Aesthetics: Experience and Expression
Catalog Number: 2594
Richard Moran
Half course (spring term). M., W., (F.), at 2. EXAM GROUP: 7
An examination of some texts of philosophical aesthetics from the 18th and 19th centuries, texts which either represent or anticipate the Romantic period. Themes include the role of emotion in art (from the point of view of both artist and audience), the nature of expression and its relation to the will, problems of sincerity and authenticity, and art or poetry as sources of knowledge. Readings will include some, but probably not all, of the following authors: Diderot, Schiller, Burke, Kant, Hume, Hegel, Lessing, Rousseau.
*Philosophy 224. Hume’s Treatise Concerning Human Understanding: Seminar
Catalog Number: 5644
Melissa Barry and Alison Simmons
Half course (spring term). M., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 9
This text is typically treated separately by philosophers interested in metaphysics and epistemology (who look at Book I) and by philosophers interested in moral philosophy and moral psychology (who look at Books II-III). We shall read the entire text, attending to the ways in which Hume is attempting to integrate his theoretical and practical philosophical views.
*Philosophy 232. Nietzsche and Foucault: Seminar
Catalog Number: 4359
Susan Kay Hahn (Johns Hopkins University)
Half course (fall term). Tu., 12–2. EXAM GROUP: 14, 15
The direct influence of Nietzsche’s philosophical thought and method on Foucault. First half, Nietzsche’s revisionary view of truth and knowledge, with particular application of his anti-metaphysical commitments to morals. Second half, Foucault’s Nietzsche-inspired theory of power, “knowledge/power” thesis, and genealogical methods in Discipline and Punish, History of Sexuality
and other works.
*Philosophy 237. The Later Philosophy of Wittgenstein: Seminar
Catalog Number: 2359
Hilary Putnam
Half course (fall term). W., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 9
A discussion of Wittgenstein’s masterpiece, the Philosophical Investigations, and some of the different approaches that have been taken to understanding it.
*Philosophy 248. Philosophy of Mathematics: Seminar
Catalog Number: 3423
Charles D. Parsons
Half course (fall term). F., 1–3. EXAM GROUP: 6, 7
*Philosophy 252. Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Language: Seminar
Catalog Number: 3910
William G. Demopoulos (University of Western Ontario)
Half course (spring term). W., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 9
Aspects of Michael Dummett’s program in metaphysics and the philosophy of language for the evaluation of metaphysical disputes. Particular emphasis on the philosophy of time and issues pertaining to the reality of the past and on the notion of an “absolute form of description” of reality. Independent developments and extensions of Dummett’s program for selected issues in the philosophy of science. Basic texts: selections from Dummett’s Truth and other Enigmas and The Logical Basis of Metaphysics.
*Philosophy 258. Belief, Trust and Testimony: Seminar
Catalog Number: 1303
Richard Moran
Half course (fall term). Tu., 3–5. EXAM GROUP: 17, 18
The nature of our dependence on each other (including those long dead) for most of what we take ourselves to know. We shall consider what is involved in believing on the authority of another person’s testimony, the relation between this and the value of autonomy, and the question whether this sort of reliance has a proper role to play in such contexts as moral or aesthetic experience. Readings will be drawn from Hume, Austin, Gadamer, Coady, Wellbourne, Anscombe, Baier and others.
*Philosophy 275. Practical Reason and Ethics: Seminar
Catalog Number: 4228
Derek Parfit (All Souls College, Oxford)
Half course (spring term). Tu., Th., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 18
Reasons for caring and for acting, rationality, normativity, motivation, naturalism, non-cognitivism, constructivism, non-reductive realism, egoism, consequentialism, contractualism, Kant.
*Philosophy 277. Philosophy and the Law: Seminar
Catalog Number: 3887
Robert Nozick and Scott Brewer
Half course (spring term). M., 4–6. EXAM GROUP: 9
An examination of philosophical theories of the good life and human flourishing, and their implications for legal and political philosophy.
Note: Offered jointly with, and meeting at, the Law School. Open only to graduate students in the Department, with the permission of the instructor.
*Philosophy 279. Contemporary Theories of Justice: Seminar
Catalog Number: 1026
Michael Blake
Half course (fall term). Th., 2–4. EXAM GROUP: 16, 17
A consideration of recent debates in political philosophy about social and political justice. How is justice related to different conceptions of human nature? How is it connected with ideas such as community, rights, and the good? We will focus on recent work dealing with justice and the claims made on behalf of social groups such as minority cultures, and the consequences of the exclusion or inclusion of these claims in our thinking about justice.
*Philosophy 299hf. Individual Supervision
Catalog Number: 8076
Charles D. Parsons and members of the Department
Half course (throughout the year). Hours to be arranged.
Note: Required of candidates for the A.M. or Ph.D. in Philosophy. Consult the Department’s Supplement to the General Announcement for details.
*Philosophy 300b. Colloquium
Catalog Number: 6280
Thomas M. Scanlon, Jr. 7986
Half course (spring term). Hours to be arranged.
Continuation of Philosophy 300a.
*Philosophy 303. Colloquium: Dissertation Presentations
Catalog Number: 1089
Thomas M. Scanlon, Jr. 7986
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Hours to be arranged.
*Philosophy 305. Individual Reading and Research
Catalog Number: 4462
K. Anthony Appiah 3067, Melissa Barry 3037, Michael Blake 1471, Warren Goldfarb 4499, Richard G. Heck, Jr. 2993, Christine M. Korsgaard 2994 (on leave 1999-00), Richard Moran 1786, Robert Nozick 2999, Charles D. Parsons 2298, James Pryor 2190 (on leave 1999-00), Hilary Putnam 2838, Thomas M. Scanlon, Jr. 7986, Alison Simmons 1300, and Raphael Graham Woolf 2488
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Hours to be arranged.
*Philosophy 310. Research Seminars
Catalog Number: 4465
K. Anthony Appiah 3067, Melissa Barry 3037, Michael Blake 1471, Warren Goldfarb 4499, Richard G. Heck, Jr. 2993, Christine M. Korsgaard 2994 (on leave 1999-00), Richard Moran 1786, Robert Nozick 2999, Charles D. Parsons 2298, James Pryor 2190 (on leave 1999-00), Hilary Putnam 2838, Thomas M. Scanlon, Jr. 7986, Alison Simmons 1300, and Raphael Graham Woolf 2488
Small seminars on specialized topics, to be arranged when practicable by these members of the Department in consultation with graduate students who are suitably prepared. When topics of such seminars are decided far enough in advance, the seminars will be listed individually with numbers from 311 through 398.
*Philosophy 311. Workshop on Moral and Political Philosophy
Catalog Number: 5370
Melissa Barry 3037, Michael Blake 1471, Derek Parfit (All Souls College, Oxford) 2066, and Thomas M. Scanlon, Jr. 7986
Half course (fall term; repeated spring term). Hours to be arranged.
A forum for the presentation and discussion of work in progress by students and faculty working in the areas of moral and political philosophy. Open only to graduate students in the Philosophy Department and by special invitation of the instructors.
Note: Meets approximately every two weeks throughout the year.
*Philosophy 333. Preparation for the Topical Examination
Catalog Number: 1967
K. Anthony Appiah 3067, Melissa Barry 3037, Michael Blake 1471, Warren Goldfarb 4499, Richard G. Heck, Jr. 2993, Christine M. Korsgaard 2994 (on leave 1999-00), Richard Moran 1786, Robert Nozick 2999, Charles D. Parsons 2298, James Pryor 2190 (on leave 1999-00), Hilary Putnam 2838, Thomas M. Scanlon, Jr. 7986, Alison Simmons 1300, and Raphael Graham Woolf 2488
Required in both fall and spring terms of all third-year graduate students in the Department.
*Philosophy 399. Direction of Doctoral Dissertations
Catalog Number: 3283
K. Anthony Appiah 3067, Melissa Barry 3037, Michael Blake 1471, Stanley Cavell 2087, Warren Goldfarb 4499, Richard G. Heck, Jr. 2993, Christine M. Korsgaard 2994 (on leave 1999-00), Richard Moran 1786, Robert Nozick 2999, Charles D. Parsons 2298, James Pryor 2190 (on leave 1999-00), Hilary Putnam 2838, Thomas M. Scanlon, Jr. 7986, Alison Simmons 1300, and Raphael Graham Woolf 2488