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Undergraduate Courses Spring 2005Intensive Introductory Course V83.0015-001 An intensive introduction to the discipline of philosophy, by way of study of conceptual issues in cognitive science, focusing on the conflict between computational and biological approaches to the mind. Topics covered include whether a machine could think, the reduction of the mind to the brain, connectionism and neural nets, mental representation, and whether consciousness can be explained materialistically. Group I: History of PhilosophyHistory of Ancient Philosophy Examination of the major figures and movements in Greek philosophy, especially Plato and Aristotle.
V83.0021-001 In this course, we will read excerpts from the key metaphysical and epistemological texts of the greatest thinkers of what is often called philosophy’s Golden Age: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant.
V83.0039-001
V83.0040-001 In this course, we will examine some central topics in moral philosophy. Among the questions we will consider are: What reason is there to be moral? Is pleasure the only ultimate good? What makes an action right or wrong, and to what extent is this a matter of the action's consequences? What role should the concept of virtue play in moral theorizing? Are there such things as moral facts, and if so, how should we understand them? Is there a single true morality, or is moral truth relative to culture or the individual?Readings will be drawn from both contemporary and historical sources.
V83.0050-001 Examines moral issues in medical practice and research. Topics include euthanasia and quality of life; deception, hope, and paternalism; malpractice and unpredictability; patient rights, virtues, and vices; animal, fetal, and clinical research; criteria for rationing medical care; ethical principles, professional codes, and case analysis. No prerequisites, but preference is given to juniors and seniors.
V83.0102-001 The course will revolve around two central questions in basic ethics, with related discussion of several topics in applied ethics. The first central question is, what is it that determines the moral status of a particular being? If we can save one human baby or else two elephants, in a world with plenty of each, what is it about the human baby that determines it's she alone that we should save, rather than both elephants, each (suppose) mentally more advanced than she? And, here's the second central question: Is there a morally significant distinction, even anywhere in the neighborhood of the (probably insignificant) distinction between causing and letting happen - between killing and letting die, for instance, and, for another instance, between inflicting pain and letting pain happen? On the second question, I'll unconfidently argue that there really isn't any important distinction. And, so, it's terribly wrong to for us to allow distant little children, in the poorest regions, to suffer and die young. But, now turning back to the first question, there's this: If we can't find good reason to accord the human babies enormously higher moral status than almost all other mammals, will we then be required, on pain of behaving very badly, to provide them also, all over the world, with whatever aid they need to flourish? For many centuries, that may be enormously costly. So, there'll be important interplay between our two central questions. Our discussion of these questions will have implications for issues of discrimination, abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and other "hot topics" in applied ethics. Far from being a series of lectures, the course should consist mainly of lively discussion with, and among, its students, where the students think hard about ethical issues. Since there won't be an attempt to impart a "body of ethical knowledge," there won't be any exams. But, students must write two lucid short papers, or possibly three, each on a different issue discussed in class. Group III: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Mind, Language, and Logic
V83.0070-001 Introduces the techniques, results, and philosophical import of 20th century formal logic. Principal concepts include those of sentence, set, interpretation, validity, consistency, consequence, tautology, derivation, and completeness.
V83.0074-001 Modal logic is the logic of necessity and possibility and other such notions. In recent times, the framework of possible worlds has provided a valuable tool for investigating the formal properties of these notions. This course provides an introduction to the basic concepts, methods, and results of modal logic, with an emphasis on its application to such other fields as philosophy, linguistics, and computer science.
V83.0076-001 This course is an inquiry into the nature of inquiry. We often seek answers to questions—e.g., Who was responsible for the Sept 11 attacks? Will the Knicks win tonight? 837+655=?—and take ourselves to know the answers, or have rational opinions, or to have good evidence for our views. Rather than answer these questions, we will step back and ask, What is the nature of evidence? and, What it is to know something or to be rational? In answering these questions, we will examine versions of, and responses to Skepticism: that there is very little we can know or have reason to believe.
V83.0085-001 Examines various philosophical and psychological approaches to language and meaning and their consequences for traditional philosophical problems in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Discusses primarily 20th Century authors including Russell, Wittgenstein, and Quine.
V83.0098-001 This seminar will provide an introduction to central topics in the philosophy of mathematics. We will discuss the nature of mathematical objects: Are they mental constructions, do they inhabit some Platonic realm, or are there no mathematical objects at all? We will also discuss the status of our knowledge of mathematics. The course will have two parts. In the first part, we will consider several historically influential views of mathematics, such as Formalism, Intuitionism, and Logicism. In the second part of the course, we will consider contemporary views of mathematics. This part of the course will be structured around the question of how our knowledge of mathematics ought to be explained. Views to be explored include Fictionalism, Neo-logicism, Plenitudinous Platonism, and Structuralism.Readings for the course will be taken from an introductory book as well as from a collection of primary sources. Students will be evaluated based on class participation, two short papers, and a longer final paper. V83.0103-001 This course will focus on the metaphysics of human persons. The human organism where you are could continue to live as a human vegetable, without any psychology. But could you outlive any changes in your psychology, however extreme? If not, what is the relation between you and the human organism where you are? We will address these and other questions about human persons in connection with much more general questions about the metaphysics of objects which exist in space and time. CROSS LISTED COURSES:V78.0424 Cross listed as: V83.0127 Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise and Its Aftermath MW 11-12:15 Dr. Yitzhak Melamed The course is an in-depth study of Spinoza's main political work, the Theological-Political Treatise. Among the topics to be discussed are: prophecy and prophets, miracles and laws of nature, Spinoza and biblical criticism, Spinoza's view of the Jewish Law, Spinoza's Political Theory, and the influence of the book on the Enlightenment. V88.0722 Cross listed as: V83.0123 READINGS IN CHINESE PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE
V27.0700 Cross listed as: V83.0122 Greek Thinkers Philip Mitsis MW 11-12:15 | |
