The following are courses that have been offered at some time during the last several years. Not all of these courses are available every year.

PHIL0010 - The Place of Persons

Some main philosophical problems about persons and their place in the world: the nature of persons and personal identity; mind and body; persons as free agents in a deterministic world; the subjectivity of personal values and the objectivity of moral requirements; the meaning of life. A main objective is to facilitate the student's own thinking about such issues.

PHIL0020 - Mind and Matter

Philosophical consideration of the nature of mind and its place in a material world. Specific issues may include: mind and the brain; mind as a computing machine; mind and behavior; the subjectivity and privacy of mentality; consciousness and self-consciousness; and the concept of a person.

PHIL0030 - Skepticism and Knowledge

What is knowledge? What is the extent and basis of one's knowledge about physical objects, other people, oneself, the future, morality, and religion?
Instructor(s): F. Ackerman

PHIL0040 - Reason and Religion

An introduction to philosophical thinking about our ability to come to reasoned conclusions about matters of religious speculation. Specific topics may include: the concept of God; the possibility and meaning of religious experience; can the existence of God be proved or disproved? how can the benevolent and omnipotent God permit evil in the world? does morality require religion?

PHIL0050 - Philosophy of Art

This course is an introduction to philosophy through the lens of philosophical issues surrounding art. Students will explore in detail some of the basic issues in aesthetics, including representation, expression, the definition of 'art', and conceptions of individual artworks, from a contemporary analytic perspective. Readings and examples are drawn from all artistic fields.

PHIL0060 - Modern Science and Human Values

Devoted to the critical study of moral problems that have been raised or affected by modern science and technology. Possible topics include animal experimentation, euthanasia, organ transplantation, and moral and legal issues raised by the computer revolution. More generally, we discuss what is and ought to be the role of the scientific community in deciding moral and social issues.

PHIL0070 - The Individual and the State

This course covers the primary texts of the great political philosophers. Students will undertake a survey of the main threads of political philosophy that have underpinned much of western political thought as well as look at some more modern takes on the question of man's role in the body politic.

PHIL0080 - Existentialism

An introduction to philosophical thinking through the study of existentialist themes, including being oneself, loving others, the validity and limits of morality, and the meaning of life in the face of the inevitability of suffering and death. Readings are drawn primarily from the writings of thinkers traditionally associated with existentialism, such as Schopenhauer, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus, but also include some works by contemporary philosophers. Enrollment limited to 200. Written permission required.
Instructor(s): B. Reginster

PHIL0090 - Philosophy East and West

Investigates themes associated with what is known as the "Western" philosophical tradition-e.g., idealism, skepticism, and the limits of understanding-as they arise in various philosophical traditions in the East (including Upanishadic, Buddhist, and Taoist traditions). The "Western" philosophers studied include key historical figures such as Wittgenstein, Kant, and Plato, as well as more recent philosophers.

PHIL0100 - Critical Reasoning

A study of the techniques and principles of correct reasoning and effective communication. Topics may include deduction and induction, meaning and definition, fallacies in reasoning, the basic logic of propositions and predicates, and the essentials of inductive reasoning.

PHIL0110 - The Nature of Fiction

This course is concerned with philosophical questions arising from the concept of fiction. Topics will include: What makes a story a fiction? What are fictional characters? Are fictions "created"? Are fictions physical things, like books? How do fictions make us care about things we don't even believe in? How do fictions affect our moral beliefs.

PHIL0120 - Freedom and Responsibility

An introduction to philosophy by way of consideration of such issues as: whether we are, can be, or ought to be free to think and act as we choose; whether we are or can be responsible (morally or legally) for our thoughts or actions or their consequences; and whether we ought to be punished for any of our thoughts or actions or their consequences. Readings from classical and contemporary sources.

PHIL0130 - Introduction to Analytic Philosophy

This course will introduce the methods and issues of contemporary analytic philosophy. We will begin with an overview of the structure of philosophical reasoning and then apply these methods by entering several hot debates in contemporary epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of language, and decision theory.

PHIL0180 - Feminist Philosophy

This course is designed to examine core issues of feminist philosophy. Questions central to the course include the essential nature of woman, whether there is a distinctly female method of reasoning, whether philosophical methodology is gender biased, and the moral impact of pornography and prostitution. Each of the four sections of the class will be devoted to one of these topics.

PL0019 Contemporary Moral Problems

This course is an introduction to the practice of moral reasoning through consideration of issues of actual public controversy. Topics covered include debates concerning the public sphere (famine relief, environmental protection, affirmative action) as well as the private sphere (abortion, sexuality, drugs). Emphasis is placed on identifying, evaluating, and constructing careful and well thought-out moral arguments.

PHIL0200 - First Year Seminar

PHIL200A - Consciousness

This course will provide an introduction to the main philosophical theories of consciousness, and also to the relevant experimental work in neuroscience and cognitive psychology. Among the issues to be considered are: the different forms of consciousness, the relationship between consciousness and attention, the role of consciousness in perception, and the "hard problem" of consciousness (that is, the problem of determining how "qualitative" psychological characteristics like pain and the taste of lemons are related to neurobiological characteristics of brain states).

PHIL0200B - Time Travel

Although time travel is a commonplace of popular fiction, considering it closely reveals some interesting paradoxes. Studying these paradoxes provides a natural introduction to many core topics in metaphysics, including causation, possibility, personal identity, free will and the relationship between philosophy and physics. For first year students only.

PHIL0210 - Science, Perception, and Reality

It is implausible that scientific discoveries could make us give up commonsensical beliefs. It is even less plausible that commonsense could make us reject established scientific theories. So when science and commonsense appear to clash, as they do over colors, solidity, mental content, values, and death, serious philosophical problems arise. We will investigate possible responses to these problems.
Instructor(s): D. Kutach

PHIL0220 - Introduction to Philosophy

An introduction to basic methods of philosophical inquiry and their application to some traditional problems in philosophy. Topics include arguments and their place in philosophy, philosophical thought-experiments and the method of counterexamples, the analysis of knowledge, skepticism, the mind-body problem, free will, and the existence of God.

PHIL0230 - Human Knowledge and Truth

We consider the concepts of knowledge and truth, given the contemporary notion that conflicting views about the world can both "be correct". Issues covered will include: realism and anti-realism, pluralism and relativism, conceptual relativity, and objectivity. Readings will come from contemporary analytic philosophers, including Devitt, Rorty, Putnam and Nagel.

PHIL0240 -Dreams

This course is concerned with philosophical questions arising from dreams and dreaming. It will deal with contemporary and historical philosophers' work in an exploration of this mysterious and fascinating, yet extremely widespread, activity.

PHIL0250 - The Meaning of Life

This is an introductory course in ethics, with a focus on the question of what is the nature of the human good, or of a life lived well. Readings will be from classical sources (Aristotle, Epicurus, Kant, Nietzsche, Camus) as well as from contemporary authors. In investigating this question, the course will also introduce students to some of the main problems and positions in moral philosophy. Central concepts such as obligation, responsibility, pluralism, moral knowledge will be discussed, but in the larger context of what is the nature of the good life. No prior work in philosophy will be presupposed.

PHIL0350 - Ancient Philosophy

We will discuss the ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics of the principal figures in ancient philosophy from the Presocratics to Aristotle. Emphasis is given to understanding the problems the philosophers were trying to solve and to assessing the arguments for their various positions. Primary readings are from the original sources in translation.
Instructor(s): M. Gill

PHIL0360 - Early Modern Philosophy

An introduction to central themes in Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. Major topics include: reason, experience, and knowledge; substance and the nature of the world as it really is; induction, causation, and the origin of our ideas; skepticism, realism, and idealism. Connections are made with the scientific revolution of the 17th century.
Instructor(s): J. Broackes

PHIL0400 - Marxism

Two parts: The first is a quick survey of the main ideas in the work of Marx and Engels. The second part deals with current criticisms as well as attempts to draw lessons for our day from that work.

PHIL0410 - Marxism after Marx

A study of current debates in Marxist theories concerning such issues as dialectic market socialism; class, race, and gender; and democracy. Prerequisite: PL 40 or permission of the instructor.

PHIL0500 - Moral Philosophy

A systematic introduction to the main branches of moral theory, including questions about the nature of value and morality and how it might be known, general theories of what morality requires, and applications of moral theory to concrete moral controversies such as abortion, euthanasia, ethics in war, and obligation to help the needy.

PHIL0540 - Logic

An introduction to perhaps the most fundamental tool of rational thought: deductive logic. Course begins with basic sentential logic, then moves on to deduction, quantification, and prediction. Argumentation and reasoning may also be addressed at times. No previous experience with logic or philosophy is required.

PHIL0560 - Political Philosophy

An analytic investigation of some central problems and topics in political philosophy, including political obligation and civil disobedience, liberty, rights, equality, and democracy. Readings are drawn from recent work in the field, along with a few classics.

PHIL0660 - Philosophy of Psychology

An introduction to philosophical issues concerning the foundations of psychology and the cognitive sciences. Possible topics include behaviorism and functionalism, mentality and neural processes, mental representation, the computational model of mind, the implications of artificial intelligence, the connectionist model, the role of consciousness in psychology, and the status of psychology as a science.

PHIL0700 - Philosophy of Religion

This course will discuss a representative group of philosophical issues and problems that arise in connection with religious worldviews. Specific topics may include but are not limited to the following: concepts of a god, the existence and attributes of God, the problem of evil, miracles, religion and morality, faith and science, and the possibility of religious knowledge.

PHIL0770 - Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind

Examines three central mysteries in the philosophy of mind: the relationship between the mind and the body; the nature of thoughts; and the nature of consciousness. Prephilosophical and historical approaches, and discussion of the currently dominant themes.

PHIL0850 - Philosophy of Language

Discussion of the nature of linguistic meaning and other topics, such as vagueness; metaphor; and language, thought, and culture.

PHIL0880 - Philosophical Themes in the Contemporary American Short Story

Consideration of contemporary American short stories in terms of their treatment of such philosophical themes as love, loyalty, envy, belief, despair, and charity. Focuses on themes in moral philosophy, rather than themes in social and political philosophy. Enrollment limited to 20. Written permission required. LL
Instructor(s): F. Ackerman

PHIL0990 - Undergraduate Seminars

PHIL0990A - Distributive Issues in Health Care

PHIL0990B - Equality in Political Theory

A study of the connections and conflicts between the liberal democratic commitment to political equality of all citizens, and the more leftist goal of economic equality, or equality of well-being. For example, do the purported rights that produce economic inequality override those that support political equality, or vice versa? Texts will be mostly contemporary.

PHIL0990C - Foucault and Epistemology

Provides both an overview of Foucault's major contributions to philosophy and a focused analysis of his theory of knowledge, especially the links between power, discourse, and knowledge. Considers debates over Foucault's claims and whether his account leaves us with an epistemic nihilism.

PHIL0990D - Justice, Resource Allocation, and Health Care Rationing

Three main sections: first, the main philosophical theories of distributive justice and their implications for the right to health care; second, a number of specific moral issues in allocating, prioritizing, or rationing health care resources; and, third, fair institutional procedures for health care rationing. Readings drawn both from philosophical work on justice and from literature in health policy and bioethics. Prerequisite: one course in ethics or political philosophy. Preference given to concentrators in philosophy or biomedical ethics.

PHIL0990E - Kant's Moral Philosophy

PHIL0990F - Perception

Begins with a reading of an 18th-century classic, Berkeley's New Theory of Vision , and then moves on to contemporary work. Topics include: direct versus representational theories of perception, primary and secondary qualities, the theory-ladenness of perception, and the alleged foundational role of perception in knowledge.

PHIL0990G - Plato

A close reading of Plato's major dialogues from a philosophical perspective. Topics may include his ethics, politics, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, or aesthetics. Readings are from original sources (in translation) and contemporary secondary literature. (Students wishing to read the texts in the original Greek should make arrangements with the instructor.)

PHIL0990H - Race and Racism

With special attention to the U.S., this course examines the origins of the concepts of race and racism and current controversies about it.

PHIL0990I - Self-Respect

We often act as if the sole object of morality were treating others properly. In this course, we will consider how we ought to treat ourselves. Among the questions we will consider are: What is self-respect? How is it attained, preserved, and lost? Can self-respect exist in the absence of personal and moral integrity?

PHIL0990J - The Concept of Alienation

We will read texts concerning the concept of alienation from Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Sartre with a view to developing a concept of alienation that proves useful for an understanding of contemporary conditions.

PHIL0990K - Topics in the Philosophy of Language

During the first half of the semester, we read several of the classic works that form the background for contemporary philosophy of language, including works by Frege, Russell, Ayer, Quine, and others. During the second half, we take up one or more topics of contemporary discussion, chosen from the following: vagueness, paradoxes of self-reference, the nature of truth, realism versus antirealism.

PHIL0990L - Moral Psychology

We all have our notions of good people, bad people, and ordinary people, but reality tends to defy these concepts. Many otherwise "nice," family loving, church going people voted for Hitler. On the other hand, people with very stupid or even evil views about what morality is sometimes turn out to be a lot better "in practice" than their smart counterparts who know Kant by heart. The same person may be very honest with her husband but very dishonest with the IRS and other authorities, brave in battle but scared of public speaking. This class will explore this complexity, touching upon topics like free will and rationality, and read attempts by contemporary philosophers to find some method in the mess.

PHIL0990M - Descartes' Meditations

This seminar will focus on the main arguments and overall goals of Descartes' Meditations , read in conjunction with the Objections and Replies and some of Descartes' other writings. Also discussed will be some philosophically engaging studies of the Meditations by contemporary writers such as Harry Frankfurt and Bernard Williams.

PHIL0990N - Moral Metatheory: What is Moral Theory Good For?

Moral theory investigates morality, but moral metatheory investigates moral theory. Some problems we'll consider include: Is moral theorizing worthwhile? What's the point of moral theory? What should good theories do? Does widespread disagreement or the reliance on questionable intuitions invalidate moral theorizing? What exactly does the moral theorist know? What counts as good philosophical methodology, and how do we know?

PHIL0090O - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

PHIL1250 - Aristotle

A close study of Aristotle's major works: his metaphysics, philosophy of nature, philosophy of mind, and ethics. Readings from original sources (in translation) and contemporary secondary material. (Students wishing to read the texts in the original Greek should make arrangements with the instructor.)

PHIL1260 - Plato

A close reading of Plato's major dialogues from a philosophical perspective. Topics may include his ethics, politics, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, or aesthetics. Readings are from original sources (in translation) and contemporary secondary literature. (Students wishing to read the texts in the original Greek should make arrangements with the instructor.)

PHIL1270 - Pragmatism

Course examines the central themes of American pragmatism - the belief/doubt model of inquiry, assertibility theories of truth, the critique of philosophical dualisms - with some attention to their applications to social philosophy. The focus will be on the classical theories of Peirce, James, and Dewey, as well as on contemporary philosophers such as Quine, Rorty, and Putnam.

PHIL1300 Philosophy of Mathematics

An introduction to the philosophy of mathematics. Topics include the nature of mathematical objects and the status of mathematical knowledge. In the first part of the course, we will consider historically-influential views, such as Formalism, Intuitionism, and Logicism. In the second, we will consider contemporary views of mathematics, such as Fictionalism, neo-Fregeanism, and Structuralism.
Instructor(s): J. Schechter

PHIL1310 - Myth and the Origins of Science

Examines explanations of the origin of the cosmos, human beings and issues of human concern, such as illness, death and the afterlife, with readings from literary, philosophical, and scientific sources from the ancient Near East and Greece. We will ask how we and the ancients distinguish science from non-science and how ancient science differs from our own.
Instructor(s): M. Gill

PHIL1400 - Philosophy in the Novel

Consideration of novels in terms of their treatment of such philosophical themes as death, courage, faith, betrayal, responsibility to others, and mercy. Focuses on themes in moral philosophy rather than themes in social and political philosophy. Half of the course deals with Malory, the other half with contemporary American novels.
Instructor(s): F. Ackerman

PHIL1430 - Feminist Philosophy

A rigorous philosophical examination of five topics addressed in contemporary feminist writing: justice and gender; gender justice and developing countries; the social construction of gender, sexuality, and sexual orientation; the claim that women reason differently and have different ways of knowing and arguing; and radical feminism on pornography, rape, and intercourse. Prerequisite: one semester course in philosophy.

PHIL1450 - Aesthetics

An investigation of philosophical issues concerning art and aesthetic experience. Topics include the nature of aesthetic judgment and experience, the basis for general standards of taste, what makes something a work of art, the aesthetic appreciation of objects that are not art (e.g., nature), and the relationship between aesthetic experience and morality. Readings are from historical and contemporary philosophers.

PHIL1500 - Methodology of Philosophy

Does successful philosophical inquiry yield new facts or new ways of looking at old facts? Is philosophical truth absolute or relative? Relative to what? Why does philosophy lack not only a body of generally agree-upon truths, but even an established method of settling disputes? Must the results of philosophical inquiry accord with "common sense" and if so, why?

PHIL1520 - Consciousness

Topics will include: forms of consciousness, physicalist and representationalist theories of qualia, pain and other bodily sensations, emotional experience, conscious thought, higher order representation theories of consciousness, self-representation theories, global workspace theories, blindsight and related phenomena, and the roles of attention and working memory in perceptual consciousness.
Instructor(s): C. Hill

PHIL1550 - Decision Theory: Foundations and Applications

Decision theory is a formal apparatus for analyzing preferences and choices. Students learn the formal theory and then examine its foundations and philosophical implications. Specific topics: the role of causation in decision problems, the status of the axioms of the theory, problems of infinite utility, rudimentary game theory, social choice functions, utilitarianism as a theorem.

PHIL1590 - Philosophy of Science

Examines philosophical issues concerning science such as observational versus theoretical concepts, the nature of laws and theories, the logic of scientific explanation, reduction of concepts and theories, probability and confirmation, functional and teleological analysis, scientific changes and revolutions, and the realist versus irrealist interpretation of theories.

PHIL1600 - Philosophy of Law

Philosophical examination of the chief classical and contemporary theories of the nature and function of law. Topics include the definition of law, the nature of legal systems, the logic of legal reasoning, the analysis of basic legal conceptions (e.g., of right and duty), legal rules and principles, law and justice, and law and morality.

PHIL1610 - Philosophy of Relativity Physics

This course will examine how Einstein's Special and General Theory of Relativity bears on important philosophical issues with a focus on whether spacetime constitutes a kind of substance and what spacetime structures are required to support explanations of physical phenomena. Also discussed are connections with logical positivism, cosmology, spacetime singularities, determinism, wormholes, time travel, causation, and the passage of time.

PHIL1620 - Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics

Course will analyze interpretations of non-relativistic quantum mechanics like the Copenhagen interpretation, Everetts' relative state interpretation, the many-worlds/many-minds interpretations, GRW-type collapse models, Bohm's interpretation, and various modal interpretations. The focus will be the measurement problem, but we will also discuss connections with mental states, the contextual nature of measurement, non-locality and spacetime.
Instructor(s): D. Kutach

PHIL1630 Advanced Deductive Logic

This course provides a rigorous introduction to the metatheory of classical first-order predicate logic. Topics covered include the syntax, formal semantics, and proof theory of first-order logic, leading up to the completeness theorem and its consequences (the compactness and Lowenheim-Skolem theorems). Further topics may include modal logic, the logic of conditionals, basic set theory, and epistemic logic. There will be some discussion of philosophical issues, but the focus of the course will be on the technical material. PHIL0540 or the instructor's permission is required.

PHIL1640 - The Nature of Morality

Investigates major theories and issues concerning the nature of moral value. Readings from 20th-century authors. Issues include naturalism, supervenience, moral motivation, subjectivity/objectivity of value, skepticism, moral relativism, and moral realism.
Instructor(s): J. Dreier

PHIL1650 - Moral Theories

A systematic examination of the main alternative normative moral theories: consequentialism; moral rights; moral duties; moral virtues. Focuses on the principal issues in the formulation of the different theories, on the main points of conflict between them, and on the critical evaluation of each. Readings are drawn mainly from contemporary work in moral philosophy.

PHIL1660 - Metaphysics

Selections from the following topics: causation and determinism; identity and persistence, including personal identity; necessity and possibility; essence and essentialism; freedom and agency; ontology; substances and events; the nature of time; realism and antirealism. Prerequisite: two courses in philosophy.
Instructor(s): J. Broackes

PHIL1670 - Time

Course will focus on two questions: 'Does time flow?' and 'What is the difference between the future and the past?' This involves issues of fate, our consciousness of time, the connection between time and motion, and time travel. We'll discuss arguments from classical Greek and medieval Arabic philosophy and bring modern physics to bear on these questions.
Instructor(s): D. Kutach

PHIL1680 - Medieval Philosophy

Since the Renaissance, medieval philosophy has often been unjustly dismissed as arcane and irrelevant, despite impressive innovations in ethics, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and logic. Instead of surveying so vast a field, the course focuses on one or two sets of problems, such as the problem of evil, the freedom of the will, the existence of God, universals, substance, mind and meaning.

PHIL1700 - British Empiricists

A detailed study, both historical and critical, of central issues in Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. Topics include a selection from: innate ideas; substance; personal identity; abstract ideas; theory of language; perception, materialism, and idealism; induction and causation; and skepticism. Also includes some discussion of later critics of classical empiricism.
Instructor(s): J. Broackes

PHIL1710 - 17th Century Continental Rationalism

A detailed study, both historical and critical, of selected writings of Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz, with special attention to their conceptions of substance, mind, knowledge, and freedom. Readings include contemporary discussions of these philosophers. Prerequisite: one course in philosophy.

PHIL1720 - Kant: The Critique of Pure Reason

A detailed study of Kant's theoretical philosophy in the Critique of Pure Reason, which we will read in its entirety alongside contemporary secondary source material.

PHIL1730 - Nietzsche

A systematic study of Nietzsche's philosophy as it developed throughout his works. Salient topics include nihilism, the death of God, the idea of negation of life, the eternal recurrence, perspectivism and practical reason, the problem of suffering, the will to power, the revaluation of values, and the idea of affirmation of life or amor fati. Substantial attention also given to Nietzsche's major philosophical predecessors (e.g., Kant and Schopenhauer) as well as to the most significant recent secondary literature on his philosophy. Prerequisite: at least one prior course in philosophy.
Instructor(s): B. Reginster

PHIL1740 - Nineteenth-Century Philosophy

Study of the major figures of 19th-century philosophy, such as Kant, Schiller, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. Prerequisite: at least one prior course in philosophy, preferably in moral philosophy (e.g., PL 50).
Instructor(s): B. Reginster

PHIL1750 - Epistemology

This course provides a survey of central issues in contemporary epistemology. We will discuss the nature of knowledge, justification, and rationality. Topics include: difficulties with the traditional analysis of knowledge, skepticism about the external world, the nature of empirical justification, the problem of induction, and the epistemology of the a priori.

PHIL1760 - Philosophy of Language

This course examines recent philosophical work in natural language semantics. The focus is on names and descriptions. We will consider which kinds of propositions sentences containing these terms express, and their truth conditions. We may also examine belief reports and vague terms, and other theoretical issues. Prerequisite: PHIL0540 or PHIL1630. Written permission of instructor is required of all students.

PHIL1770 - Philosophy of Mind

Questions concerning the nature of mentality and its relation to the body. Selections from the following topics: mind and behavior, mind as the brain, mind as a computing machine, thought and language, action and mental causation, intentionality and consciousness, emotion and volition, the nature and possibility of a science of mind. Prerequisite: one course in philosophy or background in cognitive science.

PHIL1780 - Philosophy of Biology

General problems in the philosophy of science as they apply specifically to the biological sciences. Issues include the status of biological and neurobiological laws, "property reductionism" and emergentism in relation to the thesis of vitalism, evolutionary explanation, ethical and cultural influences on genetic research, and gender bias in scientific theorizing and gender research in the biological sciences.

PHIL1790 - Philosophy of the Social Sciences

An examination of philosophical questions raised by the idea of distinctively social sciences such as economics, political science, sociology, history, and psychology. Readings from traditional and contemporary philosophers on such topics as individualism, rationality, interpretation, and value neutrality.

PHIL1800 - Topics in Political Philosophy

PHIL1800A - Anarchism, Libertarianism, and Authority

Examines arguments challenging the idea that state power is ever morally justified, and the idea that there is any obligation to obey the law. Also considers a more moderate class of views that holds that state power is justified only for very narrow purposes such as keeping peace, but not including most of the things that modern states do. A previous course in moral or political philosophy is recommended.

PHIL1810 - Topics in Philosophy of Language

PHIL1820 - Philosophy and Psychoanalysis

The course focuses on psychoanalytical conceptions of mental life and mental health. It offers a comprehensive and systematic examination of the main developments in psychoanalysis from Freud to the present; a critical exploration of their fundamental concepts, methods, and doctrines; an assessment of their impact on other disciplines, including, e.g., philosophy, literary and cultural studies, and religious studies.
Instructor(s): B. Reginster

PHIL1830 - Twentieth-Century Analytic Philosophy

This course will cover major philosophers and movements of the 20th century philosophy in the analytic tradition, from the early ground- breaking works of Frege, Russell, and Wittgenstein through Logical Positivism, "ordinary language" philosophy, Quine, and the later developments. Philosophical issues discussed concern philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science, ethics, and the nature and possibility of philosophy.

PHIL1840 - Twentieth-Century Continental Philosophy

The course will focus on the main figures of the German tradition-- Husserl, Heidegger, Cassirer, Gadamer, Adorno, Habermas, and Tugendhat, with emphasis on their efforts to rethink such key concepts as consciousness, history, reason, and the self. Some attention will be paid to points of intersection with German-language philosophers standardly considered "non-Continental"--Frege, Wittgenstein, and the Vienna Circle.
Instructor(s): B. Reginster

PHIL1850 - Philosophical Logic

An examination of various philosophical issues arising in the foundations of logic, such as the following: existence, definite description, reference and truth, semantic paradoxes, implication and presupposition, modalities and "possible worlds," logical truth, the nature of logical knowledge, and logic in natural language. Prerequisite: PHIL1630 or the permission of the instructor.

PHIL1880 - Advanced Deductive Logic

An introduction to the techniques and concepts of mathematical logic encompassing such topics as recursion theory, computation theory, and set theory, and emphasizing especially the broader ramifications of important formal results (e.g., Gödel's incompleteness theorem). Intended as a sequel to PHIL1630; previous participation in either that course or one of similar content is strongly recommended.

PHIL1890 - Topics in Twentieth-Century Philosophy

PHIL1890A - Contextualism and Naturalism in Twentieth-Century Epistemology

Topics include the epistemological ideas of the later Wittgenstein; the "epistemological naturalism" that P. F. Strawson finds in Wittgenstein (and in Hume), and adopts as his own philosophy, early and late; naturalized epistemology, as defined by W. V. Quine; and varieties of contextualism in the epistemology of recent decades, including selections from the work of Robert Nozick, Fred Dretske, Peter Unger, and, most recently, David Lewis.

PHIL1890B - Wittgenstein

A detailed study, concentrating on themes in the Philosophical Investigations. Readings also in some earlier works of Wittgenstein, Frege, and Russell that provide the background to Wittgenstein's break with his former views. Topics include a selection from the picture theory of the proposition, logical atomism, understanding and meaning, rules and rule-following, "private languages," imagination, grammar and necessity, and skepticism and certainty. Prerequisite: three courses in philosophy.

PHIL1910 - Topics in the History of Philosophy

PHIL1910A - Currents in American Pragmatism: Peirce to Putnam

Pragmatism is a uniquely American contribution to philosophy. This course analyzes the development of pragmatism by investigating the work of Peirce, James, Quine, Richard Rorty, and Putnam. Special emphasis is placed on the role played by recent pragmatism in the realism/antirealism debate.

PHIL1910B - Intentionality in Brentano, Meinong, and Husserl

Intentionality--that feature of our mental states in virtue of which they are of or about something--was a central theme for a number of philosophers working in Vienna at the turn of the century, including most prominently Franz Brentano, Alexius Meinong, and Edmund Husserl. Their work influenced both phenomenological and analytic traditions, including Freud, Heidegger, Moore, Russell, and Ryle.

PHIL1910C - German Idealism

A study of the major figures and unifying themes of classical German Philosophy, focusing on Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. Also includes discussion of such figures as Jacobi, Reinhold, Maimon, Hölderlin, and Novalis.

PHIL1990 - Senior Thesis

PHIL2010 - Research in Philosophy

Section numbers vary by instructor. Please see the registration staff for the correct section number to use when registering for this course.

PHIL2020 - Seminar

PHIL2030 - Seminar

PHIL2040 - Seminar

PHIL2050 - Seminar

PHIL2070 - Seminar

PHIL2080 - Seminar

PHIL2100 - Seminar

PHIL2110 - Seminar

PHIL2120 - Seminar

PHIL2130 - Seminar

PHIL2140 - Seminar

PHIL2150 - Seminar

PHIL2160 - Seminar

PHIL2200 - Graduate Proseminar (2 Credits)

Covers classics of philosophy from the end of the 19th century to the end of the 20th, including moral philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of language. By permission only. First year graduate students should register for PHIL2200 and PHIL2210 together.

PHIL2970 - Preliminary Examination Preparation (No Course Credit )

For graduate students who have met the tuition requirement and are paying the registration fee to continue active enrollment while preparing for a preliminary examination.

PHIL2980 - Research in Philosophy

PHIL2990 -Thesis Preparation (No Course Credit )

For graduate students who have met the tuition requirement and are paying the registration fee to continue active enrollment while preparing a thesis.