Graduate Course Descriptions
Spring 2010
PHIL 6305 (Class #31741)
Room: AH 208
Meeting Time: 11:30-13:00 TTH
Combined Section on History of 18th-Century Philosophy
PHIL 6335 (Class #31744)
Room: C 108
Meeting Time: 13:00-14:30 MW
Combined Section on Theory of Knowledge
PHIL 6342 (Class #31732)
Room: AH 303
Meeting Time: 11:00 - 12:00 MWF
Combined Section on Philosophy of Mathematics
Through the ages, philosophers have thought that mathematics embodies the highest standards for knowledge. Even our best science might get things entirely wrong, but we will never have to worry that 2+2 isn't 4. However, events such as the invention of non-Euclidean geometry, the discovery of paradoxes related to infinity, and Godel's demonstration that arithmetic is incomplete have raised deep worries about the foundations of mathematics. This course will present these and other challenges to confidence in mathematics, and then discuss a number of philosophical theories about how our confidence can be restored. A main concern will be to understand what accounts for the truth of the claims of mathematics. However along the way some other philosophical puzzles will arise, for example, what are the numbers?, and what are mathematical statements really about?
Although the course will cover some technical topics related to logic and infinity, it will assume no special knowledge of mathematics beyond simple algebra. Some experience with introductory logic is a prerequisite. There will be two quizzes and a final, and occasional homework exercises.
PHIL 6344 (Class #20966)
Room:TBA
Meeting Time: 13:00 - 14:30 TTH
Combined Section on Philosophy of Science
PHIL 6354 (Class #30660)
Room: TBA
Meeting Time: 10:00 - 11:30 TTH
Combined Section on Medical Ethics
This course will divide roughly into two parts. The first part is concerned with “micro level” issues, issues about medical decision- making, doctor patient relationships and mutual responsibilities.
Specific issues will include truth telling, autonomy/paternalism, and the proper role of surrogate decision-makers. The second part discusses “macro” policy issues: the nature of insurance, access to health care, and possible reforms.
I hope to teach the course mostly, if not entirely, from online materials and library reserves.
PHIL 6356 (Class #34332)
Room: ARC 209
Meeting Time: 13:00-14:30 TTH
Combined Section on Feminist Philosophy
This course is an advanced survey of recent developments in feminist philosophy. Topics include the definitions of gender and sex, ethical theories, feminist epistemologies, disputes about essentialism, and assessments of the position of women in the history of philosophy. We will study and compare the assumptions and aims of various types of feminism (radical, socialist, liberal, psychoanalytic, French, multicultural, "Third Wave," etc.). No philosophy background is assumed, but readings will typically be fairly long and abstract. The class will involve roughly 50% lecture and 50% class discussion (often in small groups). Grading will reflect the requirements of regular reading, writing, and group participation.
Writing assignments include informal one-page reaction papers as well as three longer (5-page) essay papers on assigned topics. Texts: TBAProf. Morrison
PHIL 6386 (Class #31747)
Room: L 212J
Meeting Time: 10:00 - 11:00 MWF
Combined Section on 19th-Century Philosophy
PHIL 6395 (Class #31749)
Room: 512 AH
Meeting Time: 14:30 - 17:30 T
Seminar on Contemporary Metaethics
We will examine both the seminal 20th century versions and more recent articulations of four main views in metaethics: non-naturalism, naturalism, non-cognitivism, and error theory. Our only required course text will be Russ Shafer-Landau and Terence Cuneo, eds., Foundations of Ethics: An Anthology. This is best acquired via amazon; I will not order it through the bookstore. Other readings will either come from journals available electronically through the UH library website or be put on e-reserve. Work for the course will consist of a take-home midterm, a presentation, and a 15+ page term paper in 2 drafts.
PHIL 6395 (Class #31750)
Room: 512 AH
Meeting Time: 14:30 - 17:30 TH
Seminar on Moral Relativism/Moral Nihilism
This course will explore the metaethical and normative implications of moral diversity. We’ll begin with a detailed introduction to the major metaethical positions, paying close to attention the empirical and philosophical presumptions of each theory. We’ll then review some descriptions of moral and normative diversity from the sciences, including theories and models that attempt to account for this diversity. Finally, we’ll examine contemporary philosophical work on the problem of moral disagreement, addressing questions like: how fundamental is moral disagreement? To what extent does it support the metaethical positions of moral relativism or moral nihilism? How should we react to moral diversity—can it be justified to for a society to impose one set of moral norms and standards on societies that do not subscribe to them?
PHIL 6396 (Class #32687)
Room: 512 AH
Meeting Time: 14:30 - 17:30 MW
Seminar on Spinoza and Hobbes: The Mathematization of Value Theory
Prima facie the notion that value theory, like mathematics and other sciences, could be grounded in a set of principles from which the rest follows with deductive rigor, seems far-fetched. Aristotle’s warning that one should not expect mathematical precision in the study of human actions appears well-founded and sensible. Nonetheless, Hobbes and Spinoza, two of the 17th century’s most influential philosophers, claimed to construct their ethical and political systems with mathematical precision. In the Preface to Book III of the Ethics, Spinoza aims to “consider human actions and appetites just as if it were a question of lines, planes and bodies.” (Curley, p.153) Hobbes reduced the philosophical method to ‘ratiocination’ or calculation, which he claimed consisted in the twin operations of subtracting or dividing and adding or multiplying ideas. Both philosophers developed Descartes’ vision of a universal method that would yield a unified structure of scientific knowledge, from simple mathematical objects all the way to political society.
Our aim is to determine how Spinoza and Hobbes implement their versions of the universal method in tackling questions of ethics and politics, and what implications this has for the specific philosophical content, and merits, of their axiomatic approach to value theory. We will address this by exploring three sub issues. 1) Which precedents can help us understand the particular features of the universal method as articulated by Spinoza and Hobbes in their writings on method? 2) Which features of these methods are at work in the Spinoza’s Ethics and Hobbes’ Leviathan and how do they shape the reasoning and conclusions reached? 3) How does focusing on the underlying methods employed by each affect our assessment of the philosophical contributions Spinoza and Hobbes made to practical philosophy, and the early modern approach to value theory, more generally?
PHIL 6397 (Class #34606)
Room: AH 512
Meeting Time: 12:00-13:00 MWF
Logic and Philosophy
This course is a graduate-level introduction to the philosophical applications of formal logic. Although the course is structured around a number of philosophical topics, the primary aim is to give students the degree of comfort and skill with formal apparatus necessary in much of contemporary philosophy. We will begin with the predicate calculus—with a special emphasis on translation between the calculus and natural language—before moving on to examine the basic notions of quantified modal logic. We will then spend the bulk of the semester exploring how these and other formal systems help us to treat various issues in metaphysics (essentialism, counterfactuals), philosophy of language (assertion, descriptions, conditionals), and ethics (expressivism).