Courses 2008-2009

Official Yale College program and course information is found in Yale College Programs of Study, available on line at www.yale.edu/yalecollege/publications/ycps.

Philosophy Directed Studies

Lecture M, 11:30 - 12:20
Discussion T, Th, 11:30 - 12:45 or M, W, 1 - 2:15

Ala Alryyes
Alex Beecroft
Mihaela Fistioc
Gregory Ganssle
Tamar Gendler
Jonathan Gilmore
David Larson
Barbara Sattler
Zoltan Szabo
Andre Willis

112b, Problems of Philosophy. Zoltan Szabo

M, W, 2:30 - 3:20; 1 HTBA

An introduction to philosophy based on a reading of Bertrand Russell’s The Problems of Philosophy. Fundamental questions include the existence of matter, induction, a priori knowledge, universals, truth and falsehood, and the limits of inquiry. The aim of the course is to give a taste of philosophy and to show how one might approach its questions systematically.

115a, First-Order Logic. Sun-Joo Shin

T, Th, 10:30 - 11:20

An introduction to formal logic. Study of the formal deductive systems and semantics for both propositional and predicate logic. Some discussion of metatheory as well.

History of Philosophy

125a, Introduction: Ancient Philosophy. Verity Harte

T, Th, 2:30 - 3:20; 1 HTBA

An introduction to the main developments in ancient Western philosophy covering the earliest pre-Socratics, concentrating upon Plato and Aristotle, and including a brief foray into Hellenistic philosophy. Intended to be taken in conjunction with Philosophy 126b.

126b, Modern Philosophy from Descartes to Kant. Keith DeRose
T, Th, 1:30 - 2:20; 1 HTBA
An introduction to some major figures in the history of modern philosophy with critical readings of Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Reid and Kant Intended to be taken in conjunction with Philosophy 125a, although 125a is not a prerequisite.

Ethics and Value Theory

175b, Introduction to Ethics. Shelly Kagan

M, W, 10:30 – 11:20; 1 HTBA

What makes one act right and another wrong? What am I morally required to do for others? What is the basis of morality anyway? These are some of the questions raised in moral philosophy. A careful examination of two of the most important attempts to answer them, the theories of John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant, as well as a briefer look at two other important views, those of David Hume and Thomas Hobbes. Also, consideration of the problem of free will: do we really have control over what we do, or are we merely the puppets of external causes?

176a, Death. Shelly Kagan

M, W, 10:30 - 11:20; 1 HTBA

There is one thing I can be sure of: I am going to die. But what am I to make of that fact? An examination of a number of issues that arise once we begin to reflect on our mortality. Consideration of the possibility that death may not actually be the end. Are we, in some sense, immortal? Would immortality be desirable? An attempt to get a clearer notion of what it is to die. What does it mean to say that a person has died? And, finally, an evaluation of different attitudes to death. Is death an evil? How? Why? Is suicide morally permissible? Is it rational? In short: how should the knowledge that I am going to die affect the way I live my life? Authors include Fischer, Perry, Plato and Tolstoy.

178b, Introduction: Political Philosophy. Thomas Pogge

T, Th, 10:30 - 11:20; 1 HTBA

A survey of social and political theory from Plato through modern philosophers such as Rawls, Nozick and Cohen. Emphasis on tracing the development of political ideas; challenges to political theories

180a, PLSC 191, Ethics and International Affairs. Thomas Pogge

T, Th, 10:30 - 11:20; 1 HTBA

This course takes moral reflection beyond state boundaries, addressing the traditional questions about state conduct and international relations as well as more recent questions about intergovernmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and the design of global institutional arrangements.

Intermediate Courses

History of Philosophy

204b, Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. Kenneth Winkler

T, Th 1:30 - 2:20; 1 HTBA

An examination of the metaphysical and epistemological doctrines of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.

Metaphysics and Epistemology

267a, G, Mathematical Logic I. Sun-Joo Shin

T, Th, 11:35 – 12:50

An introduction to the metatheory of first-order logic, up to and including the completeness theorem for the first-order calculus. An introduction to the basic concepts of set theory is included. Prerequisite: Philosophy 115) or permission of instructor.

268b, G, Mathematical Logic II. Sun-Joo Shin

T, Th, 11:35 - 12:50

A technical exposition of Gödel’s first and second incompleteness theorems and of some of their main consequences in proof theory and model theory, such as Lob’s theorem, Tarski’s undefinability of truth, provability logic, and nonstandard models of arithmetic. Prerequisite: Phil. 267a or permission of instructor.

272b, Philosophy of Mind. Katalin Balog

T, Th, 11:35 – 12:50

A survey of contemporary issues in the philosophy of mind. Topics to include arguments for dualism and physicalist responses, mental causation, the nature of intentional states, and the nature of qualitative states.

276b, Metaphysics. George Bealer

T, Th, 2:30 - 3:45

An examination of central questions in metaphysics from historical and contemporary perspectives. Particular attention will be paid to the following topics: ultimate ontological categories; the nature and existence of universals; the fundamental types of particulars and how they can remain identical in spite of undergoing change; the realism or anti-realism debate. Prerequisite: First Order Logic or Mathematical Logic I or II.

Ethics and Value Theory

326a, The Philosophy of Religion. Gregory Ganssle

T, Th, 9:25 - 10:15; 1 HTBA

A study of the relation between religion and ethics, traditional arguments for the existence of god, religious experience, the problem of evil, miracles, immortality, science and religion, and faith and reason.

328b, G, European Political Thought From Weber to Derrida. Maurizio d'Entreves

A survey of major themes in twentieth-century Continental political thought. Topics include reason and rationalization in modernity; legality, legitimacy, and sovereignty; decline of the public sphere; origins of totalitarianism; and communicative ethics and the inclusion of the "other" in the new Europe. Readings from Max Weber, the Frankfurt school. Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt, Martin Heidegger, Carl Schmitt, Jürgen Habermas, and Jacques Derrida.

334a, Philosophy of Architecture. Karsten Harries

M, W, 11:35 - 12:25

An examination of architecture’s uneasy placement between art and everydayness. Topics include architecture and building, building and body, the architectural theory of the Enlightenment, the architectural sublime, ornament, modernism, and postmodernism. Authors include Vitruvious, Alberti, Laugier, Boullee, Goethe, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Semper, Ruskin, Nietzsche, Loos, and Heidegger.

343b, Humanities 260b , The Philosophy of Art. Jonathan Gilmore

M, W, 2:30 - 3:20; 1 HTBA

This course will offer a broadly focused investigation into philosophical questions raised by art and literature. Topics include: art and politics, the concept of art, censorship, expression, metaphor, autonomy, art and knowledge, museum display, audiences, high vs. low art, formalism, interpretation, evaluation, narrative, and style.

Seminars

Prerequisites: The following courses generally require a previous course in philosophy. All require the instructor’s permission.

History of Philosophy

400a,G, GREK 437/737, Plato's Parmenides. Verity Harte, Barbara Sattler

W, 3:30 - 5:20

Reading and discussion of Plato's Parmenides, a work central to an understanding of Plato's thought and of Theories of Universals in general, in which a young Socrates faces challenges to his Theory of Forms by an older Parmenides, followed by a dialectical exercise that has attracted the interest of philosophers as diverse as Hegel and Ryle. Prerequisite: Introduction to Ancient Philosophy (125a) or equivalent and Intermediate Greek or permission of the Instructor.

401b, G, CLCV 447b, Pleasure in Plato and Aristotle. Verity Harte

W, 3:30 - 5:20

Examination of Plato's and Aristotle's treatments of pleasure, including their opposition to hedonist identifications of pleasure as the good and their eventual concession that some pleasure has a place in the best human life. Consideration of the nature of pleasure, its value, and its place in moral theorizing. Readings in translation.

402b, G, CLCV 449b, Philosophy of Math in Ancient Greece. Barbara Sattler

T, 3:30 - 5:20

The status of mathematical knowledge and of its basic notions and methods of demonstration in Ancient Greek thought. Topics include reasons why geometry rose to a paradigmatic example of a scientific theory and of rationality in general; the relation of geometry and arithmetic; mathematical problems such as incommensurability, and mathematical notions such as infinity and continuity and their influence on the philosophy of the time. Texts from the Pythagoreans, Plato, Aristotle and Euclid.

403b, G, Hume. Kenneth Winkler

T, 3:30 - 5:20

A study of Hume's epistemology and metaphysics and his science of human nature. Topics include our knowledge of space and time; inductive reasoning; the nature and representation of causation; the origin and justification of belief in an external world; personal identity; the normative bearing of naturalized epistemology; the explanation and justification of religious belief; and the attractions and limits of skepticism. Readings in Book I of A Treatise of Human Nature, An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, and Dialogues concerning Natural Religion.

404a, Kant's Doctrine of Illusion. Omri Boehm

Th, 3:30 - 5:20

Kant's Critique of Pure Reason culminates in the argument that human reason constantly deceives itself through "necessary illusions." The course evaluates that argument by a close reading of the Critique's Dialectic. Focus will be put on Kant's critique of Descartes' Cogito; on the antinomies; and on Kant's refutation of the proofs of the existence of God.

405a, G, Hegel's Political Philosophy. Steven Smith

T, 9:25 - 11:15

The course will be based on a close reading of Hegel's principal work of political philosophy the "Philosophy of Right." Special attention will be given to his theory of the state, war, and international relations. We will also examine Hegel's legacy and some of the main interpretations of his thought, e.g., Marx, Kojeve. Pippin.

Metaphysics, Epistemology, Logic

425b, G, Topics in Philosophy of Mind. Katalin Balog

T, 1:30 - 3:20

Discussion of the explanatory gap, inverted spectrum and conceivability arguments; different kinds of consciousness; the relationship between consciousness and attention; and physicalist and dualist accounts of consciousness.

427b, G, Persistence and Possibility. Michael Della Rocca

Th, 1:30 - 3:20

An examination of what it is for an object to persist through time and to have certain properties necessarily or contingently. Attention to the application of these issues to the identity of persons. Other topics include temporal parts vs. spatial parts, the identity of indiscernibles, the nature of time, counterpart theory, essentialism. Readings drawn from classicl sources (particularly Leibniz and Hume) and from contemporary sources including Kripke, Lewis, Parfit, van Inwagen, Adams and Unger.

428b, G, Intensional Logic. Sun-Joo Shin

T, 3:30 - 5:20

Logical treatment of "intensional" constructions, particularly necessity and possibility. Various propositional and quantified modal systems and possible worlds semantics. Philosophical issues involved in modality, e.g. the identity puzzle, free logic, modal skepticism.

429a, G, Problems in Semantics: Quantification. Itamar Francez, Zoltan Szabo

W, 1:30 - 3:20

Problems of generality, using work on quantification from linguistics and philosophy. Analysis of generalizations such as some, every, no, many, always, never and occasionally. Differences
from the quantifiers employed in first-order logic; philosophical implications with respect to the problems of reference and existence. Topics include adverbial quantifying expressions not associated with particular nominals; constructional resources of various substitutional quantification; plurals, pronouns, unselective binding, domains of quantification, absolute generality, descriptions, and existentials.

430a, G, Personal Identity. Kenneth Winkler

T, 3:30 - 5:20

Discussion of the nature of persons, their unity, and the conditions of their identity over time. Readings in a wide range of classical and contemporary sources, among them Locke, Hume, Shaftesbury, Butler, Reid, Bernard Williams, Derek Parfit, Charles Taylor, Sally Haslanger, and David Lewis. Some consideration of the metaphysics of kinds; social construction; philosophical methodology; and bearing of ethics on metaphysics.

431a, G, Modals and Conditionals. Daniel Rothschild

M, 3:30 - 5:20

An examination of the semantics and pragmatics of modals and conditionals. Topics include: possible-world analysis of modality, different kinds of modality, Lewis-Stalnaker analysis of counterfactuals, indicative conditionals, non-truth-conditional analyses of modals and conditionals, Sobel sequences and reverse-Sobel
sequences, scope interactions with modals and conditionals.

432a, The Metaphysics of Fiction. Mary Beth Willard

T, 1:30 - 3:20

A systematic investigation into the philosophical issues at the intersection of metaphysics and aesthetics. Problems include, for example, the paradoxical statements that Sherlock Holmes is more famous than any living detective and Sherlock Holmes does not exist. The ontological status of fictional works, the role of the author and audience in the production of fiction, and the role of the imagination in the development of fiction. Readings from both the historical and contemporary literature.

Ethics and Value Theory

450a, G, Political Philosophy and Political Membership. Seyla Benhabib

W, 3:30 - 5:20

Conditions of membership have not been subjected to rigorous philosophical examination in liberal-democratic theory. How can boundaries and borders be justified? In a world of deterritorialized politics, what is the moral justification, if any, for retaining nation-state borders? By focusing on Rawls, Walzer, Habermas, Arendt and contemporary theories of citizenship (Beiner, Carens, Nussbaum, Bauboeck), this course will deal with the ethics and politics of membership.

451b, G, Moral Obligation. Stephen Darwall

T, 7:00 - 8:50 PM

The concept, nature, and grounds of moral obligation. Focus on contemporary debates about the normativity of morality; some attention to historically important discussions, especially concerning Kant. Contemporary writings from Strawson, Nagel, Korsgaard, and Darwall.

452a, G, Humanities 338, Biology, Evolution, and Culture. Jonathan Gilmore

W, 3:30 - 5:20

A broad investigation into purported evolutionary and biological explanations for such cultural phenomena as language, morals, politics, and art.

453b, G, HSAR 447b, ARCH 432b, The Bavarian Rococo Church. Karsten Harries

M, 1:30 - 3:20

A case study, exploring the relationship of architecture, reason and the sacred. The focus will be on the epochal threshold that divides the theatrical culture of the Baroque from our modern world picture.

455b,-1 G, Normative Ethics. Shelly Kagan

W, 1:30 – 3:20

455b-2, G, Normative Ethics. Shelly Kagan

M, 1:30 - 3:20

A systematic examination of normative ethics, the part of moral philosophy that attempts to articulate and defend the basic principles of morality. The bulk of the course surveys and explores some of the main normative factors relevant in determining the moral status of a given act or policy (features that help make a given act right or wrong). Brief consideration of some of the main views about the foundations of normative ethics (the ultimate basis or ground for the various moral principles). Note: Enrollment in 455a-1 limited to 20. If there is sufficient interest, 455a-2 will be offered on Mondays.

456b, G, Topics in Feminist Philosophy. Rae Langton

M, 1:30 - 3:20

An examination of some contributions of feminist thinking to the topics of pornography and objectification. The course is mainly in moral and political philosophy, but will occasionally touch on speech act theory and epistemology.

457a, G, PLSC 283, Recent Work on Justice. Thomas Pogge

T, 7:00 - 8:50 PM

In-depth study of one contemporary book, author, or debate in political philosophy, political theory or normative economics. Depending on student interest, this might be on John Rawls’s work in the 1990s, on Derek Parfit’s Climbing the Mountain, or on G.A. Cohen’s Rescuing Justice and Equality.

458b, G, PLSC 157, Philosophy and Politics: Global Health. Thomas Pogge

W, 3:30 - 5:20

The globalization of a uniform monopoly patent regime through the TRIPS Agreement illustrates how strongly the design of global institutional arrangements affects the still vast mortality and morbidity among the poor. With expert visitors from the relevant disciplines, we will explore the problem and ideas toward improving
access by the poor to essential medicines.

459b, G, PLSC 296b, Political Philosophy as Education. Steven Smith

M, 1:30 - 3:20

A central theme of the work all the great political philosophers is the education of the citizens of the future. This class will examine three of the seminal modern texts on political education: Locke's "Thoughts Concerning Education," Rousseau's "Emile," and "The Education of Henry Adams." Particular emphasis will be given to their views on the relation between political education and democracy. There will also be included some short writings by J. S. Mill, Oakeshott, and Strauss on the role of liberal education in a free society. Prerequisite: a prior course in philosophy, political philosophy, Directed Studies, or a related subject. This is NOT a course on public policy.

460a, G, Hermeneutics, Multiculturalism and Cosmopolitan Critique. Lorenzo Simpson

Th, 1:30 - 3:20

Examination of the affinities and conflicts between the philosophical traditions of hermeneutics and Critical Theory, while paying special attention to the dispute between both traditions and that of so-called postmodernism with respect to the issues of humanism and the possibility of cross-cultural dialogue, understanding and critique.

*480a or b, Tutorial. Consult the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

A reading course supervised by a member of the department and satisfying the following conditions: (1) the work of the course must not be possible to do in an already existing course; (2) the course must involve a substantial amount of writing, i.e., a term essay or a series of short essays; (3) the student must meet with the instructor regularly, normally for at least an hour a week; (4) the proposed course of study must be approved by both the director of undergraduate studies and the instructor.

*490a or b, Senior Essay. Consult the director of undergraduate studies.

The essay, written under the supervision of a member of the department, should be a substantial paper; a suggested length is between 12,500 and 15,000 words. It must be submitted by April 12 of the senior year.

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