Graduate Seminar: Wittgenstein, Goodman, Sellars This seminar will focus on the work of three philosophers who have a number of intriguing similarities (as well, of course, as differences). We will read parts of the later Wittgenstein, Nelson Goodman, and Wilfrid Sellars. We will consider several interrelated issues: social foundations of (all, most, some, no?) norms; the social, and the normative, aspects of language and cognition; Sellars' notion of a space of reasons (and Wittgenstein's language games and forms of life; Goodman's world versions); Wittgenstein's question: what counts as going on in the same way?---or Nelson Goodman's: what counts as going on in a relevantly similar way?, or Jerome Bruner's: how do we go beyond the information given?
We will read a good chunk of the first part of Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations and selections from some of his other later works. A number of things by Goodman (beginning with some of Fact, Fiction, and Forecast). And Sellars magisterial ``Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind'' (and ``Some Reflections on Language Games,'' in the unlikely event that time allows). Some of the material is difficult, but these are three of the very greatest philosophers of the last century, and reading them is very much worth the effort.
Introduction to Logic See Philosophy Course Descriptions
Phil 3713: History of Political Philosophy This course will survey several of the major figures in the Western tradition of philosophical reflection on society and government. All readings will be from original texts, and some of them are difficult. We will read Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jaques Rousseau, Mary Wollstonecraft , John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, and Max Weber. Central themes will include political legitimacy, obligation, and sovereignty; human nature; natural law and natural rights; justice, equality, and liberty; property rights, and the relationship between politics and religion. Attendance is required, and class participation and discussion will be stressed. A substantive final paper will be required.
Text: Princeton
Readings in Political Thought Mitchell Cohen and Nicole
Fermon, editors. Princeton University Press, 1996. ISBN-10:
0691036896; ISBN-13: 978-0691036892. $36 new; used copies
available at amazon.com and elsewhere. Many of the readings will
also be available on the course web site (coming soon).
Symbolic Logic I This course is an
introduction to the techniques and results of modern symbolic
logic. We will focus on the syntax and the semantics of
first-order logic, with an emphasis on constructing proofs in the
logical system and an even heavier emphasis on working with its
semantics. We will also study several notions, including sets,
relations, and functions, that will be useful tools in our study
of logic. Applications to philosophy, cognitive science,
linguistics, and computer science will be noted (briefly) at
relevant junctures. The course will prepare interested students
for the more detailed study of logic the following spring in
Symbolic Logic II, but many students who don't plan to pursue
logic beyond this course should find the current material
useful. The view of logic and inference as the processing and
transformation of information will be stressed. Attendance is
required.
Text: The Logic Book (with Student Solutions CD-ROM) by Merrie Bergmann, James Moor & Jack Nelson. 5th/ed. Used copies available from amazon.com and elsewhere, but be sure to get the 5th/ed.
Phil 1013: Introduction to Philosophy, Honors
Section TR, 9:00-10:15 We will read several works by
major Western philosophers. Although we will devote some time to
each of the main areas of philosophy, the field is much too vast
for us to probe all its nooks and crannies. We will have to
concentrate on just a few sub areas, and we will focus on the
questions: 1) What sorts of human lives--what ways of
living--are best? 2) What sorts of social and
political institutions are most suited to making such lives
possible, particularly in the modern, global world? 3) What
is the relationship between mind and body? Are they one and the
same, or are they somehow separate? 4) What methods (if
any) are best calculated to help us gain knowledge? 5) What
is rationality, and what is it good for? 6) Does God
exist? 7) How can we justify our answers to questions like
these? Classes will consist primarily of discussion rather than
lecture. It is expected that students will arrive at every
meeting ready to discuss the material. Grades will be based on
papers and at least one examination. In written work, students
will be expected to show a clear understanding of the views of
the authors we read and to develop and defend their own views on
the topics discussed.
Readings
Phil 3113: Reason, Judgment, &
Decision-Making T 1:30-2:45 This course is concerned
with several facets of decision-making. We begin by considering
what makes a good decision. We will then look at various inputs
to decision-making (beliefs, values, understandings, etc.),
common impediments to good decision-making (with an eye toward
developing decision skills), and the relation between
decision-making and morality. In order to examine these
topics, we will be drawing on suggestions from both
philosophers and social scientists. Competence with
basic mathematics (especially all levels of
high-school algebra) will be assumed.
Readings:
