UCD PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT 2016 SPRING COURSE LISTINGS Undergraduate & Graduate For all online courses: $100 course fee Call 303-315-3700 for more information or visit HTTP://WWW.CUONLINE.EDU PHIL 1012- Introduction to Philosophy: Relationship of the Individual to the World Section 001 MW 9:30am-10:45am G. Zamosc This course aims at helping students develop their skills at interpreting texts, critical thinking, and argumentation, while introducing them to a series of fundamental problems in philosophy. Among the topics we will study are: (1) Knowledge and skepticism about the external world; (2) free will and moral responsibility; (3) arguments for the existence of God; and, time permitting, (4) the problem of personal identity. Section 002 TuTh 12:30pm-1:45pm M. Tanzer This course will examine fundamental philosophical issues, primarily, although not exclusively, in the theory of knowledge and in ethics. The first half of the course, focusing on the theory of knowledge, will examine the thought of Plato and of David Hume; while the second half of the course, focusing on ethics, will look at the ethical theories of John Stuart Mill and of Immanuel Kant. This section of the course will also look at how the ethical theories of Mill and Kant have been applied to the problem of animal rights, by Peter Singer and Tom Regan Section 003 MW 12:30pm-1:45pm M. Wilding In this course we will consider major positions in the history of Western philosophy from Plato to Sartre. Along the way we will discuss differing views on the nature of reality, the existence of God, our acquisition of knowledge, and our moral and social obligations to others. Section 005 MW 11:00am-12:15pm M. Wilding See Section 3 Section 006 TuTh 2:00pm-3:15pm D. Mehring This introductory course will examine the position of five major philosophers (Plato, Epicurus, the Stoics, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche) on perennial philosophical conundrums (What is the good life? Is there life after bodily death?) In a manner that is both understandable and relevant. In addition to reading the philosophers writings, we will read Alain de Botton s The Consolations of Philosophy Section 007 TuTh 3:30pm-4:45pm D. Mehring Section 008 TuTh 11:00am-12:15pm D. Mehring Section E01 Online D. Mehring See Section 6 PHIL 1020- Introduction to Ethical Reasoning Section 001 TuTh 2:00pm-3:15pm S. Walker Section 002 MW 2:00pm-3:15pm S. Walker The purpose of this course is to provide the student with useful tools for solving ethical problems. We will investigate major positions from the philosophic tradition of ethics from Plato to Sartre. We will work toward the understanding of moral terminology and the development of moral reasoning through the examination of contrasting ethical theories. We will consider such issues as virtue, rights, and our obligations to others. Section 003 MW 11:00am-12:15pm D. Reeves This course will provide a journey into moral reflection. Its aim is to invite students to subject their own views about ethics to critical examination. We will work towards three goals. The first is to explore several moral issues that raise questions about ethics and justice in today s diverse and complex society. We will ask how a just society might distribute the things we prize income and wealth, duties and rights, powers and opportunities, offices and honors in the right way; how ought each person be awarded her or his due. The second goal will be to understand and evaluate the role of philosophy and critical thinking in addressing issues such as financial bailouts, affirmative action and the death penalty. We will ponder three central ideals or ways of thinking about ethical issues: virtue, freedom and welfare. The third goal is for students to engage in constructive discussion of the issues presented. A subset of this goal will to exposed students to diverse views while exploring and developing their own positions.
UCD PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT - 2016 SPRING COURSE LISTINGS 2 Section 004 TuTh 12:30pm-1:45pm M. Kim This course is an introduction to some problems of ethics and moral philosophy that may include (but is not limited to) questions concerning the nature of ethics and the good, the origin of moral ideas and obligations, as well as questions in applied ethics in areas such as environmental ethics, war and violence, medical and bioethics, etc. Section 005 MW 12:30pm-1:45pm D. Reeves See Section 003 Section 006 TuTh 11:00am-12:15pm Z. Walter This course will be oriented toward reading, writing and discussion of some of the basic themes and issues in the philosophy of ethics. In this class we will be dealing with questions such as "What does it mean to live a good life?", and "Why should I be moral? We will also be engaging in depth, issues around the will and morality, and some epistemological frameworks of moral reasoning. We will further explore and develop a mastery of different types of moral and ethical reasoning, most notably virtue ethics, stoicism, utilitarianism, deontology, pragmatism, and existentialism. The reading in this class will primarily be oriented toward some canonical writings in the philosophy of ethics, beginning with some ancient philosophy (Pre-Socratic, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca), on through to the modern period (Hume and Kant) and finally to the late 19th and 20th century (Nietzsche, James, and Beauvoir). The goal of this study overall is to examine, interpret, and ultimately to infuse the philosophy of ethics into our lives as a way of making sense and thinking about the world we live in. Section E01 Online D. Craig What is ethics? What role does ethics play in human life socially and individually, historically and today? What are some of the dominant theories of ethics, and how do they compare to one another? Finally, given the diversity of ethical perspectives available to us, how can we decide which is best? This course will address this set of questions (and others related to them) through an approach to ethics in three stages. First, we will explore how ethical reasoning is precipitated in situations of moral conflict through consideration of an ancient Greek tragedy. Second, we will examine and compare the positions of four key figures from the history of moral philosophy Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Simone de Beauvoir and Nel Noddings. Finally, we will select via student survey three controversial, contemporary issues, approach them as moral quandaries, and bring lessons from earlier in the semester to bear upon them, allowing these issues to be seen and evaluated afresh. By semester s end, students will not only have a better understanding of what ethics is they will, more importantly, have the tools to make more reasoned ethical decisions of their own. PHIL 2441- Logic, Language, and Scientific Reasoning Section 002 TuTh 9:30am-10:45am A. Hughes Section 003 MW 2:00pm-3:15pm A. Hughes This course concentrates on enhancing students capacity to reason well. The aim, in short, is for you to be sharper and smarter when you finish this course! Students will learn to distinguish argumentative from non-argumentative passages in ordinary language, to analyze the form of an argument, as well as how to recognize and avoid argumentative errors and mistakes. Students will also learn how to employ several techniques for determining the acceptability of an argument. Further, students will be introduced to the basic structure of scientific inquiry, including standards of evidence, the argumentative function of hypothetical construction and experimentation, as well as the limits of scientific conclusions. Students will learn as well why the structure of scientific inquiry makes it a distinctively powerful form of inquiry into the natural world. Section 004 MW 11:00am-12:15pm M. Bauer This course concentrates on enhancing students capacity to reason well. The aim, in short, is for you to be sharper and smarter when you finish this course! Students will learn to distinguish argumentative from non-argumentative passages in ordinary language, to analyze the form of an argument, as well as how to recognize and avoid argumentative errors and mistakes. Students will also learn how to employ several techniques for determining the acceptability of an argument. Further, students will be introduced to the basic structure of scientific inquiry, including standards of evidence, the argumentative function of hypothetical construction and experimentation, as well as the limits of scientific conclusions. Students will learn as well why the structure of scientific inquiry makes it a distinctively powerful form of inquiry into the natural world. Section E01 Online B. Hackett Section E02 Online B. Hackett This course introduces the study of formal logic and its applications in argument evaluation and scientific reasoning. We begin the semester by distinguishing various modes of reasoning (deductive, inductive, and abductive), then, basic methods for representing and evaluating arguments are introduced. Next, we zoom in on deductive reasoning by mastering one particularly powerful and
UCD PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT - 2016 SPRING COURSE LISTINGS 3 reliable method for testing deductive arguments for logical validity. Finally, we shift our focus to scientific reasoning by studying the way that all three modes of reasoning (primarily induction) constrain and guide scientific inquiry. In an effort to encourage the mastery of learned skills, throughout the course we practice argument evaluation techniques on actual (often very simple) English arguments. PHIL 3022- Modern Philosophy Section 001 MW 9:30am-10:45am C. Shelby The period of Western philosophy commonly referred to as modern (roughly the end of the 16th century to the end of the 18th century) is often presented as a period narrowly focused on questions of epistemology: questions concerning the nature and extent of human knowledge. In our course we will examine some of these basic epistemological themes, while attempting to broaden that scope a bit by also surveying some of the metaphysical themes that modern thinkers inherit from classical and medieval philosophy. We will be reading and discussing texts by Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Locke, Hume, and Kant. Some of the basic questions we will be addressing are as follows: how does the strictly causal realm of matter in motion relate to the mental, subjective character of knowledge, and what can we claim about the nature of subjectivity within that relation? Similarly, can philosophy establish a foundation for knowledge that can save scientific inquiry from the challenges of skepticism? PHIL 3032- Twentieth Century Analytic Philosophy Section 001 MW 2:00pm-3:15pm C. Shelby Undergraduate philosophy students often ask what the difference is between analytic and continental philosophy. This course is designed in part as a response to that question. It surveys the development of one side of the alleged distinction, the analytic tradition, understood as a line of response to the transcendental idealism of the 18th century author Immanuel Kant. Beginning (for those who are not familiar with the work of Kant) with a discussion of Kant s philosophical contributions, the course follows the trail of one kind of reaction to Kant s so-called Copernican Revolution in Epistemology in this case, interpreting our experience and knowledge in terms of logic and language. The topics that come to concern the analysts, as we will discover, extend from the meanings of terms and propositions to such larger issues as causation, freedom, consciousness, and personal identity. In addition we will consider what, from this perspective, we could really mean when we say that there are laws of nature, or that an act is right or wrong not to mention what we can legitimately be said to know about any of this stuff. PHIL 3200- Social and Political Philosophy Section 001 MW 9:30am-10:15am S. Walker We will consider major issues in the history of political philosophy. In particular we will discuss the two dominant political theories of the last 500 years, modern Liberalism and Socialism. In doing so we will consider the impact different conceptions of human nature have on both the choice of political philosophy the method for its development. We will read such philosophers as Plato, Hobbes, Marx, Sartre, Nozick, Rawls, and Jagger. PHIL 3500- Ideology and Culture: Racism and Sexism Section 001 TuTh 9:30am-10:15am B. Lisle This course explores, in detail, the way ideology functions within culture. Particular attention will be placed on the way ideological forces work to foster and maintain racist and sexist forms of thought and behavior. We will begin by analyzing the nature and scope of ideological forces as cultural forces, and then we will explore various ways certain contemporary thinkers claim it may be possible to resist or eliminate racist and sexist thinking within an individual and collectively. One basic question we will be asking is: to what extent can one escape ideologically founded thinking? Is it possible, in other words, for one to gain a self-critical relation to one s own culture, especially since cultural traditions seem to entail ideological forces that mask themselves within the guise of common sense or conventional wisdom? Section 003 MW 11:00am-12:15pm B. Lisle Section 004 MW 12:30pm-1:45pm B. Lisle See Section 001 Section E01 Online B. Goodrich Section E02 Online B. Goodrich How is it that a particular social perspective, serving particular interests, can be propagated throughout a culture and become accepted, internalized, even by those it harms most? In this course we'll examine several accounts of what ideologies are, how they are developed and maintained, and what functions they serve in their societies. These accounts will range from Marx's classic theory
UCD PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT - 2016 SPRING COURSE LISTINGS 4 to more recent theories, influenced by recent psychological studies. Throughout the course we'll also explore a few case studies of the ideologies of sexism and racism, and possible ways to combat them with more helpful strategies. PHIL 3550- Philosophy of Death and Dying Section H01 F 1:00pm-3:45 (7 Occasions) D. Mehring Hybrid Online/Classroom- This course will focus on the major historical and contemporary philosophical controversies on death and dying. First, we will examine the key metaphysical question of whether there is life after bodily death. We will approach this topic historically, beginning with the classical arguments from Plato and the Epicureans, tracing this debate through the modern era up to the current debate over what evidential value death related phenomena such as Near Death Experiences, Death Bed Visions, reports by psychics, apparitions, and other phenomena have for a rational belief in personal survival after bodily death. Secondly, we will look at loss and grief and how philosophy can be useful in resolving grief. Finally, we will consider some of the most important ethical controversies surrounding death and dying such as suicide and capital punishment. PHIL 4101/5101- Pragmatism: Classical American Philosophy Section 001 TuTh 12:30pm-1:45pm D. Hildebrand Perhaps the three most important questions for our nation of immigrants have been: Who are we? What do we believe? Should we accept the views of our forefathers? In addressing these questions, American philosophers have both accepted and rejected their intellectual heritage. In their most critical moments, American philosophers argue that philosophy must reassert itself as an active, constructive, and ethical force in human life. Doing this means shaking and breaking many traditional philosophical distinctions including those between: mind and body, fact and value, appearance and reality, self and society, probability and certainty, and language and world. This course will survey the classic philosophical themes developed and sustained by prominent 19th and 20th century philosophers, especially American Pragmatism. We'll begin with Emerson's Transcendentalism before we spend considerable time on classical American Pragmatism (including Charles Peirce, William James, John Dewey, and G.H. Mead). Contemporary pragmatism will also be carefully explored by examining the work of two important inheritors of classical pragmatism, Richard Rorty and Hilary Putnam. PHIL 4470/5470- Concepts of the Soul Section 001 MW 3:30pm-4:15pm S. Coggan This call will ask the difficult question, what is the true nature of the human being? What is our consciousness? What makes us human? We will discuss these questions through an examination of various theories of human nature put forward in religious and philosophical contexts through history, including the soul theories in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions of India and Tibet, the Chinese debate on human nature in Confucianism, Legalism and Taoism, the soul theories of Plato, Descartes, Hobbes, Rousseau, Kant, Freud and Jung. PHIL 4780/5780- Heidegger Section 001 TuTh 3:30pm-4:15pm M. Tanzer This course will examine some key writings of Martin Heidegger, one of the most important philosophers of the 20 th Century. We will begin with a study of Heidegger s Being and Time, which is representative of his early phenomenological pursuit of the meaning of being. We will then study the Introduction to Metaphysics, which exhibits the later Heidegger s renewed approach to the beingquestion. Issues emphasized will include Heidegger s critique of the subject/object distinction, his conceptions of finitude and death, and his interpretation of ancient Greek thought, all in the context of his inquiry into the nature of being. PHIL 4812/5812- Latin American Philosophy Section 001 MW 12:30pm-1:45pm G. Zamosc This course aims at introducing students to the topic of Latin American Philosophy or Latin American thought. One explicit aim of the course is to explore the issue of whether or not there even is such a thing as Latin American philosophy or thought; that is, the problem of whether there is either some distinctive way of doing philosophy or a set of philosophical issues belonging to an original tradition that stands on its own or sets itself apart from other traditions in philosophy and thereby merits the special appellative Latin American Philosophy. In examining this question we will focus on subjects like whether Latin American Philosophy incorporates indigenous ideas that date even to pre-columbian times; whether philosophy in Latin America emphasizes social and political struggles against European and American domination; whether Latin American thought borrows European and Anglo- American philosophical ideas in order to forge a peculiar point of view or whether is succumbs to a universalism that makes Latin
UCD PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT - 2016 SPRING COURSE LISTINGS 5 American philosophy invisible by actually preventing the development of an inner and outer dialogue of the sort needed to construct distinct and stable philosophical communities; whether Latin American philosophy reflects a special preoccupation with Latin American identity or the development of an ethnic perspective; and so on. Although we might not be able to definitively answer what, if anything, characterizes Latin American philosophy, by the end of this class, students will have a good grasp of this subject, a greater appreciation of the complexity of Latin American thought, and adequate familiarity with the literature on this topic. PHIL 4812/5812- Philosophy of Disability Section 001 Th 5:00pm-7:50pm K. Warren In this course students will explore a range of fundamental issues within the philosophy of disability. Over the course of the semester students will respond to some of the most pressing and challenging questions relating to disability today. These questions concern nature of disability and the status of people with disabilities within philosophical discourse and within society. Some of the questions students will consider include: What is disability? Is it a biological defect; or, is it like racism and sexism, which at their core are matters of oppression? Is having a disability always a bad thing; or, can disabilities be positive attributes? Are people with disabilities moral and legal equals? Or, has the philosophical treatment of those with disabilities historically, been biased and unfair? Do current practices or advancements in education, technology, or medicine enable or further marginalize those with disabilities? What obligations does society have toward those with disabilities? What obligations do those with disabilities have toward the rest of society? PHIL 4812/5812- Philosophy of Science Section 001 W 5:00pm-7:50pm M. Bauer This course examines some of the central philosophical questions concerning the nature of scientific investigation, such as the logical relation of evidence to hypothesis, the objective adjudication of competing hypotheses, the logical function of modeling in empirical inquiry, the criterion for a classificatory system to underwrite induction and explanation, the explanatory relationships between the differing sciences, as well as the theoretical and pragmatic function of scientific law and its relationship to explanation. PHIL 4833/5833- Existentialism Section 001 TuTh 12:30pm-1:45pm B. Lisle The lasting appeal of Existentialism as a literary, philosophical and artistic movement has much to do with its overall approach to basic human questions, such as: how to live in a seemingly absurd world full of incomprehensible forces and events. For example, when one lives during a time of war, it becomes tempting to conclude that life is absurd, that justice is an impossible ideal, and that beauty is only a temporary distraction. This course is an investigation of some of the central themes in the Existentialist tradition, including some of the most famous late 19th and early 20th Century writers in that tradition. We will be focusing on the philosophical writings of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, and de Beauvoir (if time permits).