Philosophy

Instructor: Chris Dorst

This course is designed to familiarize incoming graduate students with the expectations and standards of graduate level work in philosophy. In particular, it aims to develop the tools necessary to read, write, and converse about philosophy at the graduate level. We will study and discuss a wide range of papers, drawn from many areas of philosophy and written in a variety of philosophical styles.

Students will be asked to give a couple presentations on the readings, and to write a short paper each week in which they are not assigned to present. Students will also be required to write a longer final paper that develops an idea from one of their earlier short papers or presentations. 

Instructor: Max Robitzsch

This course is dedicated to the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who lived from 384 to 322 BCE. Aristotle developed his own unique philosophical ideas through the empirical study of the world around him, as well as in response to the theories of his teacher Plato and other early Greek philosophers. Aristotle’s extensive body of work covers all areas of philosophy and had a significant impact, especially during the medieval period when he was simply known as “the philosopher.” This course will provide an overview of Aristotle’s most important ideas, focusing on both his theoretical and practical writings. Readings will include selections from key works such as the Metaphysics, Physics, De anima (On the Soul), and Nicomachean Ethics.

Instructor: Amber Ross

Description forthcoming

Instructor: Molly Gardner

If the future isn’t real, can we have moral obligations to future generations? Do merely possible people have moral standing? Which consequences, if any, are morally relevant–causal consequences, counterfactual consequences, or logical consequences? Can an action you perform today have morally relevant consequences for someone in the past? (And is this how it is possible to harm the dead?) In this course we will examine these and other issues at the intersection of metaphysics and ethics. We will consider both whether our moral judgments can inform our metaphysical theories of time, reality, and causation, and whether our metaphysical theories of time, reality, and causation can inform our moral judgments.

Instructor: Gene Witmer

Philosophy of religion has become over the last several decades an extremely active area of research in analytic philosophy given how it relates to core concerns in metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. This seminar is designed to focus on two lines of argument that are widely considered to be the most powerful in current debates over theism: the teleological argument for theism based on the fine-tuning of physics and the argument for atheism based on the problem of evil.

The course will be broken roughly into three parts: the first will ensure a sufficient grounding in the contemporary landscape of philosophy of religion, reviewing major arguments for and against the existence of God; the second will look closely at the fine-tuning argument; and the third will focus on the problem of evil, focusing specifically on appeals to free will. At present I am expecting to make use of multiple papers and three books, the second of which is an anthology (note: these are subject to change before the fall term starts):

• C. Stephen Layman (2007) Letters to Doubting Thomas
• Neil Manson, ed. (2003) God and Design: The Teleological Argument and Modern Science
• Laura Ekstrom (2021) God, Suffering and the Value of Free Will

Students will be required to provide regular contributions to a Canvas discussion board, make one presentation to the class, write one shorter paper and one longer (conference-sized) paper. Readings may vary depending on student interest, and I welcome student suggestions of material we might read for the course.

Instructor: Greg Ray

Logic is foundational for all theoretical endeavors, but especially for work in philosophy where complex and careful reasoning is crucial. Moreover, explicit appeal to elements of first-order logic, model-theoretic semantics, and modal logic are common in much philosophical work. They are part of the lingua. franca of contemporary philosophy.

This course is designed to provide a solid foundation—philosophical and practical—in formal logic. For those without prior training, the course embeds a complete course in elementary logic, though approached from an advanced standpoint. Content varies, but with standard inclusions: classical first-order and modal logics with identity, formal semantics, and classic meta theorems. We will also formulate the philosophical underpinnings of our subject with special care, beginning with the concept of truth.

In addition to its great utility, logic is a subject of philosophical study in its own right.

Syllabus

Instructor: Charles Goldhaber

This seminar introduces students to the British Empiricist tradition through three key figures: Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), John Locke (1632–1704), and David Hume (1711–1776). Our study will pay special attention to the distinctive way these empiricist philosophers seek clarity in their discussions and how this aim colors their accounts of our mental dynamics. We will then consider how each philosopher’s conceptions of reason and passion shape his views about the origin and character of political authority. Some further themes include the nature of association, primary/secondary qualities, personal identity, skepticism, property, contracts, and the conditions for rebellion. Course contents are subject to change, based on the interests of enrolled students.

Syllabus

Instructor: Rodrigo Borges
This graduate course explores key issues in contemporary epistemology, focusing on the nature of knowledge and epistemic justification. We critically reassess the traditional definition of knowledge as justified true belief in light of the Gettier Problem. Challenging the common view that Gettier refuted this account, we examine recent theories suggesting the problem is a solvable paradox rather than a definitive refutation.

Extending into social epistemology, we investigate how social contexts shape our understanding of knowledge. Topics include testimony, collective belief, epistemic injustice, and communal practices in knowledge formation. By integrating individual and social perspectives, the course aims to demonstrate that justified true belief remains a robust account of knowledge.

Syllabus

Instructor: David McPherson

In this seminar we will focus on the revival of the ancient tradition of virtue ethics (especially Aristotelian virtue ethics), starting in the latter half of the 20th century and continuing up to the present. We will explore how this revival was motivated by (1) dissatisfactions with dominant modern moral theories (especially Kantianism and utilitarianism) as well as by (2) meta-ethical concerns about the modern problem of disenchantment (the perceived loss of meaning/value) as expressed in the supposed fact-value divide that informs subjectivist views of value. Regarding (1), we will assess criticisms that modern virtue ethicists have made of Kantian and utilitarian moral theories, and we will also examine Kantian and utilitarian criticisms of modern virtue ethics. Furthermore, we will consider whether modern virtue ethics should be understood as offering a rival theory of right action on a par with Kantianism and utilitarianism or as an anti-theory approach that instead seeks to derive an understanding of the virtues from concrete experiences, practices, and ethical traditions. We will examine specific accounts of the virtues, and we will also consider “the situationist challenge” to virtue ethics. Regarding (2), we will explore how modern virtue ethicists seek “re-enchantment” through defending “natural normativity.” We will examine several different views of Aristotelian ethical naturalism along with criticisms. Specific philosophers whose works we will study include Elizabeth Anscombe, Alasdair MacIntyre, Philippa Foot, John McDowell, Bernard Williams, Rosalind Hursthouse, and others.

Syllabus

Instructor: Jonathan Rick

Ours is an age in which, for the right price, almost anything can be bought and sold.  It is an age where the mechanism of the Market reigns supreme in organizing the production and distribution of nearly everything we might value (and, indeed, also much of what we don’t).  Ours is not merely a market economy but a market society: The principles of market exchange increasingly govern more and more of our social life, well beyond even the buying and selling of material goods.  Living in a market society, like any society, has its benefits and burdens.  The aim of this course is to interrogate the origins and value of living life on the open market – or, put alternatively, life organized within the political economic framework of Capitalism.  These will be our governing, guiding questions: What exactly is a market society or Capitalist Political Economy?  What are its commitments, constituents, and moral psychological underpinnings (for this latter question, we will focus primarily on the moral ‘economy’ of esteem)?  What are the moral successes and moral limitations of market capitalism? What alternatives are there to Market Capitalism?  Our readings be primarily historical, focusing on the political economic writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, and Karl Marx. Some contemporary sources will also be considered as well.

Syllabus