The following descriptions of courses being offered by the Philosophy Department in Summer 2021 were submitted by the course instructors. Exceptions are descriptions in braces {…}, which have been adopted from the Undergraduate Catalogue (students desiring further information regarding the specific content of courses with bracketed descriptions are advised to contact the instructors directly).
Specific information regarding the dates, times, and locations of these courses may be found in the Registrar’s official Schedule of Courses for Summer 2021.
Summer A
PHI 2010 Introduction to Philosophy — S. Heidarifar
In this course, we practice philosophical thinking. We start by talking about the pandemic, as an example of something in our daily life about which philosophical questions can be raised. We will then move to more well-shaped philosophical questions. We will discuss questions such as how to govern a society, how to treat minorities in a society, and how to tolerate each other while maintaining a position of free speech. Next, we move to the history of philosophy and discuss some of the historically influential figures in philosophy, looking at their questions and how they came up with answers as examples of how to think philosophically. In the end, we will see some of the contemporary examples of doing philosophy around the world and become more familiar with some of the important and worldwide questions in philosophy.
PHI 2100 Logic — J. Simpson
This course will introduce to students to formal logic and its applications to reasoning. In the first part of the course, students will be introduced to the syntax and semantics of propositional logic and to formal proofs in propositional logic. In the latter part of the course, students will be introduced to some informal fallacies (e.g., the gambler’s fallacy, begging the question, and the fallacy of false cause) and the use of analogies, best explanations, and counterexamples in argumentation.
PHI 2630 Contemporary Moral Issues — D. Ortiz
We are all faced with a myriad of moral conundrums in our lives. Is abortion ever permissible? Is it right to eat non-human animals? Is self-defense a human right? Can liberties be curtailed to ensure safety? These are examples of questions that dominate contemporary moral discussions, and in turn affect our lives via legal policies and social norms. In this course we will examine a few of these contemporary moral issues. First, we will familiarize ourselves with three major normative theories – Consequentialism, Deontology, and Virtue Ethics – so that we have a foundation upon which we can build our beliefs regarding the status of certain moral questions. Second, we will take a look at two contemporary moral issues. In particular, we will examine the moral status of abortion and the moral standing of non-human animals. We will engage with arguments that support various theses, regarding the moral issue, and we will look at arguments from different thinkers throughout the history of philosophy.
PHI 3300 Theory of Knowledge — Dr. Borges
This course aims at enabling the student to think critically about some of the central issues in the theory of knowledge. Among other issues, we will discuss (i) the nature of knowledge, (ii) the difference (if any) between knowledge and true belief, (iii) the distinction between perceptual and inferential knowledge, and (iv) whether knowledge is possible in the first place (skepticism). Classical and contemporary readings will be assigned. This course counts towards the Humanities (H) general education requirement.
Summer B
PHI 2010 Introduction to Philosophy — J. Simpson
This course introduces students to philosophy by engaging with various readings and arguments, both classical and contemporary, in the history of philosophy. This course will have a four-part structure. The first part will cover one of the central topics in the philosophy of religion: arguments for and against the existence of God. The second part of the course will cover various topics in epistemology, with specific focus on the Regress Problem, Cartesian skepticism, and the Gettier Problem. The third part of the course will be concerned with metaphysics, with specific focus on personal identity, free will & moral responsibility, and what objects, if any, exist (e.g., do numbers exist? do chairs exist?). The fourth part of the course will focus on discussion of the three major views in meta-ethics (objectivism, nihilism, and subjectivism/relativism) and on discussion of the three standard normative ethical theories (utilitarianism, Kantian deontology, and Aristotelian virtue theory).
PHI 2010 Introduction to Philosophy — D. Ortiz
‘Philosophy’ derives from the Greek words ‘philia’ and ‘sophia’, and means ‘love of wisdom. However, this does not give us a precise understanding of the nature of philosophy, or the questions that it deals with. In this course we will be examining some of the questions central to the discipline. For example, what does it mean to know something? What makes an action right or wrong? Are the mind and the body distinct things? How do we live a good human life? In addition to looking at some of these questions, we will be focused on theory building. We will attempt to understand philosophy as a discipline that is fundamentally concerned with theory building, and what it is to have a good theory. We will engage with arguments that span the history of philosophy, from antiquity to the contemporary era.
PHI 2010 Introduction to Philosophy — C. Becker
In this course, we will address the following questions: Do we have free will? Does God exist? Is it ever permissible to hold a belief despite insufficient evidence? What is justice? As we will see, in these deb ates, there are plausible cases to be made for contrary positions. Even so, my hope is that this course will help you understand and articulate the various strengths and weaknesses of the different kinds of arguments, in these debates, that philosophers have put forth. In order to improve your understanding of these topics, help improve your writing skills, and, formally, to satisfy the writing requirement, our class will require four essays, which total to 4000 words. In addition to satisfying the writing requirement, a successful completion of this course will also count towards the humanities (H) general education requirement.
PHI 2010 Introduction to Philosophy — T. Sturm
The study of philosophy requires close analysis of concepts and the ability to write clear and focused papers, and this course will teach those basic philosophical skills. Students will examine papers from a wide range of time periods and a broad range of topics, but always with an eye on teasing apart arguments and identifying key issues. This course fulfills a basic Humanities requirement, and it provides 4000 words towards the UF writing requirement. It should also be fun and interesting!
An introduction to philosophy could focus anywhere, from the discipline’s historical foundations to the issues that excite contemporary philosophers. Instead of focusing on a time period, this course will focus on a theme: personal identity and the experience of being a person. We will address metaphysical questions such as “What sort of a thing is a person?” and “Am I the same person over time?”; we will address epistemological questions such as “How do I know that my experience is real?” and “How do I know that there are other persons?”; and we will ethical questions such as “How should other persons be treated?” and “What is good for me as a person?” Because we have all at least considered these types of questions at some time in our lives, they should allow for the type of thought-provoking discussion that is at the core of the discipline of philosophy.
IDS 2935 Conflict of Ideas: How to Fight Fair — Dr. Borges
It’s been suggested that war is the continuation of politics by different means (Klaus von Clausewitz). Some took that suggestion to meant that politics was the continuation of war by other means (Lenin). But, if war and politics are simply different ways in which we handle disagreement between people, within nations, and between nations, the analogy seems reasonable. war and politics sit at different ends of the same spectrum — ways in which we disagree. But, if the choice between the conflict of ideas and real conflict is so obvious (politics harm ideas, while wars harm real people), why do real conflicts keep happening? How can we understand what happens when people disagree — especially when they disagree about important or emotionally powerful issues? How can we resolve our disagreements in a principled fashion? Since the issues are important, we cannot just agree to disagree: we must learn how to have a fair fight. But how do we fight fair on the battleground of ideas?
The focus of the course will be on the conflict of ideas, and on how students can make a positive and lasting impact on the conflicts they will encounter in their own lives. To that end, students will learn about multiple aspects of intellectual conflict: psychological aspects of conflict that stand in the way of conscientious dialogue, questions about rhetoric and its role in manipulation, facing and working with our own cognitive limitations, and structuring debate and dialogue in a way that should help us make progress without simply compromising for the sake of peace. They will also practice and witness intellectual disagreements as they debate their fellow students and observe others engage in intellectual disagreement. In virtue of the complexity of the social phenomenon that is intellectual disagreement, students will be exposed to readings in multiple disciplines. Those include the disciplines of economics, statistics, history, feminist ethics, psychology, linguistics, computer science, philosophy, biology, and theology (see schedule for details). Assignments include short argumentative essays, reports on observed conflicts, and practicing and evaluating in-class debates.
Summer C
PHI 2010 Introduction to Philosophy (UFO) —J. Gillespie
Patient and thorough exploration of philosophical questions is an ideal way to develop skills in clear writing and critical thinking. This course introduces the discipline of philosophy with a focus on developing those skills. Most of the semester is devoted three traditional issues: (a) What is knowledge? What can we know? (b) What is free will? Is there reason to think we don’t have any free will? (c) What is morality all about? Are there facts about what is morally right and wrong? At the end of the semester, we will more briefly explore some famous questions about happiness and the meaning of life. The emphasis throughout is on writing clearly about such elusive questions and presenting good reasons to endorse one answer over another.
The course provides 4000 words of credit towards the Writing Requirement at UF as well as satisfying the State Core General Education requirement for Humanities. Assignments include three argumentative essays, four short writing assignments, several short quizzes and tests, and regular activity assignments. For each unit of the class, students are divided into small groups in which they must post their responses to the activity assignments in that unit and select, as a group, the best of those to be submitted for a grade. There are no major exams (no mid-term or final exam). No book purchases are required, as all readings are made available online through the Canvas system.
This is an entirely online course. Because there is no regular meeting time during which we all meet to discuss the material, it is especially important to keep up with all assignments, to participate in discussion boards, and to ask for help when needed. While the structure of assignments is designed to ensure that students challenge themselves, it is also designed so as to minimize the amount of stress placed on any particular assignment. Success requires, instead, regular and serious effort throughout the semester.
PHI 3641 Ethics and Innovation — M. Mitchell
This course is designed to familiarize students with some of the major ethical theories, with ethical issues surrounding innovation, and with some of the psychological obstacles to acting ethically. We will survey the main ethical theories – utilitarianism, deontological ethics, and virtue ethics –to provide a theoretical framework for our discussion of some of the different contemporary ethical issues that accompany innovations in fields such as bioengineering and Internet technology. We will use our theoretical understanding to consider the ethical implications of putting into use, some of these technologies, as well as what things we ought to consider in the course of innovating and developing these technologies to begin with. Finally, we will consider how psychological factors inhibit ethical behavior, and we will identify and evaluate different strategies to combat them.
REQUIREMENTS SATISFIED BY SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE COURSE. Students in this course can earn 4000 words towards the UF Writing Requirement (WR). The Writing Requirement (WR) ensures students both maintain their fluency in writing and use writing as a tool to facilitate learning. Course grades have two components. To receive writing requirement credit, a student must receive C or higher for the final course grade as well as a C or higher on the writing component of the course.
PHI 3641 satisfies the Ethics requirement for the Innovation Minor, serves as an elective for the Philosophy major or minor, and is a General Education – Humanities (H).