Course Catalog

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Course Catalog

HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY II: FROM RENAISSANCE TO MODERN (PL1200)

Formerly PL2022. This course aims to provide a solid and comprehensive grounding in modern philosophy focusing on the main issues and theories of late Renaissance philosophy, modern Rationalism and Empiricism, philosophies of the Enlightenment, Critical philosophy, modern Idealism, Phenomenology and some questions of analytic philosophy. It offers an introduction to the works of the major figures of this tradition.

KNOWING WHY: FORMAL LOGIC AND CAUSAL REASONING (PL1300)

You will understand better why you and why others hold the beliefs they do. The course combines a complete introduction to propositional and predicate logic with an overview of types of causal reasoning. You will apply these new skills to analyze and engage with natural language arguments about philosophical topics and other controversial themes of the day.

TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY (PL1910)

Topics vary by semester

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (PL2003)

Political philosophy forms that branch of philosophy that reflects on the specificity of the political. Why are humans, as Aristotle argued, political animals? How are they political? What are the means and ends of the political, and how best does one organize the political with such questions in mind? The course offers a topic-oriented approach to the fundamental problems underlying political theory and practice.

METAPHYSICS, SCIENCE & RATIONALISM (PL2036)

This course explores the impact of modern science upon philosophy through an exploration of the fundamental texts of classical metaphysics - Descartes' Principles of Philosophy, Spinoza's Ethics, Leibniz's Discourse on Metaphysics and The Monadology - an examination guided by the question of what is it to act with freedom and grace in an infinite universe ruled by the laws of nature.

EMPIRICISM, SKEPTICISM & MATERIALISM (PL2037)

In this course we shall examine the birth of empiricism in polemics over the origins of knowledge and political authority, the limits of human reason, and the possibility of philosophy itself finding a way out of the seventeenth century's religious wars and tyranny towards the creation of free and tolerant societies of rational individuals. Readings from Descartes, Locke, Berkeley and Hume.

ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS (PL2041)

Introduction to ethics by the example of environmental ethics, exploring the role of humans as moral agents with regard to other living beings, the whole planet or its biosphere, and future generations. Through cases studies and to understand implicit assumptions and theoretical problems of standpoints taken by stakeholders in the debate.

THE COMMONS AND THE MARKET (PL2060)

What are the justifications and implications of using markets, and what arrangements are necessary to establish and protect the commons? This course studies foundational texts of (neo-)liberal economics that aim to legitimize market mechanisms; philosophical treatments and critiques of key concepts, such as rationality and motivation, property and common goods; political analyses of how allocative institutions produce distributional outcomes.

PHILOSOPHY OF MIND (PL2070)

Systematic introduction to core questions of the philosophy of mind: What is consciousness? How does the mind relate to the body? How does the mind relate to the world through perception, thought, emotions, and actions? Case-based exploration of the consequences answers to these questions have for our conception of, e.g., reality, social relations, moral values, and a person or self.

CRITIQUE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY (PL2071)

The course focuses on the impact of the emergent discipline of political economy on modern philosophy. A brief overview of the work of Adam Smith and David Ricardo will introduce the concerns of political economy before the course focuses on Karl Marx's attempt to re-orientate philosophy through the critique of political economy.