Global Arc

An introduction to the philosophical questions raised by biology, with readings from the philosophical and scientific literature from Plato and Aristotle to the present day. Topics may include: human nature, biodiversity, and the definition of life. Extended consideration will be given to Darwinian and rival approaches to evolution.

The course will consider what types of explanations are possible of ordinary moral views. Students will look at philosophical, scientific, and historical explanations and consider how plausible they are, what sort of evidence might be relevant to them, and what their normative implications might be. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

An introduction to the free will problem and its implications for ethics and the law.

Conceptual and moral problems in the foundations of law. Topics may include: morality and criminal justice; the justification of punishment; moral and economic problems in private law (torts and contracts); fundamental rights and constitutional interpretation. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

The idea of religion figures in social science in many ways. For example, religious identities figure in identifying social patterns. One can offer explanations for religious beliefs or practices. And one can classify religious identities, beliefs or practices and seek to explain patterns among religions. In this course we will consider questions about what sort of concept religion is, what the right account of that concept is, what conceptions are presupposed in various approaches to social theory about religions, and what relation there should be between sociological accounts of religion and the accounts of adherents.

In this course we will develop a reading of Spinoza's philosophy by working through his Ethics. We will consider Spinoza's conceptions of ontology, focusing on the relation of ontology to human existence, politics and religion.

An overview of the philosophical movement known as German Idealism, and with the help of several of its critics. Issues covered include: how various thinkers position themselves between Kant and Spinoza; competing notions of freedom; Marx's critique of Hegel; Hegel's legacy in Black thought; and more.

This is a class on podcast production for aspiring humanists, as opposed to aspiring journalists, open to undergraduates and graduates. In this class, you will learn how to produce narrative-driven audio, like short segments, episodes, or series, on a humanistic subject matter, but tailored for a non-academic audience. We will cover the technical basics, such as working on a DAW, editing, and sound designing, and we will cover the craft of finding stories, interviewing, creating narrative arcs, tracking, and using archival tape. We will also have industry professionals guest lecture in the class. Projects will be completely audio-based.

This seminar will examine how the global reach and new technologies of the Internet change the theory and practice of free speech. Questions we will discuss include: How do philosophical defenses of the right to freedom of expression, developed in the age of the town square and the printing press, apply in the Internet age? How should international conflicts over on-line speech be resolved? Is there a universal human right to freedom of expression or are there only culturally specific free speech regimes? How has the Internet facilitated new speech-based harms such as cyber-stalking and revenge porn, and how should these harms be addressed?

This course aims to show how the reasonable resolution of normative issues can depend on scientific and metaphysical truths as well as on ethical or moral ones. We will examine a series of interconnected questions about the ideas of race and racism. So we will ask: What, if anything, are races? What significance do they have for political and moral life? What is racism? What's wrong with it? What does our consideration of all these questions teach us about if and when we may - or must - use differences in "race" as a basis for differential treatment in private and in public life?