Global Arc

A discussion of philosophical problems raised by modern physics. Topics will be chosen from the philosophy of relativity theory or more often, quantum mechanics. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

We will study the history of the concepts of mind, body, soul, and life in the early modern period. Relevant questions include: the notion of the soul as a principle of life, the distinction between life and death, the debate between materialism and dualism, the debate between mechanistic and vitalistic theories of life, the distinction between a unified self and a material aggregate, the moral status of souls and living organisms. The course will begin with a study of Descartes, both his debate with Aristotelian vitalism and with Hobbesian materialism. Figures to be examined also include: More, Cavendish, Conway, Leibniz, and La Mettrie.

The century beginning 1250 and ending 1350 was in many ways the most creative and exciting in medieval philosophy. By its beginning, the newly-founded universities, the mendicant orders, and the newly-translated works of Aristotle had made an uneasy peace which shaped subsequent medieval philosophy. By its end, social and political changes were producing a new philosophical sensibility. This course will study the thought of some of the central philosophers of the century. We will begin with Thomas Aquinas and John Pecham, then look at work by Henry of Ghent, Peter John Olivi, John Duns Scotus, William Ockham, Jean Buridan, and Thomas.

Detailed study of important concerns shared by some modern pre-Kantian philosophers of different schools. Topics may include identity and distinctness, the theory of ideas, substance, the mind/body problem, time, and causation. Philosophers may include Descartes, Spinoza, Hobbes, Hume, or others. One three-hour seminar.

Analysis of some representative 20th-century works drawn from the French and German traditions. The specific content of the course will vary from year to year, but in each case there will be some attempt to contrast differing philosophical approaches. Figures to be treated might include Sartre, Gadamer, Habermas, and Foucault. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

Human beings have a distinct capacity to communicate through language. Our linguistic capacity allows us to understand sentences we have never encountered before, and generate indefinitely many novel, meaningful sentences by exploiting a finite vocabulary. It also underscores our ability to communicate thoughts to each other. How is this possible? And how is it that our sentences are meaningful to begin with? This course is an introduction to semantics, the study of linguistic meaning . You will learn about formal tools and techniques of semantic theory that allow us to develop formally precise theories of linguistic meaning.

The development of moral philosophy in Greece. Intensive study of the moral theories of such philosophers as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, the early Stoics, and Sextus Empiricus. Two 90-minute lecture-discussion classes.

This course surveys the three main schools of post-classical Greek philosophy: Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Skepticism (Academic and Pyrrhonian). While the contributions of these philosophers in all three divisions of philosophical study recognized at that time--dialectic or logic, philosophy of language and theory of knowledge; ethics; and physical and metaphysical theory --will be included, the emphasis will be on dialectic, physics and metaphysics.

An exploration of various kinds of relativism: cultural, conceptual, epistemic, and moral, considering what structure if any different relativisms have in common, and whether relativism in any of the domains mentioned is plausible. One three-hour seminar

An introduction to classics of philosophical analysis from the first half of the 20th century. Topics include early paradigms of Moore and Russell, logical atomism in Russell and early Wittgenstein, and logical positivism. Changes are traced both in metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical views and in analysis as a philosophical method. Two lectures, one preceptorial.