Global Arc

A critical study of works of literature in conjunction with philosophical essays, concentrating on two or three philosophical themes, such as the will, self-identity, self-deception, freedom, and time. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

An intensive examination of selected problems in the methodological and philosophical foundations of the sciences. Topics covered may include scientific explanation, the role of theories in science, and probability and induction. Two 90-minute classes.

An examination of philosophical problems arising out of the scientific study of cognition. Possible topics include methodological issues in the cognitive sciences; the nature of theories of reasoning, perception, memory, and language; and the philosophical implications of such theories. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course deals with topics chosen from recursion theory, proof theory, and model theory. In recent years the course has most often given an introduction to recursion theory with applications to formal systems. Two 90-minute classes. Prerequisite: 312 or instructor's permission.

An introduction to category theory, including limits and colimits, functors, adjoints, natural transformations, monads and algebras. The material will be developed alongside applications to abstract algebra, topology, and mathematical logic.

Critical discussion of religious and antireligious interpretations of experience and the world, the grounds and nature of religious beliefs, and of a variety of theistic and atheistic arguments. Readings from contemporary analytical philosophy of religion, and from historical sources in the Western tradition. Two 90-minute seminars.

An examination of concepts involved in the interpretation and evaluation of works of art. Emphasis will be placed on sensuous quality, structure, and expression as aesthetic categories. Illustrative material from music, painting, and literature. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

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.