COURSE DESCRIPTION

Course Number and Title                                     PHL 301, Introduction to Philosophy

Semester and Year                                               Fall 2020

Instructor’s Name and Academic Rank                   Daniel Bonevac, Professor

Description:

This course introduces the central problems of philosophy.

                What is there?

                How do I know?

                What should I do?

It considers solutions proposed by the greatest thinkers of the world’s philosophical traditions.

• Metaphysics: What is there? What is a thing? Do things have essences? Is reality independent of our minds? Is there a God?
• Philosophy of Mind: What it is to be human? Are we minds and bodies? Just minds? Just bodies? What difference does it make?
• Epistemology: What is knowledge? How do we get it? What can we know? Can we know anything at all?
• Ethics: What is it to lead a good human life? What is a good person? How should we make decisions?

List of Proposed Texts /Readings: Selections from

 Ancient Philosophy:          Confucius, Analects

                                    Plato, Laches, Republic

                                    Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Categories, Metaphysics

Classical Philosophy:        Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi

                                    Sextus Empiricus, Outline of Pyrrhonism

                                    Gautama, the Nyaya-Sutra

                                    Augustine, Against the Skeptics

Modern Philosophy:          Descartes, Meditations

                                    Hume, Treatise of Human Nature

                                    Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Critique of Pure Reason

                                    Mill, Utilitarianism

                                    Peirce, How to Make Our Ideas Clear

                                    Ortega y Gasset, The Modern Theme

All are included in Daniel Bonevac and Stephen Phillips (ed.), Introduction to World Philosophy. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Proposed Grading Policy:

Weekly Quizzes                                                           10%

Writing Assignments (10 pages)                                    50%

Midterm and Final Exams                                              40% (20% each)

A survey of principal topics and problems in areas such as ethics, theory of knowledge, and philosophy of religion. 

A survey of principal topics and problems in areas such as ethics, theory of knowledge, and philosophy of religion. 

An introduction to the philosophical achievements of the ancient world, concentrating on Plato and Aristotle. 

An introduction to the philosophical achievements of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, concentrating on such figures as Descartes, Hume, and Kant. 

Theories of human nature, such as those of Plato, Christianity, Marxism, and existentialism. Modern phsychological and biological theories are included, as the interplay of nature and nurture in determining human conduct is explored. 

This course examines the relationship of the mind to the body. Topics covered include whether a machine could think, the Turing Test for intelligence, the reduction of the mind to the brain, whether consciousness can be captured materialistically, and the nature of persons and personal identity.We'll be thinking about immaterial spirits, futuristic computers and robots, Martians who behave like us but who have an internal structure very different from ours, brains in vats. We will consider whether these strange characters have thoughts and feelings. The point is not to consider bizarre cases just for the sake of it, but to see what light we can shed on our own nature as beings with mental lives.

An introduction to ethics by way of an examination of a number of contemporary moral problems, including problems of abortion, sexual morality, capital punishment, pornography and hate speech.

An introduction to ethics by way of an examination of a number of contemporary moral problems, including problems of abortion, sexual morality, capital punishment, pornography and hate speech.

An introduction to ethics by way of an examination of a number of contemporary moral problems, including problems of abortion, sexual morality, capital punishment, pornography and hate speech.

This course is an advanced introduction to philosophical issues concerning the nature of
belief, truth, and knowledge with an emphasis on the latter. Topics to be discussed include,
but are not limited to, the following:
• What is knowledge? For example, what is the difference between knowledge and
mere true belief?
• What are the basic sources of knowledge (i.e., perception, memory, testimony of
others)?
• Why, if at all, should we value the acquisition of knowledge?
• Is it really possible to know anything at all?

This is a course in the basic principles of logic. The student will come out of this course with an understanding of deductive inference and of argument generally, as wells as the notions of logical consequence, validity, soundness, and logical truth. Specifically, we will be looking at sentential logic (which treats the inferential relations among simple sentences) and predicate logic. Predicate logic is distinguished from sentential logic by its use of quantifiers.

This is a course in the basic principles of logic. The student will come out of this course with an understanding of deductive inference and of argument generally, as wells as the notions of logical consequence, validity, soundness, and logical truth. Specifically, we will be looking at sentential logic (which treats the inferential relations among simple sentences) and predicate logic. Predicate logic is distinguished from sentential logic by its use of quantifiers.

This is a first course in deductive symbolic logic. We'll study formal languages for representing sentences
in logically precise ways, we'll study algorithms for evaluating arguments as logically valid or invalid, and
we'll get an introduction to some of the surprising discoveries logicians have made about what tasks no
algorithm can possibly do.

Formulation, analysis, and criticism of philosophical ideas in selected films.

Classic issues in the philosophy of art and beauty, illustrated from the fine arts and contemporary media: literature, drama, music, painting, film, and television. 

Study of basic principles of the moral life, with critical examination of traditional and contemporary theories of the nature of goodness, happiness, duty, and freedom.

What is knowledge? What are the principal types of knowledge, and what does a person's knowing a claim or proposition p amount to? Philosophers have commonly supposed that a person's having justification, or warrant, for
believing that p is a necessary condition of his/her knowing that p. Accordingly, this course will be concerned with theories of justification as well as of knowledge, along with the question of whether there can be knowledge without what is called epistemic justification. Views in ancient, early modern, and contemporary philosophy—also one Eastern view—will be surveyed.

Scientific discoveries have profoundly altered the way we see the world and our
place within it. Three branches of science that have dramatically changed the way humans see themselves
are cosmology, the science that deals with the large-scale structure of the universe, quantum theory, which
deals with the small-scale structure, and evolutionary biology.
In this course we will accomplish two main goals. First, we will learn the history and content of a
few of the most revolutionary theoretical developments in human history. Second, we will consider aspects
of the broader philosophical significance that these developments are supposed to have.
The first part of the course will concentrate on general philosophy of science issues. Then we will
study the Copernican Revolution, how it came about and some of its explosive consequences.
We will then briefly describe the revolutionary implications of Einstein’s theory of relativity.
Next will be an overview of the bizarre discoveries about the basic nature of matter, quantum theory. We
will study various relevant historical developments, and think about different interpretations of the theory
that have been proposed. A fundamental question will haunt us in this part, the question whether we are
doomed to ignorance about the ultimate nature of reality.
Next we will consider the work of a physicist who attempts to explain why, and in what sense,
science as we came to know it did not develop anywhere except in Europe. His view is that the ancient
Greeks invented the sort of logical, systematic thinking that science requires. Relevant facets of Chinese
culture, Hebrew culture and others will be examined and contrasted with Greek and later European cultures
with respect to their fostering scientific developments.
The last third to half of the course will focus on evolutionary biology since the nineteenth century.
We will first read some of Dawkins’ and then Dennett’s summary of the conceptual core of modern
evolutionary theory, from their own compelling, if perhaps disturbing, perspectives. Then we will spend
time on more recent developments and controversies that have swirled around evolutionary theory.
The matters that we will deal with in the course are fascinating at a purely intellectual level. But
these are not merely intellectual curiosities; they provide pictures of how we humans ‘fit into the cosmic
scheme’. Since matters of fundamental importance hinge on a proper understanding the universe and our
place in it, no thinking person can afford to neglect to examine these pictures with care.

Metaphysics 323K Fall 2020

Professor Michelle Montague

Metaphysics studies the ultimate structure of reality, and what the nature of reality is can make a profound difference to our lives. Does God exist? Which God, and why should we care? Are we free? If we’re not free, how can anyone be morally responsible for what they do? If no one is morally responsible for what they do, what kind of system of punishment (if any) is justifiable? Is morality objective? Who am I? Am I the same person throughout my life?

In this course we try to answer a stream of linked questions. What is mind? What is consciousness (is there a hard problem of consciousness)? Why do some people think that consciousness doesn’t exist? What is self-consciousness (human beings are said to be self-conscious, dogs aren’t)? What’s the relation between consciousness and matter, mind and brain? What, for that matter, is matter? Is panpsychism (the view that everything is mental) defensible? Are ‘behaviorist’ or ‘functionalist’ theories of mind defensible? How did mind begin? / What is a person? What is meant by ‘personal identity’ (what makes a person the same person at different times)? What is a ‘self’ (is there such a thing)? What is a soul (is there such a thing)? / What are memory, perception, imagination, desire and belief, and intentional action? / What sort of knowledge do we have of other people’s minds? (Is seeing the color red the same for all of us? Can we know this?) What sort of knowledge do we have of our own minds (to what extent are we subject to cognitive biases and illusions and unconscious impulses)? Can it be true, as some say, that we are constantly self-deceived, and completely wrong about why we do what we do? What is the will? Do we have free will?

This course will consider three classic moral theories in detail, those
of J. S. Mill, W. D. Ross and I. Kant – otherwise known as Utilitarianism, Intuitionism and
Kantianism. We will do this by studying one classic text by each author in detail.

Western philosophy owes its birth to the ancient Greeks. In their care many of the fundamental questions in ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of mind were raised for the first time and developed in striking and sophisticated ways. We will try to determine which questions they asked, what their answers were, and whether we should accept their answers as correct even now. Readings will be drawn primarily from the works of Plato and Aristotle, but will also include material from some important Pre-Platonic figures.

The course focuses on various philosophical issues concerning language. Topics to be discussed include, but are not limited to, the following: speaker-meaning, conversational implicature, sentence/expression-meaning, reference, modality, and propositional attitude ascriptions. 

We will examine recent work in philosophy that is written from a Christian point of view or that examines philosophical questions that arise within the framework of the Christian faith. The issues to be covered include the relationship between faith and reason, the possibility of demonstrating the existence of God, the problem of evil, the problem of reconciling divine foreknowledge and sovereignty with human responsibility, and the relation of God to time. Special emphasis will be placed on the relevance of Christian philosophy to foundational questions concerning reality, knowledge and ethics.

Topic 1: Philosophy of Biology

Topic 2: The Outer Limits of Reason

Topic 4: The Philosophy of Geometry

Topic 1: Philosophy of Biology

Topic 2: The Outer Limits of Reason

Topic 4: The Philosophy of Geometry

Topic 1: Philosophy and Feminism

TBD

Prerequisites

Graduate Standing and Consent of Graduate Advisor or instructor required. 

Course Description

This class will work through, reasonably slowly and carefully, Books Z and H (VII and VIII) of Aristotle’s Metaphysics which been described, if not very felicitously, as the ‘Mount Everest of philosophy. In them, Aristotle tries to get to grips with his central notion of substance, and its relations to form, matter, essence, definition, universals and particulars, subject and attribute, genus and species – among other things. Whether, and if so how and with what results, he succeeds in doing is another matter altogether. Our task will be try to see if he does.

Grading  Policy

1 term paper, (90%); class participation (10%) 

Readings

Bostock, D., Aristotle’s Metaphysics Books Z and H Clarendon Aristotle Series. 1994. ISBN 0-19-823947-5.

Prerequisites

Graduate Standing and Consent of Graduate Advisor or instructor required.

Course Description

This course will be divided into two parts. The first part will be concerned with the metaphysics of properties and relations. The second part will be concerned with the metaphysics of intentionality, and in particular whether or not intentionality is a relational phenomenon. 

Grading  Policy

One 20-page paper and two short presentations

Readings

We’ll read a number of philosophers including Michael Loux, David Armstrong, F.P. Ramsey, P.F. Strawson, Gareth Evans, Quassim Cassam, Tim Maudlin, Kati Farkas, Laurie Paul, Mika Martin, Laura Gow, and Adam Pautz.

Instructors:  Miriam Schoenfield and Sinan Dogramaci

Prerequisites

Graduate Standing and Consent of Graduate Advisor or instructor required.

Course Description

We'll discuss various epistemological issues concerning induction and also explanation. The weekly topics and readings will remain more on the epistemology side and less on the technical math and science side. However, students will have a chance to become comfortable with some formal tools, especially Bayesian epistemology, if they wish, by concurrently doing a crash course of assigned textbook exercises the first half of the term.

Grading  Policy

TBD

Texts

Likely authors we'll study: Goodman, Lipton, Lange, Norton, Bacon, Rinard, Berker.

Prerequisites

This seminar is restricted the first-year graduate students in philosophy PhD program.

Description:

This seminar is required for and restricted to the first-year PhD students in the philosophy department.

The aim of the course is to practice doing analytic philosophy at the professional level through seminar presentations, discussions, and written work, in a constructive environment.

Grading:

Students must write a term paper, lead a seminar meeting, actively participate in weekly seminar discussions, and write up a brief comment or question each week prior to the meeting.

Texts:

We'll read a mix of influential articles/chapters from the last few decades of analytic philosophy.

Prerequisites

Graduate Standing and Consent of Graduate Advisor or instructor required.

Course Description

Nietzsche is unusual among Western philosophers in the variety of his stylistic techniques and the genres in which he writes.  We will explore his philosophy, taking the role of style and aesthetic matters in his work as a focus.  We will consider his explicit discussions of aesthetics, art, and style; the relationship between his consideration of aesthetic value and his critique of reigning moral values; the way his stylistic strategies contribute to what he communicates; and the role artistic and aesthetic images play in his discussions of other things.  Guiding questions will be: what is the philosophical significance of the way that Nietzsche writes, and what is his conception of the work of philosophy?

Grading  Policy

Final Paper 85%

Participation 15%

Texts

 “On Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense”

The Birth of Tragedy

The Gay Science

Beyond Good and Evil

On the Genealogy of Morals

The Case of Wagner

Ecce Homo

Prerequisites

Graduate Standing and Consent of Graduate Advisor or instructor required.

Course Description

When we ask for the grounds for a fact we ask in what the existence of that fact consists: we ask why or how the fact obtains. When we ask about the essence of an item we ask for the properties that makes that item what it is: we ask what the item is. In the last 25 years or so both the notions of essence and ground have received a lot of attention in metaphysics. In this course we will consider how ground and essence relate to each other, paying particular attention to how these notions are used in debates in meta-ethics. (Depending on interest we may also consider how these notions are used in social ontology.) Questions that we will discuss may include: is ground reducible to essence or vice versa? Can facts about ground be explained in terms of facts about essence? How do ground and essence relate to real definitions and theories of "generalized identity"? Should metaethical naturalism be formulated as a claim about the essence of normative properties or as a thesis about what grounds normative properties? What is the relationship between supervenience and essence? How should normative principles be formulated (supposing there are any)? What is the relationship between basic and derivative normative principles?  

Grading  Policy

The grade will be based on a term paper (80%) and a presentation to the class (20%)

Texts

Readings may include articles by: Fine, Rosen, Schaffer, Berker, Leary, Bader, Shumener, Glazier, Leary, J. Wilson, A. Wilson, Correia, Skiles, Ditter, Lange, Litland, Koslicki, Enoch, Bennett, Thompson, Dasgupta, Koslicki, Maguire. 

Course overview The aim of the course is to reflect on moral problems, and try to work our way to some moral theories. The starting points will be discussion of fictional scenarios in which characters are presented with difficult choices. In the first instance these will be drawn from the course text (The Moral Life: An Introductory Reader in Ethics and Literature, Sixth edition by Louis Pojman). Subsequently students will be invited to suggest other excerpts from fiction for discussion. Towards the end of the semester we will consider ethical theories, reading David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and J. S. Mill among the classics, and Peter Singer and Joshua Greene among our contemporaries. We will also consider whether recent developments in psychology and neurophysiology throw any light on the problems.

About the Professor Mark Sainsbury taught at the Universities of Oxford, Essex, and London before coming to the University of Texas at Austin in 2002. His books include Russell, Paradoxes, Logical Forms, Departing from Frege, Reference without Referents and Fiction and Fictionalism and, with Michael Tye, Seven Puzzles of Thought and How to Solve Them). His most recent book, his eighth, is entitled Thinking About Things (OUP 2018).

Assignments Your work for grade is as follows: 

• two short essays  (about 1200 words each): 25 points each
• a term paper abstract (about 500 words): 5 points
• the term paper itself (about 2500 words): 35 points
• a quiz in every class, from which the aggregated points will contribute 10% of the total points for grade.

The course will cover major questions of ethics, politics, and human psychology in ancient and medieval philosophy: what is a good life?  must one live justly and honestly to achieve happiness in life?  what is the place of love and friendship in a good life and what are the best kinds of friendship or relations of love?  what is death and can the soul survive it?  what is freedom?  how is it realized?  is democracy the best form of government? does a citizen of a democracy owe allegiance to its laws?  We will study these and other questions through examination of great works of Plato, Aristotle, Paul, and Augustine.