Richard M Sainsbury

This semester we will discuss a range of issues in contemporary philosophy. (1) Appearance and reality: might we be brains in vats? (2) The mind-body problem: are we just our bodies? (3) Free will: is what we do up to us?

Proposed Texts/ Readings:

Descartes: Meditations §§1, 2, 6.
Kripke: Naming and Necessity Ch 3.
Jackson: "What Mary didn't know"
Hume: Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding §7
Libet, B. 1985: "Unconscious cerebral initiative"
Kane: Four Views on Free Will.

Proposed Grading Policy:

Grades will be decorated, based on written work, quizzes and attendance. The highest grades for written work require meticulous analysis and imaginative and well-presented argumentation.

Moral theories and problems
The aim in this semester is to apply some ethical theories to current ethical problems The main theories come from David Hume, John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant. The problems include whether we have duties to people far away in space (e.g. sub-Saharan Africa) or time (i.e. future generations — climate change is relevant here); whether we have duties to non-humans, whether certain common practices, like abortion and the death penalty, are ethically permissible, and if so whether this has implications for their proper legal status.
We will try to improve our views on these problems and consider how theory and practice can interact constructively. Course materials and work will be channeled through Canvas. Students will be invited to give input concerning which additional applied topics to discuss.

Readings:

Peter Singer's Practical Ethics provides good material on the more applied part of the course. We will also look at the original texts of Mill, Hume and Kant, and various contemporary articles.

Grades:

Numerical grades for essays and the term paper are based on philosophical quality: clarity of expression, appreciation of alternative views, persuasiveness of arguments, knowledge and understanding of the relevant literature. When all the numerical grades are in, I will draw the decorated letter grade boundaries.

“Communication” is everywhere (one billiard ball communicates motion to another, ants communicate by chemical messages), and in many or even most cases, it is not linguistic. So what’s special about linguistic communication? Although non-human animals cannot literally talk, they can certainly communicate. Might their way of communicating be essentially language-like? If not, does this mean that there’s a discontinuity in evolutionary development?

 As in many philosophical discussions, the presumption of human exceptionalism comes to the fore. Does our capacity for language-use make us special, setting us apart from “the brutes”? Is there a “language instinct”, and if so what bearing does this have on whether humans are special?

 Philosophers have taken different approaches to the nature of linguistic communication. We will consider the very different accounts made famous by Paul Grice and by Donald Davidson, and the relevance of Chomsky’s insistence on syntax. These considerations will lead us into questions about the nature of reference and truth, and these in turn into questions about how language can be used in fictional contexts, and how these relate to our emotions.

Texts:

Main texts will include portions of the following, together with some more recent papers (available online):

A. Martinich and D. Sosa (eds) The Philosophy of Language

Stephen Pinker The Language Instinct

Grades:

Numerical grades for essays and the term paper are based on philosophical quality: clarity of expression, appreciation of alternative views, persuasiveness of arguments. A presentation to the class is a required element. Failure to attend can result in deductions. (See Canvas for full details).When all the numerical grades are in, I will draw the letter grade boundaries, using decorated letters.

Description:

This semester we will discuss a range of issues in contemporary philosophy. (1) Appearance and reality: might we be brains in vats? (2) The mind-body problem: are we just our bodies? (3) Free will: is what we do up to us? (4) paradoxes of space, time and motion; paradoxes of vagueness.

Texts:

Descartes: Meditations §§1, 2, 6. Kripke: Naming and Necessity Ch 3. Jackson: "What Mary didn't know" Hume: Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding §7 Libet, B. 1985: "Unconscious cerebral initiative" Kane: Four Views on Free Will. Sainsbury: Paradoxes

Grading:

Grades will be decorated, based on written work, quizzes and attendance. The highest grades for written work require meticulous analysis and imaginative and well-presented argumentation.

Moral theories and problems

The aim in this semester is to consider some classical philosophical theories of morals (including those propounded by David Hume (f. 1750), Immanuel Kant (f. 1780), and John Stuart Mill (f. 1860), and apply them to some current moral problems (for example, the death penalty, animal rights, our duties to others). We will try to improve our views on these problems and consider how theory and practice can interact constructively. Course materials and work will be channeled through Canvas. Students will be invited to give input concerning which applied topics to discuss.

Readings

The main text will be Steven Cahn and Peter Markie (eds): Ethics: History, Theory and Contemporary Issues, Sixth Edition (2015). Everyone should also read A. Martinich's Philosophical Writing (preferably 3rd or 4th edition) within the first month of the course, though it will not be discussed in class. Background Reading: Jostein Gaarder: Sophie's World. This is a history of philosophy in the form of a novel. Specially useful for orienting the philosophers and topics of our work within a broader framework. Peter Singer: Practical Ethics provides good supplementary material on the more applied part of the course.

Grading Policy

Numerical grades for essays and the term paper are based on philosophical quality: clarity of expression, appreciation of alternative views, persuasiveness of arguments, knowledge and understanding of the relevant literature. When all the numerical grades are in, I will draw the decorated letter grade boundaries.

“Communication” is everywhere (one billiard ball communicates motion to another, ants communicate by chemical messages), and in many or even most cases, it is not linguistic. So what’s special about linguistic communication? Although non-human animals cannot literally talk, they can certainly communicate. Might their way of communicating be essentially language-like? If not, does this mean that there’s a discontinuity in evolutionary development?

As in many philosophical discussions, the presumption of human exceptionalism comes to the fore. Does our capacity for language-use make us special, setting us apart from “the brutes”? Is there a “language instinct”, and if so what bearing does this have on whether humans are special?

Philosophers have taken different approaches to the nature of linguistic communication. We will consider the very different accounts made famous by Paul Grice and by Donald Davidson, and the relevance of Chomsky’s insistence on syntax. These considerations will lead us into questions about the nature of reference and truth, and these in turn into questions about how language can be used in fictional contexts, and how these relate to our emotions.

We will study two classic texts written about a century apart: Descartes’ Meditations and Hume’s Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. The mains themes are: knowledge and skepticism; and the nature of the human mind and action.

Descartes is known for two highly influential ideas. His skepticism arises from his reflection that we might be deceived by an “evil demon” who makes it seem as if our ordinary world exists whereas in reality there is nothing. Although Descartes hoped to defuse skepticism, it has lived on, inspiring not only generations of philosophers, but also leaving its mark in such movies as Matrix and Solaris.

Descartes’ dualism is his view that mind and body are entirely distinct. This view has been supported by religious thinkers, by many philosophers impressed by the distinctive character of consciousness, and by some defenders of free will.

Hume’s Enquiry is famous for supposedly arguing for a form of skepticism that Descartes did not explicitly consider: skepticism about whether the future will resemble the past. His discussion of this issue is closely intertwined with a remarkable theory of causation, a theory which led him to hold that an action can be free, and so can merit praise or blame, even though it is causally determined. We will also discuss some aspects of Hume’s philosophy of religion, notably his discussion of miracles, and his presentation of the problem of evil.

Prerequisites

Graduate Standing and Consent of Graduate Advisor or instructor required.

Course Description

We’ll begin with some classic anti-physicalist arguments and the case for taking a non-physicalist view of conscious states. We’ll then lay out how this view seems to have the undesirable consequence that conscious states are epiphenomenal. Next we’ll look carefully at issues of constitution and causation. Having done that, we’ll present a new solution to the mind-body problem. Along the way, we’ll discuss the explanatory gap, the phenomenal concept strategy and Russellian monism.

Grading

In class presentation plus short paper plus final paper.

Texts

No set text. Readings of classic essays -- all available online.

This seminar satisties the M&E requirement.

Moral theories and problems The aim in this semester is to consider some classical philosophical theories of morals (including those propounded by David Hume (f. 1750), Immanuel Kant (f. 1780), and John Stuart Mill (f. 1860), and apply them to some current moral problems (for example, the death penalty, animal rights, our duties to others). We will try to improve our views on these problems and consider how theory and practice can interact constructively. Course materials and work will be channeled through Canvas. 

What is linguistic communication? “Communication” can be used very widely (one billiard ball communicates motion to another, ants communicate by chemical messages), and in many or even most cases, communication is not linguistic.

The course approaches the task of finding out what’s special to linguistic communication by considering whether non-human animals are capable of language. We’ll examine the language-like achievements of parrots, dogs, chimps and some other animals, in order to consider whether they are genuine language-users.

We will then consider how linguistic communication has been described by philosophers, notably Paul Grice and Donald Davidson. (They take very different approaches.) Linguistic communication as Grice defined it involves very complex intentions on the part of speakers, intentions of a complexity that probably put this beyond the reach of non-humans, thereby creating an apparent discontinuity in evolutionary development.

We will study two classic texts written about a century apart: Descartes’ Meditations and Hume’s Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. The mains themes are: knowledge and skepticism; and the nature of the human mind and action.

Descartes is known for two highly influential ideas. His skepticism arises from his reflection that we might be deceived by an “evil demon” who makes it seem as if our ordinary world exists whereas in reality there is nothing. Although Descartes hoped to defuse skepticism, it has lived on, inspiring not only generations of philosophers, but also leaving its mark in such movies as Matrix and Solaris.

Descartes’ dualism is his view that mind and body are entirely distinct. This view has been supported by religious thinkers, by many philosophers impressed by the distinctive character of consciousness, and by some defenders of free will.

Hume’s Enquiry is famous for supposedly arguing for a form of skepticism that Descartes did not explicitly consider: skepticism about whether the future will resemble the past. His discussion of this issue is closely intertwined with a remarkable theory of causation, a theory which led him to hold that an action can be free, and so can merit praise or blame, even though it is causally determined. We will also discuss some aspects of Hume’s philosophy of religion, notably his discussion of miracles, and his presentation of the problem of evil.

PHL 382 Intentionality, Intensionality and Nonexistence

Prerequisites

Graduate Standing and Consent of Graduate Advisor or instructor required. 

Course Description

Intentionality is aboutness, a property of (for example) mental states, sentences and maps. Intensionality is a feature or cluster of features of some idioms, like thinking about, wanting, fearing. Standard marks are that substitution of identicals may fail (even if Jim is one’s nemesis one may long to see Jim without longing to see one’s nemesis), that truth does not require existence (Ponce de León searched for the fountain of youth even though it did not exist) and indefiniteness (one may want a beer without there being a particular beer one wants). Intensional idioms seems specially apt for describing intentional states. Both intentionality and intensionality highlight the thought that we may need to recognize nonexistents.

The seminar will include some background in philosophy of language (especially in connection with propositional attitude ascriptions) and will also look (superficially) at some of the murky history of opinions on the topic going back to Brentano, Meinong, Twardowsky and Husserl. The main focus will be on more current views, and the intentionality of perception will receive particular emphasis.

Moral theories and problems The aim in this semester is to consider some classical philosophical theories of morals (including those propounded by David Hume (f. 1750), Immanuel Kant (f. 1780), and John Stuart Mill (f. 1860), and apply them to some current moral problems (for example, the death penalty, animal rights, our duties to others). We will try to improve our views on these problems and consider how theory and practice can interact constructively. Course materials and work will be channeled through Canvas.

List of Proposed Texts /Readings:

The main text will be Steven Cahn and Peter Markie (eds): Ethics: History, Theory and Contemporary Issues, Fifth Edition (2011). Everyone should also read A. Martinich's Philosophical Writing (preferably 2nd edition) within the first month of the course, though it will not be discussed in class. Background Reading: Jostein Gaarder: Sophie's World. This is a history of philosophy in the form of a novel. Specially useful for orienting the philosophers and topics of our work within a broader framework. Peter Singer: Practical Ethics provides good supplementary material on the more applied part of the course.

Proposed Grading Policy:

Numerical grades for essays and the term paper are based on philosophical quality: clarity of expression, appreciation of alternative views, persuasiveness of arguments. Failure to attend can result in deductions; extra grade points may be earned by a presentation to the class  (see Canvas for full details).When all the numerical grades are in, the TA and I will draw the letter grade boundaries. Normally the lowest A– is around 87 marks out of 100. 

What is linguistic communication? “Communication” can be used very widely (one billiard ball communicates motion to another, ants communicate by chemical messages), and in many or even most cases, communication is not linguistic.

The course approaches the task of finding out what’s special to linguistic communication by considering whether non-human animals are capable of language. We’ll examine the language-like achievements of parrots, dogs, chimps and some other animals, in order to consider whether they are genuine language-users.

We will then consider how linguistic communication has been described by philosophers, notably Paul Grice and Donald Davidson. (They take very different approaches.) Linguistic communication as Grice defined it involves very complex intentions on the part of speakers, intentions of a complexity that probably put this beyond the reach of non-humans, thereby creating an apparent discontinuity in evolutionary development.

List of Proposed Texts /Readings:

Main texts will include portions of:

Michael Tomasello Origins of Human Communication

Paul Grice Studies in the Way  of Words

Donald Davidson Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation

Proposed Grading Policy:

Numerical grades for essays and the term paper are based on philosophical quality: clarity of expression, appreciation of alternative views, persuasiveness of arguments. Failure to attend can result in deductions; extra grade points may be earned by a presentation to the class  (see Canvas for full details).When all the numerical grades are in, I will draw the letter grade boundaries. Normally the lowest A– is around 87 marks out of 100.

This seminar is taught by Mark Sainsbury and Michael Tye.

Graduate standing and consent of graduate adviser or instructor required.

Must have instsructor's permission to audit this seminar.

Course Description

Do birds have feelings?  What about fish?  Can fish feel pain?  Do insects have experiences?  Could a honey bee feel anxious? Are caterpillars conscious?  If caterpillars aren't conscious but fish are, what's the objective difference that makes a difference?  How do we decide which living creatures have experiences and which are zombies? Could there be a conscious robot?  These are among the questions that we will address in this seminar.

Grading

Requirements: a final essay plus some presentation earlier in the semester.

Texts

Various articles will be assigned during the semester.  

The views presented will be new.

This course satisfies the M&E requirement.

Moraltheoriesandproblems

The aim in this semester is to consider some classical philosophical theories of morals (including those propounded by David Hume (f. 1750), Immanuel Kant (f. 1780), and John Stuart Mill (f. 1860), and apply them to some current moral problems (for example, the death penalty, animal rights, our duties to others). We will try to improve our views on these problems and consider how theory and practice can interact constructively. Course materials and work will be channeled through Blackboard.

The aim of the course is to attain a holistic grasp of Hume? s philosophy.

Philosophy courses are often divided by subject area (metaphysics, ethics, philosophy of mind, and so

on). Hume wrote on all the main topics in philosophy, and our goal is not only to evaluate his individual

contributions, but also to see how the views on various topics fit together. The class presupposes some

knowledge of philosophy, but not of Hume? s work.

David Hume's main topic was human nature. He has a brief comparison with non-human animals, and

nowadays such comparisons are greatly enriched by our better understanding of these animals. We won't

be discussing this in class but for enjoyable relaxation I commend the TED talk by Robert Sapolsky .

Topic 1: Philosophy and Feminism

CORPORATIONS, CONSCIOUSNESS AND INTENTIONALITY

 Graduate Standing and Consent of Graduate Advisor AND Instructor required.

DESCRIPTION:

The course will begin by addressing the following questions:

• Do corporations have mental states? 

• Do corporations have experiences and feelings?

• Does Ned Block's famous China-Body system undergo any experiences?  If not, why not?

• If your neurons are slowly replaced with silicon chips that function in exactly the same way as the neurons, will you (or your successor) continue to undergo experiences with the same phenomenal character?

It will be argued that proper reflection on these questions can be used to support a representationalist or intentionalist view of consciousness.  It will then be shown how this view can be developed so as to provide a satisfying account of what is sometimes supposed to present a problem for it, that of the nature of pain.

Since representationalism (or intentionalism) about consciousness takes it that conscious states are inherently representational, the last third of the course will discuss the nature of intentionality not only in connection with consciousness but also more broadly.

REQUIREMENTS:  Class presentation and final paper

TEXTS:  Assorted papers will be made available.

This course satisfies the M&E requirement.

Moral theories and problems The aim in this semester is to consider some classical philosophical theories of morals (including those propounded by David Hume (f. 1750), Immanuel Kant (f. 1780), and John Stuart Mill (f. 1860), and apply them to some current moral problems (for example, torture, animal rights, our duties to others). We will try to improve our views on these problems and consider how theory and practice can interact constructively. Course materials and work will be channelled through Blackboard.

Readings The main text will be Steven Cahn and Peter Markie (eds): Ethics: History, Theory and Contemporary Issues, Fourth Edition (2009). Everyone should also read A. Martinich's Philosophical Writing (preferably 2nd edition) within the first month of the course, though it will not be discussed in class. Background Reading: Jostein Gaarder: Sophie's World. This is a history of philosophy in the form of a novel. Specially useful for orienting the philosophers and topics of our work within a broader framework. Peter Singer: Practical Ethics provides good supplementary material on the more applied part of the course.

Requirements A short report (250-300 words) each week to be delivered in person in hard copy at the section discussion (2 marks each); three short essays, around 1000 words each (12 marks each) and a term paper, around 3-4000 words (40 marks). Deadlines for the essays and term paper will be posted at the start of the semester. Attendance will be taken at each class: each unexcused absence leads to a deduction of 2 marks from the final grade.

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. He has written six books ( Russell, Paradoxes, Logical Forms, Departing from Frege, Reference without Referents and Fiction and Fictionalism). A book jointly authored with Michael Tye (UT) is with the publishers: Seven Puzzles of Thought and How to Solve Them.

375M: The Philosophy of David Hume: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Morals

This course will discuss the main themes of Hume's philosophy. We'll read most of books 1 and 3 of the Treatise, the two Inquiries: Concerning Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals, and the Dialogs Concerning Natural Religion. Topics to be covered include: causation, induction, free will, identity, the self, morals and motivation, morals and sentiment, justice, and miracles and other arguments for religious belief. We'll also look at recent work on Hume and Hume's problems.  Students will be asked to write two papers, to make a presentation to the class, and to help each other with their papers and presentations by making comments. The class will presuppose some background knowledge of philosophy, but will not presuppose prior knowledge of Hume’s work. The class is intended for students who enjoy active participation in philosophical discussions, and who are keen to develop their independent opinions.

This course is restricted to Philosophy graduate students.

Prerequisites:

 Consent of Graduate Advisor or instructor required.

"Seven Puzzles of Thought, and How to Solve Them"

Theseven puzzles include Frege's puzzle about Hesperus and Phosphorus, the puzzle of water and twater, puzzles about empty thoughts, about coreferring demonstratives, Paderewski cases, and about thinking of oneself. The classic background for these puzzles will be introduced (Frege, Kripke etc), along with a general theory of concepts - originalism - which we think resolves them in a natural and simple way. We go on the develop the originalist position, its consequences for privileged access and the nature of content, and we explore further applications, to the paradox of analysis, the content of hallucinatory experiences and the language of thought.

Grading Policy:

Grades will be based on 3 short (approx 5 pages) analysis style papers written during the semester.

Texts:

Reading will include relevant classic papers (by Frege, Russell, Kripke, Evans, Salmon, Crimmins, Shoemaker among other.

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. 

The Syllabus link has full details of grading, assignments, and topics for each class. Making a presentation to the class is a requirement, so you might want to think about the topic and date that would suit you. I'll be filling in slots at the first class.

You'll need to have ready access to the following works by Hume:

A Treatise of Human Nature

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals

I like the OUP editions, but feel free to snap up a bargain or suit your preferences. You can also get all these texts online. One way to do so is to visit the Past Masters text base (go to Library-Research tools-Databases). Also a simple Google search will turn up free versions of all the texts.

A contemporary philosopher, Jonathan Bennett, has transcribed most of Hume from 18th century to current English, and it's freely available. It's amazingly good.

Past topics include basic issues in metaphysics; particulars and universals; identity and individuation; realism and antirealism; mind-body issues. 

Topic 1: Philosophy and Feminism

Past topics include basic issues in metaphysics; particulars and universals; identity and individuation; realism and antirealism; mind-body issues. 

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. 

Past topics include basic issues in metaphysics; particulars and universals; identity and individuation; realism and antirealism; mind-body issues. 

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. 

Past topics include pragmatism; postmodernism; contemporary Marxism; critical theory. 

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. 

Past topics include pragmatism; postmodernism; contemporary Marxism; critical theory. 

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. 

Past topics include basic issues in metaphysics; particulars and universals; identity and individuation; realism and antirealism; mind-body issues. 

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. 

Past topics include pragmatism; postmodernism; contemporary Marxism; critical theory.