PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT

UPPER LEVEL COURSE OFFERINGS

FIRST SEMESTER 2009-2010

PHL 301:  Ancient Philosophy

MW 10:10-11:50

Pascal Massie

       To be concerned with ancient Greek philosophy is to be concerned with philosophy’s ‘beginning’. It is commonly acknowledged that philosophy (as understood in the Western tradition at least) finds its origin in Greece, about 2,600 years ago. Our task, however, is to move beyond this commonplace and think about the problem raised by the ascription of such a beginning. The Greeks themselves thought of ‘beginning’ (or ‘principle’) as ‘arche’ – something that is not simply a starting point left behind in subsequent developments (thus, something that is precisely not merely archaic, or primitive), but rather as what constitutes the source, the basis and the form that endures throughout what has grown out of it.

       The leading question throughout this course is: ‘what is philosophy?’ In order to articulate it, we will begin with the Pre-Socratic conception of the cosmos and being raised by Parmenides and Heraclitus in particular; then, we will focus on the works of Plato and Aristotle (the main part of the semester) and conclude with Hellenistic philosophy.

PHL 307:  The Gandhian Philosophy

TR 4:10-5:25

Rama Rao Pappu

       Albert Einstein said of Mahatma Gandhi that “generations to come will scarcely believe such a man ever in flesh and blood walked on this earth”.  This course will introduce students to Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy, and Mahatma Gandhi, the man, who developed such a philosophy through his “experiments with truth”. A historian, Gordon Wright, called the twentieth century “The Century of Total War”, but in the midst of this century there lived a man who is “Total Peace and Non-Violence”. Though Gandhi is known all over the world as an “apostle of non-violence”, his philosophical thought and practical work has ranged over religion, politics, education, economics, history, health, etc. This course, therefore, will introduce the students not only to Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence but also to his philosophy of religion, political and economic thought, philosophy of education.

       We shall devote one third of the course to an examination of Gandhian philosophy of non-violence (and related conceptions like Satyagraha and civil disobedience, passive resistance), and in the rest of the course we shall study Gandhi’s religious, political, economic and educational thought. As Gandhi’s philosophy cannot be separated from his life experiences, and as his life experiences cannot be understood without an understanding of Indian history and religions, we shall examine Gandhian philosophy against the background of his life and India’s history and culture.

       As Gandhi has developed his “philosophy” out of the “praxis of non-violence”, students may consider developing a praxis out of the philosophy they learn in this class, either in their own life experiences or studying some current happening in the world.

       To demonstrate this, students may write a paper identifying how they themselves solved a problem using Gandhian methods or study a current individual or social movement which has successfully applied Gandhian methods of conflict resolution.

PHL 310.C: Nietzsche

M 6:00-9:30

Brian Domino

       Among the works of Nietzsche wrote during his last, frenzied year of his productive life, is his so-called autobiography, Ecce Homo. Having failed miserably in attracting a cadre of adherents with whom he could entrust the future of humanity, Nietzsche here tries another tactic. He attempts to write a “best seller”. We will approach Ecce Homo from the vantage point of the readers Nietzsche ostensibly wanted to lure in with his autobiography. Specifically, we will not approach this text as Nietzsche experts, but rather as educated readers who happened to come across his book in a bookstore, much as Nietzsche himself discovered Schopenhauer. For that reason, students from all disciplines are welcome to enroll.

     PHL 355:  Feminist Theory

               MW 2:15-3:55

             Gaile Pohlhaus

       In this course, we will investigate feminist theories not as one comprehensive system, but rather as varying ways in which feminists have attempted to speak about the category, position(s), and treatment of women given particular social and historical contexts. What does it mean to be a woman? Is it a biological concept? A cultural one? A political position within the social? What happens to the concept when we take into account others ways in which people are positioned in society such as race, class, sexuality, and nation? Is sex/gender a conceptual system we can do without? Emphasis will be placed on the dialogue and critique among a wide spectrum of feminist theorists. Throughout the semester we will return to questions regarding the role of theory for feminist politics as well as what the effects of bringing feminism to theory may have on the very nature of theory itself. 

PHL 375:  Moral Issues in Health Care

TR 10:00-11:50

Richard Momeyer

       The goal of this course is to think together in an informed and critical manner about selected issues in health care. An attempt will be made with each issue addressed to consider the distinctive interests and perspectives of physicians, nurses, patients and the public. Issues considered include physician/patient relationships; lying, truth-telling, paternalism and trust; death and dying, including suicide, euthanasia, and the treatment of defective newborns; treatment of mental illness and patient rights; allocating scarce resources; the nature of health and the purposes of medicine.
        How moral decisions are made in medicine—by what procedures, values, principles and parties—will be considered, mostly through examining a number of case studies. Students will be largely responsible for the presentation and analysis cases, if not the selection. A previous course in philosophy, preferably PHL 131, is recommended.

PHL 404:  What is Philosophy?  (Senior Capstone)

TR 4:10-5:50

Pascal Massie

       In this course students will spend the semester investigating the metaphilosophical question: “What is Philosophy?” Metaphilosophy has the strange peculiarity of being both a branch of philosophy (alongside epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, etc.,) and an overarching inquiry that takes the very nature of philosophy into consideration independently of its traditional branches.

       Examples of metaphilosophical questions could be: Is philosophy a kind of knowledge? Are philosophical claims cognitive in the sense that they can be said to be true or false? If philosophy is cognitive are the apparent disagreements between philosophers a sign of failure? To what extent are philosophers such as Plato, Hegel and Marx responsible for the subsequent use and misuse of their works? How can we tell whether a particular philosophy is “good”? Do the criteria we assume come from the philosophy we are judging? (Note: whether you answer yes or no, paradox occurs).

       The aim of this course is to take students to a “meta-level” of reflection by having them analyze and reflect both on various philosophical understanding of what it means to philosophize and on the way philosophy relates to other aspects of the liberal education they have studied so far.

       You can take this class for credit, but in order to take it as a senior capstone, you must have senior status at the time of enrollment.

       Prerequisite: minimum of 9 hours in philosophy or permission of the instructor.

PHL 440.D/540.D:  Descartes

MW 2:15-3:55

 Keith Fennen

       In this seminar we will study several of Descartes’ works in their entirety (Discourse on Method, Passions of the Soul, and Meditations on First Philosophy) along with selections from his other works and correspondence.  While we will address Descartes’ conception of physiology and science, we will do so in our attempt to understand (within the context of his thought) such things as the limits of rationality, judgment (especially in the Passions of the Soul), and the nature of truth.  Regarding the latter, Descartes is clear on how to know whether something is true, but what truth is for Descartes is not so clear.  We will focus on these themes not only to better understand the Cartesian corpus as a whole but also to deepen our understanding of Cartesian autonomy, virtue, and perhaps heroic action.  Lastly, we will read a few selections from other thinkers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to help situate and illuminate aspects of Descartes’ thought.

    PHL 450/550:  Psychoanalysis

W 6:00-9:30

Emily Zakin

       Throughout his work, Freud engaged in processes of revision and self-questioning, advancing new concepts in light of subsequent analyses.

       This seminar will introduce Freud as a theorist who has grappled with complex philosophical issues, including especially subjectively, the unconscious, death, and sexuality. We will explore both the intricacy and development of Freud’s own thinking as well as various French philosophies that takes Freud as their point of departure, returning to, elaborating, refining, and reformulating his concepts and theories. The course material will include both and extensive array of Freud’s own writings and work by other thinkers such as Lacan, Laplanche, Irigaray, and Kristeva.

PHL 460/560:  Marxism

MW 12:20-2:00

Peter Schuller

       Young Dr. Marx asked:: Which way (if any) can philosophy move forward after the grand spokesman of the age- Hegel- had written? His conclusion: immediately to the subsidiary disciplines and to practical application. Little could he realize that he would be the philosophical spokesman for a newer age, an age longer than that of Hegel’s hegemony. In this course we will see how Marx changes Hegel’s idealism to specific studies in which various philosophical positions can actually be tested and confirmed or disconfirmed- thereby leaving Idealism behind. We will explore Marx’s philosophical positions on theory of knowledge and ideology, on the dialectical methodology, on veridical versus non-veridical moral codes and values, and on the proper criterion of historical progress. We will read also read Marx on the lawful structures of capitalism and why it- or any specific social structure (“good infinity” as Hegel claimed but could not prove)- cannot last forever. So, much of the course will be on Marx himself- especially his work 1844-1848 and an abridgement of Capital. But we will also deal with Rosa Luxemburg’s improvement on Capital, Lenin on some details of making a revolution. Finally we will consider some of the 20th century Frankfurt School figures and how they stand with relation to Marxism and on a deep objection or two to the core of Marx’s views.

PHL 502:  Hegel

    T 2:15-5:45

  Elaine Miller

       This course will provide an in-depth overview of G.W.F. Hegel’s works, beginning with his emergence out of and transformation of the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, through his early theological writings, and focusing most of the semester on the Phenomenology of Spirit. We will spend the final couple of weeks of the semester reading the Philosophy of Right.