Spring Quarter

In recent decades philosophers in the analytic tradition have become increasingly interested in the nature of the social world. The kinds of questions discussed include the following. When do two or more people count as doing something together, such as going for a walk together? What are we talking about when we speak of the beliefs of groups as opposed to the beliefs of individual human beings? Is such talk merely a shorthand way of talking about what all or most group members think? If not, what does it amount to? What about group emotions? The answers to such questions bear on central issues in moral, political, and legal philosophy, including the following. Can a group---as opposed to its individual members---be blameworthy? If so, what are the implications of group blameworthiness to that of the individual members of the group? How strong a barrier do group beliefs and emotions such as distrust and hostility towards other groups present to the reconciliation of groups in conflict? This course will focus on some of the central questions in the field.

This course focuses on the later Wittgenstein and in particular on his notion of forms of life. An examination of this notion in Wittgenstein’s writings and of its interpretations in the literature will allow us to connect Wittgenstein’s philosophy to wider topics and approaches such as naturalism, quietism, contextualism, relativism, the philosophy of common sense, and pragmatism.

A consideration of Hume's central epistemological claims in the *Treatise of Human Nature* and the *Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding*. Topics to be considered include whether Hume advances a merely descriptive or normative account of causal reasoning, the relation between Hume's 'naturalism' and his 'skepticism', and whether Hume's epistemological position changes from the *Treatise* to the first *Enquiry*.

In the seminar we will read Plato's Republic in its entirety. Our principal task is to understand, as far as we can, Plato's discussion of a wide range of philosophical issues that include the following. What is justice and what sort of reason does a person have to be just? What is a just society and what are its organizing principles? What is ethical truth and how can we know it? What is the relation between ethical truth and political reality? What is it that makes a good thing good? What sort of education produces someone competent to rule in a just society? What is the political value of propaganda? What sort of capacity, if any, does the ordinary person have for ethical virtue? What is the proper explanation of psychological conflict and weakness of will? What is a human being?  Are there any abstract or non-material entities, and if so, what are they like? What relation does art bear to truth? Is art dangerous? What happens to us after death?