Term:  

Spring Quarter

Dept Course No and Title Instructor
PHILOS (S21)165  PHIL OF ACTIONGREENBERG, S.
What is an action?  How do we know our actions?  What is an agent?  Are we responsible for our actions?  Should we be blamed for our actions? Such questions are at the heart of the philosophy of action, and also the heart of our lives.  This course is divided into two parts that treat such questions.  In the first half of the course, we will examine G. E. M. Anscombe's *Intention*, which is widely acknowledged as the most important work in the philosophy of action of the twentieth century and which continues to figure in discussion of the philosophy of action today.  In the second half of the course, we will consider issues relating to freedom, moral responsibility, and blame.
PHILOS (S21)145  MEANINGKOSLOW, A.
Words and sentences in English and other languages have meanings. That is why speakers can use sentences to communicate their thoughts, some of which are true. But what are meanings? What are the meanings of ‘Joe Biden’, ‘cat’, red’, ‘waves’, ‘marry’, and ‘the’? How are meaning, reference, thought, communication, and truth related? How do words and sentences get their meanings and referents? We will begin this course by considering several theories about the nature of meaning and reference. We will then discuss communication and speech acts, the determination of word and sentence meaning, and skepticism about meaning. If time permits, we will end with an inquiry into the nature of truth.

Same as LPS 145, LSCI 141.
PHILOS (S21)144  THE SOCIAL CONTRACTSKYRMS, B.
Visit the Logic and Philosophy of Science website for more information.
PHILOS (S21)144  PHILOS OF SOC SCIGILBERT, M.
This course introduces students to the philosophy of the social world. While including some historical sources, it will focus on contemporary discussions from an analytic perspective. The kinds of questions to be 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 refer to the beliefs of groups of people---such as a team’s belief that it will win the game? Is such talk merely a shorthand way of talking about what all or most group members think? What about group emotions? And what about groups themselves? To what kind of group is the notion of a “unity” of persons clearly applicable? Is there some sense to the idea of a “social contract” at the core of a society? The answers to such questions bear on significant issues in moral and political philosophy. For instance, 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?
PHILOS (S21)140  SCIENCE & RELIGIONMANCHAK, J.
Visit the Logic and Philosophy of Science website for more information.
PHILOS (S21)131A  APPLIED ETHICSDONALDSON, B.
In their definition of religion, Emile Durkheim and Mircea Eliade present the human/animal boundary as a fundamental hallmark of the discipline, one often overlooked in contemporary studies of “animals and religion.” In this course we will utilize this fundamental binary to identify the construction of  “human” and “animal” subjectivities in Peter Singer's utilitarianism, Tom Reagan's animal rights, and Derrida's concept of différance. We will use these theoretical tools to analyze religious narratives, including Jewish, Islamic, Christian, Jain, and Buddhist, alongside scientific views and the juncture of species, race, and gender violence. We will identify modes of thinking, feeling, and acting capable of disturbing this conceptual binary, creating new opportunities for multi-species identity formation, community, and response.
PHILOS (S21)115  HIST OF ANALYTICHEIS, J.
Visit the Logic and Philosophy of Science website for more information.
PHILOS (S21)113  MODERN PHILOSOPHYSCHAFER, K.
This course will explore a variety of often neglected or marginalized dimensions of the history of philosophy during the early modern period. Topics to be discussed will include the role of women, non-white, and non-upper-class philosophers in early modern Europe, the relationship between early modern philosophy and colonialism and slavery, discussions of race and gender within early modern philosophy, and efforts to view the history of early modern philosophy from a more global or cosmopolitan perspective. Authors to be discussed will include some of the following: Al-Ghazali, Montaigne, Descrates, Elizabeth, Gournay, Du Châtelet, Amo, Zera Yacob, Mulla Sadra, Leibniz, Cavendish, Astell, de la Cruz, de las Casas, Yangming, ViÅ›vanātha, Gaá¹…geÅ›a, Hume, and Shepherd.
PHILOS (S21)110  ANCIENT PHILOSOPHYPERIN, C.
In this course we will read, from beginning to end, the greatest work in the western philosophical tradition and, just maybe, the best book ever written: Plato's Republic. We will examine Plato's discussion of topics in ethics, political philosophy, metaphysics, philosophical psychology, and the philosophy of art. The class will be a seminar and regular participation will be required of all its members.
PHILOS (S21)105C  INCOMPLETENESSMEADOWS, T.
Visit the Logic and Philosophy of Science website for more information.
PHILOS (S21)103  INTR TO MORAL PHILHELMREICH, J.
A study of one or more of the problems of contemporary moral philosophy, e.g., the nature of justice, liberalism versus conservatism, happiness and its relation to virtue and right conduct, the objectivity of moral standards.
PHILOS (S21)40  SLURS MANSPLAININGJAMES, A.
Phil 40 (Slurs Mansplaining): Slurs, Bullshit, Mansplaining, Silencing: This course considers the ethics of speech in the light of moral theory.  Topics include freedom of speech, fake news and propaganda; insults, slurs and hate speech; “bullshitting,” and “calling bullshit”; “mansplaining,” testimony and credibility; silencing, “gaslighting,” and misogyny.
PHILOS (S21)31  INTRO INDUCT LOGICCOLCLOUGH, T.
Visit the Logic and Philosophy of Science website for more information.
PHILOS (S21)30  INTR SYMBOLIC LOGICMESKHIDZE, E.
Visit the Logic and Philosophy of Science website for more information.
PHILOS (S21)29  CRITICAL REASONINGCHEN, E.
Visit the Logic and Philosophy of Science website for more information.
PHILOS (S21)13  HIST CONTEM PHILOSBONCOMPAGNI, A.
This course focuses on American pragmatism, and it includes topics such as knowledge, truth, language, common sense, belief and action, education and society. In the first part of the course, we will read the classical pragmatists (Charles S. Peirce, William James, John Dewey, Jane Addams), while in the second part we will examine the relationships between pragmatism and other approaches such as feminism, African American thought, Latin American and Native American thought.
PHILOS (S21)5  CONTEMP MORAL PRBLMJAMES, A.
Money and Ecology: This course considers the ethics of money and ecology (the covid pandemic and climate change) and their relationship (via public finance).  Topics include: What should or should not have been done to mitigate the covid pandemic in view of moral theory; the nature of money, whether it corrupts us, public banking and the "social contract"; the problem of climate change, what should or should not be done to mitigate it (e.g., with public money and banking).
PHILOS (S21)4  INTRO TO ETHICSHELMREICH, J.
Selected topics from the history of ethics, e.g., the nature of the good life and the moral justification of conduct.

(IV)
PHILOS (S21)2  PUZZLES & PARADOXESSCHAFER, K.
Is the statement "This statement is false" true or false? Can God create a stone too heavy for Him to lift? Could a single hair make the difference between a bald an a non-bald person? Is it possible to know every truth? Could you go back in time and kill your grandfather before he met your grandmother? Can you know that you will be given a surprise exam sometime next week? Philosophical puzzles like these threaten our basic understanding of central concepts such as space, time, motion, infinity, truth, knowledge, and belief. This course focuses on philosophical puzzles and paradoxes as a way to introduce the formal tools needed to comprehend and evaluate philosophical arguments and theories, as well as theoretical reasoning more generally. The puzzles and paradoxes discussed in the course serve as an introduction to (among other things) the philosophy of space and time, the nature of the infinite, explanation, vagueness, knowledge and the rationality of action and belief.

(IV, Vb)
PHILOS (S21)1  INTRO TO PHILOSOPHYRITCHIE, K.
A selection of philosophical problems, concepts, and methods, e.g., free will, cause and substance, personal identity, the nature of philosophy itself. Materials fee.

(IV)