Winter Quarter

A selection of topics in social epistemology with a special emphasis on testimony, background assumptions, implicit bias, prejudice, conspiracy theories, feminist epistemology, and the epistemology of resistance. We will work on the blurred boundary between common sense certainties and deeply entrenched prejudices, making use of the Wittgenstein-inspired perspective of hinge epistemology in the social domain.

Examines how things in one’s social environment exist. Such things are compared and contrasted to others in what might be regarded as the given, natural environment. Topics discussed include natural kinds; artifacts; essentialism; constructivism; intentionality; agency.

This course treats the two greatest early modern British empiricists, John Locke and David Hume.  Through a consideration of Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, the course will examine a range of topics in metaphysics and epistemology, including the nature and scope of knowledge, the nature of human freedom, the nature of personal identity, and the relation between faith and reason.

Repeatability: Unlimited as topics vary.

Same as LPS 113.

The early modern period (roughly, 1517-1789), was a time of revolution, of tumultuous social, political, and intellectual change.  In this course, we'll examine three classic works that exemplify the revolutionary philosophical sensibility of this time: Descartes's Meditations on First Philosophy, Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, and Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals.  The Meditations revolutionized epistemology; the Dialogues revolutionized philosophy of religion; and the Groundwork revolutionized ethics.  These works all continue to influence on present-day philosophy.  The aim of the course will be to examine both what was revolutionary about these works and also respects in which they remain philosophically vital to this day.  
(IV)

Philosophy begins in wonder, and often in puzzles or even paradoxes. This course approaches philosophical and theoretical reasoning by studying philosophical puzzles and paradoxes in the context of the history of philosophy. A puzzle is a phenomenon that seems not to conform to received theories within some domain, while a paradox is an unacceptable conclusion or a contradiction derived from acceptable premises. We’ll consider problems regarding the nature of space-and-time, the infinite, truth (cf. the Liar’s claim “This claim is false”), physical reality (per modern physics), and mind and brain and consciousness.

Methodologically: We shall study philosophical puzzles and paradoxes as a way to introduce the formal tools (e.g. patterns of explanation, forms of conceptual analysis, and use of thought experiments) needed to comprehend and evaluate philosophical arguments and theories, and theoretical reasoning more generally.

Substantively: In the first weeks of the course we shall consider several paradoxes and puzzles, looking to their roles in the history of philosophy and science. In the latter weeks of the course we shall study Descartes’ famous arguments in the Meditations, considering the problem of how mind and brain can possibly be related: is the mind-body problem a puzzle or even perhaps a paradox?

This online course offers an overview of the main approaches and open issues in philosophy, with an eye on how philosophy can be relevant in one’s life, both in the sense that it helps think better, and in the sense that it helps make sense of one’s place in the world. The course is organized around some fundamental questions, that will guide us in the exploration of the main topics and perspectives: What is philosophy (introduction)? What can I know, and what can I doubt (epistemology)? What is consciousness (philosophy of mind)? Who am I (the self and personal identity)? What do I like (aesthetics)? How should I act (ethics)? What is right, and what is wrong (social and political philosophy)? What is the meaning of life (conclusion)?