Summer 2012 Graduate Courses and (NEW) Scheduled 2012-2013 Course Listing
SUMMER
2012
Students who are not graduate students in the University of Toronto Department of Philosophy must secure the instructor’s approval before taking a PHL course. Print a copy of the SGS Add/Drop Course(s) Form (http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/informationfor/students/inform/stuforms.htm), have it signed by the instructor and submit it to the Graduate Office, Department of Philosophy.
Students from other Ontario Universities must request enrollment through the Ontario Visiting Graduate Students Exchange Program. Contact the graduate office of your home university.
May-June (May 14 - June 22)
PHL2195F Seminar in Philosophy of Biology
Denis Walsh
Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays,
12:00 - 3:00 pm, JHB 418
Breadth Requirement: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
The objective of this series of seminars is to present a range of topics in the general philosophy of science from the perspective of the philosophy of biology. General philosophy of science developed largely independently of the philosophy of biology. In recent years, the philosophy of biology has burgeoned. In light of the growing maturity of the philosophy of biology, it is worth asking how it might inform—or transform—the foundational issues in the philosophy of science. Seminars are conducted as open discussions. Each seminar discussion section will concentrate on one or more (usually two) papers. Each week volunteers will offer a short (five minute) introduction to the assigned readings.
July-August (July 3 - August 13)
PHL2191S: Seminar in Philosophy of Language: Vagueness
Diana Raffman
Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays,
12:00 - 3:00 pm, JHB 418
Breadth Requirement: Mind, Language, Logic
The vagueness of natural language has been a topic of considerable interest in philosophy of language at least since the mid-1970’s. This course will begin with discussion of some classic essays by Wright, Sainsbury, Edgington, Fine, and Williamson among others. Then we will work through Raffman’s forthcoming book Unruly Words: A Study of Vague Language (Oxford), which develops a new theory of vagueness. At each meeting, one or more members of the class will provide 5-10-minute summaries of the assigned readings. Students will submit either five short (4-5 pp) papers or one seminar paper (20-25 pp).
2012-2013 COURSE LISTING (updated April 11, 2012)
For a listing of the graduate courses that are scheduled to be offered in the 2012-2013 academic year, please see below. Please check back during the spring and summer for updates, as the listing becomes finalized.
NOTE: There will be no enrollment in these courses until after September 3, 2012
_______________________________________________________
Students who are not graduate students in the University of Toronto Department of Philosophy must secure the instructor’s approval before taking a PHL course. Print a copy of the SGS Add/Drop Course(s) Form (http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/informationfor/students/inform/stuforms.htm), have it signed by the instructor and submit it to the Graduate Office, Department of Philosophy.
Students from other Ontario Universities must request enrollment through the Ontario Visiting Graduate Students Exchange Program. Contact the graduate office of your home university.
The following lists our graduate courses with instructors, times and descriptions, as well as which of our eight breadth requirements is covered. These breadth requirements are:
- Ancient
- Medieval
- 17th and 18th century
- 19th century
- 20th century
- Metaphysics, Epistemology, Philosophy of Science
- Values (Ethics, Politics, Aesthetics, Philosophy of Religion)
- Mind, Language, Logic
Unless otherwise noted, every PHL graduate course will be taught at the Jackman Humanities Building on the fourth floor, either Room 401 or Room 418.
FALL 2012
AMP2000Y Proseminar for the Collaborative Program in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy (CPAMP)
Martin Pickavé
Mondays, 4:00-6:00
Limited to CPAMP students
This course is mandatory for CPAMP students in year 1 and 2; program students who have fulfilled this requirement are expected to attend regularly. Other interested doctoral students are welcome to attend as well and should contact the program director (Martin Pickavé) to indicate their interest.
The proseminar has three components: a series of faculty-led seminars; an ancient Greek philosophy reading group and a Latin medieval philosophy reading group. All students in the proseminar must attend the seminars on the year's featured topic – this year “Reason, Intellect, and Mind” – and at least one of the reading groups; students are warmly encouraged to attend both. For the course schedule and details on the reading groups see the CPAMP website (http://cpamp.utoronto.ca/courses.html).
CLA5020F Philosophy in the Early Roman Empire: The Platonist Revival
Brad Inwood/George Boys-Stones
Wednesdays, 3:00-6:00
Breadth Requirement: Ancient
Professor Boys-Stones will be the visiting instructor for CLA 5020F, co-taught with Brad Inwood. Boys-Stones is the author of the highly influential Post-Hellenistic Philosophy: A study of its development from the Stoics to Origen (Oxford 2001), former department head at Durham, and a leading expert on later Greek philosophy. He is currently editor of the ancient philosophy journal Phronesis. For a full profile see http://www.dur.ac.uk/classics/staff/?id=89.
This course will focus on Platonism, especially in its relationship to Stoicism in the period and to emerging Christian thought. Among other things, students will get a preview of material from Boys-Stones’ forthcoming Cambridge Sourcebook of Later Platonism. A sketch of the topics covered follows:
The most important philosophical development in the early centuries of our era was the rise of a movement which sought philosophical answers in the texts of Plato. This movement defined the subsequent course of Western intellectual history: it quickly became the principal touchstone for the development of Christian dogmatic theology, for example; and by the third century AD (when its most famous exponent, Plotinus was writing) it was the dominant framework for pagan thought.
One of the interesting things about Platonism to us is the way in which its adherents interpreted Plato; but as well as this ‘exegetical’ question, one can ask what sense the resulting systems make philosophically, that is, as systems for understanding the world. This course aims to do just that: to understand Platonism less in terms of how it interprets Plato, and more in terms of how it answers the questions posed by its philosophical predecessors and contemporaries. And whereas the ‘exegetical’ approach might be best served by looking at later authors where detailed discussions of Plato are better preserved, the earlier, pre-Plotinian, material suits the ‘philosophical’ approach, just because its arguments with alternative points of view (especially Stoics and sceptics) are still ‘live’ debates.
Given the approach outlined here, a knowledge of Plato will be helpful, but is not essential. A knowledge of Hellenistic philosophy is likewise not assumed (though will be equally useful).
For fuller information please contact Brad Inwood at brad.inwood@utoronto.ca.
MST3346F Medieval Islamic Philosophy
Deborah Black
Mondays,
2:00-4:00
Breadth Requirement: Medieval
Ibn Sīnā (980-1037 CE), known to the West as Avicenna, was one of the most influential and innovative philosophers in the medieval Islamic world. In this course we will explore a range of topics in Avicenna’s philosophy, including his philosophy of language, natural philosophy, metaphysics, and philosophy of mind. Time permitting we will also look at some of Avicenna’s critics and followers in the Islamic, Christian and Jewish traditions, such as Al-Ghaẓālī, Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Moses Maimonides, and Thomas Aquinas.
Readings will be drawn from a variety of primary sources in translation, including:
Avicenna’s Psychology. Trans. Fazlur Rahman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1952.
The Metaphysics of the Healing. Trans. M. E. Marmura. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2005.
The Physics of the Healing. Trans. Jon McGinnis. 2 vols. . Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2009.
The Psychology of the Healing. Trans M. E. Marmura and D. Black. Unpublished Manuscript.
David C. Reisman and Jon McGinnis, trans. Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2007.
The Deliverance: Logic. Trans. Asad Q. Ahmed. Oxford University Press, 2011.
PHL1000F Independent Reading and/or Research Course
Staff
Breadth Requirement: TBA
PHL1111F Epistemological Scepticism: Ancient and Modern (PhD Proseminar)
Rachel Barney/Jennifer Nagel
Wednesdays, 12:00-3:00
Breadth Requirement: MES, Ancient
This course will examine the ways in which scepticism has been advocated and criticised in a number of ancient and recent texts. Authors to be studied include Cicero, Sextus Empiricus, G. E. Moore, Peter Unger, Gail Stine, Thompson Clarke, Keith DeRose, and Timothy Williamson.
As one aim of the proseminar is to introduce students to graduate-level work in philosophy, first-year PhD students will receive close guidance on a series of four short writing assignments; each student will also be responsible for a brief in-class presentation.
PHL2007F Aristotle’s Ethics: Protrepticus, Eudemian Ethics, Nicomachean Ethics
Doug Hutchinson
Thursdays, 9:00-12:00
Breadth Requirement: Ancient
The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle is currently the most studied book of moral philosophy in North America. In this seminar we will study this document in its original context in the 4th century BC Lyceum, as an unpublished set of notes adventitiously assembled by later editors. The NE develops ideas earlier explored in the lectures preserved in another set of unpublished notes, the Eudemian Ethics, which in turn develops lines of thought first elaborated in Aristotle's published dialogue Protrepticus, of which substantial fragments survive.
We will be using the most recent translation of the Eudemian Ethics, the 2011 Oxford translation by Anthony Kenny, which is the first version of the EE since medieval times to present it without abridgement: it includes Books IV-VI, which are literally identical with Books V-VII of the Nicomachean Ethics (the three 'common books'). We will be using the upcoming version (summer 2012) of the reconstruction of the Protrepticus by Monte Ransome Johnson and myself (to be made available in samizdat form, or in a print-on-demand format). As for the Nicomachean Ethics, students could use either the most recent translation (Chicago 2011) or any translation they currently possess.
In the course of our seminar, we will be assessing the controversial views of Kenny that a) the three common books find their true home in the EE, not in the NE, and that b) the NE books were written before the EE books, which express Aristotle's 'mature' ethical thinking. But our primary focus will be philosophical: on Aristotle’s ethical views, and on his mode of doing moral philosophy.
Students will be presenting all or most of the seminar presentations, one per student, after a tutorial with the professor. Students will also be responsible for recording ‘protocols’ of the class discussion. Instead of a final essay, the course will conclude with a final open-book exam (3 hours).
PHL2062F Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
Margaret Morrison
Mondays, 11:00-2:00
Breadth Requirement: 17th-18th Century
This course is intended as an introduction to Kant's critical philosophy as explicated in the Critique of Pure Reason. We will begin by examining the influences of Hume and Leibniz on Kant and how transcendental idealism is an attempt to overcome the so-called dogmatic rationalism of Leibniz and the sceptical empiricism of Hume. We will focus on the assumptions and conditions inherent in transcendental idealism that characterize human knowledge and experience, as well as the ways in which this position attempts to solve the problems of objectivity and the nature of necessity.
The course will be a combination of lectures and seminars. Although difficult material will sometimes be introduced in lecture format students will be expected to come to class prepared to discuss problems that arise in the text. Grades will be based on class/seminar participation [each student is required to do a seminar presentation] and a major research paper [20 pp.].
The Critique of Pure Reason. N.K. Smith (trans.) McMillan Press
Kant's Transcendental Idealism. H. Allison Yale University Press
Kant. Sebastian Gardiner Routledge
PHL2131F Ethics: The Morality of Collective Harm
Julia Nefsky
Fridays, 9:30-12:30
Breadth Requirement: Values
The central question of this course will be: how can we make sense of our individual moral reasons and responsibilities in contexts of collective harm?
In a wide range of cases people collectively cause harm, or fail to prevent it, but no individual seems to make a difference. In such cases, even though harm results from voluntary human action, it is unclear how we can say that anyone ought to have acted otherwise. Each person can argue “my act makes no difference, so I cannot be doing anything wrong.” These cases are of clear moral importance; many of the most serious problems in the world today – such as global poverty and climate change – are, to a large extent, collective harm cases. But we do not have a good handle on them. Are we making a mistake when we think that an individual act makes no difference in such cases? Or is it that there are moral reasons for action that do not require making a difference? Are non-consequentialists better equipped than consequentialists to handle collective harm cases? Or are certain consequentialist tools (such as interpersonal aggregation and expected utility) what are needed to solve the problem? Do notions of collective responsibility and collective agency help solve the problem? Can we argue from collective obligations to individual obligations, or do collective obligations and individual obligations sometimes fail to line up? We will consider the relationship between these issues and analogous problems that arise in rational choice theory. Authors will include Derek Parfit, Frank Jackson, Jonathan Glover, T.M. Scanlon, Shelly Kagan, Samuel Scheffler, Garrett Cullity, and Christopher Kutz.
PHL2132F Seminar in Ethics: Normativity and the Will
Philip Clark
Thursdays, 12:00-3:00
Breadth Requirement: Values
Recently, and rather suddenly, philosophers interested in ethics and practical reason have stopped talking about motivation. They have not lost interest in the connection between ethics and the will, but they speak in terms of normativity, practicality, authority, and commitment, and often argue directly from questions like “So what?” and “Why bother?” rather than appealing to motivation. This trend is particularly apparent in recent exchanges between constructivists like Christine Korsgaard and David Velleman and realists like David Enoch and T. M. Scanlon. Korsgaard says realists can’t explain why we should bother with the rules or properties they posit, and Enoch says constructivists can’t answer the question “Why be an agent?” The common assumption seems to be that an adequate account will somehow put us beyond the questions “Why?” and “So what?” Is this a legitimate demand? Does either constructivism or realism have the upper hand in satisfying it? Is there a way to move beyond this dispute? We will tackle these questions with help from such authors as Sharon Street, Mark Schroeder, Derek Parfit, William FitzPatrick, Simon Blackburn, Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Ralph Wedgwood, and Nadeem Hussain and Nishi Shah.
PHL2133F Topics in Ethics: Themes from the Moral Philosophy of Bernard Williams
Andrew Sepielli
Tuesdays, 6:00-9:00
Breadth Requirement: Values, MES
This course is an examination of moral-philosophical problems raised prominently in the work of Bernard Williams. Topics will include: the objectivity of morality, the nature of moral conflict, the relationship between normativity and motivation, the role of integrity in moral theory, and the dynamics of moral concepts. Readings will include several of Williams's major papers, his contribution to the co-writtten volume Utilitarianism: For and Against, and most of his book Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, as well as selections from John McDowell, Shelly Kagan, Martha Nussbaum, Adrian Moore, Christine Korsgaard, Michael Smith, Ruth Chang, and Alan Thomas.
PHL2152F Philosophy and Teaching
Robert Gibbs
Wednesdays, 3:00-6:00
Breadth Requirement: Values
Course Description: TBA
PHL 2171F Philosophy of Mind: Attention and Consciousness
Evan Thompson
Wednesdays, 9:00-12:00
Breadth Requirement: MLL
After decades of philosophical neglect, the nature of attention has recently emerged as a prominent topic at the interface of philosophy of mind, philosophical psychology, and cognitive science. What is attention? What is its relation to phenomenal consciousness (subjective experience) and cognitive functioning? Is attention necessary, sufficient, or necessary and sufficient for consciousness? Or are attention and consciousness doubly dissociable (i.e., can attention occur in the absence of consciousness and vice-versa)? What are the different kinds of attention (voluntary, involuntary, selective, diffuse, etc.)? Does conscious experience “overflow” what is attentionally selected or available? Does attending to something alter its appearance? How is attention related to spontaneous cognition, mind wandering, and the temporal dynamics of conscious experience?
In addressing such questions, we will draw from a wide range of readings in philosophy of mind, cognitive neuroscience, phenomenology (Husserl, Gurwitsch, Merleau-Ponty), and the history of psychology (James, Ribot). A striking feature of almost all these discussions, however, is the lack of consideration given to the trainability of attention. What light might the trainability of attention shed on debates about the relationship between phenomenal consciousness and “cognitive access” (the ability to recall and report on the content of mental events)? In order to address this question, we will draw from Indian Buddhist philosophy and examine some of the ways it conceptualizes attention and consciousness, specifically in relation to attention-training and “mindfulness” practices. We will also examine recent cognitive neuroscience investigations of these practices and the inchoate cognitive science attempt to conceptualize and model “mindfulness.” In this way, we will be contributing to the project of “cross-cultural” philosophy of mind and cognitive science (see http://coseruc.people.cofc.edu/investigatingconsciousness/). The course will be conducted as a seminar but no prior familiarity with any of the material will be assumed.
PHL2172F Seminar in Philosophy of Mind: Philosophy of Perception
Mohan Matthen
Tuesdays, 12:00-3:00
Breadth Requirement: MES, Ancient
The aim of this course is to give participants a research level understanding of some issues in the philosophy of perception. Students will select an entry (approved by the instructor) from the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Perception (being edited by the instructor) and give two presentations connected with the chosen entry. The first presentation will consist of a relatively brief overview–twenty to thirty minutes–including a plan for further research. The second will be a presentation of research on the topic of the entry. Students will write a research paper of approximately 5000 words. The grade will be 75% for this paper, and 25% for class participation, including the presentations.
So that students have a few weeks to get their program of research up and running, we will begin the term with a discussion of active perception and its implications for empirical knowledge. We’ll discuss three papers:
Gibson, J. J. (1962) “Observations on Active Touch,” Psychological Review 69: 477-491.
Matthen, Mohan (forthcoming) “How To Be Sure: Sensory Exploration and Sensory Knowledge,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (published online in 2012).
Siegel, Susanna (2006). ‘‘Subject and Object in the Content of Visual Experience,’’ Philosophical Review 115: 355–388.
PHL2182F Philosophy of Religion (MA Seminar)
Colin Howson
Tuesdays, 9:00-12:00
Breadth Requirement: MES, Ancient
We shall be looking at classical arguments for and against the existence of God. Generally speaking, this God is the God of theism: the creator of all things, omnipotent, omniscient and perfectly good. He is the common core of the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Though usually addressing the specific God of one or other of these religions, and mainly the God of Christianity, the arguments we shall be evaluating bear fairly directly on the God of theism. Most are of fairly ancient lineage, though all have received modern reworkings and updates: for example, in the twentieth century the ontological argument originally produced by Anselm in the 11th century has been given a modal logic (S5) formulation by Alvin Plantinga and no less a person than Kurt Gödel, while the ancient Cosmological Argument has been reproduced within the context of Big Bang cosmology.
WINTER 2013
AMP2000Y Proseminar for the Collaborative Program in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy (CPAMP)
Martin Pickavé
Mondays, 4:00-6:00
Limited to CPAMP Students
For details: Please see Fall 2012 listing
HPS1107S Science and Miracles
Joseph Berkovitz/ Yiftach Fehige
Tuesdays, 2:00-4:00
Breadth Requirement: MES
Among the fast growing interdisciplinary fields is the study of the relationships between science and religion. Christian philosophers of the analytic school dominate this field. This explains the revived interest in miracles, a classical topic in the philosophy of religion. The resurgence of interest in miracles is carried by significant changes in the historiography of the so called Scientific Revolution and developments in epistemology pertaining to our understanding of science. This seminar revisits the widely contested idea that there is a God who has violated laws of nature in order to bring about certain events of religious meaning. The principal aim of the course is to contextualize this idea in historical and systematic perspective. A special focus is placed on the growing importance of probability theory in contemporary accounts of miracles. In doing so, the seminar deals with central questions in philosophy of science (the nature of science, laws of nature, scientific explanation, scientific confirmation etc.) and confronts them with fundamental theological claims related to the possibility and nature of miracles.
MST3306S Augustine: Confessions as Philosophy
Peter King
Mondays, 2:00-4:00
Breadth Requirement: Ancient, Medieval
This course will consider Augustine's Confessions from a philosophical point of view: Augustine's sources, the claims and arguments he makes, his relation to classical philosophies, and the "new" contributions he offers.
Some topics to be taken up include: the Cradle Argument, classical theories of friendship, philosophy of emotion (in particular consolation and catharsis), the ascent to God, the relation of catholicism to neoplatonism, and his early sketches of philosophy of mind -- if there's time, perhaps a bit of his new philosophy of history as well. Latin is not required for this course.
PHL1000S Independent Reading and/or Research Course
Staff
Breadth Requirement: TBA
PHL2005S Seminar in Plato: From Plato to Platonism
Lloyd Gerson
Wednesdays, 9:00-12:00
Breadth Requirement: Ancient
In this course we will study the core texts out of which ancient Platonism was constructed. These include Plato's Parmenides and Timaeus (along with some of the most famous passages of other dialogues and letters), Aristotle's testimony regarding Platonism in his Metaphysics and elsewhere, and the fragments of the Old Academy followers of Plato. We will then turn to Plotinus to study the basic structure of Platonism as this was articulated throughout antiquity and after. If time permits, we will consider some of the central problems that arose from the study of Plotinus' version of Platonism by later philosophers. These include: the nature of the first principle of all, the eternity of the universe, and the existence and nature of evil. This course, though it presumes no specialized knowledge of Plato, is designed as a continuation of PHL 2009F/2010F taught by Inwood and Boys-Stones.
PHL2009S Seminar in Greek Philosophy: Life, Consciousness and Pleasure in Plato and Aristotle
Jennifer Whiting
Mondays, 11:00-2:00
Breadth Requirement: Ancient
The debate between Epicurean and Stoic philosophers about the human good – whether it is (as the Epicureans claim) pleasure or (as the Stoics claim) living in accordance with nature – is rooted in the discussions of perception, desire and imagination that we find in late Plato (especially the Philebus) and in Aristotle’s various ethical and and psychological works (including works where he compares the “pleasure” of divine thought with the distinctively human “pleasures” of perception and thought), discussions where Plato and Aristotle are arguably working towards the notion of self-consciousness that is often associated with later (especially early modern) philosophers in the Western tradition. These discussions are in turn rooted (in a way clear from the Philebus) in ontological discussions concerning the nature of life and the various activities (such as perception and thought) in which it consists; and the relation between pleasure and the objects and activities in which it is taken. For example, should the pleasure be identified (as Aristotle sometimes seems to suggest) with unimpeded activities (especially those that involve actualization of our natural capacities)? Or is pleasure, however closely it may seem to be tied to such activities, something that somehow follows on their actualization? And what role (if any) does pleasure as such play in the motivation of the various “pleasant” activities, including the activity of moral virtue?
PHL2057S Seminar in 17th-18th Century Philosophy: Spinoza and Lebniz
Karolina Huebner / Marleen Rozemond
Thursdays, 12:00-3:00
Breadth Requirement: 17th-18th Century
This course will explore central topics in the philosophy of Spinoza and Leibniz such as: What is the nature of mind and of body and how do they relate to each other? What is the nature of causation? What is the nature of necessity? We will also explore both how Spinoza influenced Leibniz and how Leibniz attempted to respond to Spinoza.
PHL2088S Truth and Authenticity: Heidegger’s Being and Time
(Enrollment limit: 10 Philosophy Graduate Students)
Lambert Zuidervaart
Mondays, 9:30-12:30
Breadth Requirement: 20th Century
Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time proposes a holistic conception of truth that can reconnect epistemology with cultural practices and social institutions. Yet his conception seems to make personal or communal “authenticity” the key to attaining truth. The seminar develops a constructive critique of Heidegger’s conception of truth by examining its internal logic and its hermeneutical role.
PHL2097S Seminar in Analytic Philosophy: Propositions and Numbers
Gurpreet Rattan/Byeong-uk Yi
Wednesdays, 12:00-3:00
Breadth Requirement: MES, Ancient, MLL
This is a course about the philosophy of propositions and numbers - about the metaphysics, semantics and epistemology of propositions and numbers. What sorts of things are propositions and numbers? Are they objects? If not, what are they? How is thought and language about propositions and numbers possible, and what is the nature of the semantic relation(s) that exist between thought and language about numbers and propositions? And how do we know about propositions and numbers? The course will also explore the question of whether a unified account, and just how unified an account, of the philosophy of propositions and numbers is possible and desirable. Authors to be read will include Burge, Hofweber, King, Matthews, Moltmann, Peacocke, Schiffer, Soames, Stanley and Kennedy, and Hale and Wright, among others. Students will be evaluated on the basis of some short papers and a final term paper.
PHL2131S Ethics: Intention and Permissibility (MA Seminar)
Joseph Boyle
Tuesdays, 9:00-12:00
Breadth Requirement: Values
The doctrine of the double effect maintains a distinctive and strong connection between intention and permissibility—namely, that what can be permissibly brought about as a side effects that is not intended may be impermissible to bring about intentionally. T. Scanlon, F. Kamm and others dispute this. Their arguments and possible responses will be the focus of this seminar. Other relationships between permissibility and intention will also be considered, for example, that good intentions required for causing bad side effects or harmful actions such as making war.
PHL2143S Social Philosophy: Dislocations of Democracy
Mark Kingwell
Tuesdays, 12:00-3:00
Breadth Requirement: Values
"Dislocations of Democracy." In keeping with a research project begun last year at the Jackman Humanities Institute, this course will focus on the theme 'location/dislocation'. We will examine in particular the current state of democratic theory and the status of public space as a public good, using works by Taylor, Ranciere, Derrida, Agamben, and others.
PHL2145S Bioethics
William Harvey
Mondays, 10:00-1:00
Breadth Requirement: Values
This seminar focuses narrowly on the philosophical foundations (metaphysics and epistemology) of normative clinical ethics and the assessment of mental and functional competency (abbreviated as “competency” hereafter). It is definitely not a general interest course in topics bioethical. We address two fundamental questions. First, the role of the Biomedical Model (naturalism, reductionism and Verificationism) in structuring instruments for the assessment of mental competency and its adequacy in accounting for the subjectivity of patients as persons. Second, the adequacy of normative ethical theories and law (case law and legislation primarily in Ontario) in providing substantive and credible assessment of competency and related issues such as the doctrine of informed consent; surrogate decisionmaking and advance directives; powers of attorney for personal care and finances; guardianship. Among the relevant philosophical topics: competing analyses of health and disease; narrative and narrative ethics; phenomenological analysis of embodiment, self, illness and suffering; agency, autonomy and action; hermeneutical interpretation of action; practical reasoning and defeasible reasoning; clinical reasoning (diagnosis). The seminar is structured primarily for students enrolled in the Collaborative Program in Bioethics or graduates who are specializing in clinical ethics within a different program.
PHL2171S Philosophy of Mind: Perception
Sonia Sedivy
Wednesdays, 3:00-6:00
Breadth Requirement: MLL
Course Description: TBA
PHL2191S Philosophy of Language
Nate Charlow
Mondays, 4:00-7:00
Breadth Requirement: MES, MLL
This is a course about conditionals (and related topics, like modality). We'll survey some of the classic philosophical approaches (e.g. Stalnaker, Lewis), look at some challenges to truth-conditional approaches to conditionals (e.g. Adams, the Triviality Results, Edgington), try to get a sense of the linguistic terrain (e.g. Heim, Kratzer), and, finally, try to get a sense of the state of the art with a special focus on conditional questions (e.g. Isaacs & Rawlins), obligations (e.g. Kolodny & MacFarlane), and imperatives (e.g. me, Kaufmann & Schwager), as well as so-called "Dynamic" and "Shifty" approaches to the meaning of conditionals (e.g. Gillies, Starr).
No familiarity with formal semantics is assumed, and all necessary technical apparatus will be covered in the first weeks of the course.
PHL3000S Professional Development Seminar
Diana Raffman
Thursdays, 9:00-12:00
This non-credit course is designed to prepare students to present their work to colleagues and participate in the type of high-level academic philosophical interaction they will encounter on the job market. The course is required of all students who wish to use the departmental placement services, and must be taken no later than the year before going on the job market.
Requirements: Students will present papers connected to their dissertation work, as well as summaries of their dissertation projects. They will also participate in the discussion of other students' papers and projects, and practice taking job interviews.
SUMMER 2013
May-June Term
PHL2195F Philosophy of Biology (Seminar)
Denis Walsh
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 12:00-3:00
Breadth Requirement: MES, MLL
Course Description: TBA
