300-Level Courses

Note about Prerequisites: All 300-series courses have a prerequisite of three half courses (or equivalent) in philosophy, with the exception of PHL345H1-349H1, PHL356H1 and PHL357H1. There is also a general prerequisite of 7.5 courses (in any field). Only specific courses required or recommended are listed below. Students who do not meet the prerequisite for a particular course but believe that they have adequate preparation must obtain the permission of the instructor to gain entry to the course.

Course	Section	Title	Time	Instructor
PHL301H1S	L0101	Early Greek Philosophy	W3-6	R. Barney
PHL302H1F	L0101	Philosophy After Aristotle	MW9:30-11	D. Hutchinson
PHL303H1S	L0101	Plato	MW1-2:30	L. Gerson
PHL304H1F	L5101	Aristotle	TR5-6:30	J. Whiting
PHL308H1F	L0101	Aquinas	TR10:30-12	D. Black
PHL310H1S	L0101	The Rationalists	TR1:30-3	D. Black
PHL311H1F	L0101	The Empiricists	W12-3	A. Di Castro
PHL314H1S	L0101	Kant	TR1:30-3	M. Morgan
PHL316H1S	L0101	Hegel	W3-6	R. Comay
PHL317H1S	L5101	Marx and Marxism	T7-10	D. Goldstick
PHL319H1S	L5101	Phil and Psychoanalysis	R6-9	A. Gombay
PHL320H1F	L0101	Phenomenology	T9-12	E. Thompson
PHL322H1S	L0101	Contemporary Continental Philosophy	TR10-11:30	R. Gibbs
PHL326H1S	L5101	Wittgenstein	M6-9	TBA
PHL331H1F	L0101	Metaphysics	TR9:30-11	TBA
PHL332H1S	L0101	Epistemology	R3-6	F. Huber
PHL338H1S	L0101	Jewish Philosophy	TR9:30-11	M. Morgan
PHL340H1S	L0101	Issues in Philosophy of Mind	W9-12	E. Thompson
PHL341H1S	L0101	Freedom, Responsibility and Human Action	TR1:30-3	M. Pickave
PHL342H1S	L0101	Minds and Machines	TR3-4:30	B. Smith
PHL346H1S	L0101	Philosophy of Math	R9-12	J. Brown
PHL347H1F	L0101	Modal Logic	F10-1	M. Ganea
HPS350H1S	L0101	Revolution in Science	W10-12	J. Berkovitz
PHL351H1F	L0101	Philosophy of Language	T3-6	M. Ganea
PHL355H1S	L5101	Philosophy of Natural Science	W6-9	J. Brown
PHL357H1F	L0101	Philosophy of Biology	M3-6	D. Walsh
PHL365H1F	L0101	Political Philosophy	MW10:30-12	L. Gerson
PHL366H1F	L0101	Topics in Political Philosophy	F9-12	S. Moreau
PHL367H1F	L5101	Philosophy of Feminism	T6-9	K. Morgan
PHL370H1S	L0101	Issues in Philosophy of Law	T3-6	D. Dyzenhaus
PHL375H1F	L0101	Ethics	W12-3	C. Repp
PHL375H1S	L0101	Ethics	F2-5	D. Allen
PHL376H1S	L0101	Topics in Moral Philosophy	F9-12	T. Berry
PHL382H1F	L0101	Death and Dying	W3-6	J. Breslin
PHL383H1S	L5101	Ethics and Mental Health	M6-9	T. Mathien
PHL384H1S	L5101	Ethics, Genetics and Reproduction	W6-9	K. Anstey
PHL385H1F	L0101	Issues in Aesthetics	T1-3,R1-3:30	M. Kingwell
PHL388H1F	L0101	Literature and Philosophy	TR1:30-3	T. Berry
PHL395H1S	L0101	Issues in Business Ethics	W9-12	D. Martin

PHL301H1S EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY            

Time: Wednesdays 3-6

Instructor: Prof. Rachel Barney - rachel.barney@utoronto.ca

A survey of the ancient Greek sophists, including Protagoras, Gorgias, and Antiphon. Topics will include sophistic ideas on the nature of justice, the origin of society, techniques of reasoning and argument, and the possibility of human knowledge, as well as the clashes between the sophists and Plato: several Platonic dialogues will be studied, as well as texts by various sophists themselves.

Readings: TBA

Evaluation: TBA, but will include brief weekly writing assignments and a final exam

Prerequisite: PHL 200Y1

PHL302H1F PHILOSOPHY AFTER ARISTOTLE             

 

Time: Mondays and Wednesdays 9:30 - 11

Instructor: Prof. Doug Hutchinson - doug.hutchinson@utoronto.ca

Our focus this year will be on Stoic philosophers in the Roman Empire: Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. Stoicism is a philosophy which offers personal liberation from oppression by larger forces, whether natural, social, or cosmic. In an authoritarian social world such as Rome under the Emperors, Stoic philosophy was one of the few impulses towards insurrection and the restoration of freedom; Seneca was allegedly involved in a Stoic plot to assassinate Emperor Nero, his own former student. But it was more common for Stoic philosophy to be applied to the inner personal sphere, to deconstruct our common illusions about what is actually possible and in our power, to foster acceptance of what cannot be otherwise, and to cultivate the private and personal sources of joy that are inaccessible to being oppressed or suppressed by others. We see this rigorous internal focus on self-cultivation and acceptance in the teaching of Epictetus, a former slave whose brilliant lectures in Rome (in Greek) were captured in ‘protocols’ by his student Arrian. At the other end of the social scale, we see it as well in the private notebook of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who was personally oppressed by the weight of his responsibilities as well as by the general difficulties we all have in being successful and contented humans, at peace with the world.

Readings: Seneca, Dialogues and Essays, tr. John Davie (Oxford World’s Classics 2007); Seneca, Selected Letters, tr. Elaine Fantham (Oxford World’s Classics 2010); Epictetus, Discourses and Selected Writings, tr. Robert Dobbin (Penguin Classics 2008); Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, tr. Martin Hammond (Penguin Classics 2006)

Evaluation: Lecture attendance is expected and class participation will be evaluated (15%). Reading the assigned material is expected and students will be quizzed on their reading, on random occasions. Students are expected to act as scribe (with a partner) on one occasion, to produce protocols of the class lecture (10%). Students are expected to take part in a collective bibliography project (10%), assembling recent resources on our subject. Students will be expected to do several short written assignments (TBA). Students are expected to write a mid-term (premeditated, questions in advance): 20% Students are expected to write a final exam (premeditated, questions in advance): 35%

Prerequisite: PHL 200Y1

PHL303H1S PLATO                     

Time: Mondays and Wednesdays 1-2:30

Instructor: Prof. Lloyd Gerson - lloyd.gerson@utoronto.ca

The course will focus on Plato’s ethical or moral philosophy.  In particular, we will consider the nature of “Socratic intellectualism” and whether this is or is not a part of Plato’s later ethical thinking.  We will also consider the role of the Idea of the Good in ethics and the moral psychology of the Republic and other dialogues.  Finally, we will consider how Plato treats the role of pleasure in the good life.

Reading:  Selections from Plato. The Complete Works, ed. John Cooper and D.S. Hutchinson (Hackett, 1997).

Evaluation: two essays, term test (20% of final grade); 2,500-3,000 words (20% of final grade); class participation (20% of final grade), final examination (40% of final grade).The penalty for late essays without a written medical certificate is 3 marks per day (weekends included). 

Prerequisite: PHL200Y1

PHL304H1F ARISTOTLE               

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 5-6:30

Instructor: Prof. Jennifer Whiting - jen.whiting@utoronto.ca

Plato’s Phaedo provides the background for this survey, which will be organized around Aristotle’s distinction between form and matter and the various roles (both critical and constructive) it plays in his work.  Aristotle criticizes various pre-Socratics for having missed form completely, and he criticizes Plato for having recognized form [morphê] but separated it from matter [hulê].  He also makes constructive use of the form-matter distinction, most famously in his “hylomorphic” account of the soul as the “form and essence of the organic body”, but also in his defense of natural teleology and his accounts of perception and thought.  There are even signs of hylomorphism in Aristotle’s moral psychology, where practical wisdom stands to desires as form to matter.  We shall thus work through Aristotle’s natural philosophy – including his cosmology, zoology, embryology, and psychology – towards the account of human action featured in his ethical works.    

Readings: The minimalist option for a text is to get Aristotle: Selections (edited by Irwin and Fine). But philosophy majors or those with a special interest in Aristotle may want to get – either instead of or better yet in addition to Irwin and Fine – Aristotle: the Complete Works (edited by Jonathan Barnes).   Those assigned readings that are not in Irwin and Fine will be posted on the course website, so the Barnes is not required; but it is highly recommended, especially as a supplement to Irwin and Fine (whose notes and glossary are especially useful for novices).   

Evaluation: Two short papers (each 20 percent of total grade); a midterm (25 percent of total grade); a final exam (30 percent of total grade); and participation (5 percent).   Note: those with a B+ average after the first paper and midterm will be eligible to write a term paper (on an approved topic) in lieu of taking the final exam.  

Prerequisite: PHL200Y1

PHL308H1F AQUINAS

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:30 - 12

Instructor: D. Black - deborah.black@utoronto.ca

An exploration of the philosophical thought of Thomas Aquinas, focusing on three main areas: metaphysics; epistemology and philosophy of mind; ethics and moral psychology. Some attention will be given to Aquinas’s relation to his philosophical sources from the ancient and earlier medieval period, such as Aristotle, Augustine, and the Islamic philosophers Avicenna and Averroes.

Reading: Thomas Aquinas. The Treatise on the Divine Nature, trans. Brian Shanley (Hackett, 2006); Treatise On Human Nature, trans. Robert Pasnau (Hackett, 2002); other readings TBA.

Recommended Reading: Robert Pasnau and Christopher Shields, The Philosophy of Aquinas (Boulder: Westview Press, 2004).

Evaluation: Short paper or Midterm Test: 20%;  Essay: 35%; 2-hour final examination: 35%; Participation: 10%.

Prerequisite: PHL200Y1/PHL205H1/PHL206H1

 

PHL310H1S THE RATIONALISTS              

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30 - 3

Instructor: Prof. Deborah Black - deborah.black@utoronto.ca

In this course we’ll examine the views of the major rationalist philosophers—Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz—on some central themes in metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and epistemology.

Readings: Descartes, Philosophical Essays and Correspondence, ed. Roger Ariew (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2000);  Leibniz. Philosophical Essays, ed. and trans. Daniel Garber and Roger Ariew (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1989); Spinoza, Ethics with The Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect and Selected Letters, trans. Samuel Shirley (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1992).

Evaluation: Term work (details TBA, but will include at least one essay): 55%; 2-hour final examination: 35%; Participation: 10%.

Prerequisite: PHL 210Y

PHL311H1S THE EMPIRICISTS

Time: Wednesdays 12-3

Instructor: Prof. Ariela Di Castro

The course will study Locke’s empiricist theory of human knowledge by a close reading of significant sections of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. We will assess central topics, such as the theory of ideas and the criticism of innate ideas, the notion of substance, the limits of knowledge, and the notion of faith.  In order to evaluate Locke’s epistemology we will also consider the criticisms of Berkeley and Hume.

Reading: John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, edited by Peter Nidditch (Oxford University Press 1979)

Evaluation: 1 in-class test (25%), 1 short essay (25%), final exam (40%), attendance and participation (10%)

Prerequisite: PHL210Y1

PHL314H1S KANT

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30 - 3

Instructor: Prof. Michael Morgan - morganm@indiana.edu

Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason is one of the most important and influential philosophical works of the past three centuries.  Arguably every significant development in Western philosophy, since its publication in the 1781, is a response to it or in some way is shaped by its claims, arguments, terminology, or formulations.  Kant himself saw the Critique as his response to the “dogmatism” of Enlightenment rationalist metaphysics, associated with Leibiniz and Wolff, and to “skeptical” challenges, best articulated by David Hume.  Kant’s response involved an account of the limits of metaphysics that is grounded in a new understanding of empirical knowledge and science and makes room for morality, religion, and the ideas of human freedom, God, and the immortal soul.  The core of this account, moreover, is a remarkable analysis of the way in which mind and world engage one another in order to make possible experience and empirical knowledge.  In the course of this analysis, Kant examines the nature of sensibility and perception, conceptual understanding, the discursive character of thought, the nature of the self, the reality of space and time, objectivity, the nature of reason, and much else.  Since the postwar period, Kant’s analysis has been a centerpiece of philosophical exploration in the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and much else.  His influence on figures such as Strawson, Sellars, and McDowell, is deep and extensive. 

In this course we shall study substantial portions of the Critique of Pure Reason.  Our goals will be to come to understand Kant’s project, the major steps in his argument, influential interpretations of the text and of Kant’s most important claims and arguments, and the philosophical importance of the Critique.  In addition to the text, we shall discuss recent secondary literature on Kant and the most significant analytic Kant scholarship.

Reading: Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason, edited and         translated by Paul Guyer and Allen W.  Wood (Cambridge, 1998).
Sebastian Gardner, Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason (Routledge, 1999)

Evaluation: TBA

Prerequisite: PHL210Y1

Exclusion: PHL312H1

PHL316H1S HEGEL

Time: Wednesdays 3-6

Instructor: Prof. Rebecca Comay - comay@chass.utoronto.ca

This course will be devoted to a reading of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit (Miller translation) in the light of its historical context (the Protestant Reformation, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution) and its philosophical and political aftermath (e.g. Marxism, existentialism, deconstruction).  Close attention will be paid to the structural peculiarities of the text as a narrative of progressive self-consciousness, and to the implicit theory of memory and language embedded within this work.

Reading: Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit

Evaluation: Mid-term take-home exam, final essay, and exam.

Prerequisite: PHL210Y1

PHL317H1S MARX AND MARXISM           

Time: Tuesdays 7-10

Instructor: Prof. Daniel Goldstick

Starting from an examination of the Marxist or Marxist-Leninist theory with regard to sociology, economics and revolutionary politics, the course will then proceed to focus on the specifically philosophical issues which arise in connection with the Marxist treatment of these questions and the philosophical theory of Marxism on objectivity-versus-subjectivity, matter in motion, the dialectical method, determinism, freedom, “morals,” truth, “Praxis” and the other aspects of dialectical materialism.

Reading: K. Marx and F. Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party;
K. Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte;
F. Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific; F. Engels, Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy; H. Selsam and H. Martel (eds.), Reader in Marxist Philosophy.

Evaluation: TBA

Recommended preparation: PHL265H1/POL 200Y1

PHL319H1S PHILOSOPHY & PSYCHOANALYSIS   

Time: Thursdays 6-9

Instructor: Prof. Andre Gombay - agombay@chass.utoronto.ca

Freud is quite maligned today, yet we owe him many of the words and expressions that we commonly use when talking about people’s minds.  For example we speak of love-hate relations, of ambivalence, of being fixated on something, of idealizing or identifying with someone, of being narcissistic, of having repressed memories, of sublimation, of the unconscious - this is all vocabulary that Freud put on the map.

The course will study topics that arise from his main doctrines – the “self”, self-knowledge, self-deception.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

PHL320H1F PHENOMENOLOGY                 

Time: Tuesdays 9-12

Instructor: Prof. Evan Thompson - evan.thompson@utoronto.ca

This course provides an introduction to the philosophical tradition of Phenomenology deriving from Edmund Husserl. We will read texts by Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Topics to be covered include intentionality, the self, consciousness, the body, nature, and intersubjectivity.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

Prerequisite: PHL 210Y1/217H1

PHL322H1S CONTEMPORARY CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:30 - 12

Instructor: Prof. Robert Gibbs - robert.gibbs@utoronto.ca

This course will focus on Philosophy of Language in relation to translation. We will explore key writings by Levinas, Derrida, Benjamin, Rosenzweig, Heidegger,  and Quine, focusing on questions of responsibility (as response-ability), trying to grasp the limits of thought and of language in the concrete interaction of making translations as well.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: The course will focus on close reading of short and difficult texts, and requires three short papers (1-2 pages--10% each); two essays (7 pages—30 % each) as well as attendance and participation (10%). The papers will be tightly focused on the readings, and will be largely expository. The classroom discussion will require reading of the material before class and will provide extensive opportunity to contribute.

Prerequisite: PHL217H1

PHL326H1S WITTGENSTEIN               

Time: Monday 6-9

Instructor: TBA

Wittgenstein’s views on the structure and function of language, meaning, the possibility of a private language, and the concepts of feeling and thinking.       

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

Prerequisite: One of PHL210Y/232H/240H   

PHL331H1F METAPHYSICS

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30 - 11

Instructors: TBA

Historical and systematic approaches to topics in the theory of knowledge, such as truth, belief, justification, perception, a priori knowledge, certitude, skepticism, other minds.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

Prerequisite: PHL232H1

PHL332H1S EPISTEMOLOGY                          

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30 - 11

Instructor: Prof. Franz Huber - franz.huber@utoronto.ca

The course “Epistemology” deals with knowledge and justified belief. On the knowledge side we will discuss skepticism and contextualism, among others. On the justified belief side, we will discuss induction and confirmation, among others. In between we will come across evidentialism versus reliabilism, internalism versus externalism, foundationalism versus coherentism, and some more advanced topics such as the relation between belief and degrees of belief and the nature of epistemic normativity.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

Prerequisite: PHL232H1

PHL338H1S  JEWISH PHILOSOPHY       

Time: Tuesday and Thursday 9:30 - 11

Instructor: Prof. Michael Morgan - morganm@indiana.edu

Modern Jewish Philosophy begins in the seventeenth century, when attempts to understand Judaism were challenged by historical and intellectual developments, such as the rise of the New Science, the emergence of new modes of political thinking and practices, and the growth of Protestant cultures in Europe.  What makes such reflection about Judaism philosophical is the engagement of Jewish thinkers with the Western philosophical tradition. The same can be said of the major figures in the tradition of Jewish philosophy in the twentieth century.  In this course, we will focus on them and the worlds in which they lived and worked.  First, we will look at European intellectual culture in the period between 1890 and 1940 by discussing some prominent philosophers, theologians, social thinkers, novelists, and poets of the period and then study central Jewish philosophical figures of the period.  We shall turn to the postwar period, after the Holocaust, and especially the emergence of a new existential Jewish theology in postwar America and its encounter with Jewish naturalism and secularism.  Finally, we shall examine the impact of the Six Day War and the impact of the Nazi Holocaust on American Jewish thinkers.  Our focus will be on the period from 1967 through 1982, the heyday of such thinking.  We shall also make note of those issues which became centrally important in the final decades of the century.

Reading: Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig,Emil Fackenheim, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Joseph Soloveitchik, Richard Rubenstein, Irving Greenberg, Eliezer Berkovits, and Emmanuel Levinas.

Evaluation: TBA

PHL340H1S ISSUES IN PHILOSOPHY OF MIND   

Time: Wednesdays 9-12

Instructor: Prof. Evan Thompson - evan.thompson@utoronto.ca

This course will focus on the problem of consciousness and the nature of the self. What is consciousness and how is it related to the brain, body, and physical world? Can consciousness be explained in physical terms? Can there be a scientific understanding of consciousness or will consciousness remain forever mysterious? Is there a self or is the self an illusion? Guided by these questions, we will examine the basic features of consciousness and the sense of self in states of waking perception, dreaming, and deep sleep, as well as altered states such as lucid dreaming and out-of-body experiences. We will also examine meditative states of consciousness and what meditative methods of training attention and awareness can tell us about consciousness and the self.

Reading:  Evan Thompson, Waking, Dreaming, Being: New Light on the Self and Consciousness from Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy (to be published by Columbia University Press in 2013). Additional readings will be drawn from contemporary philosophy of mind, neuroscience, and classical Indian philosophy.

Evaluation: TBA

Prerequisite: One of UNI 250Y1/PHL 240H1.

PHL341H1S FREEDOM, RESPONSIBILITY, AND HUMAN ACTION

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30 - 3

Instructor: Prof. Martin Pickave

It is a common view that responsibility presupposes freedom; that we are only responsible for those actions we are free to perform or not to perform. But what exactly does it mean to be free to do or not to do something? Do we really always have a capacity to do otherwise, and if so, in what sense do we have such a capacity? Or isn’t human action rather determined (by beliefs and desires or even by the material processes in the brain)? Maybe freedom is after all an illusion? These issues and other related topics will be the subject of this course. In examining some of the traditional answers to the questions above we will also address some core notions of moral psychology: motivation, volition, reasons for action, and weakness of will.

Readings: G. Watson (ed.), Free Will, 2nd edition (Oxford Readings in Philosophy) (Oxford University Press 2003).

Evaluation: Two short analytical essays (1200 words, 25% each); discussion pieces (10%), final exam (30%); attendance and participation (10%).

Prerequisite: PHL210Y/PH232H1/PHL240H1

PHL342H1S MINDS AND MACHINES

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 3-4:30

Instructor: Prof. Brian Cantwell Smith - brian.cantwell.smith@utoronto.ca

Topics include: philosophical foundations of artificial intelligence theory; the computational theory of the mind; functionalism vs. Reductionism; the problems of meaning in the philosophy of mind.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

 

PHL346H1S PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS

Time: Thursdays 9-12

Instructor: Prof. James Brown - jr.brown@chass.utoronto.ca

The central theme of this course will be: The standard picture of mathematics and its critics.  We will focus on several traditional topics in the philosophy of mathematics, including: the nature of  proofs, Platonism, Intuitionism, and Formalism, Hilbert’s program and Gödel’s incompleteness theorem.  We will also devote  considerable time to the role of visualization and “experimentation” in mathematics.  A background in mathematics is useful but not necessary for success in this course; however, a liking of mathematics and a willingness to master a few technicalities are essential.

Reading: Brown,  Philosophy of Mathematics

Evaluation: TBA

Prerequisite: PHL 245H1 and a full course in PHL/CSC/MAT or permission of instructor

PHL347H1F MODAL LOGIC                    

Time: Fridays 10-1

Instructor: Prof. Mihai Ganea - mihai.ganea@utoronto.ca

The course will briefly review the essentials of classical first order logic and then survey the theory and philosophical aspects of modal logic. Special attention will be given to the theories of counterfactual conditionals and to the resolution of the so-called knowability paradox (a simple argument, first published by Fitch, deriving the unacceptable conclusion that every truth is actually known from the plausible premise that every truth can be known).

Reading: Theodore Sider, Logic for Philosophy, Oxford University Press, 2010; Edward Zalta, Basic Concepts in Modal Logic, Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University, 1995 (available online); articles and handouts TBA.

Evaluation: TBA

Prerequisite: PHL245H1 and a full course in PHL/CSC/MAT

 

HPS350H1S REVOLUTION IN SCIENCE

Time: Wednesdays 10-12

Instructor: Prof. J. Berkovitz

An investigation into the nature and development of scientific knowledge, inspired by Kuhns notion of revolutions. Topics may include, the rationality of theory choice, and social constructivism.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

Prerequisite: HPS250H1 or permission of the instructor

PHL351H1F PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

Time: Tuesdays 3-6

Instructor: Prof. Mihai Ganea - mihai.ganea@utoronto.ca

This course is an introduction to the basic issues in the philosophy of language: How do linguistic expressions refer to things? What constitutes the meaning of a linguistic expression and what is the difference between literal meaning and metaphorical meaning? What is the relation between the meaning of a sentence and its truth value? What are the norms of communication as a social activity?

Reading: William Lycan, Philosophy of Language: A Contemporary Introduction, Routledge, 2nd ed., 2008; Al Martinich (ed.), The Philosophy of Language, Oxford University Press, 5th edition, 2006; other articles and handouts TBA.

Evaluation: TBA

Prerequisite: PHL245H1 and one of PHL232H1/PHL240H1

PHL355H1S PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL SCIENCE

Time: Wednesdays 6-9

Instructor: Prof. James Brown - jr.brown@chass.utoronto.ca

An introduction to the central topics and problems in the philosophy of science.  (1) Realism:  Does science aim at truth, or does it only seek correct observations, not caring what the right explanation is?  (2) Method:  What is scientific method and what should it be?  Reason  and experience seem to play a role, but are scientists guided by  “paradigms”, as Kuhn claims, or do they ruthlessly overthrow their  theories when faced with unexpected observations, as Popper claims?   (3)  Facts and Values:  What role, if any, do values play in science?   Do scientists discover the facts and then society decides what to do  on the basis of their values?  Or are values infused in theories as  they are constructed?

Reading:  TBA

Evaluation: TBA

 

PHL357H1S PHILOSOPHY OF BIOLOGY

Time: Mondays 3-6

Instructor: Prof. Denis Walsh - denis.walsh@utoronto.ca

This is a survey of current issues in the philosophy of evolutionary biology. Topics include: the structure of evolutionary theory, the nature of natural selection, explanation, causation and reduction in biology, teleology and function in biology, the respective roles of genes versus organisms in evolutionary biology, inheritance, the units of selection debate. We also look at recent attempts to apply evolutionary theory to the understanding of human cognition. Classes are conducted not as lectures but, to the extent possible, as seminars. Students are encouraged, indeed required, to participate in the discussions.

Reading: There is no textbook; we rely exclusively on the primary literature.

Evaluation: Essays (two short, one long) and class participation.

Prerequisite: One full course in MAT/PHY; two full courses are recommended. 

PHL365H1F POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Time: Mondays and Wednesdays 10:30-12

Instructor: Prof. L. Gerson - lloyd.gerson@utoronto.ca

This course will focus on the nature of justice.  Although we will pay some attention to the historically major theories of justice—those of Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume, Marx, and Mill—our work will be primarily concerned with justice considered systematically.  We will also consider justice as it appears in the literature with other key terms such as “social justice,” “economic justice,” “global justice,” and “criminal justice”.

Reading: Louis Pojman (ed.), Justice. An Anthology.

Evaluation: two essays, 2,55-3,000 words (20% of final grade); term test (20% of final grade);  class participation (20% of final grade), final examination (40% of final grade).The penalty for late essays without a written medical certificate is 3 marks per day (weekends included). 

Prerequisite: PHL265H1/POL200Y1

PHL366H1F TOPICS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Time: Fridays 9 -12

Instructor: Prof. Sophia Moreau - sr.moreau@utoronto.ca

Why is equality valuable, and what sort of equality is valuable?  Most philosophers who have asked these questions in the 20th Century have treated them as questions about distributive justice –that is, questions about what sorts of things the state has an obligation to equalize.  We will start off our class by looking at some of these debates, and in particular at work by Dworkin, Scanlon, Cohen and Anderson.  We will ask what the currency of equality should be: should it be welfare, resources, or opportunities?  We will also ask whether there are factors that could justify a departure from an equal distribution, such as the fact that I chose to engage in some risky activity and lost.  We will then turn to a very different context in which questions about the value of equality have arisen: namely, in debates about what sorts of discrimination the state has a duty to protect against and what sorts of discrimination citizens have a duty not to engage in.  Questions of discrimination are related to questions about distributive justice, but it is not clear precisely how: when you face discrimination, the problem is not just that you have been denied an equal share of some benefit or participation in some institution, but also that you have thereby been stigmatized, or denied dignity, or oppressed, or denied some kind of autonomy or freedom.  Of course, philosophers disagree over which of these harms is constitutive of discrimination.  They also disagree over the kind of injustice that it involves.  Is it a personal wrong, or a harm against a group?  Is it something different when the state engages in it, as opposed to private individuals?  And what makes something a ground of discrimination, as opposed to just an unfortunate personal trait?  We will explore recent philosophical answers to these questions and try to come up with some of our own.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: Bi-weekly Comments on the readings (each student will write a 1 page comment on one of the readings, every two weeks): 40%.  Class participation: 25%.  Term paper on a topic of the student’s choice: 35%. 

Prerequisite: PHL265H1/POL200Y1

PHL367H1F PHILOSOPHY OF FEMINISM

Time: Tuesdays 6-9

Instructor: Prof. Kathryn Morgan - riverdale17@yahoo.ca

PHL367 will focus on three main areas:

(1) the micro- and macro-political analysis of sexism as defined by    contemporary feminist philosophers in neo-liberal western democracies;

(2) the historical  emergence of feminist  philosophies through various political theories  (e.g. liberalism,  marxist/socialism, radical gender essentialism, existentialism, queer/lesbian theory, postmodern Foucauldian theory, critical race theory, critical disability theory. global  feminism, and post-colonial transnational theory);

(3) the application of feminist philosophies to specific topics e.g. embodiment, moral ‘voice’, maternal  labour, equity, ecopolitics, sexuality, gendered social justice.

This  course presupposes  familiarity with some of the political theories cited and is most suitable for students  with a background in  two of these areas :  social and political philosophy, women and gender studies, sexual diversity studies, and equity studies.

Reading: Readings include narratives, case studies, cultural texts, and theoretical texts illustrating diverse feminist philosophies.

Evaluation: Evaluation will be based on essays, tests, and participation.

Prerequisite: PHL265H1/PHL268H1

PHL370H1S ISSUES IN PHILOSOPHY OF LAW   

Time: Tuesdays 3-6

Instructor: Prof. David Dyzenhaus - david.dyzenhaus@utoronto.ca

We will examine the classic debate between Hart and Fuller about the legality of Nazi law, in particular their focus on the case of a woman who had turned in her husband for offences under a Nazi statute and was then tried after the war for the crime of illegal deprivation of liberty.

Reading:  The basic reading for the course is in chapters 1 and 2 of Dyzenhaus, et al, Law and Morality, but we will go well beyond.

Evaluation: Evaluation will be by a 70% essay due at the end of the term and a shorter 30% midterm essay. The midterm essay will serve as a building block for the longer essay.

Prerequisite: PHL 271H1

 

PHL375H1F ETHICS

Time: Wednesdays 12-3

Instructor: C. Repp - charles.repp@utoronto.ca

It is natural to care about one’s own well-being, and morality enjoins us to care about the well-being of others as well—i.e. to consider the extent to which our actions harm or benefit others.  In this course we will closely examine a number of issues related to this notion of well-being.  In particular: Is well-being a subjective state or is it independent of how one feels or thinks about one’s life? To what extent is well-being important from a moral standpoint? And what if anything can empirical research on well-being (of which there has been an enormous amount in recent years) tell us in regard to these philosophical questions?  The focus will be on contemporary treatments of these issues, including Feldman (2010), Kraut (2007), and Sumner (1996).

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

Prerequisite: PHL275H1

PHL375H1S ETHICS               

Time: Fridays 2-5

Instructor: Prof. Derek Allen - derekallen@trinity.utoronto.ca

The philosopher Peter Singer has written: “Despite the many ethical theories that have been developed with a view to guiding our conduct, … there is uncertainty about what exactly we are doing - and are justified in doing - when we make ethical judgements, or engage in ethical argument.” Suppose that when we make ethical judgements we are simply expressing our feelings.  Then is ethical argument possible?  Suppose that ethical argument is possible and that it consists in an attempt to justify (support, defend) an ethical claim.  What sorts of considerations are relevant to the justification of an ethical claim, and what (if anything) explains their ethical relevance? Can ethical claims be true or false? If they can, are there any ethical claims that are true?  These will be among our questions.  So will the following question: what methods are there for defending an ethical theory or for deciding among competing ethical theories?  Our readings will be drawn from meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. 

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: an exercise (20%); an essay (35%); a final exam (35%); participation (10%).

Prerequisite: PHL275H1

PHL376H1S TOPICS IN MORAL PHILOSOPHY

Time: Fridays 9-12

Instructor: Prof. Thomas Berry - tj.berry@utoronto.ca

The course will examine ethical issues that arise in relation to sport. The course will be divided into two parts: the first concerns ethical issues that arise within sport, such as using performance enhancing drugs and seeking to injure opponents; the second concerns issues concerning the integration of sport into society, such as whether there ought to be gender equity in sport and whether sport has a legitimate place in institutions of higher education.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: several short essays and a final exam

Prerequisite: PHL275H1

PHL382H1F DEATH & DYING           

Time: Wednesday 3-6

Instructor: jonathan.breslin@utoronto.ca

This course is an intermediate level examination of philosophical questions related to death and dying, with a particular emphasis on ethical issues.  Questions examined will include: What is death?  Why is killing wrong?  Who should have the final say in disputes over life-sustaining treatment?  Could people have a moral obligation to commit suicide?  Specially selected readings will be available electronically. 

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: Students will be evaluated on a combination of essays and a final exam.

Prerequisite: PHL281H1

PHL383H1S ETHICS & MENTAL HEALTH                   

Time: Mondays 6-9

Instructors: Prof. Thomas Mathien - thomas.mathien@utoronto.ca

To speak of “mental health” is generally taken to imply that there is a condition of mental illness that often requires treatment.  It has also, at times, been associated with notions of mental hygiene, or practices promoting mental health.  There were times when many of the conditions now regarded as mental illnesses were understood differently, and there are communities where many still are.  Unlike many forms of ill health, mental illness is commonly associated with social stigma, and certain forms of it are taken to involve diminished responsibility for action or outright incompetence.   Some sufferers are considered a danger to the public as a result of their condition. Some behaviour otherwise considered to be criminal, is treated leniently, even “excused,” as a result of certain conditions judged to be mental illnesses. Some forms of treatment can involve involuntary, even forcible confinement.  Others involve powerful drugs or invasive treatment techniques.  In many cases clinically “useful” identification of conditions is difficult, and aetiology is not well understood. This course will examine ethical problems that arise from our response to the “mentally ill”: questions of identification, treatment and consent, surrogate decision-making, confidentiality, legal (and moral) competence. 

Reading: TBA but they will include George Graham, The Disordered Mind (Routledge, 2010).

Evaluation: Three short discussion papers of equal weight   

Prerequisite: PHL281H1   

PHL384H1S ETHICS, GENETICS AND REPRODUCTION

Time: Wednesdays 6-9

Instructor: Prof. Kyle Anstey - kyle.anstey@uhn.ca

An intermediate-level study of the intersection of moral issues and reproductive health services, with an emphasis on assisted reproduction. Topics include the moral status of the human embryo and fetus; sex selection; attempts to avoid disability in offspring through prenatal diagnosis and preimplantation genetic diagnosis; the nature and significance of parenthood; current issues in infertility treatment including the creation of “saviour siblings,” donor anonymity, gamete donation, children’s best interests and restrictions on access to ART services, new genetic technologies and normative issues.

Readings: TBA

Evaluation: 2 Essays (50% each)

Prerequisite: PHL281H1

PHL385H1F ISSUES IN AESTHETICS       

Time: Tuesdays 1-3, Thursdays 1-3:30

Instructor: Prof. Mark Kingwell - mark.kingwell@utoronto.ca

A consideration of the role of narrative in art, particularly in film. Readings will include works by Barthes, Ricoeur, Borges, Cavell, Farber, Baker, and Zizek.

Reading: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

Recommended Preparation: PHL285H1

PHL388H1F PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE   

Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30-3

Instructor: Prof. Thomas Berry - tj.berry@utoronto.ca

This course will concern virtue and the relation of virtue to gender.  Among other questions, we will ask whether having a virtue requires that one possess knowledge of some form, whether virtues can be incompatible, and whether there are distinct virtues for males and females.  Because we will be pursuing these concerns in works of literature and philosophy, we will also ask whether one of these forms of discourse is more fit for examining these questions.  We will give considerable attention to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Reading:    TBA.

Evaluation:    several essays, quizzes and a final exam

 

PHL395H1S Issues in Business Ethics

Time: Wednesdays 9-12

Instructor: Prof. Dominic Martin - dominic.martin@gmail.com

It is commonplace, inside and outside of business circles, to compare the rules of business with those of other competitive activities. Is rivalry, as we might find in courts and tribunals, professional sports, card games, business or even war desirable? If it is desirable, can the rules that apply to one of these activities be compared to the rules that apply to another? If the rules governing our behavior in situations of rivalry are similar, what implications does this have for business ethics? These are the questions we will address.
 
A third of the course will be devoted to contemporary arguments for and against adversarial systems. We will then focus our attention on one of these adversarial systems: the market. We will try to see why markets are desirable. The last third of the course will be devoted to arguments about our moral obligations in the market.

Reading: Applbaum, Arthur; Adversaries: The Morality of Roles in Public and Professional Life

Evaluation: Midterm writing assignment, due Feb. 13: 30%; Final writing assignment, due Mar. 6: 30%; Final exam: 40%

Prerequisite: PHL295H1