2011 - 2012 Courses

Philosophy Course Offerings 2011-2012

DETAILED COURSE DESCRIPTIONS BELOW

For up to date time and room information check the timetable. Go to:

https://registrar.utm.utoronto.ca/student/timetable/

and select the session and program.

F courses begin Sept. 6, 2011 and end Nov. 28, 2011. Exams are held from Dec. 5 until Dec. 16, 2011. S courses begin Jan. 2, 2012 and end March 30, 2012. Exams are held from April 9 until April 23, 2012. Y courses begin Sept. 7, 2011 and end March 30, 2012. Exams are held from April 9 until April 23, 2012.

100 level

PHL 105Y L0101 Introduction to Philosophy MW 10-11 + Tutorial J. Brunning
Tutorials are held on Fridays at 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3

PHL 105Y L0201 Introduction to Philosophy MW 4-5 pm + Tutorial Rachel Bryant/Jonathan Weisberg
Tutorials are held on Fridays at 9, 9, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3

PHL 105Y L0301 Introduction to Philosophy TR 11 -12 + Tutorial Nate Charlow Tutorials are held on Thursdays at 9, 10, 12, 12, 1, 2, 3

200 level

PHL 202F Ancient Philosophy T 6-9 pm T. Mathien

PHL 210Y 17th and 18th Century Philosophy TR 9-10.30 M. Rozemond/Schloesser

*PHL 220F Introduction to Existentialism M 6-9 pm

P. Pedersen

PHL 235F Philosophy of Religion MW 1:30-3 B. Katz

PHL 241F Freedom and Determinism MW 10:30-12 P. Clark

PHL 244S Human Nature MW 9-10:30 Scott Howard

PHL 245F Modern Symbolic Logic MW 12-1:30 + tutorial F 1-2:30 J. Brunning

PHL 245S Modern Symbolic Logic MW 12-1:30 + tutorial F 12-1:30 J. Brunning

PHL 246S Probabilty and Inductive Logic MW 1:30-3 B. Yi

PHL 247S Critical Reasoning W 18:00-21:00 P. Raymont

PHL 271S Ethics and the Law MW 4-5:30 Luke Gelinas

PHL 272F Philosophy of Education MW 4-5:30 T. Mathien

PHL 273S Environmental Ethics TR 2:30-4 Rachel Bryant

PHL 274F Contemporary Social Issues W 18:00-21:00 Luke Gelinas

PHL 277Y Moral, Social and Political Philosophy TR 12-1:30 A. Sepielli

PHL 282S Ethics: Death and Dying MW 4-5:30 pm Rachel Bryant

PHL 283S Bioethics R 6-9 PM K. Browne

PHL 290S Psychoanalysis W 6-9 PM A. Gombay

300 level

*PHL 314S Kant TR 10:30-12 PM U. Schloesser

PHL 325F Early Analytic Philosophy T 11-12 R 11-1 TBA

PHL 327S Later Analytic Philosophy MW 10:30-12 B. Yi

PHL 332F Issues in Metaphysics MW 10:30-12 B. Katz

PHL 333S Issues in Epistemology MW 1:30-3 J. Weisberg

PHL 340S Issues in Philosophy of Mind TR 10:30-12 S. Howard

PHL 341F Practical Reason and Human Action MW 9-10:30 D. Russell

PHL 342F Minds and Machines T 12-2 R 1-2 S. Howard

Tutorials R 4-5, 4-5, 5-6, 5-6

PHL 345S Intermediate Logic MW 12-1:30 B. Katz

PHL 348S Metalogic MW 4-5:30 PM B. Yi

PHL 350F Philosophy of Language TR 12:30-2 N. Charlow

PHL 365S Contemporary Political Philosophy TR 9-10:30 L. Gelinas

PHL 370S Issues in Philosophy of Law T 6-9 PM T. Mathien

PHL375F Contemporary Moral Philosophy TR 9-10:30 A. Sepielli

PHL 380S Topics in Philosophy and Feminism TR 12-1:30 M. Rozemond

400 level

PHL 420S Seminar in 19th and 20th Century Philosophy TR 12:30-2 U. Schloesser

PHL 495F Special Seminar: Philosophical Problems MW 1:30-3 P. Clark

*Counts as a credit in the history of philosophy.

Individual studies courses (PHL 496H5F, PHL 497H5S) must be arranged well in advance of registration with the individual faculty advisor, and the plan of study must be approved by the departmental chair. Anyone wishing to take an individual studies course must contact a potential faculty supervisor with a plan of study (a topic, a course of readings). Spaces are very limited, and faculty will only agree to supervise students who show evidence of excellent self-motivation.

Course Descriptions

100 level

Introduction to Philosophy

An introduction to philosophy, covering such topics as conceptions of human nature and the good life, the foundation of morality, the relation of the individual to the state, arguments for the existence of God, debates about the meaning and possibility of free will, the theory of knowledge and the nature of reality. [52L, 26T]
Exclusion: PHL100Y5, 101Y5

PHL 105Y L0101 MW 10-11 + Tutorial J. Brunning

This course is an introduction to some of the central questions of Philosophy. The areas to be studied include logic, epistemology (the study of knowledge) and metaphysics. The first part of the course will be devoted to logic (six weeks); we shall examine techniques for evaluating arguments. The remainder of the course will deal with some problems of epistemology and metaphysics such as:

• Is there any rational basis for holding religious beliefs; if not, what should one believe about religion?
• To what extent, if at all, is human freedom possible? Is free will compatible with the findings of such sciences as biology and psychology?
• What, if anything, do we know for certain? Are there limits to what we can know?
• Is a human being just an immensely complicated arrangement of molecules, an intricate physical mechanism? Or is she that plus something else e.g. a mind or soul?

Required texts: To be announced

Evaluation: Grades will be determined on the basis of one in-class Logic test, three take home assignments, Tutorial participation and a mandatory final examination.

PHL 105Y L0201 MW 4-5 + Tutorial

R. Bryant/J. Weisberg

This course is an introduction to some of the central questions of philosophy, questions concerning the nature of reality, rationality, knowledge, the self, freedom and responsibility. The course examines various answers that have been given to these questions in a selection of classical and contemporary texts.

PHL 105Y L0301 TR 11-12 + Tutorial

N. Charlow

An introduction to philosophy, covering such topics as conceptions of human nature and the good life, the foundation of morality, the relation of the individual to the state, arguments for the existence of God, debates about the meaning and possibility of free will, the theory of knowledge and the nature of reality.

200 level

PHL 202F T 6-9 pm

Ancient Philosophy

Thomas Mathien

Some core texts of ancient philosophy, concentrating on the work of Plato and Aristotle. Topics include the good life, the soul, knowledge, virtue and the nature of reality.

PHL 210Y TR 9-10:30

M. Rozemond/U. Schloesser
17th and 18th Century Philosophy

Recommended Preparation: PHL100Y5/101Y5/105Y5

During the 17th and 18th centuries, known as the early modern period, philosophers broke with the traditions of the middle ages, and attempted to establish an entirely new way of looking at things. Their thoughts set the agenda for modern philosophy. We will look at how they did so in the realm of metaphysics and the theory of knowledge. The philosophers we will read are Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Hume and Kant. We will focus on the following sorts of questions: what are the fundamental entities in the world and how do they relate to each other? For instance, are there only bodies, or are there also incorporeal minds or souls, or perhaps only souls? In addition, we will explore 17th and 18th century conceptions of causation. Our philosophers asked themselves, for instance: how can minds and bodies act on each other? And some thought that created things do not have genuine causal powers, it is really God who does everything. In addition, the early moderns were much concerned with questions about how we know things, and with how much certainty.

PHL 220F M 18:30-21:30 P. Pedersen

Introduction to Existentialism

This course will focus on “existentialist” writers of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Themes include: the nature of human existence; the human condition in the modern world; the struggle to find meaning in life; atheism vs. theism; the nature of morality; individual freedom and responsibility. It will examine both philosophical and literary works of authors including: Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Albert Camus, and Viktor Frankl.

PHL 235H5F MW 1:30-3:00

B. Katz

Philosophy of Religion

This course is an introduction to philosophical reflection on religion. The approach of the course will be analytic in style, seeking to clarify and analyse important religious concepts and to evaluate critically certain arguments and central religious beliefs. We shall analyse several theories about the nature of God and divine attributes and consider issues concerning the sources and justification of religious knowledge. We shall discuss the following questions, among others: Are religious commitments subject to rational evaluation? Is there any way to demonstrate that theistic belief is reasonable or unreasonable? What can reason tell us about the nature of God? Is human freedom compatible with divine foreknowledge? Why would a perfectly benevolent God permit evil and suffering?

Requirements: Two essays and a test.

PHL 241F MW 10:30-12:00

P. Clark

Freedom and Determinism

This course will examine the question of whether determinism is true, and to which extent and whether, determinism is compatible with the possibility that our will is free as well as the relation between freedom and responsibility. In particular, we will look at the plausibility of views such as compatibilism, hard determinism and libertarianism.

PHL 244S MW 9-10:30

S. Howard

Human Nature

It is hard to resist thinking that how humans ought to behave is connected, somehow, with human nature. In this course, we will examine some of the ways this idea plays out in a post-Darwinian world. Our first question concerns the underpinnings of moral psychology: in what sense might human morality be the product of evolution by natural selection? Is there a ‘moral organ’, like the liver? Are liberals built one way, and conservatives built another? Our second question concerns the possibility of an ‘evolutionary ethics’, as well as the nature of moral value. Might we have a moral obligation to perpetuate the human species? Or, does the truth of Darwinism reveal that values are somehow less real than we customarily suppose? At the end of the course we will consider whether the idea that humans are just one more animal should affect our dealings with nonhuman nature. We will look at the work of some philosophers, essayists, and filmmakers who are interested in this issue.

PHL 245F MW 12:00-1:30 + tutorial F 1-2:30

J. Brunning
Modern Symbolic Logic

The application of symbolic techniques to the assessment of arguments. Propositional calculus and quantification theory. Logical concepts; techniques of natural deduction.

PHL 245S MW 12:00-1:30 + tutorial F 12-1:30

The elements of axiomatic probability theory, and its main interpretations (frequency, logical, subjective). Reasoning with probabilities in decision making and science.

PHL 247S W 18:00-21:00

P. Raymont
Critical Reasoning

This is a course in critical thinking and is aimed at examining how language can be used to change or support people’s beliefs. It begins broadly by looking at the range of uses to which speech and writing can be put, and then focuses on ways of persuading and convincing. When it does so it concentrates on determining first, basic argument structure when it is embedded in natural language use, second, conditions for accepting or rejecting claims made in support of an argument, and third, conditions under which an argument can be called compelling.

PHL 271S M 6-9 pm

L.Gelinas

Ethics and the Law

Moral issues in the law, such as civil liberties and police powers, censorship, civil disobedience, the death penalty, inequality, paternalism and the constitutional protection of human rights. Case studies from Canadian law.

PHL272H5F Philosophy of Education MW 4-5:30

T. Mathien

The nature, aims, and content of education; learning theory; education and indoctrination; the teaching of morals and the morality of teaching; the role and justification of educational institutions, their relation to society and to individual goals; authority and freedom in the school

PHL 273S MW 9:00-10:30

R. Bryant

Environmental Ethics

Environmental ethics is a relatively new development in philosophical thinking which focuses on the ethical and value questions arising from our relation to nature. Focal question of the area asks: Is the non-human world of ethical significance only insofar as it is connected with human well-being, or is ethically significant in itself? This course investigates and evaluates anthropocentrim, ecofeminism and radical biocentric theories of the deep ecologists.

PHL 274F W 18:00-21:00

Contemporary Social Issues

L. Gelinas

This course is an introduction to the philosophical issues surrounding three contemporary social realities: climate change, material inequality, and war. The aim of the course is to introduce students to the philosophical concepts and questions surrounding these issues, and to facilitate rigorous critical thinking on them. Each of these issues currently present real-world challenges about what we should do or how to act?both individually and collectively?and each issue involves its own set of philosophical challenges. We?ll aim to get clear on those challenges and the range of possible responses to them.

PHL 277Y Moral, Social and Political Philosophy TR 12-1:30 A. Sepielli

This is a year-long introduction to moral and political philosophy. We will consider questions like: Which actions are right, which are wrong, and why? What is a just society? What is a good person? And why be moral/good/just in the first place? We will examine these issues through the work of the following philosophers: Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Hobbes, Immanuel Kant, Henry Sidgwick, and John Rawls.

PHL282HS MW 4-5:30

R. Bryant

Ethics: Death and Dying

(Formerly PHL382H5)
An intermediate-level study of moral and legal problems, including the philosophical significance of death, the high-tech prolongation of life, definition and determination of death, suicide, active and passive euthanasia, the withholding of treatment, palliative care and the control of pain, living wills; recent judicial decisions.

PHL 283S R 18:00-21:00 K. Browne

Bioethics

This course will provide an introduction to some of the central themes in bioethics. Topics will include: physician/patient relationships, human and animal experimentation, end-of-life decision-making, physician assisted suicide and euthanasia, abortion, reproductive technologies, and justice and resource allocation. We will draw from readings in bioethics and important legal cases. Special attention will be given to the Canadian context.

PHL 290S W 6-9

A. Gombay
Psychoanalysis

Freud is rather maligned today, yet we owe him many of the words and expressions that we quite 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 his main doctrines, including the so-called late ones, like the death-wish and the superego. Our text will be his Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis.

300 level

PHL 314S Kant TR 10:30-12 U. Schloesser

A systematic study of The Critique of Pure Reason

This course will be an examination of Kant’s transcendental idealism through a close reading of the Critique of Pure Reason. The range of topics will include the theory of space and time, Kant’s philosophy of geometry, concepts and judgements in the first Critique as well as the famous ‘deduction argument’, which explores the relation between the unity of consciousness and the ability to make objectivity claims. Finally, we will have a look at the ‘Dialectic’-section of the Critique of Pure Reason. We will be focusing on Kant’s critique of the ontological proof of the existence of God and the so-called ‘paralogisms’ in the traditional philosophy of the self.

By the end of the course, students should have an understanding of Kant’s goals and methods in the Critique of Pure Reason; be able to read and comment on the most important parts of the text; and be able to offer a critical reaction to Kant’s position and to different readings of his work.

PHL 325F Early Analytic Philosophy T11-12 R 11-1 TBA

An examination of some of the classic texts of early analytic philosophy, concentrating on the work of Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein. Central topics to be covered include: the development of logic and its relation to arithmetic; the nature of language and meaning; truth and objectivity; the distinction between sense and reference; logical analysis; the relation between language and thought; and the bounds of intelligibility.

PHL 327S Later Analytic Philosophy MW 10:30-12 B. Yi

An examination of the later analytic tradition from logical positivism to Kripke. The course will cover some of the following topics: meaning and verifiability; the relation between science and philosophy; ordinary language and philosophy; the nature and status of the analytic-synthetic distinction; meaning and theories of meaning; theories of truth; the nature of necessity; and reference and identity.

PHL 332F MW 10:30-12 Issues in Metaphysics B. Katz

This course will take up a number of problems in metaphysics, focussing on the metaphysics of time. We shall discuss the following topics: the problem of future contingents, time and change, identity through time, similarities between space and time, temporal becoming, and the reality of the distinctions among past, present, and future.

Requirements: Two essays and a test

PHL 333S MW 1:30-15:00 Issues in Epistemology J. Weisberg

We'll explore three or four select questions in epistemology. Topics may include Foundationalism vs. Coherentism: is our knowledge of the world based on a foundation, and if so, is that foundation certain? Scepticism: how can we know what the world is like outside our own minds, if we can know at all? The Problem of Induction: can we know that the sun will rise tomorrow? If so, what justifies our reliance on past experience? Internalism vs. Externalism: can we always know what our justification is for believing what we believe?

PHL 340S TR 10:30-12 S. Howard

Issues in the Philosophy of Mind: Emotions

This course explores central questions about the emotions in the analytic tradition, concerning (a) the nature of emotions, and (b) the rationality of emotions. First, what are emotions? Are they dependent on, or reducible to, beliefs, desires, perceptions, or bodily feelings? Are emotions a natural kind? Second, are emotions subject to rational assessment? In what sense, if any, are emotions capable of fitting the world? What is the relationship between emotions and value? Readings will include selections from James, Prinz, Griffiths, Stocker, Nussbaum, Goldie, de Sousa, Greenspan, D’Arms and Jacobson, Helm, and others.

PHL 341F MW 9-10:30 D. Russell

Practical Reason and Human Action
(Formerly: Freedom, Responsibility, and Human Action)

Hume famously observed that moral considerations do more than register as curious bits of factual knowledge; they also motivate us to act. I may know, as a matter of fact, that I promised to water your plants, but I don’t simply take note of that fact as I would the latin names in a biology text. Rather, I water your plants, and I do so because I promised. For Hume, this meant that acting on the basis of moral considerations must involve our personal feelings and cravings; for a mere fact can’t motivate but emotions and appetites certainly can. In this course, we will look at modern interpretations of and challenges to this line of thought. We will start by trying to find the most compelling version of the argument. Then, we will consider some challenges to it: those from philosophers inspired by Kant and Aristotle. Our goal will be to understand and critically evaluate the various positions. Hopefully, in the process, we will also come to have a better understanding of what it is to act morally in our everyday lives.

PHL 342F T 12-2 R 1-2 + 4 Tutorials R 4-5 or 5-6

Minds and Machines

S. Howard

This course is concerned with issues about the metaphysics of mind. We will consider issues about the relationship between the mental and the physical, and about the nature of consciousness. Readings will include selections from Smart, Putnam, Dennett, Nagel, Jackson, Chalmers, Searle, and others.

PHL 345F MW 12-1:30

B. Katz

Intermediate Logic

This course is a continuation of PHL245H5. The aim of the course is to enhance understanding of quantificational logic and to provide an introduction to some of the more advanced techniques of logic. We shall cover chapters IV, V, VI, and parts of VII of Kalish, Montague, and Mar. Though much of the material is formal, heavy emphasis will be placed on applications to natural language.

Text: Donald Kalish, Richard Montague, and Gary Mar, Logic: Techniques of Formal Reasoning, 2nd ed., 1980

Requirements: Three tests and a final exam.

PHL 348F MW 4:00-5:30

B. Yi
Many-Valued and Modal Logics

Soundness and completeness of propositional and quantificational logic, undecidability of quantificational logic, and other metalogical topics

PHL 350F MW 12:30-2

N. Charlow

Philosophy of Language

Topics may include: Different approaches to the study of language; the analysis of central theoretical notions in the descriptions of language; the relation between thought and language; the relation between philosophy of language and metaphysics.

PHL 355F Issues in Philosophy of Science

MW 12-1:30 PM

J. Weisberg

This course explores three central topics in the philosophy of science. The first is explanation: what is the nature of scientific explanation, and what distinguishes scientific explanations from non-scientific ones? The second is laws of nature: what makes some facts laws of nature? Why is it a law of nature that light travels at 300,000,000 m/s, but not a law of nature that all U.S. Presidents are male? The third is confirmation: how does scientific reasoning work? How do scientists know that the evidence confirms one theory and not another?

PHL 365S TR 9:00-10:30 TBA

Contemporary Political Philosophy - Distributive Justice

A study of some of the best recent work by political philosophers on topics such as justice, rights, welfare and political authority

PHL 370S R 6-9 PM

T. Mathien

Issues in Philosophy of Law

Major issues in philosophy of law, e.g., responsibility and punishment, the obligation to obey the law, legal positivism, law and morality.

PHL 375F TR 9-10:30

A. Sepielli Contemporary Moral Philosophy

A study of some of the best recent work by moral philosophers on topics such as the objectivity of values, rights and duties, utilitarianism and the nature of moral judgments.

PHL380S TR 12-1:30 Topics in Philosophy and Feminism

M. Rozemond

This course focuses on philosophical topics in feminism that relate to multicultural issues. The central question is this: how should we approach practices in various religions and cultures that seem to be in tension with women's equality? The issues include topics like hijab, polygamy, aboriginal practices, colonial approaches to women's rights.

400 level

PHL 420S TR 12:30-2 Seminar in 19th and 20th Century Philosophy

U. Schloesser

This course will focus on Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), one of the greatest and most influential works of nineteenth century philosophy. We will study the central parts of the text, in an attempt to uncover the nature of Hegel’s method, his goals, and the role and significance of the Phenomenology in Hegel’s system. As the Phenomenology covers an enormous range, this will lead to a discussion of Hegel’s epistemology and metaphysics, of his philosophy of history, ethics and political philosophy, and of his critiques of Kant, Schelling, Rousseau and others. There will be an emphasis on a close reading of the text, and a sympathetic engagement with Hegel’s notoriously difficult but stimulating ideas.

By the end of the course, students should have an understanding of Hegel’s goals and methods in the Phenomenology, and of its context; be able to read and comment on the most important parts of the text; and be able to offer some critical reaction to Hegel’s position and to different readings of his work.

PHL 495F Seminar: Philosophical Problems MW 1:30-3 P. Clark

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2011 - 2012 Courses