Spring 2023 Courses

Jump to: Spring 2023 Graduate Courses

101-1   Introduction to Philosophy

1:20 – 2:10 MWF
Lecturer

Prerequisites: Open to Freshmen Sophomores who have had no previous philosophy courses other than 210, 211, 253 or 254. Not open to juniors.

101-2   Introduction to Philosophy

2:30 – 3:45 TR
Lecturer

Prerequisites: Open to Freshmen Sophomores who have had no previous philosophy courses other than 210, 211, 253 or 254. Not open to juniors.

101-3   Introduction to Philosophy

11:00 – 11:50 MWF
Henry Southgate

This course is an introduction to philosophical thinking and the philosophical tradition from antiquity to modernity. Through reading classical and contemporary texts, we will be examining central topics in this tradition: the importance of truth, proofs for the existence of God, the nature of morality, the meaning of life, and the nature & purpose of art.  By exploring these topics and works, students will develop a conception of what philosophy is, become familiar with its history, and acquire the skills needed to identify, evaluate, and construct arguments. In so doing, they will be laying the foundations for a fruitful engagement with philosophy and for critical thinking generally.

101-4   Introduction to Philosophy

9:30 – 10:20 TR
Lecturer

Prerequisites: Open to Freshmen Sophomores who have had no previous philosophy courses other than 210, 211, 253 or 254. Not open to juniors.

101-5   Introduction to Philosophy

9:55 – 10:45 MWF
Lecturer

Prerequisites: Open to Freshmen Sophomores who have had no previous philosophy courses other than 210, 211, 253 or 254. Not open to juniors.

101-6   Introduction to Philosophy

1:00 – 2:15 TR
Lecturer

Prerequisites: Open to Freshmen Sophomores who have had no previous philosophy courses other than 210, 211, 253 or 254. Not open to juniors.

210-1   Reason in Communication

11:00 – 12:15 TR
Farid Masrour

Argument in familiar contexts; emphasis upon developing critical skills in comprehending, evaluating, and engaging in contemporary forms of reasoning, with special attention to the uses of argument in mass communication media. Prerequisites: MATH 96 or placement into MATH 141 or consent of instructor.

211-1   Elementary Logic

12:05 – 12:55 MWF
Bruno Whittle

Logic is the study of arguments. An argument, in this sense, is a bit of reasoning that starts from certain assumptions, and extracts some piece of information from these. For example: Helen is a bear; all bears gamble; therefore, Helen gambles. There are two things that we can ask about an argument. (a) Are the starting points true? And (b) does the end point really follow from these? We will focus on (b). (Your other classes should all, in one way or another, help you with (a).) We will learn some general techniques for determining whether a claim follows from some others. These will allow us to evaluate arguments regardless of their subject matter—be it chemistry, politics, or where to go for dinner. We will use a precise artificial language that allows perspicuous representations of natural language arguments, and that also allows rigorous methods for determining what follows from what.

211-2   Elementary Logic

12:05 – 12:55 MWF
Peter Vranas

A hotel manager put up a sign reading: “No one is permitted on these premises unless accompanied by a registered guest”. Apparently, the manager failed to realize that from the statement on the sign it follows that no unaccompanied registered guest is permitted on the premises! In general, the question of which statements follow from other statements is quite tricky. This course addresses this tricky question by (1) introducing a symbolic language into which one can translate a great many ordinary English sentences and almost all mathematical sentences, and by (2) using an automated proof procedure to show that certain sentences follow from other sentences.

211-3   Elementary Logic

9:55 – 10:45 MWF
John Mackay

This course is an introduction to formal logic, the study of valid reasoning. An argument is valid if its conclusion follows from its premises. We will study methods for proving that an argument is either valid or invalid. Much of the class will involve working with a formal, symbolic language in which the form of sentences is made explicit. We will study both truth-functional and quantificational logic and use a deductive proof procedure for each.

241-1  Introductory Ethics

(Fulfills Category B Requirement)
12:05 – 12:55 MWF
Emily Fletcher

The course will examine a number of prominent moral theories including utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, and virtue theory.  We will attempt to understand and evaluate their various claims about what has fundamental value as well as their approaches to moral reasoning and recommendations for right action.

241-2  Introductory Ethics

(Fulfills Category B Requirement)
1:00 – 2:15 TR
Lecturer

The course will examine a number of prominent moral theories including utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, and virtue theory.  We will attempt to understand and evaluate their various claims about what has fundamental value as well as their approaches to moral reasoning and recommendations for right action.

241-3  Introductory Ethics

(Fulfills Category B Requirement)
11:00 – 11:50 MWF
Lecturer

The course will examine a number of prominent moral theories including utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, and virtue theory.  We will attempt to understand and evaluate their various claims about what has fundamental value as well as their approaches to moral reasoning and recommendations for right action.

241-4 Introductory Ethics

(Fulfills Category B Requirement)
9:55 – 10:45 MWF
Lecturer

The course will examine a number of prominent moral theories including utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, and virtue theory.  We will attempt to understand and evaluate their various claims about what has fundamental value as well as their approaches to moral reasoning and recommendations for right action.

243-1  Ethics in Business

11:00 – 11:50 MWF
Lecturer

Case studies of moral issues in business; types or reasons appealed to for settlement.

243-2  Ethics in Business

2:30 – 3:45 TR
Lecturer

Case studies of moral issues in business; types or reasons appealed to for settlement.

304-1   Topics in Philosophy: Humanities

(cross-listed with Ag and Applied Econ 375)
2:30 – 3:45 MW
Thomas Rutherford and Paul Kelleher
Topic:  Ethics, Markets & Climate Change

Global climate change is the most significant environmental challenge of the 21st century, and economics is the most influential of all academic disciplines that aim to inform climate change policy-making. This course will critically examine the economic theory and moral philosophy that underlies attempts by climate economists to identify “optimal” climate policies. The course will be co-taught by a moral philosopher specializing in the theoretical foundations of climate economics and an economic modeler specializing in climate policy. In addition to the notion of optimal climate policy, a central focus of the course concerns the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC), a monetary estimate of the costs of carbon dioxide emissions that informs billions of dollars of policy and investment decisions in the United States and abroad.

341-1   Contemporary Moral Issues

2:30 – 3:45 MW
Harry Brighouse

This is a course in applied ethics. We shall discuss topics such as the morality of abortion, whether parents should be licensed, whether chemical and genetic enhancements of human beings should be permitted, and how, if at all, higher education should be reformed. The format is lecture/discussion, and the lecture time will be highly interactive, involving considerable amounts of discussion.

341-2   Contemporary Moral Issues

9:30 – 10:45 TR
Lecturer

A philosophical study of some of the major moral issue in contemporary society, such as those concerning abortion, euthanasia, punishment, property, politics, sex, nuclear disarmament, and world hunger.

341-3   Contemporary Moral Issues

9:55 – 10:45 MWF
Lecturer

A philosophical study of some of the major moral issue in contemporary society, such as those concerning abortion, euthanasia, punishment, property, politics, sex, nuclear disarmament, and world hunger.

341-4   Contemporary Moral Issues

1:00 – 2:15 TR
Russ Shafer-Landau

This course, which presupposes no prior philosophical background, seeks to provide students with the tools needed to carefully analyze a variety of timely ethical issues. The emphasis throughout will be on respectfully and sensitively appreciating the complexity and the argumentative structure of the various positions on these issues, allowing students to decide for themselves where they stand on these important matters.

 341     Contemporary Moral Issues

A philosophical study of some of the major moral issue in contemporary society, such as those concerning abortion, euthanasia, punishment, property, politics, sex, nuclear disarmament, and world hunger

Lec. 91

(Fulfills Comm B requirement)
9:55am – 10:45am MTWR
Lecturer

Lec. 92

(Fulfills Comm B requirement)
11:00am – 11:50am MTWR
Lecturer

Lec. 93

(Fulfills Comm B requirement)
12:05pm – 12:55pm MTWR
Lecturer

Lec. 94

(Fulfills Comm B requirement)
8:50am – 9:40am MTWR
Lecturer

Lec. 95

(Fulfills Comm B requirement)
(Students must be declared in an Honors program)
9:55am – 10:45am MTWR
Lecturer

Lec. 96

(Fulfills Comm B requirement)
11:00am – 11:50am MTWR
Lecturer

430-1   History of Ancient Philosophy

9:55 – 10:45 MWF
Emily Fletcher

In this course, we will examine how ancient Greek philosophers approached fundamental questions about knowledge and reality. What is the nature and origin of the world? Did it come to be by chance, intelligence or some other cause? How do the senses and reason contribute to our understanding of the world? Is it possible to be certain about anything at all? What is the connection between language and reality? We will focus on Plato and Aristotle, but we will also study some of their philosophical predecessors, such as Parmenides and Heraclitus, as well as the post-Aristotelian philosopher Epicurus.

432-1   History of Modern Philosophy

9:55 – 10:45 MWF
James Messina

We will be reading selections from the works of a number of 17th and 18th century philosophers: Rene Descartes, Princess Elisabeth, Nicolas Malebranche, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Lady Masham, Isaac Newton, John Locke, George Berkeley, Lady Mary Shepherd, Emilie du Châtelet, and David Hume. These thinkers explore, among other things, knowledge and its limits; matter, space, and time; the mind and its relationship to the body; causation; substance; free will and free action; the existence and nature of God; the perfection/imperfection of the world and humans; and the prospect of an afterlife.  They develop their views in dialogue with one another, and with an eye towards science (whose foundations and implications they probe) as well as religion. Though their philosophical views often diverge widely from one another and sometimes from common sense, they helped to shape philosophy as it is practiced today.

512 Methods of Logic

11:00 – 11:50 MWF
Peter Vranas

If mathematicians are necessarily rational but cyclists are not, is an individual who is both a mathematician and a cyclist necessarily rational or not? This is just one of the numerous puzzles associated with the notions of necessity and possibility, the notions that form the subject of modal logic. This course is a continuation of Philosophy 211 (Elementary Logic) and presupposes thorough familiarity with 211. The main object of the course is to enable students to (1) translate into logical notation English arguments involving the notions of necessity and possibility, and to (2) easily determine whether the translated arguments are valid or not. There is also a lot of philosophical discussion of issues related to modal logic.

516-1   Language and Meaning

(Fulfills Category A requirement)
1:20 – 2:10 MWF
John MacKay

The course will cover some of the main themes in the philosophy of language. The human ability to communicate information about the external world through language is remarkable and raises a number of philosophical questions. Topics to be considered include: what it is for a linguistic expression to be meaningful; how it could come about that a linguistic expression – which is at some level just an arbitrary group of sounds or symbols – could have a meaning; how both the mind and the external world interact with language to determine meaning; how speakers use and manipulate language in different settings to communicate different kinds of information; and the way in which the meaning of a term depends on context.

520-1   Philosophy of the Natural Sciences

(Fulfills Category A requirement)
11:00 – 12:15 TR
Elliott Sober

This course will address several central questions in philosophy of science. For example:  What does it mean for a proposition to be scientific?  What does it mean for a scientific proposition to be objectively true?  Are ethical values relevant to deciding whether a scientific proposition is true?  How are ethical considerations relevant to other aspects of science?  How are theories related to observations?  What is the role of probability in understanding the concept of evidence? What is a scientific explanation? What does it mean for a proposition to be a law of nature?  Does science provide knowledge of unobservable entities?

524-1   Philosophy and Economics

11:00 – 11:50 MWF
Lecturer

Examination of methodological, ethical, and foundational issues at the boundaries between economics and philosophy with varying emphasis. Issues include models, explanation, testing, social choice and game theory, welfare, and economic justice.

541-1   Modern Ethical Theories

(Fulfills Category B requirement)
2:30 – 3:45 MW
James Goodrich

Physicists are after the “theory of everything” — a single, elegant and unified theory that explains everything we could want to explain about the physical universe. Could there be an analogous theory for morality? Could there be a single, elegant and unified theory that explains everything we might want to explain about as disparate morality-laden phenomenon as war, abortion, and racial discrimination? What could divide different people who wished to offer such a theory? In this course, we will dive deep into the nature, structure, and explanatory appeal of moral theories. Our goal will be to assess how close we have come and even could come to constructing “the moral theory of everything”.

545-1   Philosophical Conceptions of Teaching and Learning

(cross-listed with Edu Policy Studies)
11:00 – 12:15 TR
Harry Brighouse

This course is about how we should think about the aims of education, and how that thinking should inform the practices and policies around teaching and learning, both in k-12 and in higher education. We’ll read the work of contemporary political philosophers and philosophers of education, such as John Rawls, Elizabeth Anderson, Debra Satz, Winston Thompson, Jennifer Morton and Meira Levinson, as well as some sociological work by Anthony Jack and Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton.  The format will be as discussion based as possible given the size of the class, and we shall use a set of recently developed case studies to focus our learning. Previous acquaintance with Philosophy will be helpful, but is not essential.

549-1   Great Moral Philosophers

(Fulfills Category B requirement)
9:30 – 10:45 TR
Russ Shafer-Landau

This course will consider a number of central moral questions–what is the nature of human flourishing? What is the ultimate standard of rightness? Where does morality come from?–as they are addressed in classic texts by Plato, Hobbes, Hume, Kant, Mill, and a handful of 20th century thinkers.

551-1   Philosophy of Mind

(Fulfills Category A requirement)
1:00 – 2:15 TR
Farid Masrour

This course surveys central topics in contemporary philosophy of mind. We will discuss issues such as the relationship between the mind and the physical world, whether a scientific understanding of consciousness is possible, theories of mental representation, the nature of perceptual experience, and whether minds could be modeled as computers.

555-1   Political Philosophy

(Fulfills Category B requirement)
4:00 – 5:15 TR
Harry Brighouse

This course is an advanced introduction to political philosophy as it is practiced today. We shall look at leading contemporary theories of distributive justice, such as egalitarian liberalism and libertarianism, and shall explore contemporary issues of interest to political philosophers, such as the rights and responsibilities of victims of injustice, justice and the family, justice in the education system, and how justice matters for personal and intimate relationships.

558      Ethical Issues in Health Care

(Cross-listed with Medical History 558)
11:00am – 12:15pm  T
Robert Streiffer

Study of ethical issues arising from medical procedures and aspects of health care such as abortion, genetic screening, paternalism, informed consent, prenatal diagnosis, prolongation of life, treatment of severe birth defects, and human subjects research. (This course does meet the UW School of Medicine and Public Health’s requirement for a writing-intensive course as described at https://www.med.wisc.edu/education/md-program/admissions/premedical-requirements/.)

562-1   Spec Topics in Metaphysics

(Fulfills Category A requirement)
2:30 – 3:45  MW
Bruno Whittle
Topic: Paradoxes

A paradox is an argument that leads from apparently innocuous starting points to an abominable conclusion. For example, consider this sentence: ‘this very sentence is false’. This is either true or false (it seems). So suppose first that it is true. Well, then what it says must be the case: i.e. it is false! So it can’t be true; rather it must be false. But then it’s true after all! That is, the sentence would seem to be both true and false—but surely that is impossible! Such arguments are fun to think about, in and of themselves. But they are also connected to a broad range of philosophical issues. For example, versions of the (ancient) paradox just given have been used to argue that there are limits on what we can say or know; that classical logic must be changed; or even that there are different sizes of infinity. This class will consider a range of paradoxes, and the broader issues that they are connected to. Familiarity with Philosophy 211 will be assumed, but no logical knowledge beyond that.

701  Reading Seminars (combined with Graduate Seminars)

Instructor Consent is required

701-001 Reading Seminars

Topic: Kant and his Critics
4:00 – 6:00  M
James Messina
701-001 meets with 830. Please see the description of 830 below.

701-002 Reading Seminars

Topic: New Work in Metaethics
4:00 – 6:00 T
Russ Shafer-Landau
701-002 meets with 941-2. Please see the description of 941-2 below.

701-003 Reading Seminars

Topic: The Ethics of AI and Machine Learning
1:15pm – 3:15pm M
Annette Zimmermann
701-003 meets with 941-1. Please see the description of 941-1 below.

701-004 Reading Seminars

Topic: Externalist Theories of Content
1:15 – 3:15 F
Martha Gibson
701-004 meets with 951. Please see the description of 951 below.

701-005 Reading Seminars

Topic: Persons, Persistence and the Practical
1:15 – 3:15 W
Alan Sidelle
701-005 meets with 960. Please see the description of 960 below.

830  Advanced History of Philosophy

Topic: Kant and his Critics
4:00 – 6:00  M
James Messina

We’ll examine selections from a number of Kant’s works, covering a wide range of topics. We’ll also explore various critiques of Kant’s critical philosophy, including selections from Jacobi, Aenesidemus, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and others. Major assignments will be one short paper (4-5 pages) and one research paper (15-20 pages).

941-1  Seminar – Ethics

Topic: The Ethics of AI and Machine Learning
1:15 – 3:15  M
Annette Zimmermann

AI and machine learning tools are being deployed increasingly in our public institutions and in the private sector. This includes, for instance, algorithmic recidivism risk prediction in the criminal justice process, facial recognition technology in law and immigration enforcement, the allocation of social welfare and healthcare benefits based on algorithmic scores, algorithmically-supported hiring processes, the use of algorithms for credit and lending decisions, the use of powerful ’zero-shot learner’ language models, and the use of ‘emotion recognition’ tools in educational and healthcare settings.
Recent empirical evidence reveals that particular socio-demographic groups are disproportionally disadvantaged by the use of such tools. In this context, we will discuss the technological sources and the moral implications of problems like statistical bias, overfitting, miscalibration, and other challenges related to increasing the predictive accuracy of AI and machine learning tools in a way that prevents or mitigates disparate impact. In addition, we will investigate philosophical problems related to complex dynamics of human-computer interaction, including phenomena like automation bias, and including ongoing ethical debates on the question of which artificial agents, if any, can be rights-holders. Finally, we will explore to what extent existing philosophical accounts of justice, equality, autonomy, responsibility, non-discrimination, punishment, privacy, and democratic legitimacy are able to offer conceptual tools that allow us to comprehensively explain and evaluate the moral implications of emerging technologies, and to what extent the use of such technologies raises genuinely new philosophical questions.
In this seminar, we will be engaging critically with cutting-edge research in moral philosophy as well as in computer science and applied statistics. Prior knowledge of computer science and applied statistics is not required. Some prior knowledge of moral philosophy is desirable.

941-2  Seminar – Ethics

Topic: New Work in Metaethics
4:00pm – 6:00pm T
Russ Shafer-Landau

This seminar will have a somewhat unusual structure. On odd-numbered weeks we will discuss a couple of pieces by a major philosopher in the field. On even-numbered weeks we will have that philosopher virtually visit our seminar for two hours for an extended discussion and Q+A session. This will give you a chance to interact with seven leading lights in the field. During the odd-numbered weeks each seminarian will submit a one-page precis of one reading. The precis is designed to reconstruct a core argument for one of the main theses of the reading, and offer a critical assessment of that argument. On those weeks the seminar will be focused on brief presentations of your precis, followed by constructive discussion around the table, and some background and occasion guidance offered by yours truly. Participants will also submit questions every other week; these will get collated and sent to the visiting guest in advance of their virtual visit. We’ll use your questions as the basis for each conversation with our authors. In addition to biweekly precis and questions, you’ll also be asked to write a final paper of 6-8pp. after consulting with me about its main ideas, arguments, and structure.

951   Seminar – Philosophy of Mind

Topic:Externalist Theories of Content
1:15 – 3:15  F
Martha Gibson

The subject of the seminar will be externalist accounts of content in linguistic and mental representation. So it will be a seminar in both Philosophy of Language and Mind. We will focus on intentionality as it runs through different areas — language, perception, mental states (propositional attitudes like belief, desire and need), consciousness (first, second, and same order theories of consciousness) and so called ‘phenomenal’ intentionality. Some philosophers included will be Grice, Putnam, Burge, Stampe, Dretske, Fodor, Milliken, Tye, and some representatives of second order and same order theories of consciousness, and of phenomenal intentionality.

960   Seminar-Metaphysics Seminars

Topic: Persons, Persistence and the Practical
1:15 – 3:15 W
Alan Sidelle

This is a seminar in what would traditionally be called ‘personal identity’ – except that now it is highly doubtful whether (all) the subject(s) that have been traditionally studied under that heading is really identity.  Since Derek Parfit’s groundbreaking work in the 70’s and 80’s, the topic might be called ‘Identity and/or What matters in personal identity’.   We will look at the development of psychological theories of personal identity and the new set of questions that arise in the light of Parfit’s work: what, if anything, plays the role assumed to be played by identity in considerations of: survival, responsibility, desert, obligation, special concern, 1stperson emotions, paternalism, prudential rationality, reparations and distributional justice?   Is there a metaphysical subject here, to be investigated ‘purely’ and then applied to practical consequences?  Is there a practically identifiable object, the identity of which can be investigated aside from metaphysical considerations? How radically should Parfitian findings (if we accept them) change our views about what we are and about normative and practical issues that seem(ed) tied to identity (and difference)?  We will focus on a combination of ‘pure’ metaphysics, normative/practical issues, and issues of methodology.  We will also look at Animalism, also known as the Biological view.