Jump to: Fall 2017 Graduate Courses
101-1: Introduction to Philosophy
9:55 MWF
Instructor
This course provides an overview of some central questions of philosophy, and explains how philosophers go about investigating them. We will cover questions concerning the relation between mind and body, the nature of knowledge, the existence of the universe, moral obligation and value (what makes an action right vs. wrong?), and belief vs. nonbelief in God. We will also learn logical reasoning skills, which we will apply when discussing these questions. Assignments include short papers and two exams. Class attendance is mandatory.
101-2: Introduction to Philosophy
11:00 MWF
Paul
This course aims to introduce students to the general methodology of philosophical inquiry, through reflection on some of the classic questions in philosophy. What, if anything, can we know about the external world? Is there a single objective morality, or are moral codes simply social constructions that are true only relative to times and places? Is there any meaningful sense in which we have free will? What makes someone count as the same person over time? What is it to have a mind? We will read both classical and contemporary selections on these topics, and through our investigations, learn how to formulate rigorous philosophical arguments of our own and to critically evaluate those of others. Above all, the emphasis will be on questioning our assumptions and articulating reasons (if we can) for things we might already believe without knowing why.
101-4: Introduction to Philosophy
2:30-3:45 TR
Southgate
This course is an introduction to philosophical thinking and the Western philosophical tradition from antiquity to modernity. Through reading classical and contemporary texts, we will be examining central topics in this tradition: proofs for the existence of God, the nature of morality, the meaning of life, and the nature of art and beauty. 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.
101-6: Introduction to Philosophy
9:30-10:45 TR
Bengson
This course will teach you how to think critically about issues of fundamental human importance, focusing on some of the most difficult questions that have been asked about the relation between appearance and reality. What is real, and what is mere appearance? Can we tell the difference? How? Drawing upon philosophical writings from antiquity to the present day, we will explore such topics as: the ultimate nature of reality; the possibility of knowledge; the threat of illusion and bias; the relation between truth, lies, and bullshit; the nature of morality; the philosophical implications of physics and the status of material objects; the identity of persons; the badness (or not) of death; the existence (or nonexistence) in God; and the scope of good and evil. Over the course of the semester you will learn about these central problems of philosophy, and the basic methods of philosophical investigation.
101-7: Introduction to Philosophy
12:05-12:55 MWF
Instructor
This course provides an overview of some central questions of philosophy, and explains how philosophers go about investigating them. We will cover questions concerning the relation between mind and body, the nature of knowledge, the existence of the universe, moral obligation and value (what makes an action right vs. wrong?), and belief vs. nonbelief in God. We will also learn logical reasoning skills, which we will apply when discussing these questions. Assignments include short papers and two exams. Class attendance is mandatory.
104-2: Special Topics in Philosophy-Freshman
Philosophy of Technology
2:30-3:45 MW
Masrour
Science and Technology have become such pervasive aspects of our modern life that it is very easy to ignore their presence and impact. The main aim of this course is to help you develop a reflective stance toward the impact of science and technology on ethical, psychological, social, political, cultural, and environmental aspects of our lives. Some of the questions that we will discuss are: Are science and technology mere instruments for the betterment of our lives? In what ways do they shape our everyday life, values, needs, desires, and our natural environment? In what ways are scientific and technological developments shaped by their social, political, economic, and cultural context. Throughout the course, we also learn about some very influential schools of thought in the past century including existentialism, phenomenology, critical theory, and feminism. We will pay very close attention to the conceptual frameworks of these schools of thought and compare them with each other.
104-3: Special Topics in Philosophy-Freshman
Elementary Logic
2:30-3:45 TR
Titelbaum
Mathematics, the natural sciences, engineering, computer sciences, and even social science are filled with systems of equations and symbols that we use to represent, manipulate, and understand reality. Students in this FIG will explore one of these systems—symbolic logic– by creating their own system. As any engineer will tell you, the best way to understand a particular type of machine is to build one yourself. Students will work together in groups, responding to carefully chosen prompts, to identify, assemble, and evaluate all the necessary parts of a formal logical system. The class will also discuss the history of logic, examining the work of twentieth-century logicians and computer scientists to see how the choices they made for their logical systems contrast with the choices we’ve made for our system in class. Students will then apply the system they’ve built, finding arguments in the world and using their logic to analyze whether those arguments successfully establish their conclusions. Finally, having built and applied our logical system, we will use the techniques of metalogic to prove that it has various reliability features considered desirable by professional logicians. This will reinforce the power of the tool the students have created, and also give them a suggestion of how logic continues on from what they’ve done.
104-4: Special Topics in Philosophy-Freshman
Honors Only
1:00-2:15 TR
Schechtman
What determines the moral values and principles that orient and guide the lives of individuals and societies—the “moral compass” we use to navigate through the thickets of decision and indecision? What is this compass, and where does it come from? Is it God-given? Or, rather, is it the product of culture and society? Or is it perhaps a matter of our genes, an evolutionarily-determined instinct? This course will explore a range of candidates for the moral compass or compasses. We will read and discuss authors ranging from antiquity to the present day, including Aristotle, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Hannah Arendt. A primary aim of the class will be to learn how to analyze, evaluate, and construct a philosophical argument, both in writing and in conversation. Another aim is to gain acquaintance with key figures and texts in the history of Western philosophy. A third aim is to practice adopting a reflective stance towards one’s own moral compass and its philosophical underpinnings.
210-1: Reason in Communication
11:00 MWF
Lecturer
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: Sophomore Status.
210-3: Reason in Communication
8:00-9:15 TR
Lecturer
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: Sophomore Status.
211-1: Elementary Logic
12:05 MWF
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.
211-2: Elementary Logic
11:00-12:15 TR
Mackay
This course is an introduction to formal logic, the study of valid reasoning. We will studymethods for proving that an argument is either valid or invalid. Validity, as we will understand it, depends on the form of arguments rather than on their content; we will therefore work 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.
220: Philosophy and the Sciences
1:00-2:15 TR
Sober
This is a first course in philosophy of science, aimed at undergraduates who are interested in science. There are no prerequisites. The course is divided into four sections. The first concerns the ABCs of deductive logic and probability reasoning. The second addresses the question “what is science?” as it pertains to the on-going conflict between evolutionary biology and creationism/intelligent design. The third addresses some central questions in philosophy of science – the justification of induction, the nature of explanation, the question of whether scientific evidence ever supports claims about unobservable entities, and the difference between normal scientific change and scientific revolutions. The fourth topic concerns the role of ethical and political values in scientific practice.
241-1: Introductory Ethics (fulfills category B requirement for the major)
9:55 MWF
Instructor
Nature of moral problems and of ethical theory, varieties of moral skepticism, practical ethics and the evaluation of social institutions. Prerequisites: Sophomore Status.
241-2: Introductory Ethics (fulfills category B requirement for the major)
11:00 MWF
Fletcher
In this course we will investigate the ethical dimension of human life. What makes an action right or wrong? What obligations do we have to other people or the community and what do we do when these obligations conflict? What makes someone a good or bad person? How do we make ethical judgments and can they be objective? We will examine three historically important theoretical approaches to ethics (virtue ethics, utilitarianism and Kantian ethics), as well as objections that have been raised against each of them.
304-1: Topic in Philosophy-Humanities
Women in Philosophy: Past and Present
9:30-10:45 TR
Lecturer
Philosophy is a discipline from which women have historically been excluded. The classic philosophical canon is dominated by male figures, and even today, women make up only about 20% of philosophy faculty nationwide. This fact cannot be explained by a lack of female voices: on the contrary, there have been women philosophers working at every period in our history. But their works have often been ignored or undervalued. The primary aim of this class will be to read and recover texts written by women philosophers, and examine the role of women in philosophy’s history as well as its present. Through an examination of both historical and contemporary texts, we will seek to answer some fundamental questions about the contribution of women to philosophy. The first part of the class will be devoted to analysis and discussion of historical women philosophers from the ancient, medieval, early modern, and contemporary periods. The second part of the class will explore contemporary feminist theories that grapple with the question of what it means to be a woman in philosophy today, and what it means to do philosophy from a historically marginalized perspective.
304-2: Topic in Philosophy-Humanities
Philosophy of Sex and Love
12:05 MWF
Lecturer
This course examines historical and contemporary philosophical views concerning sex and romantic love. Here are some of the questions that we will consider: What is the purpose of sex? Are sex and love important for the good life? What counts as consent? Are there reasons for morally condemning certain sexual behaviors? What is love? What sorts of romantic relationships are worth having? How should we morally evaluate marriage and divorce? WARNING: Topics to be discussed may include sexual intercourse, sadomasochism, perversion, polygamy, polyamory, sexual orientation, prostitution, adultery, pornography, and rape
304-3: Topic in Philosophy-Humanities
Appearance & Reality
2:30-3:45TR
Bengson
This course examines the relation between appearance and reality. How things appear often diverges radically from how things really are. But how can we tell the difference? And what is the difference? To address these questions, we will examine the nature of perception; the possibility of knowledge; the distinction between fact and fiction, and between lies and bullshit; and the relation between “commonsensical” views of objects, people, and morals and the “modern scientific” conception of these things. We will also discuss various implications, including whether death is really as bad as it appears to be, and whether there is a basis in reality for belief (or disbelief) in God. Assignments will consist in two exams, two graded papers, and three brief reflections (on the philosophical content of one film, one song, and one other medium). The class is an ideal transition course between introductory-level and upper-level philosophy classes, but will also be of interest to those with no prior experience in philosophy, as well as those with no plans to go on in philosophy.
341-1: Contemporary Moral Issues
2:30-3:45 TR
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.
341-2: Contemporary Moral Issues
9:55 MWF
Lecturer
A philosophical study of some of the major moral issues in contemporary society, such as those concerning abortion, euthanasia, punishment, property, politics, sex, nuclear disarmament, and world hunger. Prerequisites: Sophomore Status or consent of instructor.
341 Contemporary Moral Issues (fulfills Comm B requirement)
Lec. 91 9:55 MTWR
Lec. 92 11:00 MTWR
Lec. 93 12:05 MTWR
Lec. 94 8:50 MTWR
Lec. 95 12:05 MTWR
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. Prerequisites: Sophomore Status or consent of instructor. (Fulfills Comm B requirement).
430: History of Ancient Philosophy
9:55 MWF
Gottlieb
The philosopher Socrates who lived in turbulent times said that the unexamined life is not worth living, and his most famous follower, Plato, argued that the examined life requires consideration of what we can know (epistemology) and what exists (metaphysics). In this class we’ll be studying in depth, and with close attention to the texts, Plato’s, Aristotle’s and earlier philosophers’ attempts to answer the following questions: What sorts of things are there in the world? Is a world of change consistent with a world of enduring objects? What would be a satisfactory account of unity and diversity? What sort of knowledge, if any, can we have of the world in which we live? Why are reason and logic important? Why become a philosopher, and what is the difference between the philosopher and the sophist?
432: History of Modern Philosophy
9:30 TR
Schechtman
This course offers a systematic study of some of the most influential figures in the history of philosophy, focusing on the early modern period — spanning, roughly, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. We will read and discuss the major writings of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume (and others as time permits). Topics include the origins and possibility of knowledge, the relations between mind and body, the nature of causation and the laws of nature, and proofs for God’s existence.
441: Environmental Ethics
11:00-12:15 TR
Streiffer
The primary goal of this course is to prepare students to understand and critically evaluate various ethical perspectives on human beings’ interactions with nature and these perspectives’ applications to environmental issues. A secondary goal of the course is to familiarize students with the historical sources of these perspectives and with contemporary manifestations of them in the political arena. The principal ethical perspectives studied will usually include anthropocentrism, animal welfare and animal rights views, biocentric individualism, and environmental holism. We will study representative descriptions and defenses of these perspectives and consider their application to contemporary environmental issues such as hunting, the preservation of endangered species, the use of biotechnology, wilderness preservation and management, anthropogenic global climate change, and the place of the poor and the third world in the environmental movement. P: 3 cr. Philosophy envir studies, or Grad st. in IES.
454: Classical Philosophers (fulfills Category B requirements for the major)
Aristotle’s Ethics
2:25 MWF
Gottlieb
Every human being wishes to lead a happy life, according to Aristotle, but what sort of life is a happy one? In this course we’ll consider Aristotle’s answers to the following questions (among others): What is happiness? Is happiness the same as pleasure? What qualities contribute to a happy life? Are courage, justice, generosity, truthfulness, friendliness and wit all needed to lead a happy life? If so, how are these acquired? Do we need to develop our thinking and feelings in a special way? Are friends needed for happiness? If so, what makes a good friend? What kind of society is necessary for human beings to be happy?
The main text for the course will be Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics in translation, but we’ll also read other texts of Aristotle where these are pertinent.
There will be ample opportunity for discussion. There will also be three tutorials. Class participants will be asked to write a series of 1500-word essays. They will then come in pairs to see the professor for an hour or so, during which time they will read out and discuss their work. Grades will be awarded to the written work. The point of the tutorial is purely educational and fun.
Please note:
1. Students may take more than one 454 class provided the classes are on different topics.
2. If you would like to take the class but do not have the prerequisites, please contact Prof. Gottlieb at plgottli@wisc.edu
481: Junior Honors Seminar Meets with 454
482: Junior Honors Seminar Meets with 503
503: Theory of Knowledge (fulfills the category A requirement for the major)
11:00-12:15 TR
Titelbaum
We will survey epistemology by focusing on three problems that are currently “hot” in the field. Readings will be from academic articles written by contemporary philosophers. Topics covered will include: knowledge (what does it take to know something?), justification (how can our beliefs be justified?), skepticism (do we know a material world exists?), closure (do I know anything that’s entailed by what I know?), internalism vs. externalism (does the justification of my beliefs depend on anything besides my other beliefs?), and disagreement (should any two people with the same evidence draw the same conclusion?). Previous experience reading and writing philosophical papers is required.
505: Justice and Health Care
9:30-10:45 TR
Kelleher
This course investigates debates in moral and political philosophy concerning social obligations to provide health care coverage to those within a nation’s borders. For the first part of the course, our main task is to understand prominent accounts of social and distributive justice and to evaluate their implications for health policy. We’ll then consider the moral implications of health disparities facing traditionally marginalized sub-populations. Finally, we’ll investigate various methods of health care rationing, which many believe to be an unavoidable requirement of the need to control health care costs.
511: Symbolic Logic
11:00 MWF
Vranas
This is a course about (not in) first-order logic: although the course starts with a review of first-order logic, the review is at an abstract level and presupposes knowledge of the mechanics of first-order logic. The bulk of the course covers the main metalogical results, both positive (namely the soundness, completeness, compactness, and Lowenheim-Skolem theorems) and negative (namely Godel’s two incompleteness theorems). The emphasis is on understanding the results and becoming able to apply them, not in proving them. The course concludes with an examination of some philosophical implications of Godel’s incompleteness theorems.
530: Freedom, Fate, and Choice (fulfills Category A requirements for the major)
4:00-5:15 TR
Steinberg
In this course, we will carefully examine the “free will debate” which has to do with the relationships between free will, moral responsibility, and determinism. We will study some of the most important recent literature on this debate in addressing questions like: What exactly is free will? Is the universe physically determined? If so, does this rule out our being free? If the universe is not physically determined, does this help in making sense of our being free? If we are not free, does this threaten our being morally responsible for what we do? In addition to focusing on central issues in the free will debate, we will spend some time discussing connected issues involving things like addiction and mental illness. For example, we’ll consider whether an addict or a person suffering from a mental illness is free/morally responsible for what she does.
541: Modern Ethical Theories (fulfills Category B requirements for the major)
1:00-2:15 TR
Shafer-Landau
This course will consider seminal work in each of the three major areas of moral philosophy: value theory, normative ethics, and metaethics. In the section on value theory, we will consider what makes for a good life, and what is intrinsically valuable. In normative ethics, we will read about various efforts to unify moral thought by reference to a supreme moral principle, such as the Golden Rule, the Principle of Utility, or Kant’s Principle of Universalizability. Finally, we will consider certain metaethical questions regarding the status, rather than the content, of morality. Here we will focus on issues of the objectivity of morality and its rational authority.
551: Philosophy of Mind
11:00 MWF
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.
560: Metaphysics (fulfills category A requirement for the major)
2:30-3:45 TR
Sidelle
This class is an advanced introduction to various topics in metaphysics. We will look at classic readings on topics including the nature of physical objects, possible worlds, time, causation and personal identity. Among the questions we will consider are:
When does some matter constitute a material object? How does material objects persist through time? Can more than one material object occupy a given place at the same time? Is there something special about the present? Or is time best objectively viewed from an ‘eternal’ position, standing outside of time?
What is it for one event to cause another? Can two possible worlds be exactly alike in their pattern of events, but differ in what causes what?
What is it for an object to be disposed to do something? Are dispositions explained by laws of nature, or are laws of nature just general truths deriving from more basic dispositions?
Under what conditions will we still be alive tomorrow? That is, what needs to be the case for one of the people living in the world tomorrow to be me? If I am a dualist, does it have to reside in sameness of the soul? If I am a materialist, does it have to reside in sameness of body, or brain?
There will be regular reading responses, 2 papers, and a final exam.
581: Senior Honors Seminar Meets with 511
582: Senior Honors Seminar Meets with 530
830: Advanced History of Philosophy
Plato’s Republic
4:00-6:00 M
Fletcher
In this course, we will undertake a comprehensive study of Plato’s Republic, perhaps his most ambitious dialogue. The central question of the dialogue is “what is the nature and value of justice?” and certainly part of the interest of the dialogue is his account of justice. But in developing and defending this account, Plato provides some of his most developed and influential accounts of knowledge, human psychology, the nature of different political regimes, as well as his famous theory of forms. The Republic reveals how Plato’s views in what we usually consider distinct areas of philosophy (e.g. metaphysics, epistemology and ethics) are inextricably connected. We will work through the text sequentially, so we can think about each part of this complex whole, averaging a week and a half per book, while at the same time thinking about the overall structure of the dialogue.
902: Proseminar in Philosophy
1:15-3:15 F
Mackay
This seminar for incoming students is required. It provides a background/refresher in central texts in core analytic philosophy across diverse specialties, and a common entry experience into graduate school. There will be a close reading of texts and an emphasis on writing skills.
920: Seminar: Philosophy of Science
Adaptation, Natural Selection, and Intelligent Design
4:00-6:00 R
Sober
The organismic design argument for the existence of God begins with the premise that organisms are well adapted to their environment. The fine-tuning argument for the existence of God begins with the fact that the constants found in the laws of physics have values that fall in the very narrow window of values that permit life to exist. The first of these arguments is usually taken to conflict with the theory of evolution by natural selection. The second has been criticized on various grounds, but not by appealing to a well-developed scientific theory. In this seminar we’ll examine defenses and criticisms of both design arguments. We’ll also investigate in some detail how evolutionary biology goes about explaining adaptedness. And we’ll discuss the different formats that design arguments have taken. No prior familiarity with probability or with evolutionary biology will be assumed. We’ll probably start by reading Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.
941: Seminar: Ethics
Self-control
1:15-3:15 W
Paul
My seminar will be on “self-control.” We will look at questions like (1) Why is self-control needed? How can it be that we do not always do (and perhaps believe) what we think we ought to do? (2) What kinds of things do we exercise self-control over? Does it apply only to action, or also to things like belief and emotion? (3) Is self-control best understood as a kind of quasi-muscular “willpower,” or does it involve other, perhaps cognitive capacities? What kinds of things are “resolutions” or “commitments?” (4) How does our understanding of self-control change if we take a long-term perspective, rather than focusing on short-term cases? Is “grit” over the long run something different than short-term self-control?
951: Seminar: Philosophy of Mind
Greatest Phil Mind Hits from the 80’s and 90’s
1:15-3:15M
Shapiro
The last two decades of the twentieth century were exciting years for philosophers of mind. Efforts were being made to eliminate or naturalize representational content. This project engaged philosophers like Tyler Burge, Patricia Churchland, Rob Cummins, Daniel Dennett, Fred Dretske, Jerry Fodor, Ruth Millikan, and Stephen Stich. Alongside this work, and closely associated with it, were efforts to clarify the commitments of the computational theory of mind. By the end of the ‘80s, a significant challenge to the computational theory of mind came in the form of connectionism and neural networks. As the battle was being fought over narrow content, wide content, and the tenability of computationalism, other philosophers, like Ned Block, David Chalmers, Daniel Dennett (again), and David Rosenthal, struck off in a completely different direction. They were interested in reviving and developing the study of consciousness. In this class we’re going to re-live this exciting epoch, reading some of the seminal books and articles from those decades that helped shape what philosophers of mind are doing today.