Upcoming & Current Courses in Philosophy
Here are the courses the department is offering now and next semester, along with their instructors' descriptions. General descriptions of all DePauw courses in philosophy, along with major and minor requirements, may be found under All Courses.
Philosophy courses for FALL 2013
(Spring 2013 course descriptions are below.)
PHIL 101A: INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY
Professor Dan Shannon, 9:10-10:10 MWF
This Introduction to Philosophy course will cover several important texts in classical western philosophy. We will deal with a number of issues including the nature of reality, the mind-body problem, proving God’s existence, certainty of knowledge, among others. We will be stressing what philosophers do, and this means that we will be discussing in some detail the nature of argumentation, understanding philosophical writing, evaluating arguments and most importantly creating your own good arguments. There will be discussion and a mixture of tests and essays. The featured philosophers in this course will be Plato, Descartes, Hume, Mill, and Schopenhauer. Although some other philosophers and their arguments will also be discussed.
PHIL 101B: INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY
Professor Alain Ducharme, 10:20-11:20 MWF
This course is an introduction to major themes, figures questions, debates in the western philosophical tradition. This course is also an introduction to the philosophical method of critical thinking and argumentation. We shall engage classic and contemporary texts on foundational and perennial philosophical questions such as: Does God exist? What is knowledge and how do we come to know things? What is the nature of reality? Are minds the same as brains? Can machines think? We shall also be doing philosophy: developing the critical thinking, reading and writing skills constitutive of the discipline.
PHIL 101C: INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY
Professor Richard Lynch, 12:40-2:10 TR
What can we know with certainty? Or can we even be certain about anything at all? What are the consequences—for science, religion, ethics and society—of our attitudes toward certainty? An examination of "the quest for certainty" (to take a phrase from John Dewey) will frame our reading, thinking and discussion of a variety of philosophical problems. We'll wrestle with metaphysical, epistemological and ethical questions as presented by classic and contemporary philosophers in the Western tradition, from Socrates and Plato through Descartes and Hume to Simone de Beauvoir and Cornel West. Assessed assignments may include active participation, oral discussion leadership, informal writing, exams and papers.
PHIL 212A: HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY - ANCIENT
Professor Alain Ducharme, 1:40-2:40 MWF
This course is an historical survey of the major ideas, figures, methods and schools of thought in Ancient Western philosophy. We shall begin by considering the nature of philosophical inquiry as it stands in relation to rival modes of explanation and understanding. In figures such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, we find distinctive and new methods that influence the subsequent philosophical tradition. We also find recurring questions that become central to Western Philosophy. What counts as piety, courage, temperance, and wisdom? Should we fear death? What is the nature of the soul? We shall follow the ancient on a course of discovery; one which engages the texts in aiming to converse with these thinkers directly. Although we will consider ancient philosophy in its historical context, we will do so by way of subjecting arguments to rigorous philosophical scrutiny.
PHIL 220A: EXISTENTIALISM
Professor Daniel Shannon, 12:30-1:30 MWF
Introductory course in Existentialism. Major writers from both 19th and 20th centuries including Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre and Camus. Issues to be discussed: the meaning of faith, the value of morality, absurdity of life, the relation between being and nothingness.
PHIL 230A: ETHICAL THEORY ‘W’
Professor Erik Wielenberg, 9:10-10:10 MWF
This course is devoted to an examination of some of the central questions in theoretical ethics. Specifically, we will consider each of the following questions: What makes a human life good for the one who lives it? What is the nature of good (and evil) character? What makes morally right acts right? What is the relationship, if any, between living a moral life and living a life that is good for you? We will critically examine both historical and contemporary attempts to answer each of these questions. The readings include some classics of ethical philosophy, such as Plato’s Laches, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Immanuel Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, and John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism, some works of fiction, such as Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, plus a smattering of shorter pieces from philosophy, psychology, and economics. The requirements include tests, a paper, and unannounced reading quizzes.
PHIL 233A: Ethics & Business
Professor Jeffery Smith, 2:20-3:50 TR
This course studies modern day economic life by critically examining the moral responsibilities that business firms—especially for-profit corporations—have to investors, employees, consumers and society at large. Students will study historical and contemporary perspectives on these issues and grapple with cases that illustrate the extent to which businesses and their managers have obligations that are unique, or not, from the obligations that other individuals possess.
The course will periodically address important foundational issues such as the role of law and economics in grounding norms of conduct in business, philosophical bases of corporate social responsibility, and the moral consequences of harnessing the profit motive to supply public goods. Various applied topics will accompany the study of these general issues. These include employee rights, consumer privacy, responsible product marketing, sustainable enterprise management, corporate philanthropy and business involvement in the political process.
PHIL 234A: Biomedical Ethics
Professor Marcia McKelligan, 2:20-3:50 MW
This course examines a wide range of moral and social policy questions that arise in the context of medical research and the practice and business of medicine. We will examine claims about physician responsibilities such as truth-telling, confidentiality, and respecting patient autonomy. We will look at the concept of informed consent in medical research on human subjects and concerns raised about experimentation on animals. We will look at an array of life-and-death decisions that physicians and patients face: abortion, treatment or termination of defective infants, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. We will also explore many of the moral challenges generated by such biotechnological capabilities as genetic screening, prenatal genetic diagnosis, and techniques of assisted reproduction. We will consider, too, some of the pressing social issues related to scarcity and allocation of medical resources, such as increasing the supply of organs for transplant and determination of who gets what in times of crisis such as a pandemic. While we will focus most on American health care, we will not neglect global problems. Finally, we raise the question asked by Tom Brokaw in one of the 2008 presidential debates: is health care a privilege, a right or a responsibility? And what do the possible answers to that question suggest about our national health care? The readings are drawn from an anthology of recent articles by philosophers, physicians and legal scholars. The class will be discussion-based. There will be short papers, possibly a test, a term paper and at least one class presentation.
PHIL 251A: LOGIC ‘Q’
Professor Jeffrey Dunn, 8:00-9:00 MWF
This course is an introduction to symbolic logic. The main goal is to familiarize you with certain formal methods for representing and evaluating deductive arguments. The course covers both sentential logic and predicate logic, with work equally divided between translating sentences into formal notation, and constructing formal proofs. Time permitting, we will consider the limits of deductive logic and consider some basic inductive logic. Requirements for this class include regular homework assignments, exams, and a final project.
PHIL 309A: TOPICS: ENVIRONMENTAL PHILOSOPHY
Professor Alain Ducharme, 8:20-9:50 TR
We shall examine what we might mean by 'nature' or 'the natural' and our relation to it. We shall then explore whether and how we have obligations to non-humans such as animals, plants and ecosystems. In doing so we shall consider moral theories such as utlitarianism, deontology, biocentrism, ecocentrism, deep ecology, and ecofeminism. We shall also critically consider specific current environmental issues, such as climate change, population, consumption, environmental justice, environmental racism, and resource ethics.
PHIL 360A: PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Professor Jeffrey Dunn, 10:00-11:30 TR
Science has been extremely successful and holds an important place in our society. But what is science? Perhaps it is a method, a set of theories, or a group of people. And what does science give us? Perhaps it gives us a true picture of the world, perhaps merely a useful set of theories, or maybe it just gives us one way of looking at the world among others. Finally, how does science fit in with other enterprises like politics or religion? Perhaps it should guide these other enterprises, or perhaps it should be subservient to them. Given the important place that science occupies, these questions are critically important. In this course we'll try to address them. We'll start with an overview of some classic topics in philosophy of science, including the problem of induction and Logical Positivism. After that we'll work through Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions. We'll finish off the course by working through Bas van Fraassen's Image of Science and Philip Kitcher's Science, Truth, and Democracy. This course will focus mainly on primary sources in philosophy of science. As a result, it will be challenging, but also rewarding.
PHIL 419A: MAJOR PHILOSOPHERS: KANT
Professor Daniel Shannon, 12:40-3:30 T
This course will focus on Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. We will read the text closely and analyze the main arguments. We will also consider several different interpretations of and objections to his arguments, including those from G. W. F. Hegel, P. F. Strawson, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Hans Reichenbach. The class is student directed, involving seminar presentations; several short papers will be assigned. There is a final exam.
PHIL 490A: SENIOR SEMINAR ‘S’
Professor Marcia McKelligan, 7:00-8:30 PM TR
This class is the capstone course for majors in philosophy. It covers a broad range of advanced topics in philosophy; typically three or four topics are covered during the semester. Topics may be treated historically or systematically. The students are responsible for presentations and discussions of the material. Several papers will be assigned.
philosophy courses for SPRING 2013
(Fall 2013 course descriptions are above.)
PHIL 101A: INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY
Professor Erik Wielenberg, 2:50 - 3:50 MWF
This course introduces students to some of the central topics and methods of philosophy. Among the topics to be discussed are the possibility of free will, the limits of the power that the state can legitimately exercise over its citizens, the moral status of civil disobedience, and the existence and nature of God. The emphasis will be on careful formulation and critical examination of the relevant views and arguments. The readings for the course are drawn from a bewildering variety of classic and contemporary sources. The course would not be complete without a hefty dose of Plato; we’ll get our fix by way of the Platonic dialogues Apology and Crito, both members of the series of dialogues that describes the trial, imprisonment, and execution of Socrates. The requirements include tests, a paper, and unannounced reading quizzes.
PHIL 101B: INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY
Professor Jeffrey Dunn, 10:30 - 11:30 MWF
Does God exist? Can you tell whether you are dreaming? Are you obligated to help people who are far away as much as you are obligated to help those closer to home? In this course we will investigate these questions among others. In doing so, you will be introduced to several major themes in philosophy and works by important philosophers. We will be reading works from ancient philosophy through to contemporary philosophy, including philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, and Hume. By the end of the course you should have a better understanding of what philosophy is, and should have cultivated the ability to think and write clearly. Requirements for this course include active participation, short paper assignments, exams, and an essay.
PHIL 101C: INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY
Professor Dan Shannon, 12:30 - 1:30 MWF
This Introduction to Philosophy course will cover several important texts in classical western philosophy. We will deal with a number of issues including the nature of reality, the mind-body problem, proving God’s existence, certainty of knowledge, among others. We will be stressing what philosophers do, and this means that we will be discussing in some detail the nature of argumentation, understanding philosophical writing, evaluating arguments and most importantly creating your own good arguments. There will be discussion and a mixture of tests and essays.
PHIL 101D: INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY
Professor Jeremy Anderson, 9:20 - 10:20 MWF
We will consider several important topics in philosophy such as our knowledge of the world outside our minds, God’s existence, human freedom, and how we should live. To do so we will read, discuss, and critique philosophical works from ancient times to the present. Requirements will include written responses to readings, short papers, exams, participation, and possibly a presentation.
PHIL 101E: INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY
Professor Richard Cameron, 1:40 - 2:40 MWF
Our course begins with critical examination of the conception of philosophy which seems to have inspired Socrates’ outrageous claim that the unexamined life is not worth living. Socratic philosophy involves the critical investigation of life-orienting and inescapable questions, questions which all of us answer and the answers to which send our lives off in dramatically different directions. The idea is illustrated through critical examination of core questions from the three main branches of philosophy: ethics (e.g., what are our obligations to the world’s poorest people?), epistemology (e.g., what can we know?), and metaphysics (e.g., is there a God?).
PHIL 209A: TPS: HISTORY OF ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY (May also be taken as HIST 290C)
Professor Nahyan Fancy, 2:20 - 3:50 TR
This course examines the origins and development of Islamic philosophy from the 7th century to around the 15th century. During this period, some of the great figures of the history of philosophy hailed from the Islamic world, regardless of whether they were Muslim or not. We will cover the evolution of philosophy beginning with the appropriation of Greek thought into Arabic, and exploring how these ideas were woven into the intellectual framework of revealed religion. We will study the philosophy of well-known figures, such as al-Farabi, Avicenna and Averroes, and some lesser known figures and critics of these Aristotelian philosophers. We will pay close attention to the development of scientific and religious thought and their interactions with philosophy. The topics to be discussed will include: proofs for the existence of God; the problem of divine attributes; epistemology and the nature of the intellect; relation of philosophy to revelation; eternity of the world; cosmology; and the dialectical turn of philosophy.
PHIL 209B: TPS: FEMINIST ETHICS
Professor Richard Lynch, 1:40 - 2:40 MWF
We'll begin with an overview of feminist approaches to ethical problems and ethical issues of particular importance for feminists, and then turn to a more focused examination of particular questions. Have ethical theory and law ignored women's perspectives and concerns? Do standard conceptions of justice address women's ethical perspectives? Should feminists attempt to articulate an entirely new, gender- or woman-centered ethical viewpoint, or can they adapt traditional approaches to a feminist orientation? Two parallel conversations within feminist ethics will allow us to get at these questions: Carol Gilligan's In a Different Voice, which proposed an "ethics of care" alongside justice, has prompted vigorous debates among feminists—we'll be able to follow this debate over several decades. Similarly, Susan Moller Okin's Justice, Gender, and the Family foregrounded ethical and legal issues between the family and the workplace, and women's attempts to balance these concerns—we'll be able to look at how these debates have developed, too.
PHIL 216A: WESTERN PHILOSOPHY – EARLY MODERN
Professor Jeremy Anderson, 12:30 - 1:30 MWF
A survey of major figures in Continental and British philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries, with particular attention to problems in metaphysics and epistemology. We read selections from Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Kant, not only for their historical interest, but also for what they have to say about perennial philosophical problems. Class discussion is encouraged.
PHIL 230A: ETHICAL THEORY ‘W’
Professor Jennifer Everett, 10:30 - 11:30 MWF
The purpose of this course is to introduce philosophical approaches to the most fundamental question faced by human beings: how ought we to live? Each of us wants to do the right thing, live a good life, be an honorable person. We also want to live in a good and just society; thus, ethics is also an inextricable part of all of our practical political problems. To approach such matters philosophically is to confront a plethora of theoretical quandaries. We will begin with questions about the status of morality and methods of moral reasoning: How are race, class, and gender relevant to our moral understanding? Can moral questions have any objectively correct answers, or is it all “a matter of opinion”? For the remainder of the course we will explore the landscape of normative ethical theory, competing efforts to explain at a general level why certain outcomes are good or bad, why particular acts are right or wrong, or why certain ways of living are morally preferable to others.
PHIL 230B: ETHICAL THEORY
Professor Erik Wielenberg, 9:20 - 10:20 MWF
This course is devoted to an examination of some of the central questions in theoretical ethics. Specifically, we will consider each of the following questions: What makes a human life good for the one who lives it? What is the nature of good (and evil) character? What makes morally right acts right? What is the relationship, if any, between living a moral life and living a life that is good for you? We will critically examine both historical and contemporary attempts to answer each of these questions. The readings include some classics of ethical philosophy, such as Plato’s Laches, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, The Analects of Confucius, Immanuel Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, and John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism, some works of fiction, such as Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, plus a smattering of shorter philosophical writings, including some contemporary articles. The requirements include tests, a paper, and unannounced reading quizzes.
PHIL 233A: ETHICS & BUSINESS
Professor Richard Lynch, 10:30 - 11:30 MWF
Our examination of Ethics and Business (not simply “business ethics”) will be accomplished through three principal approaches: we'll consider the ethical frames for our business decisions; we'll discuss a number of particular ethical dilemmas that managers and executives face; and we'll try to situate these frames and cases with a broader perspective on markets and human nature. Along the way we will get to discuss examples of "bad business" (think Enron), "good business" (perhaps Johnson & Johnson or Cummins), and some hard cases where a "right answer" isn't necessarily apparent. This course is a part of the Management Fellows Program core.
PHIL 242A: PHILOSOPHY OF SEX & GENDER
Professor Dan Shannon, 9:20 - 10:20 MWF
Traditional and contemporary theories on the nature of love, sex, and marriage will be discussed. We will also examine arguments concerning feminism, pornography, and the nature of homosexuality. There will be several writing assignments, including two major papers; class participation will be extensive.
PHIL 251A: LOGIC ‘Q’
Professor Jeffrey Dunn, 8:10 - 9:10 MWF
This course is an introduction to symbolic logic. The main goal is to familiarize you with certain formal methods for representing and evaluating deductive arguments. The course covers both sentential logic and predicate logic, with work equally divided between translating sentences into formal notation, and constructing formal proofs. Time permitting, we will consider the limits of deductive logic and consider some basic inductive logic. Requirements for this class include regular homework assignments, exams, and a final project.
PHIL 309A: TPS: ETHICS & ECONOMICS
Professor Jen Everett, 10:00 - 11:30 TR
In this course we will explore questions in metaethics, ethical theory, and/or social and political philosophy that bear on economic theory and analysis. Topics may include the ethical limits of the market; environmental and ecological economics; cost-benefit analysis in public policy; economic justice; and/or concepts such as rationality, happiness, well-being, and efficiency. Since we will focus on philosophical approaches to these topics, no prior background in economics is required. Familiarity with prevailing bodies of ethical theory is advised.
PHIL 340A: TPS: CLASSICAL POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Professor Jeremy Anderson, 2:20 - 3:50 MW
Government often appears to us as a demanding power, compelling us to cooperate by threatening to take our property, liberty, or lives. The main point of this course is to examine how, and how far, such demands can be justified, with special attention to the social contract tradition. We will begin by examining justifications of state power from authors such as Plato, Hobbes, Locke, and Rawls. We will then consider challenges to government authority from authors such as Jefferson, Thoreau, Spencer, Marx, Malcolm X, and King. Requirements will include written responses to readings, exams, papers, a presentation, and participation.
PHIL 351A: ADVANCED LOGIC
Professor Jeffrey Dunn, 2:50 - 3:50 MWF
This course extends the study of symbolic logic beyond what is covered in Phil 251 (and other introductory logic courses). We will start with a deeper investigation of sentential logic and predicate logic with a special focus on model theoretic semantics. This will allow us to construct metalogic proofs about these logical systems (for instance, soundness and completeness proofs). We will then investigate extensions of these logical systems. Topics will include identity, function signs, definite descriptions, generalized quantifiers, non-classical logics, modal logics, and counterfactuals. Requirements include regular homework assignments, exams, and a final paper. Prerequisite: successful completion of Phil 251 or permission of instructor.
PHIL 353A: METAPHYSICS
Professor Richard Cameron, 12:40 - 2:10 TR
Metaphysics is the philosophical study of what exists. We will “go beyond” physics in that if, e.g., physics employs the notion of a cause then we will ask what a cause is (something physics cannot answer). Our investigation will be critical, focused on arguments and reasons, and the topics will range over some of the most abstract questions ever asked: are there universals? Do we survive our deaths? Why is there something rather than nothing? Etc. We’ll also begin by asking why metaphysics matters, and end by discussing in more detail what it is.
PHIL 419A: JOHN RAWLS
Professor Claudia Mills, 2:20 - 3:50 TR (May also be taken as POLS 390D)
John Rawls (1921-2002) is arguably the greatest political philosopher of the twentieth century and indisputably the most influential. We’ll be reading portions of his landmark text, A Theory of Justice (1971), which offered both a novel account of the principles of political justice and a novel account of how those principles are justified. We will then read his almost equally momentous development, revision, and extension of the theory in Political Liberalism (1993), as well as The Law of Peoples (1999), in which Rawls lays out his vision of just interaction among nation states at the global level. We will also read selections from some of Rawls’s many critics, drawn from libertarianism (Nozick), communitarianism (Walzer and Sandel), and feminism (Susan Moller Okin), as well as others if time permits. Students will write two 8-10 papers as well as a longer final paper revised and expanded from one of the two previous papers. Requirements also include active class participation and occasional class presentations in this seminar-style course.