Temple University, Department of Philosophy
Course Descriptions Fall 2007
3000/4000 courses
2154 /5210 Political Philos /Special Topics Gould
This course addresses key contemporary issues concerning the nature and justification of democracy. It begins by considering the arguments for conceiving democracy as pluralist or participatory and then takes up leading critiques that challenge these approaches along with current democratic practice from the standpoints of postmodernism, discourse theory, and the norm of inclusiveness. The course proceeds to consider a set of philosophical issues: whether democracy is justified in terms of ideal procedures or because of the connection of democratic deliberation to good or just outcomes; the appropriate role of constitutions and judicial review within democracies; and the connection of democracy to equality and to markets. The course concludes with new questions posed by globalization and considers whether there is a role for transnational forms of democracy in the contemporary period.
3226 Classics in Moral Philos Smuts
The goal of this course is to introduce students to major classical works in moral philosophy. Rather than focus on classical works exclusively, we will engage with classical texts by figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and Mill by reading primary sources and contemporary articles engaged with the problems presented in the
classical text. Our aim is to understand the historical roots of the major issues discussed in contemporary ethical theory. Students will gain an understanding of utilitarian, deontological, and virtue-based normative ethical theories. In addition, moving beyond the traditional scope of similar courses, we will explore issues in meta-ethics, axiology, and moral psychology. Questions that will be addressed include: What makes an action morally right? Why should I be moral? Can morality be grounded in religion? Do moral claims state facts and if so can they be true? What constitutes a good life?
3243 Philos of Law Crowe
This course is an advanced introduction to the philosophy of law. We will begin with two fundamental questions: What is the nature of our obligation to obey the law? What is it to be a society governed by the rule of law? Underlying these we will find the more basic philosophical question: What is law and how can it be distinguished from other social practices directed at ordering and improving society? We will look at some of the major schools of thought on this question, including natural law, positivism, legal realism and critical legal studies. From there we will move on to a series of problems surrounding Anglo-American conceptions of legal liability, both in civil and criminal law. Finally we will consider the nature of legal reasoning and interpretation with special attention to the problems of constitutional interpretation.
3249 Ethics in Medicine Harris
This course is an upper-level introduction to the field of biomedical ethics. We will begin by examining relevant ethical theories (Kantian, virtue ethics and ethics of care). This will be followed by applying such theories to particular debates in biomedical ethics, including issues in research ethics, justice in healthcare, informed consent, reproductive rights, end of life decision making, and reproductive and genetic technologies (eg, cloning). This course emphasizes the integration of conceptual and participatory learning. This philosophy will be reflected in the course design and throughout all phases of the teaching and learning processes.
4273 Greek Philosophy Wolfsdorf
This course will focus on Greek theories of perception, from the Presocratics to Aristotle. Texts will include passages from Plato's Theaetetus, Sophist, Timaeus, Aristotle's De Anima, De Sensibus, and Theophrastus' De Sensibus. Note that students who have not taken PH161 will not be permitted to enroll.
4000/5000 Courses
We will go through the soundness and completeness proofs for a first-order deductive system (i.e., the kind used in intro logic). The main goal of the course will be to acquaint the students with these formal results, but we'll also try to spend a little time on some philosophical issues (e.g., what, if anything, does logic have to do with reasoning).
3216/5216 Philos of Science Solomon
This course is an introduction to contemporary issues in philosophy of science. It asks questions such as: What is the role of observation and experiment in scientific method? Is there a scientific method (or many methods, or no method)? Does the social context of science affect the presumed “objectivity” of science? Since scientists have often been wrong, do we have any reason to think that our current theories are true (as opposed to temporarily useful)? The course is of special interest to science majors, science graduate students (including the social sciences) and philosophy majors and graduate students.
3232/5232 History of Aesthetics Margolis
The plan for the course is to select a number of interesting figures to read in some depth, figures from different periods but worthwhile and influential in their own right, possibly both from earlier history and contemporary.
4244/5244 Philos of Mind Vision
The course will cover a series of central topics in the Philosophy of Mind. Typical of these are the nature of mental states and minds, mental content and meaning, consciousness, conceptions of the self or persons, mental causation, mental concepts (e.g., belief, want) and their status, the relation of mental to brain states, and free
will. No text has been chosen, but it is likely we will have one general text and an anthology. In addition to various exams, students will be expected to write a term paper on a topic of their own choosing (within the limits of what we are studying).
4253/5253 Philos of History Dyke
The course has two parts. In the first half we trace the Western master narrative from Augustine to Kant and Hegel. In the second half, we think about the kinds, forms, strategies, etc. of historical explanation in a more contemporary context.
4276/5276 Contemporary Continental Philos Gjesdal
The aim of this course is to offer an overview of Husserl and Heidegger’s phenomenology, as well as the reception of phenomenology within the Analytic and Continental traditions alike. We will start out with a close study of Husserl’s Cartesian Meditations (1929), look at Heidegger’s criticism of Husserl, and his own phenomenological alternative as articulated in Being and Time.
Graduate Only Courses
8701 Seminar in Aesthetics Carroll
This course will review a series of current debates in aesthetics including the nature of art, and of aesthetic experience as well as recent discussions concerning the relation of art, the emotions, and morality. Classroom presentations and a term paper required.
8721 Seminar in Soc.& Pol. Philosophy Taylor
This course will focus on pragmatic approaches to political morality. We will likely read Jeff Stout's book, Democracy and Tradition, Cheryl Misak's Truth, Politics, Morality, Eddie Glaude's In a Shade of Blue, Robert Talisse's Democracy after Liberalism, and pieces by Beth Singer, Amy Gutmann, Cornel West, Charles Sanders Peirce, and John Dewey.