The Department is pleased to welcome three Visiting Professors to campus for the Spring 2005 term: Professor Howard McGary of Rutgers University, Professor Tom Rockmore of Duquesne University, and Dr. Ralph Schumacher, Humboldt Universität, Berlin, Germany.
Howard McGary
Professor of Philosophy
Rutgers University
Professor McGary's work offers a critique of liberal theories of distributive justice and an examination of the alleged connection between racial identification and moral and political theories. His publications include Race and Social Justice (Blackwell, 1999), Between Slavery and Freedom: Philosophy and American Slavery (with Bill E. Lawson, Indiana University Press, 1992), and Reparations for African Americans (edited, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, forthcoming). Professor McGary will teach:
2/422 Contemporary Ethical Theory, Mondays 2:40 - 5:30
This seminar will examine two things: (1) contemporary accounts of social justice and (2) the morality of the demand for reparations by African Americans. In order to have a fruitful discussion of the second issue we will begin with an evaluation of Robert Nozick's and John Rawls' celebrated accounts of distributive justice. Next, we will examine some pertinent criticism of these accounts of justice before we turn to a discussion of some recent work on the nature of compensatory justice, e.g., Jules Coleman, Phillip, Montague, George Sher, and J. .J. Thomson. Then we will explore several accounts of collective responsibility, e.g., Joel Feinberg, Virginia Held, Larry May, and Howard McGary. Finally, we will evaluate some recent arguments for and against reparations for African Americans, e.g., Bernard Boxill, J. Angelo Corlett, Robert Fullinwider, David Lyons, Howard McGary, and Jana Thompson.
Tom Rockmore
Professor of Philosophy
Duquesne University
Dr. Rockmore's current research interests encompass all of modern philosophy, with special emphasis on selected problems as well as figures in German idealism (Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Marx) and recent continental philosophy (Heidegger, Habermas, Lukacs). He is continuing to explore the epistemology of German idealism as well as the relation between philosophy and politics. His most recent work concerns a new theory of knowledge as intrinsically historical. His recent work includes Before and After Hegel: A Historical Introduction to Hegel's Thought (Hackett, 2003) and Marx After Marxism: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Karl Marx (Blackwell, 2002). Professor Rockmore will teach two courses:
2/479 Kant - The Critique of Pure Reason, Tuesday, 2:40 - 5:30
This is a seminar on Kant's first and arguably most important main work. The task will consist in reading as much of the book as closely as possible. The requirements include regular attendance, a term paper, preparation and participation in the discussion, and a possible seminar presentation. I intend to lecture as little as possible and to conduct the seminar as if we were co-equal partners trying to come to grips with the problems and theories in Kant (and post-Kantian thinkers). Stress will be placed not only on learning the positions but above all on thinking through the problems.
2/481 19th Century Philosophy: I ntroduction to German Idealism, Monday, 2:40 - 5:30
Nineteenth-century philosophy covers a number of disparate concepts, thinkers and movements. I will focus on German idealism, arguably one of the two riches moments in the history of philosophy. The course will focus on epistemological themes, including idealism, representationalism, constructivism, and system. My aim will be to show that the concern with the problem of knowledge does not stop with Kant but rather carries over into later idealist thinkers in a way that is still important to the contemporary debate. I will not presuppose any prior knowledge of any of these figures.
Readings from:
Kant, Prolegomena To Any Future Metaphysics, Hackett
Fichte, Science of Knowledge, Cambridge U. P.
Hegel, The Difference Between Fichte's and Schelling's System of Philosophy, SUNY.
Ralph Schumacher
Privatdozent
Humboldt Universität, Berlin, Germany
Dr. Schumacher has research interests in epistemology (especially with respect to questions regarding perception), the philosophy of mind, the history of modern philosophy, the philosophy of language, and metaphysics. He has also interests in American pragmatism, the philosophy of science, and aesthetics. His publications includes work on Kant, Mill, Peirce, perception, and intentionality. His book, Immaterialism and the Critique of Representationalism: Berkeleyan Themes in Epistemology and Philosohy of Mind, is forthcoming. Dr. Schumacher will teach:
0616 Themes in British Empiricism (Graduate Seminar), Tuesday, 2:40 - 5:30
This seminar focuses on central philosophical problems of the theories of Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Reid. The topics of this seminar are mainly divided into the following three areas: (1) epistemology and theory of perception, (2) philosophy of mind, (3) ontology. These issues will be addressed through the interpretation of classical historical texts as well as in the context of systematical reflections.
(1) The first part of the seminar concentrates on the following questions: What are the direct objects of sense perception - sensory ideas or real things? How is the immediate perception of sensory ideas supposed to explain our awareness of external objects? How can Locke, Berkeley and Reid account for the visual perception of spatial properties like distance and three-dimensional shape? What does it mean to perceive one quality by different senses? (Locke, Berkeley and Reid on the Molyneux Question) How can we get abstract truths from the perception of particulars?
(2) The second part addresses the following issues: How is mental intentionality explained by Descartes´ and Locke´s conceptions of ideas? How do Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Reid describe the nature of mental processes and the nature of concept-possession? How can we know whether other beings have mental states? And under which assumptions does the problem of other minds arise? (Descartes, Locke, Berkeley and Reid on the problem of other minds)
(3) The third part is about the following questions: What are the theoretical motives and the main reasons for Descartes´ and Locke´s distinctions between primary and secondary qualities? In which ways do Berkeley, Leibniz and Reid criticize this distinction? How does Hume justify his claim that we are not in a position to defend the view that our knowledge about causal relations refers to real relations between events? What constitutes the identity of persons? Are they constituted by spiritual substances (Locke, Berkeley) - or are they just loosely associated bundles of perceptions (Hume)?
Suggested reading:
Anita Avramides, Other Minds, Routledge, 2001 ( London and New York )
Michael Ayers, Locke: Epistemology and Ontology , Routledge, 1991 ( London and New York )
Jerry Fodor, Hume Variations , Clarendon Press, 2003 ( Oxford )
Margaret Wilson, Ideas and Mechanism: Essays on Early Modern Philosophy, Princeton University Press, 1999 ( Princeton ).