PHIL 501: Seminar:  Topics in History of Philosophy: Spinoza – Domenica Romagni

Spinoza is perhaps one of the most controversial figures in the history of European philosophy. Beginning with the expulsion from his Jewish community in Holland in 1656, Spinoza’s philosophy has earned him a steady stream of stern condemnations over the centuries, up through the present day. However, this is not to say that Spinoza’s work has not had any champions. On the contrary, he has inspired numerous philosophers (Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche, just to name a few), and has even served as a muse for a number of artists and political activists (a rare feat for a 17th century European philosopher). This course will examine some of the central features of Spinoza’s philosophy, from its metaphysical and epistemological underpinnings to his unconventional ethical and political views. Potential topics include his views on modality, the nature of God, the nature of the human mind, laws of nature, the organization of the state, freedom, the role of religion, and his unique conception of blessedness.

PHIL 547: Seminar in Metaethics – Beth Tropman

This seminar is a survey graduate course in metaethics.  Metaethics asks and tries to answer questions about ethics rather than questions within ethics.  Central metaethical questions that we will explore include the following.  Can moral claims be true or false, and if so, what makes them true?  If moral claims are neither true nor false, what is the function of moral discourse?  Is moral truth an objective matter, and if so, in what sense?  If there are moral facts, are they natural, and what does it mean to say that morality is natural?  How do we know about such moral facts?  How does alleged moral knowledge motivate us to act?  In this seminar, we will consider a range of possible responses to such questions, focusing especially on those answers offered by the metaethical theories of intuitionism, emotivism, error theory, Cornell moral realism, constructivism, quasi-realism, hybrid theories, and sensibility theory. This seminar will not presuppose a prior background in ethics, so students who have a remedial requirement in ethical theory are welcome to enroll.

PHIL 565: Environmental Philosophy: Theories of Environmental Value – Katie McShane

 What is valuable about the natural world, which things are valuable in it, and why? This course will trace the development of theories of environmental value from the beginnings of environmental ethics in the 1970s to the present day. We will first review some of the classic literature in the field, looking at different claims about what kind of value the natural world has and why. We will also look at debates about the differences between ethical and economic values, exploring attempts within economics to capture some kinds of ethical value. Finally, we will consider the most recent work on environmental value from two areas: the developing literature on relational value, and general critiques of value-centered approaches to environmental ethics.

PHIL 535:  Seminar in Metaphysics – Idris Samawi Hamid

Metaphysics, whose name derives from the first editors of Aristotle’s works, involves investigation into the overarching character of reality and its domains, with a view towards articulating what Aristotle called a science of wisdom. Traditional and contemporary Western metaphysics are dominated by the paradigm of ontology, i.e., fixed universes of discourse (= domains) examined via deductive reasoning (Parmenides and Avicenna are representative). Other approaches (such as dialectics and process) are largely ignored or neglected (Heraclitus and Hegel are representative). The paradigm of ontology appears to be inconsistent with the development of a science of wisdom, one of Aristotle’s explicit goals for metaphysics. We will consider a contemporary alternative to ontology: objective logic. Objective logic provides a paradigm for discussing how various domains of the world (such as the physical and the biological) are interconnected, and how to rigorously transform the structure of one domain of reality into that of another. For example, can we overcome the acclaimed bifurcation of mental reality and physical reality by considering the mutual transformations of structure between these two domains? Traditional meta- physical topics to be considered include the contrasts being and becoming, knowing and learning, as well as divinity and natural development. Metaphysicians discussed include Aristotle, Hegel, al-Aḥsāʾī, and Collingwood.

PHIL 501: Topics in History of Philosophy: Two Pragmatists, with Pragmatism on the Side (Kasser)

In 1898, William James first used “pragmatism” in public. He used the term to refer to ideas he had learned from C.S. Peirce in the 1870s. Peirce and James have been the inaugural pragmatists ever since. This seminar will provide a selective survey of the work of each thinker, but it will consider them as philosophers, not just as pragmatists. Their similarities and differences as pragmatists fascinate, but so do their approaches to Darwin, to science more generally, to the mind and the brain, to religion, to ethics, and especially to philosophy itself. Peirce admired the “complete absence of self-conceit on the part of the [scholastic] philosopher. That anything of value can be added to his sacred and catholic work by its having the smack of individuality about it, is what he has never conceived.” For James, on the other hand, “the one thing that has COUNTED so far in philosophy is that a man should see things, see them straight in his own peculiar way, and be dissatisfied with any opposite way of seeing them.”

PHIL 566: Seminar in Applied Philosophy- Vulnerability, Flourishing, and Environmental Change (Shockley)

In this seminar we will explore the concept of vulnerability with a particular focus on how the concept of vulnerability intersects with conceptions of flourishing and environmental value. From the vulnerability of one friend to another, to the vulnerability of the fisher to changes in the fishery, to the vulnerability of our political system, vulnerability provides a lens through which we can see a range of normative concerns. Yet the normative significance of vulnerability is complicated. In some contexts, vulnerability threatens individual flourishing; in others, including friendship, vulnerability may make flourishing possible. Climate change has exacerbated human vulnerability to the environment, it is often said; but features of the environment may be vulnerable to humans as well. But what is vulnerability, really? Over the term we will attempt to answer this question, and consider the interrelations between vulnerability, human flourishing, and the environment.

PHIL 567: Seminar in Social and Political Philosophy- Virtue & Law (Harris)

What is the relationship between law and the development of virtue? How might political systems be arranged so as to be conducive to virtue (and should they)? How do virtuous people think about their legal obligations in inevitably non-ideal states? These questions are central to debates in early Chinese ethical and political philosophy. The goal of this course is to give students an introduction to these discussions in their historical context, and to encourage them to consider how the ideas of early Chinese philosophers may be more broadly relevant in the vastly different context of our contemporary world.

PHIL 581A3: Logic and Paradoxes (Tucker)

This course works through in detail all but one chapter of an excellent book: On the Brink of Paradox, by Agustín Rayo. It covers theorems from the intersection of logic, mathematics, and philosophy, and the surprising and sometimes paradoxical results they lead to. Topics include Cantorian set theory, infinite sets, large cardinals, infinite sequences, decision theory, probability theory, measure theory, the Banach-Tarski theorem, computability theory, and Gödel's incompleteness theorems.

Phil 501: Seminar: Topics in the History of Philosophy: Plato’s Republic (Archie)

The central question when reading Plato’s Republic is: How should we read Plato’s dialogues? How we read them has much to do with what we suppose philosophy is. Each new philosophical approach gives us a different Plato, but my operating assumption is that we can be guided by the dialogues themselves in determining how they should be read.  We should begin by recognizing that Plato writes dialogues rather than treatises. So he does not just announce his positions. We should also notice that Plato is not a direct participant in the dialogues. We should also notice that the dialogues don't have heavyweights conversing. That is, the dialogues do not present us major philosophers in discussion. Rather there is a big-time philosopher in discussion with lesser figures. So the dialogues are not like a philosophy conference or highly professional interchange but a pedagogical interaction. Some immediate conclusions about the dialogues or possibilities for them that these considerations may suggest to us: 1. They avoid saying anything definite, and they try out different positions. He often hedges or takes back. (There may be some political and epistemological necessity for the dialogue form.) 2. Questioning has no closure. Education must be ever upward. 3. Philosophy takes its rise from ordinary conversation. We may say as well, in Aristotle's terminology, that dialectic begins from the endoxa. In exploring topics the dialogues suggest that we begin from ordinary views and seek to refine them. 4. The dialogues allow us to put philosophical views in connection with various characters that might hold them. Doctrines thus come into connection with the lives and characters of those who might hold them. 5. The dialogue confronts us with multiple perspectives. There are the perspectives of the various speakers, of various listeners to the conversation, and of the reader of the dialogue. The goal of this seminar is to help you become sophisticated or adequate readers of Plato's Republic. A way of doing this is to have us take very seriously the content of the dialogue. The content is the conversation and argumentation that occurs within it. My goal for the seminar is to work through the entire Republic, with added emphasis on the relationship between political philosophy and the epistemological books.

Phil 538: Seminar in Philosophy of Mind: Bodies, Minds, Worlds (MacKenzie)

This seminar will investigate the complex interactions of bodies, minds, and worlds. We’ll begin by engaging the influential Indian Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu and his attempts to get beneath or undercut the duality of mind and world. We’ll then bring into the dialogue pragmatist, phenomenological, and cognitive scientific approaches that understand mindedness in terms of embodied subjects in on-going transaction with their worlds.

Phil 548: Seminar in Normative Ethical Theory: Equality (McShane)

Many political and ethical theories claim that all people ought to be treated as equals. But what kind of kind of equality are people entitled to, and why are they entitled to it? This seminar will focus on recent work in normative ethical theory about the grounds for equality claims: the sense in which people are – or ought to be treated as – equals and the kind of equality of treatment that they deserve.

Phil 566: Seminar in Applied Philosophy: Philosophy of Medicine (Gorin)

The philosophy of medicine explores and interrogates metaphysical and epistemological issues at the intersection of biomedical research and clinical practice. This seminar will focus on some central problems in the field, such as the nature of health and disease, controversies around certain disease categories (e.g., some mental health diagnoses), and the way clinical evidence is gathered and assessed.

PHIL 501: Topics in History of Philosophy – Descartes (Romagni)

This seminar focused on Descartes. The structure of the seminar followed Descartes' tree analogy of the structure of philosophical inquiry from his Principles of Philosophy. We began by discussing his views on philosophical methodology and then turned to the 'roots' of the tree: foundational metaphysics and epistemology. Following this, we looked at the 'trunk': his physics. Finally, we turned to the 'branches', which Descartes thinks of as the special sciences. This final portion emphasized Descartes' views on psychology and ethics, in particular.

PHIL 527: Seminar in Philosophy of Science (Rice)

This course will focus on the social structures that influence the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge, explanations, and understanding via idealized models. In particular, we will examine the ways that scientific communities that make use of multiple conflicting idealized models/theories and include scientists with diverse sets of values might be better able to accomplish these epistemic aims of science. We will start by looking at the challenges of drawing reliable inferences from multiple highly idealized scientific representations. We will then turn to the social structures and values that influence the construction of scientific models and the inferences drawn from them. Finally, we will look at the place of scientific knowledge, explanation and understanding in democratic societies and methods for effectively communicating the messy and difficult business of doing science to the public and policymakers.

PHIL 535: Seminar in Metaphysics (Hamid)

What is the nature of reality, consciousness, and value (i.e., goodness) in the cosmos? How do personal consciousness and action interact with cosmic reality? Put another way: What is truth? Metaphysics involves the struggle to discover and to articulate, in an intelligible and coherent manner, a system of general principles that governs the development of reality, consciousness, and value; and reveals their classification in relation to the general forms of human experience.

What does it mean to be human? What are the fundamental forms of human experience, of consciousness and action? Metaphysics studies the movement of consciousness within each level of experience, and the transcendence of consciousness from each lower level to the higher. Metaphysics seeks a common roadmap through which each person may objectively seek answers to the above and related questions, with a view to thereby contextualize and guide one’s actions in the world at large.

How is metaphysics related to my field of study? How is it related to my future research or career? Metaphysics is relevant to virtually every domain of human inquiry. This includes the liberal arts, the sciences, and business. The enterprise of metaphysics aims to articulate a science of wisdom that ties together the foundations of the various domains and paths of scientific and other human inquiry. In the words of Erwin Schrödinger, the famous scientist: The isolated knowledge obtained by a group of specialists in a narrow field has in itself no value whatsoever, but only in its synthesis with all the rest of knowledge and only inasmuch as it really contributes in this synthesis toward answering the demand: Who are we?

This seminar will work primarily, but not exclusively, within the Western tradition of metaphysical investigation that begins with Heraclitus, Plato, and Aristotle, and which reaches its pinnacle in the systems of Hegel and Whitehead. Consideration will also be given to some global traditions of metaphysics (e.g., Chinese and Islamic).

PHIL 547: Seminar in Meta-Ethics (Tropman)

This Seminar is a survey graduate course in metaethics.  Metaethics asks and tries to answer questions about ethics rather than questions within ethics.  Central metaethical questions that we will explore include the following.  Can moral claims be true or false, and if so, what makes them true?  If moral claims are neither true nor false, what is the function of moral discourse?  Is moral truth an objective matter, and if so, in what sense?  If there are moral facts, are they natural?  How do we know about such moral facts?  In this seminar, we will consider a range of possible responses to such questions, focusing especially on those answers offered by the metaethical theories of intuitionism, emotivism, error theory, Cornell moral realism, constructivism, quasi-realism, hybrid theories, and sensibility theory.  Students taking the 447 ethical theory course as a remedial are welcome to enroll, as metaethics is supposed to proceed independently of normative ethical theory, and the seminar does not presuppose prior knowledge.

PHIL 525: Seminar in Epistemology (Kasser)

Following the lead of Jane Friedman, epistemologists have (very) recently been exploring the relationships between epistemic norms (those concerned with knowledge, understanding, and justification) on the one hand and zetetic norms (those concerned with inquiry) on the other. Inquiries sometimes place demands on us that prevent us from pursuing or obtaining epistemic goods unrelated to those inquiries. This seminar will consider typical positions in contemporary epistemology (e.g. evidentialism), develop zetetic alternatives thereto, and wrestle with the tensions that arise. Should zetetic norms be seen as epistemic, practical, or both? Should epistemology be reconfigured along zetetic lines? As Friedman suggests, epistemology has historically been construed more expansively than it is these days, so we will also look historical figures (e.g. Sextus Empiricus, Bacon, Peirce, and Dewey) for whom the epistemic and the zetetic are especially closely intertwined.

PHIL 535 Seminar in Metaphysics / PHIL 581A3: Logic and Paradoxes (Tucker)

This course works through in detail all but one chapter of an excellent book: On the Brink of Paradox, by Agustín Rayo. It covers theorems from the intersection of logic, mathematics, and philosophy, and the surprising and sometimes paradoxical results they lead to. Topics include Cantorian set theory, infinite sets, large cardinals, infinite sequences, decision theory, probability theory, measure theory, the Banach-Tarski theorem, computability theory, and Gödel's incompleteness theorems.

PHIL 565: Seminar in Environmental Philosophy: Environmental Harm (Shockley)

The idea that we can harm the environment is intuitively clear. But do the typical notions of harm and benefit, common to human morality, apply whatever it is we refer to as “the environment”? In this seminar we will look at different ways in which the idea of harm might be applicable to features of the nonhuman environment. In addressing these concerns, we will need to consider not only traditional and alternative notions of harm, but also questions about the nature of the nonhuman environment. This course will work through basic literature on environmental values, on philosophical conceptions of harm, and on efforts to make sense of environmental harm. Participants will be expected to lead one or two sessions of the course, to present their work and review the work of others, and to be actively engaged in the course throughout the term.

PHIL 548 Seminar in Normative Ethical Theory: Ethical Theories and Their Applications (Cafaro)

Some of the most interesting recent work in philosophical ethics falls under the heading of virtue ethics. This seminar will explore recent work in virtue theory and various applications of virtue theory to development ethics, environmental ethics, and other areas in applied ethics. It will also look at recent work in “positive psychology,” which seeks to specify an objective science of human well-being and character development, asking how this empirical work complements philosophical virtue ethics. Along the way, we will consider criticisms of virtue ethics, such as the situationist and egalitarian critiques, and the relationship of virtue ethics to the other dominant theoretical approaches within ethics, utilitarianism and deontology, and to anti-theoretical methodologies, such as narrative approaches to ethics.

PHIL 500 Seminar in Major Philosophical Texts (Archie)

This seminar will offer an in-depth analysis of primary texts in ancient Greek philosophy. The most recent topics covered have been Plato's Republic, Plato's Middle Dialogues and Aristotle's Politics. Although the seminar revolves around Plato and Aristotle, its focus also takes into account developments outside of the classical period.

PHIL 535 Seminar in Metaphysics: Freewill (Gorin)

Do human beings have free will? Is the existence of free will compatible with a deterministic universe, that is, a universe in which every event (or every macro-level event)—including human choices and actions—is determined by the state of the universe at an earlier time and the laws of nature? What kind of freedom must we have in order for us to be the kind of beings we seem to ourselves to be, that is, agents whose actions are in some fundamental sense “up to us,” such that we are morally responsible for our choices and actions? If it turns out that we lack the sort of free will required for moral responsibility, what should we say about our practices of praising, blaming, rewarding, and punishing? Have developments in neuroscience shown free will to be an illusion?

This seminar will explore these questions, among others. Though we briefly will cover some figures from the history of philosophy, we will focus most of our attention on work done over the last century, up to and including recently published work.

PHIL 565 Seminar in Environmental Philosophy: Citizenship and Community in Environmental Ethics (McShane)

Aldo Leopold famously said that people should think of themselves as “plain members and citizens” of the biotic community. But what would that amount to? Is it possible to extend the ideas of citizenship and community beyond humanity? This seminar will explore ideas of citizenship and community in light of two related questions (1) What legitimate constraints are there on who or what can count as a citizen or a community member? and (2) Will the rapidly shifting composition of communities (both human and nonhuman) caused by climate change diminish the usefulness of the idea of citizenship or community in determining rights and obligations? To answer these questions, we will bring together discussions from holist environmental ethics, animal rights, and political philosophy. Our readings will include J. Baird Callicott and Aldo Leopold on the ethical importance of ecological communities, Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka on extending citizenship to nonhuman animals, and Michael Blake on problems of justice in migration policy.

PHIL 566 Seminar in Applied Philosophy: Comparative Political Philosophy (Harris)

This course looks at various forms of the Western Liberal tradition and challenges posed to it by various forms of Confucianism, Mohism,& Legalism. In particular, we look at the relationship between human nature and political theories.

PHIL 501 Seminar Topics in the History of Philosophy: Explanation in Early Modern Natural Philosophy (Romagni)

This course will focus on standards for natural philosophical explanation in the 17th century. We will discuss issues such as the 'mathematization' of nature, the role of experiment, the rise of various mechanistic frameworks, the proliferation of new tools for generating and assessing explanation, and the extent to which the conception of explanation in this period changed relative to earlier centuries. We will look at works by Descartes, Galileo, Mersenne, and Kepler, among others.

PHIL 535: Seminar in Metaphysics (Hamid)

What is the nature of reality, consciousness, and value (i.e., goodness) in the cosmos?

How do personal consciousness and action interact with cosmic reality? Put another way: What is truth? Metaphysics involves the struggle to discover and to articulate, in an intelligible and coherent manner, a system of general principles that governs the development of reality, consciousness, and value; and reveals their classification in relation to the general forms of human experience.

What does it mean to be human? What are the fundamental forms of human experience, of consciousness and action? Metaphysics studies the movement of consciousness within each level of experience, and the transcendence of consciousness from each lower level to the higher. Metaphysics seeks a common roadmap through which each person may objectively seek answers to the above and related questions, with a view to thereby contextualize and guide one’s actions in the world at large.

How is metaphysics related to my field of study? How is it related to my future research or career? Metaphysics is relevant to virtually every domain of human inquiry. This includes the liberal arts, the sciences, and business. The enterprise of metaphysics aims to articulate a science of wisdom that ties together the foundations of the various domains and paths of scientific and other human inquiry. In the words of Erwin Schrödinger, the famous scientist:

The isolated knowledge obtained by a group of specialists in a narrow field has in itself no value whatsoever, but only in its synthesis with all the rest of knowledge and only inasmuch as it really contributes in this synthesis toward answering the demand: Who are we?

This seminar will work primarily, but not exclusively, within the Western tradition of metaphysical investigation that begins with Heraclitus, Plato, and Aristotle, and which reaches its pinnacle in the systems of Hegel and Whitehead. Consideration will also be given to some global traditions of metaphysics (e.g., Chinese and Islamic).

Metaphysics 535 has no prerequisites and is open to all CSU Graduate students. No previous familiarity with philosophy is assumed. It is also open to advanced or senior undergraduates – with permission of the instructor.

PHIL 547 Seminar in Metaethics (Tropman)

This seminar is a survey graduate course in metaethics. Metaethics asks and tries to answer questions about ethics rather than questions within ethics. Central metaethical questions that we will explore include the following. Can moral claims be true or false, and if so, what makes them true? If moral claims are neither true nor false, what is the function of moral discourse? Is moral truth an objective matter, and if so, in what sense? If there are moral facts, are they natural, and what does it mean to say that morality is natural? How do we know about such moral facts? How does alleged moral knowledge motivate us to act? In this seminar, we will consider a range of possible responses to such questions, focusing especially on those answers offered by the metaethical theories of intuitionism, emotivism, error theory, Cornell moral realism, moral internalism, moral externalism, constructivism, quasi-realism, hybrid theories, and sensibility theory.

PHIL 548 Seminar in Normative Ethical Theory: Ethical Theories and Their Applications (Cafaro)

Consequentialism, deontology, contractarianism and virtue ethics are currently the dominant approaches within philosophical ethics. This seminar will explore debates within and between these theoretical approaches, as well as some of their more influential recent applications. We will also consider anti-theoretical methodologies, such as narrative approaches to ethics. Our goal is a comprehensive and accurate view of the tools available to contemporary ethicists, including their strengths and weaknesses and how different approaches may complement each other. This seminar should prove particularly useful to students considering writing masters theses in ethics or political philosophy, as they plan how best to investigate the particular issues in which they are interested.