1100E - Philosophy from Antiquity to the 20th Century (Ducharme) Summer Evening A study of selected works by great philosophers from the Pre-Socratic philosophers to the Twentieth Century. Stress will be laid on the systematic unity of the thought of individual philosophers and their schools, and on how the history of Western philosophy has shaped present day thought. It is sometimes said that the phrase “business ethics” is an oxymoron. In this course we will attempt to dispel this popular conception. By working our way through many of the moral issues to which the practice of business gives rise, we will show that the interests of business people and moral philosophers converge. Topics include: What is the nature of moral reasoning? Do corporations have social responsibilities? What social responsibilities do corporations have when operating in the global context? Are there universal ethical principles which can guide the conduct of multinational corporations? Do international sweatshops violate human rights? What are the rights of employees in the workplace? Do employees have the right to due process? Is affirmative action morally justfiable? Is business bluffing ethical? When is advertising ethically questionable? How much information about a product is a corporation morally obligated to disclose to consumers, and how and to whom should this information be disclosed? Can the free market be justified? What is the appropiate level of taxation? What constitutes a just distributionof the goods and services produced by society? This is a 'big-picture' course, which endeavours to give a sense of the broad intellectual terrain surrounding such fundamental issues as religion, science, morality, political justice, and the nature of the cosmos and humanity's place in it. The aim is to help students to find their bearings in the welter of debates about these subjects that surround us. Among the particular matters arising will be religion and the existence of God, the nature of the mind or soul, artificial intelligence, personal identity, free will and determinism, problems in scientific reasoning, moral relativism, human rights, feminism, gender and sexuality, theories of justice, the nature of science, and the meaning of life. Lectures and tutorials will focus on short readings both classical and contemporary, as well as on film and other media. The course is intended for – though not restricted to – students with no prior exposure to philosophy. Instructors: J. Thorp Instructors: S. Brennan and C. Smeenk Instructor: Morgan Tait An introduction to some of the great thinkers and great ideas which have helped to shape the course of Western civilisation and Western philosophical thought. A broad range of ideas from within the Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics, Ethics, Existentialism, and the Philosophy of Science will be covered. instructor: Michael Cuffaro Instructor: J. Sullivan An introduction to basic principles of reasoning and critical thinking designed to enhance the student's ability to evaluate various forms of reasoning as found in everyday life as well as in academic disciplines. The course will deal with such topics as inductive and deductive reasoning, the nature and function of definitions, types of fallacies, the use and misuse of statistics, and the rudiments of logic. Primarily for first-year students. Instructor: Aaron Barth This course develops students' ability to approach contemporary philosophical questions by seeing them from various points of view. In doing so, students may challenge and/or refine their own views after respecting a broad range of arguments. A number of questions will be considered including (but not limited to): Do we have a duty to contribute to famine relief? Is euthanasia morally permissible? Do non-human animals have rights? Do persons have a special duty to their parents? Should “hate crimes” have a special legal status? Instructor: Arthur Yates This course develops students' ability to approach disputed questions by seeing them from both sides, so that they reach their own view only after respecting a broad range of argument. Six questions will be considered, including human (over) population, the public funding of art, and the limits of religious freedom. Instructor: D. Proessel Instructor: R. Moir Instructor: E. Doyle Instructor: A. Manafu Instructor: E. Curiel An introduction to several of the main issues in environmental ethics. Sample topics include: the value of nature, the moral status of non-human animals, the possibility of environmentally sustainable economic systems, and the question of how we should respond to the threat of climate change. Instructor: M. Borgida Instructor: G. Barker Instructor: N. Fawcett Instructor: E. Rossiter Instructor: R. MacIntosh Course Outline Instructors: R. Brandt and M. Winsby Instructor: K. Okruhlik Instructor: B. Lawson Instructor: N. McGinnis Instructor: M. Graham Instructor: C. Shirreff Ethical analysis of issues arising in contemporary business life. Sample topics: ethical codes in business; fair and unfair competition, advertising and consumer needs and wants; responsibilities to investors, employees and society; conflicts of interest and obligation; business and the regulatory environment. Instructor: D. Proessel Instructor: T. Bieber Instructor: D. Proessel Instructor: S. Hebert Instructor: L. Pelot An investigation of ways that contemporary philosophers deal with concepts of sex, gender and sexuality, addressing such issues as the regulation and production of normative sexuality, the question of essentialism, the construction and disciplining of the gendered body, and the effects of media on gender and sexual identity. Instructor: J. Epp A study of some main problems in legal philosophy. Emphasis is given to actual law, e.g. criminal law and contracts, as a background to questions of law's nature. Specimen topics: police powers in Canada, contractual obligation, insanity defence, judicial reasoning and discretion, civil liberties, legal responsibility, natural law and legal positivism. Instructor: J. Hildebrand Instructor: J. Hildebrand A study of contemporary philosophical discussions of terrorism, including different perspectives on the question of whether terrorism is morally justifiable. Related issues such as just war and civil disobedience will also be touched upon. Instructor: B. Cameron Instructor: R. Middleton Instructor: J. Bell Instructor: E. Curiel A critical examination of key works of Greek philosophers with major emphasis on Plato and Aristotle. Instructor: J. Ponesse Instructor: C. Dyck A critical examination of key works of selected figures of the 17th and 18th centuries. Instructor: L. Falkenstein A study of sentential and predicate logic designed to train students to use procedures and systems for determining logical properties and relations, and to give students an understanding of the relevant metatheoretical concepts. Instructor: L. Falkenstein Instructor: J. Bell Instructor: R. DiSalle Instructor: R. DiSalle Instructor: K. Okruhlik Instructor: A. Shriver What are emotions? How many emotions are there? Are there emotions that are universal across cultures? How do emotions differ from beliefs and other mental states and how should we study them? These and other questions will be addressed using a variety of readings ranging from contemporary analytic and feminist philosophy to modern neurobiology, psychology, and linguistics. Instructor: L. Charland Instructor: G. Barker Instructor: K. Chung Epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief and is concerned with questions such as the following: What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for knowledge? What are its sources? What is its structure, and what are its limits? How are we to understand the concept of justification? What makes justified beliefs justified? Is justification internal to one’s own mind, or external to it? We will discuss answers to some of these questions at an introductory level. In addition, we will discuss in more detail recent arguments regarding the claim that knowledge is “socially constructed.” Instructor: K. Chung This course focuses on challenges to subject/object and mind/body dualisms taking into account the relationship between thought, meaning, truth and the ways that the world appears to us. We consider questions such as: How does the world become meaningful to me in my everyday life? What is freedom? To what extent am I responsible for my own life and the life of others? What does it mean to be ethically responsible in a secular society? And finally who is the other and how is otherness shaped by race and sex? Instructor: D. Proessel Instructor: K. Paxman Course Outline (TBA) Instructor: M. Milde Critical study of the nature and justification of ethical and value judgements, with an analysis of key concepts and a survey of the main contemporary theories. Instructor: R. Robb Instructor: L. Kantymir Professionals have special rights and duties that attach to their professional roles. This course will focus on the special ethical obligations that professionals have to themselves, to their clients, to their employers, to third parties, to their professions, and to society at large. Instructor: C. McLeod Instructor: R. Robb This course considers fundamental questions regarding individual and societal obligations in two concurrent ways. First, students will examine classical and contemporary philosophical readings on moral obligations and the application of our moral obligations to practical issues. Second, each student will engage in a community-based learning project that aims to ground consideration of those moral issues in particular contexts. Instructor: R. Robb Instructor: D. Klimchuk Instructor: A. White Instructor: D. Klimchuk This course is an intermediate introduction to the principal ideas of Plato, through a reading of some his most famous dialogues. It will cover some basic themes: the philosophic life, the nature of the soul, the theory of Forms, political theory, epistemology, and foundations of philosophical logic. The syllabus will include the following works: Apology, Phaedo, Crito, Euthyphro, Symposium, Republic (parts), Theaetetus, Sophist. Instructor: J. Thorp Instructor: D. Henry Instructor: R. DiSalle Instructor: B. Hill This course will provide a detailed investigation of the context, arguments, and significance of Kant’s most famous text in ethics, the Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. Instructor: C. Dyck Instructor: D. Klimchuk Course Outline (TBA) Instructor: J. Bell Issues and theories in recent philosophy of language. Topics include: the contrast between “meaning as use” and formalist accounts of meaning; reference and descriptions; and skeptical worries about meaning theories. Authors include: Austin, Frege, Grice, Kripke, Quine, Russell, Searle, Strawson and Wittgenstein. Instructor: R. Stainton Instructor: W. Myrvold Course Outline (TBA) Philosophy of biology investigates the conceptual underpinnings of biology and questions concerning the relationship between work in biology and broader philosophical issues about knowledge, ethics, and reality. This course introduces students to philosophical method, and explores philosophical aspects of evolutionary biology, genetics, ecology, evolutionary psychology and ethical issues in biology Instructor: G. Barker Instructor: A. Mendelovici The first third of the course is an introduction to the broad conceptual issues that arise in cognitive science: What is the nature of information? What is the right level of analysis to study the mind? The remaining two thirds of the course looks at current debates in cognitive science. Topics include the modularity of the mind, the innateness of language, the reducibility of consciousness, the aim and accuracy of perception, and the bounds on human rationality. Instructor: C. Viger Instructor: S. Chow Course Outline (TBA) Drawing on the French and German 20th Century tradition of philosophy, this course will focus on philosophy as interrogation, as a way of questioning the world in terms of the ways in which things, people and relations come into appearance. Drawing on texts by Hannah Arendt, Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, we will question what it means to act, to dwell, and to encounter others. Instructor: H. Fielding Instructor: A. Bottterell Moral philosophers engaged in normative ethics seek to articulate and justify systems of normative standards—of action or of character—to guide our moral life. This course is an advanced study of normative ethical theories, such as utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue theories. Instructor: P. Clipsham Instructor: J. Sullivan This series of twelve seminars will study the fragmentary remains of the principal Presocratic Philosophers: the Milesians, Xenophanes, Heraclitus, the Pythagoreans, Parmenides, Zeno & Melissus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, the Atomists, and the Sophists (two seminars). These are the thinkers who, in ancient Greek culture, took a new turn in the human intellectual adventure, and were the background to the towering accomplishments of Plato and Aristotle. Instructor: J. Thorp Instructor: J. Miller Instructor: J. Miller Course Outline (TBA) In this seminar, we will consider the neglected rationalist thinkers of 18th century Germany, including Wolff, Baumgarten, Crusius, Knutzen, Lambert, and the pre-Critical Kant. We will begin with a consideration of key Leibnizian texts which outline some of the epistemological and metaphysical claims that would constitute the starting-point for thinkers in this tradition. After Leibniz, we will look at the various debates in the period, including those concerning the proper method for philosophy; the nature of physical substance; the correct system for accounting for the agreement between soul and body; the nature and justification for the principle of sufficient reason and the limits, if any, to its use; and the immateriality of the soul. Instructor: C. Dyck Instructor: C. Dyck The themes of this special topics course are the metaphysical and methodological foundations of theoretical linguistics. It is sub-divided thematically into two parts: what kind of thing theoretical (and especially generative) linguistics is about (i.e., the place of physical, mental and abstract entities therein); and the proper evidence-base for theoretical linguistics. Of interest to undergraduate and graduate students in both the linguistics and philosophy programs, it is important to stress that the course addresses philosophical/foundational topics rather than empirical ones. While familiarity with at least one is essential, the course will not presuppose detailed knowledge of either discipline. Instructor: R. Stainton Instructor: G. Barker Course Outline (TBA) Insructor: A. Mendelovici A study of various systems of modal logic, including alethic, deontic, and tense logic together with an investigation of the challenges and philosophical problems posed by quantified modal logic. Proof theory, trees, and semantics for all these systems. Soundness and completeness proofs. Modal description theory and notation for de re/de dicto distinctions. Classes will be devoted to exercises from James Garson, Modal Logic for Philosophers, (Cambridge: 2006) chs. 1-8 and 12-14, and 17-18. Instructor: L. Falkenstein Instructor: J. Thorp Teaching Assistants: Baumiller, Bieber, Monner, Peric, Peterson, Rossiter, Richards, Sidlar This is a 'big-picture' course, which endeavours to give a sense of the broad intellectual terrain surrounding such fundamental issues as justice, morality, identity, freedom, religion, knowledge & truth. The aim is to help students to find their bearings in the welter of debates about these questions, and their offshoots, that surround us. Among the particular subjects covered will be human rights, feminism, religion and secularism, civil disobedience, homosexuality, moral evolution, relativism, freedom, minds and brains, artificial intelligence, personal and social identity, the nature of science, idealism, and religious faith. Lectures and tutorials will focus on short readings both classical and contemporary, as well as on film and other media. The course is intended for – though not restricted to – students with no prior exposure to philosophy. Instructors: A. Skelton (Fall) & C. Smeenk (Winter) Teaching Assistants: Brandt, Kapusta, Luczak, MacAuley, Pearce Questions about knowledge and reality, mind and body, morality and justice, truth and beauty, sex and gender, God's existence and attributes, and rationality and philosophical paradoxes are explored in this course designed for students with some acquaintance with philosophy who wish to further develop their analytic and expressive skills. Instructor: S. Anis Teaching Assistants: Apparently simple conceptions sometimes especially capture our imagination. Examples: Descartes's "I think, therefore I am," McLuhan's "the medium is the message," or Plato's theory of forms. The course examines a great number of these simple ideas that are also the Big Ideas that no educated person should be ignorant of. Instructor: A. Ducharme Apparently simple conceptions sometimes especially capture our imagination. Examples: Descartes's "I think, therefore I am," McLuhan's "the medium is the message," or Plato's theory of forms. The course examines a great number of these simple ideas that are also the Big Ideas that no educated person should be ignorant of. Instructor: E. Desjardins Teaching Assistants: D. Booth, M. Graham, J. Jenkinson, R. MacIntosh, C. Roadevin.C. Shirreff An introduction to basic principles of reasoning and critical thinking designed to enhance the student's ability to evaluate various forms of reasoning as found in everyday life as well as in academic disciplines. The course will deal with such topics as inductive and deductive reasoning, the nature and function of definitions, types of fallacies, the use and misuse of statistics, and the rudiments of logic. Primarily for first-year students. Instructor: D. Gault An introduction to basic principles of reasoning and critical thinking designed to enhance the student's ability to evaluate various forms of reasoning as found in everyday life as well as in academic disciplines. The course will deal with such topics as inductive and deductive reasoning, the nature and function of definitions, types of fallacies, the use and misuse of statistics, and the rudiments of logic. Primarily for first-year students. Instructor: A. Barth An introduction to basic principles of reasoning and critical thinking designed to enhance the student's ability to evaluate various forms of reasoning as found in everyday life as well as in academic disciplines. The course will deal with such topics as inductive and deductive reasoning, the nature and function of definitions, types of fallacies, the use and misuse of statistics, and the rudiments of logic. Primarily for first-year students. Instructor: A. Yates This course develops students' ability to approach disputed questions by seeing them from both sides, so that they reach their own view only after respecting a broad range of argument. Six questions will be considered, including human (over) population, the public funding of art, and the limits of religious freedom. Instructor: D. Proessel Teaching Assistants: S. Bartlett, G. Beaulac, J. Life, M. Winsby This course develops students' ability to approach disputed questions by seeing them from both sides, so that they reach their own view only after respecting a broad range of argument. Six questions will be considered, including human (over) population, the public funding of art, and the limits of religious freedom. Instructor: K. Chung Basic philosophical ideas in Indian, Chinese and Japanese thought. Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism and Zen are compared as life-philosophies, with special emphasis on their relation to the root categories of Western philosophy. Instructor: S. Coughlin Witches: who they were, why they were thought to be witches by themselves and others, what was done to them and why? The course will treat a number of standard philosophical issues (the mind-body problem, causation, free-will, theories of knowledge) through a study of Renaissance and early modern material. Instructor: N. McGinnis Modern formal logic including argument structure, propositional logic and elementary quantification. Applications to everyday reasoning and to computer "thinking" are considered, along with related issues in semantics and the philosophy of logic. Intended primarily for students not planning further studies in Philosophy or Logic. Instructor: S. Hogarth-Rossiter (Fall) & M. Kao (Winter) Modern formal logic including argument structure, propositional logic and elementary quantification. Applications to everyday reasoning and to computer "thinking" are considered, along with related issues in semantics and the philosophy of logic. Intended primarily for students not planning further studies in Philosophy or Logic. Instructor: N. Fillion An introductory discussion dealing with such issues as the demarcation between science and pseudo-science, the notion of scientific explanation, the structure of scientific theories and their relation to an empirical base, and the significance of revolutions in science. Instructor: C. Smeenk Astronauts age more slowly. Time can have a beginning. Space and time are curved. All these surprising claims are consequences of Einstein's revolutionary theories of relativity. This course explains these and related ideas in historical context and explores their philosophical significance. No physics and only grade 11 mathematics required. Instructor: A. Ducharme We live in a time in which the headlines are full of reports of extreme weather, which climate scientists tell us is due, in part, to global warming caused by greenhouse gases we’ve released into the atmosphere. A time in which we hear of the imminent end of oil as a fuel resource. A time in which deforestation is occurring at unprecedented rates. Are such things an inevitable by-product of the presence of nearly 7 billion human beings, or are they rooted in some fact about our culture? Is it the Western attitude towards the natural world? Is it something about our economic system? If we want to protect our environment, what is it that is worth saving, and why? Do we have a duty to protect Nature which is independent of its benefits to human beings? This course is an invitation to think about and discuss these philosophical questions and others, and to investigate what others have said about them. Instructor: A. Ducharme An examination of several key issues arising out of the present environmental crisis. Sample topics include: to what extent the environmental crisis is a scientific, religious, or ethical problem; the Gaia hypothesis; deep and shallow ecology; the land ethic; ecofeminism; the environment and economics; and sustainable development. Instructor: G. Barker Our changing relationship to the natural world, and ability to affect Earth's future, bring urgent philosophical questions with real-world implications. This course draws on ideas from ethics, political philosophy, biology, psychology, economics and philosophy of science to explore the moral and epistemological dimensions of climate change, species extinction, and biotechnology. Instructor: R. Samaroo A study of philosophical approaches to evil from the Enlightenment to the present day. Topics include the existence of evil as a challenge to religious belief, understanding the nature of evil in the context of such events as the Holocaust and 9/11, and moral philosophical issues related to evil. Instructor: C. Young A study of philosophical approaches to evil from the Enlightenment to the present day. Topics include the existence of evil as a challenge to religious belief, understanding the nature of evil in the context of such events as the Holocaust and 9/11, and moral philosophical issues related to evil. Instructor: A. Wuest A study of philosophical approaches to evil from the Enlightenment to the present day. Topics include the existence of evil as a challenge to religious belief, understanding the nature of evil in the context of such events as the Holocaust and 9/11, and moral philosophical issues related to evil. Instructor: N. Fawcett Techniques of moral analysis and evaluation are studied in the context of practical moral issues concerning the good life, the rights of the individual and the quest for social justice, etc. Classical and contemporary philosophical sources are examined, but the emphasis is on independent critical thought. Instructor: K. Okruhlik An introduction to ethical issues that arise in the delivery of health care such as human experimentation, informed consent, and the allocation of scarce resources. A case study approach is used with students offering and defending solutions to moral problems in these areas. Instructor: A. Manafu An introduction to ethical issues that arise in the delivery of health care such as human experimentation, informed consent, and the allocation of scarce resources. A case study approach is used with students offering and defending solutions to moral problems in these areas. Instructor: J. Southworth The meaning and moral importance of death will be explored through a series of questions: What is death? Is death a bad thing? Do people survive death? What do we mean when we say that someone is "dying"? Should knowledge of death change the way we live our lives? Instructor: A. Shiller The meaning and moral importance of death will be explored through a series of questions: What is death? Is death a bad thing? Do people survive death? What do we mean when we say that someone is "dying"? Should knowledge of death change the way we live our lives? Instructor: Z. Munroe The meaning and moral importance of death will be explored through a series of questions: What is death? Is death a bad thing? Do people survive death? What do we mean when we say that someone is "dying"? Should knowledge of death change the way we live our lives? Instructor: D. Proessel Ethical analysis of issues arising in contemporary business life. Sample topics: ethical codes in business; fair and unfair competition, advertising and consumer needs and wants; responsibilities to investors, employees and society; conflicts of interest and obligation; business and the regulatory environment. Instructor: M. Hebert Ethical analysis of issues arising in contemporary business life. Sample topics: ethical codes in business; fair and unfair competition, advertising and consumer needs and wants; responsibilities to investors, employees and society; conflicts of interest and obligation; business and the regulatory environment. Instructor: D. Proessel Ethical analysis of issues arising in contemporary business life. Sample topics: ethical codes in business; fair and unfair competition, advertising and consumer needs and wants; responsibilities to investors, employees and society; conflicts of interest and obligation; business and the regulatory environment. Instructor: A. Porter Ethical analysis of issues arising in contemporary business life. Sample topics: ethical codes in business; fair and unfair competition, advertising and consumer needs and wants; responsibilities to investors, employees and society; conflicts of interest and obligation; business and the regulatory environment. Instructor: J. Epp An investigation of ways that contemporary philosophers deal with concepts of gender and sexuality, addressing such issues as the regulation and production of normative sexuality, the question of essentialism, the construction and disciplining of the gendered body, and the effects of new media on sexual identity. Instructor: J. Marsh An investigation of ways that contemporary philosophers deal with concepts of gender and sexuality, addressing such issues as the regulation and production of normative sexuality, the question of essentialism, the construction and disciplining of the gendered body, and the effects of new media on sexual identity. Instructor: J. Hildebrand A study of some main problems in legal philosophy. Emphasis is given to actual law, e.g. criminal law and contracts, as a background to questions of law's nature. Specimen topics: police powers in Canada, contractual obligation, insanity defence, judicial reasoning and discretion, civil liberties, legal responsibility, natural law and legal positivism. Instructor: J. Hildebrand A study of some main problems in legal philosophy. Emphasis is given to actual law, e.g. criminal law and contracts, as a background to questions of law's nature. Specimen topics: police powers in Canada, contractual obligation, insanity defence, judicial reasoning and discretion, civil liberties, legal responsibility, natural law and legal positivism. Instructor: R. Robb A study of contemporary philosophical discussions of terrorism, including different perspectives on the question of whether terrorism is morally justifiable. Related issues such as just war and civil disobedience will also be touched upon. Instructor: D. Suderman A study of contemporary philosophical discussions of terrorism, including different perspectives on the question of whether terrorism is morally justifiable. Related issues such as just war and civil disobedience will also be touched upon. Instructor: K. Nielsen A critical examination of key works of Greek philosophers with major emphasis on Plato and Aristotle. Instructor: D. Henry A critical examination of key works of Greek philosophers with major emphasis on Plato and Aristotle. Instructor: C. Dyck A critical examination of key works of selected figures of the 17th and 18th centuries. Instructor: L. Falkenstein A critical examination of key works of selected figures of the 17th and 18th centuries. Instructor: L. Falkenstein A study of sentential and predicate logic designed to train students to use procedures and systems (trees, natural deduction, axiomatic systems) for determining logical properties and relations, and to give students an understanding of syntactic and semantic metatheoretical concepts and results relevant to those procedures and systems. Instructor: J. Bell Instructor: E. Doyle This course is an introduction to philosophical issues in the study of language. We will be exploring three related topics: (1) The relations between mind, language, and reality: What is meaning? How do our linguistic expressions get their meanings? (2) The multifarious uses of language: How do we manage to use language to, e.g., communicate, promise, and bet? What role does context play in determining the meaning of an utterance? (3) Philosophical issues relating to language acquisition and competence: How do human beings understand language? Are certain linguistic abilities innate? Does language processing involve the representation of non-conscious rules? We will spend roughly equal amounts of time considering each of these main topics. Instructor: W. Myrvold Philosophy of science addresses questions such as: What is the difference between science and non-science? What sort of knowledge can we expect from science? Does it give us objective knowledge of the world? If so, can this knowledge extend beyond knowledge of what is directly observable? What is the proper role of science in society, and what are the ethical obligations of scientists? We will address these questions in connection with two case studies of scientific revolution: the Copernican revolution at the birth of modern science, and the Darwinian revolution in the 19th and 20th centuries. We will look at writings of the scientists involved, as well as major works by philosophers of science. The aim is for students to form their own thoughts on the questions to be addressed. Instructor: E. Desjardins An historical introduction to the Philosophy of Biology examining the development of evolutionary theory from Aristotle to Darwin and the ways in which past ideas have helped shape contemporary debates (e.g. species concepts, adaptation, levels of selection). Philosophy 2350F/G is recommended background for those interested in Philosophy 3340F/G. Instructor: K. Okruhlik A study of the relationships between scientific practice, cultural institutions, and human values. Attention will be devoted to such topics as the commercialization of research, military research, genetically modified organisms, and the study of race and gender. Instructor: S. Chow We study the classical doctrines of Plato and Aristotle on the place of the mind in the material world, and the transformation of the debate in the course of the Scientific Revolution of the early modern period, with the work of Descartes, Locke and others We proceed to critically examine 20th and 21st century conceptions of the relation of mind and body, including those of Behaviorists, Linguistic Philosophers, Identity Theorists, Functionalists and the Computational Theory of Mind. In conclusion, we examine the notion of ‘content’ in mental representations and the surprising difficulty we have in saying what exactly the problem of consciousness even is. Instructor: G. Barker This course will be an introduction to the main problems of epistemology or theory of knowledge. The course will focus on the core questions of epistemology: What is knowledge? What, if anything, do we know? How do we know it? More specific topics include the nature of perception, belief, knowledge justification and truth, and skeptical questions concerning the extent of our knowledge, including the problem of induction. Instructor: D. Gault Epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief and is concerned with questions such as the following: What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for knowledge? What are its sources?What is its structure, and what are its limits? How are we to understand the concept of justification? What makes justified beliefs justified? Is justification internal to one’s own mind, or external to it? We will discuss answers to some of these questions at an introductory level. In addition, we will discuss in more detail recent arguments regarding the claim that knowledge is “socially constructed.” Instructor: N, Ray Epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief and is concerned with questions such as the following: What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for knowledge? What are its sources? What is its structure, and what are its limits? How are we to understand the concept of justification? What makes justified beliefs justified? Is justification internal to one’s own mind, or external to it? We will discuss answers to some of these questions at an introductory level. In addition, we will discuss in more detail recent arguments regarding the claim that knowledge is “socially constructed.” Instructor: D. Proessel This course focuses on challenges to subject/object and mind/body dualisms taking into account the relationship between thought, meaning, truth and the ways that the world appears to us. We consider questions such as: How does the world become meaningful to me in my everyday life? What is freedom? To what extent am I responsible for my own life and the life of others? What does it mean to be ethically responsible in a secular society? And finally who is the other and how is otherness shaped by race and sex? Instructor: K. Paxman As the twenty-first century enters its stride, many of the major fault-lines in the world are tied up with religion, whether it be tensions between different religions, or those between religion and secularism. This course will consider twelve major traditional issues in the philosophy of religion: the nature of God, including the relationship between God and time; the existence of God (ontological argument; cosmological arguments; teleological arguments; moral argument); faith and reason; the problem of evil; religious experience; miracles; evolution; religious pluralism; death and afterlife. Instructor: R. Robb Critical study of the nature and justification of ethical and value judgements, with an analysis of key concepts and a survey of the main contemporary theories. Instructor: A. Skelton Critical study of the nature and justification of ethical and value judgements, with an analysis of key concepts and a survey of the main contemporary theories. Instructor: B. Hoffmaster Approaches to ethical decision making will be examined to see how they can assist practical ethical reasoning and enhance our understanding of morality. Approaches to be studied include casuistry, interpretation, the construction of narratives, and the application of moral theory to real life situations. Instructor: D. Gault An examination of key concepts in health care ethics, such as respect for patient autonomy, medical paternalism, patient competence, justice in health care, "death with dignity," "sanctity of life," commodifying human life. Goals are to understand these ideas and how to apply them to practical issues in health care. Instructor: B. Hoffmaster Professionals have special rights and duties that attach to their professional roles. This course will focus on the special ethical obligations that professionals have to themselves, to their clients, to their employers, to third parties, to their professions, and to society at large. Instructor: K. Paxman A study of ethical issues in media, including such topics as: the reasonable limits of free expression; intellectual property and the public domain; official secrets and access to information; regulating online content; commercial databases and informational privacy; cameras in the courtroom; plagiarism and piracy; defamation; hactivism and the hacker ethic. Instructor: R. Robb This course examines individual and societal obligations in two complementary ways: first, through the study of philosophical work on moral obligations and, second, through service learning projects. In written work students will be required to integrate what they have learned in the classroom and in volunteer work in the community. Instructor: D.Klimchuk Instructor: J. Spring Instructor: A. White Instructor: A. Botterell An introduction to the philosophy of law. Topics typically covered include responsibility and punishment, freedom of expression, the constitutional protection of fundamental freedoms, and jurisprudence (the study of the question, “What is law?) For up-to-date timetables for all terms, please use the online timetable service. Instructor: D. Henry An intermediate survey of the works of Plato. While some themes or works may be focused on to the exclusion of others, this course aims to give students a strong, foundational understanding of Plato’s thought on a range of topics. Instructor: D. Henry An intermediate survey of the works of Aristotle. While some themes or works may be focused on to the exclusion of others, this course aims to give students a strong, foundational understanding of Aristotle's thought on a range of topics. Instructor: C. Dyck This course gives an overview of medieval philosophy. It presents some of the most important text and philosophers from the Middle Ages. It deals with issues from logic, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, natural philosophy, and ethics. It situates medieval philosophy in the history of philosophy between the Ancient and the Modern traditions, and it shows how the Ancient philosophical culture was transformed in the Christian, Islamic and Jewish Middle Ages into what we know as Early Modern Philosophy. Instructor: G. Barker Analytic philosophy has been the predominant philosophical movement of the last century in the English-speaking world. Its central aim is to elucidate the structure of thought, so it is centrally concerned with questions concerning logic and the nature of rationality. Its methods emphasize the close analysis of language (either natural or formal). Analytic philosophy was originally a self-consciously revolutionary movement, dedicated to the overthrow of philosophical traditions that it saw as engaged in groundless metaphysical speculation and philosophical mystification. This course will explore the origins of analytic philosophy in the first half of the twentieth century and its early evolution.We will investigate philosophical problems such as meaning, metaphysics, philosophical methodology and epistemology as they arise in the writings of such philosophers as Moore, Frege, Russell, Ayer, Carnap, Quine, Wittgenstein, Ryle, Austin, and others. Topic: Aristotle's Ethics Instructor: K. Nielsen This course will allow students to study Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics in depth. Topics include happiness, virtue of character, virtue of intellect, pleasure and friendship. Instructor: D. Klimchuk Instructor: J. Bell Specific issues and theories in formal and philosophical logic will be studied. Instructor: R. Stainton Instructor: W. Myrvold Though quantum mechanics is a well-tested and accepted part of physics, debate continues about what the success of this theory tells us about the world and about science. This course examines these questions while introducing the student to the peculiarities of quantum physics. No physics background presumed. Instructor: R. DiSalle In this course we will study the nature of space and time. We will begin with disputes regarding the nature of space, time, and motion waged in the seventeenth century by the likes of Galileo, Descartes, Newton, and Leibniz. After briefly reviewing the Aristotelian doctrines that these thinkers responded to, we will study the debate between “aboslute” and “relational” accounts of space and time. Relationalists treat space as consisting of nothing but the spatial relationships between objects, whereas proponents of “absolute” space assert that space exists as a substance in its own right. We then turn to the development of non-Euclidean geometry in the 19th century and debates regarding the epistemology of geometry. Kant argued that Euclidean geometry must hold, but the study of non-Euclidean geometries led Poincare and others to conclude that spatial geometry is to some degree conventional. The final section of the course turns to the development of modern spacetime theories. We will consider Einstien’s special and general theories of relativ- ity, the new conceptions of space and time they introduce, and the impact of these new ideas on the traditional debates. Instructor: A. Mendelovici Advanced topics in the philosophy of mind, with emphasis on the metaphysics of mind. The course begins with some historical readings to situate the modern problems in philosophy of mind. We then investigate contemporary accounts of the mind as developed under the headings of Behaviourism, the Identity Theory, Functionalism, Interpretationism, and Eliminativism. We shall also explore issues about subjectivity and consciousness and consider challenges to materialism. Emphasis will be given to contemporary readings. Instructor: C. Viger Instructor: S. Chow Problems in contemporary theory of knowledge; topics will include: knowledge and modern skepticism, contextual factors in criteria and standards for knowledge, how attributing knowledge influences practical action, whether knowing something implies knowing its logical consequences, pragmatist and other contextualist approaches to epistemology, relativism, social dimensions of knowledge, the ethics of belief, and fact and value in inquiry and action. We also examine the relations of belief, knowledge and assertion. Instructor: A. Botterell An introduction to current debate on metaphysical questions. Topics may include the nature of space and time, the status of phenomenal sensible qualities, the existence of natural kinds, causality and determinism, counterfactuals and possible worlds, identity and individuation, and personal identity. Instructor: C. McLeod Moral philosophers engaged in normative ethics seek to articulate and justify systems of normative standards—of action or of character—to guide our moral life. This course is an advanced study of normative ethical theories, such as utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue theories. Topic: German Aesthetics Instructor: C. Dyck Topic: Moral Psychology Instructor: C. FitzGerald Instructor: C. Dyck A broadly-based study of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and his related critical and pre-critical writings on physical, metaphysical and epistemological topics. Instructor: A. Skelton Instructor: R. Stainton Topic: Contemporary Issues in the Philsophy of Biology Instructor: D. Henry Instructor: A. Mendelovici Topic: Oppositions and Paradoxes in Philosophy and Mathematics Instructor: J. Bell An advanced treatment of a particular problem arising in metaphysics. Instructor: J. Thorp Instructor: E. Desjardins For up-to-date timetables for all terms, please use the online timetable service. Instructor: J. Thorp Teaching Assistants: S. Anis, M. Barnett, T. Bieber, B. Cameron, M. Graham, Z. Munroe, L. Pelot, This is a 'big-picture' course, which endeavours to give a sense of the broad intellectual terrain surrounding such fundamental issues as justice, morality, identity, freedom, religion, knowledge & truth. The aim is to help students to find their bearings in the welter of debates about these questions, and their offshoots, that surround us. Among the particular subjects covered will be human rights, feminism, religion and secularism, civil disobedience, homosexuality, moral evolution, relativism, freedom, minds and brains, artificial intelligence, personal and social identity, the nature of science, idealism, and religious faith. Lectures and tutorials will focus on short readings both classical and contemporary, as well as on film and other media. The course is intended for – though not restricted to – students with no prior exposure to philosophy. Instructor: S. Chow (Fall) & N. Fawcett (Winter) This is a 'big-picture' course, which endeavours to give a sense of the broad intellectual terrain surrounding such fundamental issues as justice, morality, identity, freedom, religion, knowledge & truth. The aim is to help students to find their bearings in the welter of debates about these questions, and their offshoots, that surround us. Among the particular subjects covered will be human rights, feminism, religion and secularism, civil disobedience, homosexuality, moral evolution, relativism, freedom, minds and brains, artificial intelligence, personal and social identity, the nature of science, idealism, and religious faith. Lectures and tutorials will focus on short readings both classical and contemporary, as well as on film and other media. The course is intended for – though not restricted to – students with no prior exposure to philosophy. Instructors: S. Brennan (Fall) & J. Nicholas (Winter) Teaching Assistants: C. Fenton, P. Froklage, C. Shirreff, J. Southworth, A. Wuest Questions about knowledge and reality, mind and body, morality and justice, truth and beauty, sex and gender, God's existence and attributes, and rationality and philosophical paradoxes are explored in this course designed for students with some acquaintance with philosophy who wish to further develop their analytic and expressive skills. Instructor: S. Bland Teaching Assistants: G. Beaulac, J. Life, A. Shiller, D. Suderman Apparently simple conceptions sometimes especially capture our imagination. Examples: Descartes's "I think, therefore I am," McLuhan's "the medium is the message," or Plato's theory of forms. The course examines a great number of these simple ideas that are also the Big Ideas that no educated person should be ignorant of. Instructor: M. Ivanowich Apparently simple conceptions sometimes especially capture our imagination. Examples: Descartes's "I think, therefore I am," McLuhan's "the medium is the message," or Plato's theory of forms. The course examines a great number of these simple ideas that are also the Big Ideas that no educated person should be ignorant of. Instructor: E. Desjardins Teaching Assistants: R. Brandt, P. Kapusta, M. MacAulay, J. Richards, E. Rossiter, C. Young An introduction to basic principles of reasoning and critical thinking designed to enhance the student's ability to evaluate various forms of reasoning as found in everyday life as well as in academic disciplines. The course will deal with such topics as inductive and deductive reasoning, the nature and function of definitions, types of fallacies, the use and misuse of statistics, and the rudiments of logic. Primarily for first-year students. Instructor: R. Moir An introduction to basic principles of reasoning and critical thinking designed to enhance the student's ability to evaluate various forms of reasoning as found in everyday life as well as in academic disciplines. The course will deal with such topics as inductive and deductive reasoning, the nature and function of definitions, types of fallacies, the use and misuse of statistics, and the rudiments of logic. Primarily for first-year students. Instructor: A. Barth An introduction to basic principles of reasoning and critical thinking designed to enhance the student's ability to evaluate various forms of reasoning as found in everyday life as well as in academic disciplines. The course will deal with such topics as inductive and deductive reasoning, the nature and function of definitions, types of fallacies, the use and misuse of statistics, and the rudiments of logic. Primarily for first-year students. Instructor: K. Biniek This course develops students' ability to approach disputed questions by seeing them from both sides, so that they reach their own view only after respecting a broad range of argument. Six questions will be considered, including human (over) population, the public funding of art, and the limits of religious freedom. Instructor: D. Proessel Teaching Assistants: C. Hiede, T. Plantikow, M. Vezer This course develops students' ability to approach disputed questions by seeing them from both sides, so that they reach their own view only after respecting a broad range of argument. Six questions will be considered, including human (over) population, the public funding of art, and the limits of religious freedom. Course Outline Pending. 2000 Level Courses - Fall/Winter 2010-2011 For up-to-date timetables for all terms, please use the online timetable service. For up-to-date timetables for all terms, please use the online timetable service. Instructor: D. Henry A critical examination of key works of Greek philosophers with major emphasis on Plato and Aristotle. Instructor: K. Nielsen A critical examination of key works of Greek philosophers with major emphasis on Plato and Aristotle. Instructor: C. Dyck A critical examination of key works of selected figures of the 17th and 18th centuries. Instructor: L. Falkenstein A critical examination of key works of selected figures of the 17th and 18th centuries. Instructor: L. Falkenstein A study of sentential and predicate logic designed to train students to use procedures and systems (trees, natural deduction, axiomatic systems) for determining logical properties and relations, and to give students an understanding of syntactic and semantic metatheoretical concepts and results relevant to those procedures and systems. Instructor: A. Mendelovici This course is an introduction to philosophical issues in the study of language. We will be exploring three related topics: (1) The relations between mind, language, and reality: What is meaning? How do our linguistic expressions get their meanings? (2) The multifarious uses of language: How do we manage to use language to, e.g., communicate, promise, and bet? What role does context play in determining the meaning of an utterance? (3) Philosophical issues relating to language acquisition and competence: How do human beings understand language? Are certain linguistic abilities innate? Does language processing involve the representation of non-conscious rules? We will spend roughly equal amounts of time considering each of these main topics. Instructor: W. Myrvold Philosophy of science addresses questions such as: What is the difference between science and non-science? What sort of knowledge can we expect from science? Does it give us objective knowledge of the world? If so, can this knowledge extend beyond knowledge of what is directly observable? What is the proper role of science in society, and what are the ethical obligations of scientists? We will address these questions in connection with two case studies of scientific revolution: the Copernican revolution at the birth of modern science, and the Darwinian revolution in the 19th and 20th centuries. We will look at writings of the scientists involved, as well as major works by philosophers of science. The aim is for students to form their own thoughts on the questions to be addressed. Instructor: D. Henry An historical introduction to the Philosophy of Biology examining the development of evolutionary theory from Aristotle to Darwin and the ways in which past ideas have helped shape contemporary debates (e.g. species concepts, adaptation, levels of selection). Philosophy 2350F/G is recommended background for those interested in Philosophy 3340F/G. Instructor: K. Okruhlik A study of the relationships between scientific practice, cultural institutions, and human values. Attention will be devoted to such topics as the commercialization of research, military research, genetically modified organisms, and the study of race and gender. Instructor: J. Nicholas We study the classical doctrines of Plato and Aristotle on the place of the mind in the material world, and the transformation of the debate in the course of the Scientific Revolution of the early modern period, with the work of Descartes, Locke and others We proceed to critically examine 20th and 21st century conceptions of the relation of mind and body, including those of Behaviorists, Linguistic Philosophers, Identity Theorists, Functionalists and the Computational Theory of Mind. In conclusion, we examine the notion of ‘content’ in mental representations and the surprising difficulty we have in saying what exactly the problem of consciousness even is. Instructor: L. Charland Do emotions interfere with reason and morality or are they required for both? Are emotions primarily biological or are they social constructions? These and other questions will be addressed using a variety of readings ranging from contemporary analytic and feminist philosophy to modern neurobiology and psychology. Instructor: G. Barker This course will be an introduction to the main problems of epistemology or theory of knowledge. The course will focus on the core questions of epistemology: What is knowledge? What, if anything, do we know? How do we know it? More specific topics include the nature of perception, belief, knowledge justification and truth, and skeptical questions concerning the extent of our knowledge, including the problem of induction. Instructor: C. Smeenk Epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief and is concerned with questions such as the following: What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for knowledge? What are its sources?What is its structure, and what are its limits? How are we to understand the concept of justification? What makes justified beliefs justified? Is justification internal to one’s own mind, or external to it? We will discuss answers to some of these questions at an introductory level. In addition, we will discuss in more detail recent arguments regarding the claim that knowledge is “socially constructed.” Instructor: A. Manafu Epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief and is concerned with questions such as the following: What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for knowledge? What are its sources? What is its structure, and what are its limits? How are we to understand the concept of justification? What makes justified beliefs justified? Is justification internal to one’s own mind, or external to it? We will discuss answers to some of these questions at an introductory level. In addition, we will discuss in more detail recent arguments regarding the claim that knowledge is “socially constructed.” Instructor: H. Fielding This course focuses on challenges to subject/object and mind/body dualisms taking into account the relationship between thought, meaning, truth and the ways that the world appears to us. We consider questions such as: How does the world become meaningful to me in my everyday life? What is freedom? To what extent am I responsible for my own life and the life of others? What does it mean to be ethically responsible in a secular society? And finally who is the other and how is otherness shaped by race and sex? Instructor: J. Thorp As the twenty-first century enters its stride, many of the major fault-lines in the world are tied up with religion, whether it be tensions between different religions, or those between religion and secularism. This course will consider twelve major traditional issues in the philosophy of religion: the nature of God, including the relationship between God and time; the existence of God (ontological argument; cosmological arguments; teleological arguments; moral argument); faith and reason; the problem of evil; religious experience; miracles; evolution; religious pluralism; death and afterlife. Instructor: A. Skelton Critical study of the nature and justification of ethical and value judgements, with an analysis of key concepts and a survey of the main contemporary theories. Instructor: Michael Milde Critical study of the nature and justification of ethical and value judgements, with an analysis of key concepts and a survey of the main contemporary theories. Instructor: B. Hoffmaster Approaches to ethical decision making will be examined to see how they can assist practical ethical reasoning and enhance our understanding of morality. Approaches to be studied include casuistry, interpretation, the construction of narratives, and the application of moral theory to real life situations. Instructor: D. Gault An examination of key concepts in health care ethics, such as respect for patient autonomy, medical paternalism, patient competence, justice in health care, "death with dignity," "sanctity of life," commodifying human life. Goals are to understand these ideas and how to apply them to practical issues in health care. Instructor: B. Hoffmaster Professionals have special rights and duties that attach to their professional roles. This course will focus on the special ethical obligations that professionals have to themselves, to their clients, to their employers, to third parties, to their professions, and to society at large. Instructor: R. Robb A study of ethical issues in media, including such topics as: the reasonable limits of free expression; intellectual property and the public domain; official secrets and access to information; regulating online content; commercial databases and informational privacy; cameras in the courtroom; plagiarism and piracy; defamation; hactivism and the hacker ethic. Instructor: R. Robb This course examines individual and societal obligations in two complementary ways: first, through the study of philosophical work on moral obligations and, second, through service learning projects. In written work students will be required to integrate what they have learned in the classroom and in volunteer work in the community. Instructor: A. Botterell An introduction to the philosophy of law. Topics typically covered include responsibility and punishment, freedom of expression, the constitutional protection of fundamental freedoms, and jurisprudence (the study of the question, “What is law?) For up-to-date timetables for all terms, please use the online timetable service. Instructor: K. Nielsen An intermediate survey of the works of Plato. While some themes or works may be focused on to the exclusion of others, this course aims to give students a strong, foundational understanding of Plato’s thought on a range of topics. Instructor: D. Henry An intermediate survey of the works of Aristotle. While some themes or works may be focused on to the exclusion of others, this course aims to give students a strong, foundational understanding of Aristotle's thought on a range of topics. Instructor: H. Lagerlund This course gives an overview of medieval philosophy. It presents some of the most important text and philosophers from the Middle Ages. It deals with issues from logic, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, natural philosophy, and ethics. It situates medieval philosophy in the history of philosophy between the Ancient and the Modern traditions, and it shows how the Ancient philosophical culture was transformed in the Christian, Islamic and Jewish Middle Ages into what we know as Early Modern Philosophy. Instructor: B. Hill An intermediate survey of the works of Leibniz. While some themes or works may be focused on to the exclusion of others, this course aims to give students a strong foundational understanding of Leibniz’s thought on a range of topics. Instructor: G. Barker Analytic philosophy has been the predominant philosophical movement of the last century in the English-speaking world. Its central aim is to elucidate the structure of thought, so it is centrally concerned with questions concerning logic and the nature of rationality. Its methods emphasize the close analysis of language (either natural or formal). Analytic philosophy was originally a self-consciously revolutionary movement, dedicated to the overthrow of philosophical traditions that it saw as engaged in groundless metaphysical speculation and philosophical mystification. This course will explore the origins of analytic philosophy in the first half of the twentieth century and its early evolution.We will investigate philosophical problems such as meaning, metaphysics, philosophical methodology and epistemology as they arise in the writings of such philosophers as Moore, Frege, Russell, Ayer, Carnap, Quine, Wittgenstein, Ryle, Austin, and others. Topic: Aristotle's Ethics Instructor: K. Nielsen This course will allow students to study Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics in depth. Topics include happiness, virtue of character, virtue of intellect, pleasure and friendship. Course Outline Pending. Instructor: J. Bell Specific issues and theories in formal and philosophical logic will be studied. Instructor: E. Curiel Though quantum mechanics is a well-tested and accepted part of physics, debate continues about what the success of this theory tells us about the world and about science. This course examines these questions while introducing the student to the peculiarities of quantum physics. No physics background presumed. Instructor: C. Smeenk In this course we will study the nature of space and time. We will begin with disputes regarding the nature of space, time, and motion waged in the seventeenth century by the likes of Galileo, Descartes, Newton, and Leibniz. After briefly reviewing the Aristotelian doctrines that these thinkers responded to, we will study the debate between “aboslute” and “relational” accounts of space and time. Relationalists treat space as consisting of nothing but the spatial relationships between objects, whereas proponents of “absolute” space assert that space exists as a substance in its own right. We then turn to the development of non-Euclidean geometry in the 19th century and debates regarding the epistemology of geometry. Kant argued that Euclidean geometry must hold, but the study of non-Euclidean geometries led Poincare and others to conclude that spatial geometry is to some degree conventional. The final section of the course turns to the development of modern spacetime theories. We will consider Einstien’s special and general theories of relativ- ity, the new conceptions of space and time they introduce, and the impact of these new ideas on the traditional debates. Instructor: C. Viger Advanced topics in the philosophy of mind, with emphasis on the metaphysics of mind. The course begins with some historical readings to situate the modern problems in philosophy of mind. We then investigate contemporary accounts of the mind as developed under the headings of Behaviourism, the Identity Theory, Functionalism, Interpretationism, and Eliminativism. We shall also explore issues about subjectivity and consciousness and consider challenges to materialism. Emphasis will be given to contemporary readings. Instructor: J. Nicholas Problems in contemporary theory of knowledge; topics will include: knowledge and modern skepticism, contextual factors in criteria and standards for knowledge, how attributing knowledge influences practical action, whether knowing something implies knowing its logical consequences, pragmatist and other contextualist approaches to epistemology, relativism, social dimensions of knowledge, the ethics of belief, and fact and value in inquiry and action. We also examine the relations of belief, knowledge and assertion. Instructor: E. Curiel An introduction to current debate on metaphysical questions. Topics may include the nature of space and time, the status of phenomenal sensible qualities, the existence of natural kinds, causality and determinism, counterfactuals and possible worlds, identity and individuation, and personal identity. Instructor: S. Brennan Moral philosophers engaged in normative ethics seek to articulate and justify systems of normative standards—of action or of character—to guide our moral life. This course is an advanced study of normative ethical theories, such as utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue theories. Topic: Science and Democracy Instructor: K. Okruhlik What should be the relationship between science and the people under a democratic government? The traditional view is that science flourishes best if left to determine its own direction. Recently, though, a significant body of literature has argued that citizens in a democracy should be able to have a say in determining the direction of science and science policy. The situation has become more complicated because of the major role played by corporate interests in determining those things at present. Can we find the resources in political theory and in philosophy of science to simultaneously achieve our political and epistemological goals? Topic: Justice and Diversity Instructor: R. Muldoon Much of political philosophy assumes that humans are nearly identical in our intellectual and physical powers, and indeed in our social and economic standing. However, this assumption clearly does not match the world that we live in: people come from a wide variety of socio-economic backgrounds, and have varying talents, perspectives and abilities. In this class we will consider the moral and political implications of human diversity. This will be an investigation of both the costs and the benefits of diversity, through the lens of contemporary political philosophy and social science. For up-to-date timetables for all terms, please use the online timetable service. Topic: Dante Philosophus Instructor: J. Miller Dante’s fame as a poet has tended to eclipse his extraordinary achievements as a philosopher – not the least of which was his audacious vernacularization of Latin philosophical culture in the interests of a radically political reformation of nostra vita (“our life”) in all its spiritual, sexual, and social diversity. In fact, Dante could not have become the boldly original poet whom everyone knows today as the lover of Beatrice if he had not first scaled the Mount of Contemplation mapped out for him by his first love, Lady Philosophy. In order to imagine his own salvation as a lover, he virtually had to reinvent political theory and erotic psychology in lay terms opposing to some degree the discourses of natural law and sexual sin formulated by Catholic scholasticism. Instructor: C. Dyck A broadly-based study of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and his related critical and pre-critical writings on physical, metaphysical and epistemological topics. Topic: Philosophy of Psychiatry Instructor: L. Charland An inquiry into the nature of mental disorder, considering issues such as: diagnosis, globalization and culture, decision-making capacity, history of descriptive psychopathology and clinical diagnosis, the nature of delusion, psychopharmacology, and detailed examination of specific mental conditions. Topic: Philosophy of Ecology Instructor: E. Desjardins In this course, students will learn about foundational and methodological issues of theoretical and applied ecology. We will start by asking: Is nature balanced? Why and why not? In connection to this, we will look at the historical turn that started in the 1970s and ask why and to what extent history matters in ecological processes? This will naturally lead us to the next question: Are there Instructor: K. Okruhlik A critical study of contemporary feminist epistemology and philosophy of science, with discussion of feminist empiricism, standpoint, and postmodern positions, critiques of methodological essentialism, and proposals for integrating the consideration of contextual factors into theories of knowledge production and legitimation. The emphasis this year will be on philosophy of science. Topic: Oppositions and Paradoxes in Philosophy and Mathematics Instructor: J. Bell An advanced treatment of a particular problem arising in metaphysics. Topic: Egalitarianism Instructor: S. Brennan This class will explore the following questions: What is equality and why should we think it matters morally? What's the right way to measure inequality? Insofar as think equality matters morally, what exactly is it that we think ought to be equal: income, well-being, opportunities? How much does equality matter compared to other factors that also have moral significance, such as desert, evil, and overall well-being. We'll read work by egalitarian moral and political philosophers as well as by the critics of egalitarianism. In the final few weeks we'll turn to some applied problems in moral and political philosophy related to egalitarianism. Topic: Mental Representation Instructor: A. Mendelovici This course is an examination of topics of contemporary interest in the philosophy of mental representation. We will be exploring three related topics: (1) Naturalism in the philosophy of mind: What is naturalism? What constraints does it place on a theory of mental representation? (2) Representationalism: Is mental representation the key to understanding consciousness? (3) Phenomenal intentionality: Is there a type of mental content determined by phenomenal character? Can phenomenal intentionality provide the basis for other types of content? Topic: Evolutionary Perspectives on Epistemology and Ethics Instructor: G. Barker Evolutionary approaches are increasingly popular in philosophy. This course will examine the general prospects of and limitations on this 'evolutionary philosophy,' as well as classic and current issues in evolutionary epistemology and evolutionary ethics. Implications of new perspectives in evolutionary thought such as evolutionary developmental biology and niche-construction will also be considered. Course Outline Pending. Summer 2012 Courses
2020 Basic Logic (Chow) - Summer Day
2073F Death (McGinnis) - Intersession
2074F - Business Ethics (Proessel) - Intersession
2200F - Ancient Philosophy (Fawcett) - Distance Studies
Course Outline
2202F - Early Modern Philosphy (Middleton) - Distance Studies
A study of the influential thought of the 16th and 17th centuries. Powerful ideas in metaphysics, epistemology, and political theory were developed in this period. This course examines the contributions made in those areas by Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, and others.
Course Outline
2250 - Introduction to Logic (Manafu) - Summer Evening
A study of sentential and predicate logic designed to train students to use procedures and systems for determining logical properties and relations, and to give students an understanding of the relevant metatheoretical concepts.
Course Outline
2700F - Introduction to Ethics and Value Theory (Porter) - Distance Studies
Course Outline
2730F - Media Ethics (Robb) - Intersession
Course Outline
2801F - Contemporary Political Philosophy (Lawson) - Summer Day
Course Outline
2810F - Global Justice and Human Rights (Epp) - Summer Day
In this course, we will consider basic issues about human rights and global justice,including: What are human rights? What makes them important? What duties and obligations do human rights generate, and for whom? How should respect for them be promoted or enforced, particularly given so much cultural variation and widely diverse values and beliefs in the world?
Course Outline
Fall/Winter 2012-2013
2012-2013 Course Brochure
Link to Western's online timetable
1000 Level Courses
Detailed Course Descriptions
1020 - Introduction to Philosophy
1022E - Advanced Introduction to Philosophy
1130F - Big Ideas
1130G - Big Ideas
1200 - Critical Thinking (Section 002)
1200 - Critical Thinking (Distance)
1305F - Questions of the Day
1305G - Questions of the Day
2000 Level Courses
Detailed Course Descriptions
2006 - The Metaphysics & Epistemology of Witchcraft
2020 - Basic Logic
2033A - Introduction to Environmental Philosophy
2032G - Einstein for Everyone
2033B - Introduction to Environmental Philosophy
2035F - Nature, Ecology and the Future
2065F - Evil (Section 001)
2065F - Evil (Section 002)
2065G - Evil
2070E - Ethics and Society
2071E - Biomedical Ethics
2071E - Biomedical Ethics (distance)
2073F - Death (Section 001)
2073G - Death (Section 001)
2073F - Death (Section 002)
2074F - Business Ethics (Section 001)
2074F - Business Ethics (Section 002)
2074G - Business Ethics (001)
2074G - Business Ethics (Distance)
2077F - Gender and Sexuality
2077G - Gender and Sexuality
2080 - Philosophy of Law
2080 - Philosophy of Law (Distance course)
2083F - Terrorism
2083G - Terrorism
2091 F Philosophy in Literature
2200 Level Courses
Detailed Course Descriptions
2200F - Ancient Philosophy (Section 001)
2200F - Ancient Philosophy(Section 002)
2202G Early Modern Philosophy (Sectoin 001)
2202G Early Modern Philosophy (Section 002)
2250 Introduction to Logic
2251F Conceptual Development of Mathematics
2300F - Philosophy of Science
2310G - Philosophy of Modern Physics
2370F - Science and Values
2400G - Introduction to Philosophy of Mind
2410F Philosophy of Emotion
2500F - Introduction to Theory of Knowledge
2500G - Introduction to Theory of Knowledge
2500G - Introduction to Theory of Knowledge - Distance
2555F - Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
2661F - Philosophy of Religion
2700F - Introduction to Ethics and Value Theory
2700G - Introduction to Ethics and Value Theory
2715G - Health Care Ethics
2720G - The Ethics of Professional Relationships
2730F - Media Ethics
2750G - Ethics in Action
2800F - History of Political Philosophy
2810G - Global Justice and Human Rights
2821F - Philosophy of Law
3000 Level Courses
Detailed Course Descriptions
3003F - Plato
3006G - Aristotle
3012F - Medieval Philosophy
Insructor: H. Lagerlund
3024G - Leibnitz
3031G - Women in Early Modern Philosophy
3170F - Topics in the History of Ethics: Kant’s Groundwork
3180G - Topics in History of Political and Legal Philosophy
3201B - Special Topics in Logical Theory
3260G - Theories of Meaning
3320G - Philosophical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics
3341G - Philosophy of Biology for Biologists
3410F - Advanced Topics in Philosophy of Mind
3430G - Philosophical Issues in Cognitive Science
3501F - Epistemology
3555G - Continental Philosophy
3601G - Metaphysics
3720F - Normative Ethics
3991F - Philosophy of Neuroscience
4000 Level Courses
Detailed Course Descriptions
4007G Seminar in Ancient Philosophy - Presocratics
4026G/9065 - The Ontological Argument
4027G - Dante Philosophus
4037F - Seminar in Rationalism
4050G - Kant's First Critique
4210F/9727 - Problems in Philosophy of Language
4311G - Modality, Teleology, Normativity, Intentionality
4410F/9661 - Representation
4990A - Modal Logic
FALL/WINTER 2011-2012
1000 Level Courses
Detailed Course Descriptions
PHILOSOP 1020 - Introduction to Philosophy
PHILOSOP 1022E - Advanced Introduction to Philosophy
PHILOSOP 1130F - Big Ideas
PHILOSOP 1130G - Big Ideas
PHILOSOP 1200 - Reasoning and Critical Thinking
PHILOSOP 1200 - Reasoning and Critical Thinking
PHILOSOP 1200 - Reasoning and Critical Thinking (Distance Studies)
PHILOSOP 1305F - Questions of the Day
PHILOSOP 1305G - Questions of the Day
2000 Level Courses - Fall/Winter 2011-2012
Detailed Course Descriptions
PHILOSOP 2003E - Asian Philosophies (Distance Studies)
PHILOSOP 2006 - The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Witchcraft
PHILOSOP 2020 - Basic Logic
PHILOSOP 2020 - Basic Logic
PHILOSOP 2030G - Philosophy of Science
PHILOSOP 2032G - Einstein for Everyone
PHILOSOP 2033A - Introduction to Environmental Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2033B - Introduction to Environmental Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2035F - Nature, Ecology, and the Future
PHILOSOP 2065F - Evil
PHILOSOP 2065F - Evil
PHILOSOP 2065G - Evil
PHILOSOP 2070E - Ethics and Society
PHILOSOP 2071E - Biomedical Ethics
PHILOSOP 2071E - Biomedical Ethics (Distance Studies)
PHILOSOP 2073F - Death
PHILOSOP 2073F - Death
PHILOSOP 2073G - Death
PHILOSOP 2074F - Business Ethics
PHILOSOP 2074F - Business Ethics
PHILOSOP 2074G - Business Ethics
PHILOSOP 2074G - Business Ethics (Distance Studies)
PHILOSOP 2077F - Gender and Sexuality
PHILOSOP 2077G - Gender and Sexuality
PHILOSOP 2080 - Philosophy of Law
PHILOSOP 2080 - Philosophy of Law (Distance Studies)
PHILOSOP 2083F - Terrorism
PHILOSOP 2083G - Terrorism
2200 Level Courses
Detailed Course Descriptions
PHILOSOP 2200F - Ancient Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2200F - Ancient Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2202G - Early Modern Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2202G - Early Modern Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2250 - Introduction to Logic
PHILOSOP 2251F - Conceptual Development of Mathematics
PHILOSOP 2260F - Introduction to Philosophy of Language
PHILOSOP 2300F - Philosophy of Science
PHILOSOP 2350G - Philosophy of Biology
PHILOSOP 2370F - Science and Values
PHILOSOP 2400F - Introduction to Philosophy of Mind
PHILOSOP 2500F - Introduction to Theory of Knowledge
PHILOSOP 2500G - Introduction to Theory of Knowledge
PHILOSOP 2500G - Introduction to Theory of Knowledge (Distance Studies)
PHILOSOP 2555F - Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2661F - Philosophy of Religion
PHILOSOP 2700F - Introduction to Ethics and Value Theory
PHILOSOP 2700G - Introduction to Ethics and Value Theory
PHILOSOP 2701E - Modes of Normative Reasoning
PHILOSOP 2715G - Health Care Ethics
PHILOSOP 2720G - The Ethics of Professional Relationships
PHILOSOP 2730F - Media Ethics
PHILOSOP 2750G - Ethics in Action
PHILOSOP 2800F - The History of Political Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2801G - Contemporary Political Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2810G - Global Justice and Human Rights
PHILOSOP 2821F - Philosophy of Law
3000 Level Courses - Fall/Winter 2011-2012
Detailed Course Descriptions
PHILOSOP 3003F - Plato
PHILOSOP 3006G - Aristotle
PHILOSOP 3023F - Spinoza
PHILOSOP 3040G - Origins of Analytic Philosophy
PHILOSOP 3170F - Topics in the History of Ethics
PHILOSOP 3180G - Locke's Political Philosophy
PHILOSOP 3201B - Special Topics in Logical Theory
PHILOSOP 3270G - Philosophy and Linguistics
PHILOSOP 3320F - Philosophical Issues in Quantum Mechanics
PHILOSOP 3330F - Philosophical Foundations of Spacetime Theories
PHILOSOP 3410F - Philosophy of Mind
PHILOSOP 3420F - Philosophy of Psychology
PHILOSOP 3501F - Epistemology
PHILOSOP 3601G - Metaphysics
PHILOSOP 3720G - Normative Ethics
PHILOSOP 3991F - Problems in Philosophy
PHILOSOP 3992F - Problems in Philosophy
4000 Level Courses - Fall/Winter 2011-2012
Detailed Course Descriptions
PHILOSOP 4052G - Kant and the Philosophy of Mind
PHILOSOP 4055G - Mill's Moral and Political Philosophy
PHILOSOP 4210F - The Semantics-Pragmatics Boundary
PHILOSOP 4311G - Problems in the Philosophy of Science
PHILOSOP 4410F - Concepts
PHILOSOP 4610F - Problems in Metaphysics
PHILOSOP 4991G - Philosophy of Time
PHILOSOP 4993F - Environmental Philosophy
Fall/Winter 2010-2011
Detailed Course Descriptions
PHILOSOP 1020 - Introduction to Philosophy
PHILOSOP 1020 - Introduction to Philosophy
PHILOSOP 1022E - Advanced Introduction to Philosophy
PHILOSOP 1130F - Big Ideas
PHILOSOP 1130G - Big Ideas
PHILOSOP 1200 - Reasoning and Critical Thinking
PHILOSOP 1200 - Reasoning and Critical Thinking
PHILOSOP 1200 - Reasoning and Critical Thinking (Distance Studies)
PHILOSOP 1305F - Questions of the Day
PHILOSOP 1305G - Questions of the Day
Detailed Course Descriptions
PHILOSOP 2200F - Ancient Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2200F - Ancient Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2202G - Early Modern Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2202G - Early Modern Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2250 - Introduction to Logic
PHILOSOP 2260F - Introduction to Philosophy of Language
PHILOSOP 2300F - Philosophy of Science
PHILOSOP 2350G - Philosophy of Biology
PHILOSOP 2370F - Science and Values
PHILOSOP 2400F - Introduction to Philosophy of Mind
PHILOSOP 2410F - Issues in Philosophy of Emotions
PHILOSOP 2500F - Introduction to Theory of Knowledge
PHILOSOP 2500G - Introduction to Theory of Knowledge
PHILOSOP 2500G - Introduction to Theory of Knowledge (Distance Studies)
PHILOSOP 2555G - Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
PHILOSOP 2661F - Philosophy of Religion
PHILOSOP 2700F - Introduction to Ethics and Value Theory
PHILOSOP 2700G - Introduction to Ethics and Value Theory
PHILOSOP 2701E - Modes of Normative Reasoning
PHILOSOP 2715G - Health Care Ethics
PHILOSOP 2720G - The Ethics of Professional Relationships
PHILOSOP 2730F - Media Ethics
PHILOSOP 2750G - Ethics in Action
PHILOSOP 2821F - Philosophy of Law
3000 Level Courses - Fall/Winter 2010-2011
Detailed Course Descriptions
PHILOSOP 3003F - Plato
PHILOSOP 3006G - Aristotle
PHILOSOP 3012F - Medieval Philosophy
PHILOSOP 3024G - Leibniz
PHILOSOP 3040G - Origins of Analytic Philosophy
PHILOSOP 3170G - Topics in the History of Ethics
PHILOSOP 3201B - Special Topics in Logical Theory
PHILOSOP 3320F - Philosophical Issues in Quantum Mechanics
PHILOSOP 3330F - Philosophical Foundations of Spacetime Theories
PHILOSOP 3410F - Philosophy of Mind
PHILOSOP 3501F - Epistemology
PHILOSOP 3601G - Metaphysics
PHILOSOP 3720G - Normative Ethics
PHILOSOP 3991F - Problems in Philosophy
PHILOSOP 3992F - Problems in Philosophy
4000 Level Courses - Fall/Winter 2010-2011
Detailed Course Descriptions
PHILOSOP 4027G - Special Topics in Later Medieval Philosophy
PHILOSOP 4050G - Kant's First Critique
PHILOSOP 4310F - Problems in the Philosophy of Science
PHILOSOP 4311F - Problems in the Philosophy of Science
laws in ecology? Then we will reflect on a topic that is both perennial and persistently unresolved, namely the relationship between ecology and evolutionary biology. Finally, we will look at the different approaches to ecological management, reflecting on their different advantages and limitations. This portion will include discussions about the role of model-building in ecology and also touch on questions of environmental ethics.
PHILOSOP 4530G - Feminist Epistemology
PHILOSOP 4610F - Problems in Metaphysics
PHILOSOP 4810G - Advanced Topics in Political Philosophy
PHILOSOP 4991F - Problems in Philosophy
PHILOSOP 4992G - Problems in Philosophy
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Susan Bock
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Chris Viger
Assistant Chair and Undergraduate Counsellor
Henrik Lagerlund
Department Chair
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