Courses

The concepts and principles of symbolic logic: valid and invalid arguments, logical relations of statements and their basis in structural features of those statements, the analysis of complex statements of ordinary discourse to uncover their structure, the use of a symbolic language to display logical structure and to facilitate methods for assessing arguments. Analysis of reasoning with truth-functions ("and", "or", "not", "if...then") and with quantifiers ("all", "some"). Special attention will be given to the norms underlying valid reasoning, to applications of formal techniques to “arguments in the wild”, and to the wide variety of non-logical ways that ordinary discourse can succeed at being (illicitly) persuasive.

2,500 years of essential works, taught by six professors. Humanities 10a includes works by Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Dante, Shakespeare, Descartes, Austen, Douglass, and Garcia Marquez, as well as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Declaration of Independence. One 90-minute lecture plus a 90-minute discussion seminar led by the professors every week. Students also receive instruction in critical writing one hour a week, in writing labs and individual conferences. Students also have opportunities to visit cultural venues and attend musical and theatrical events in Cambridge or Boston.

The course is open only to freshmen. Students who complete Humanities 10a meet the General Education requirement in Aesthetics and Culture. Students who take both semesters of Humanities 10 fulfill the College Writing Requirement. This is the only course outside of Expository Writing that satisfies that requirement. No auditors. The course may not be taken Pass/Fail.

The course introduces students to philosophical argumentation and writing. It is organized around a range of central philosophical questions, concerning the nature of right and wrong, free will and responsibility, the relation between self, mind, and nature, and god and death. We'll pay particular attention to how answers to one question interact with answers to the others. No previous experience with philosophy is required.

This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Culture and Belief.

What is it to be a human being? How can human beings live meaningful lives? These questions guide our discussion of theistic and atheistic existentialism and their manifestations in literature and film. Material includes philosophical texts from Pascal, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre; literature from Dostoevsky, Kafka, Beckett; films from Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, Carol Reed.

This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Ethical Reasoning.

A study of Kant's moral philosophy, based primarily on the Groundwork of Metaphysics of Morals, the Critique of Practical Reason, and The Metaphysics of Morals.

This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Ethical Reasoning.

Do human beings have moral obligations to the other animals? If so, what are they, and why?  Should or could non-human animals have legal rights? Should we treat wild and domestic animals differently? Do human beings have the right to eat the other animals, raise them for that purpose on factory farms, use them in experiments, display them in zoos and circuses, make them race or fight for our entertainment, make them work for us, and keep them as pets? We will examine the work of utilitarian, Kantian, and Aristotelian philosophers, and others who have tried to answer these questions.

This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Ethical Reasoning.

We subject children to around 18,000 hours of compulsory schooling. This course will explore the kinds of experiences children should have in schools and how those experiences should be distributed. We'll proceed by examining key topics pertaining to educational justice, including competing principles of justice in the distribution of education (egalitarian principles, sufficientarian principles, prioritarian principles, etc.); competing reform agendas; the justifiability and relative priority of different educational aims (education for citizenship, education for career preparation, education for social justice, etc.); the family and its role in educational inequality; and higher education access. In addition to the philosophical contributions to these conversations, we'll read enough of the relevant empirical literature to provide a working understanding of the structure and consequences of schooling in the US. Finally, we'll explore some case studies that look at specific choices that arise in real time for educational decision-makers. These case studies highlight the moral dimensions of decisions about discipline, charter schools, special education, and school districting.

This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Ethical Reasoning.

Many people believe that growing inequality is one of the defining challenges of our time. In this class, we will examine some of the main problems thought to be raised by inequality through the lens of several systematic ways of thinking about social justice.

This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Ethical Reasoning.

We'll investigate Plato's political philosophy as it developed from The Republic to The Laws, glancing at The Statesman as a transition point. In addition to examining the changes in Plato's own thinking, we'll also consider differences and similarities between Plato's approach and contemporary approaches to political philosophy.

The course introduces students to philosophical argumentation and writing. It is organized around a range of central philosophical questions, concerning the nature of right and wrong, free will and responsibility, the relation between self, mind, and nature, and god and death. We'll pay particular attention to how answers to one question interact with answers to the others. No previous experience with philosophy is required.

An historical introduction to ethics, from the Greeks to, roughly, now. We begin with the concept of virtue in Homer and trace its development through Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and Aquinas. In the modern period we look, in a somewhat skeptical spirit, at the rise of the 'moral' as a supposedly sui generis category of reasons, traits, obligations etc, as this is found in Hume, Kant, Mill and others.

In this course, we will study some of the major thinkers and movements in the philosophy of the ancient Greek world: the Presocratics, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Skepticism. These thinkers spent a lot of energy on some rather odd questions (for example, ‘Is there more than one thing?’ and ‘Why doesn’t the ground fall?’). But they also introduced many of the enduring, guiding questions of philosophy, such as: What is it to know or understand something, and have we ever succeeded in doing it? What exists at the most fundamental level (if anything)? What should be our highest aim in life? Should we fear death?

What is it to be a human being? How can human beings live meaningful lives? These questions guide our discussion of theistic and atheistic existentialism and their manifestations in literature and film. Material includes philosophical texts from Pascal, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre; literature from Dostoevsky, Kafka, Beckett; films from Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, Carol Reed.

Graded independent study under faculty supervision. Interested students need approval of the DUS for their topic and must propose a detailed syllabus before the beginning of term.

A detailed study of Plato's third-longest dialogue. Particular attention will be paid to (i) the interaction between the overt philosophical content of the what the characters say and what Plato reveals through the unfolding drama; (ii) Socrates' apparent moving-away from the 'intellectualist' moral psychology presupposed in many shorter 'Socratic' dialogues, in the direction of an acknowledgement of the reality of akrasia and other forms of intrapsychic conflict; and (iii) the vivid and alarming presentation by Callicles of an aggressively skeptical response to Socrates' and the many's conceptions of justice.

This course will examine three great traditions in medieval philosophy (Neoplatonism, Scholastic-Aristotelianism, and Nominalism) through each tradition’s greatest proponent (Augustine, Aquinas, and William of Ockham). Specific topics will include skepticism, knowledge, human nature, divine nature, language, realism, conceptualism, and happiness. Students in the course will acquire a firm understanding of the major currents in one of the most important – if still neglected – periods in western philosophy.

Analysis of the central concepts of logic: validity, satisfiability, implication. Basic elements of model theory: completeness, compactness, Löwenheim-Skolem theorem. Applications to the foundations of mathematics. Attention also to higher-order logic and to non-classical (constructive) logical systems.

Probability, remarked Bishop Butler, is "the very guide of life." In this course we will investigate the extent to which probabilistic tools can help answer basic questions like these: How should I choose among my options? What should I believe? How should I revise my beliefs upon acquiring new information? Does it make sense to believe in God? No background in math is necessary; the beginning of the course will cover the essentials of probability theory.

An examination of philosophical theories of the structure and format of episodic memory.

This course provides an introduction to and survey of metaphysics, the branch of philosophy concerned with the essential problems regarding the nature of reality in its most general aspects. We will examine a variety of topics in metaphysics including identity, change, time and space, persistence, possibility and necessity, causation, universals and particulars, and so on. Our goal will be to understand what these topics are, to understand what kinds of views philosophers (both contemporary and historical) have developed on these topics, and to develop our own abilities to think about and answer metaphysical questions.

A study of Kant's moral philosophy, based primarily on the Groundwork of Metaphysics of Morals, the Critique of Practical Reason, and The Metaphysics of Morals.

Do human beings have moral obligations to the other animals? If so, what are they, and why?  Should or could non-human animals have legal rights? Should we treat wild and domestic animals differently? Do human beings have the right to eat the other animals, raise them for that purpose on factory farms, use them in experiments, display them in zoos and circuses, make them race or fight for our entertainment, make them work for us, and keep them as pets? We will examine the work of utilitarian, Kantian, and Aristotelian philosophers, and others who have tried to answer these questions.

Many people believe that growing inequality is one of the defining challenges of our time. In this class, we will examine some of the main problems thought to be raised by inequality through the lens of several systematic ways of thinking about social justice.

A close reading of Aristotle’s De Interpretatione, together with select Greek and Arabic commentaries (foremost those of Ammonius and Al-Farabi), with a view to understanding it on its own terms as well as the uses to which it was put by the commentators. All texts are available in English translation

This graduate-level course will offer an intensive examination of three great traditions in medieval philosophy (Neoplatonism, Scholastic-Aristotelianism, and Nominalism) through each tradition’s greatest proponent (Augustine, Aquinas, and William of Ockham). Specific topics will include skepticism, knowledge, human nature, divine nature, language, realism, conceptualism, and happiness. Students in the course will acquire a firm understanding of the major currents in one of the most important – if still neglected – periods in western philosophy.

Recent work on the norms that govern belief and other doxastic attitudes. Questions to be addressed could include: Are there non-evidential reasons for belief? Is there a distinctively epistemic sense of rationality, and if so, what is its nature? Does belief have an aim, and if so, what is it? Does belief have fittingness conditions, and if so, what are they, and what is their relationship to the question of what one should believe? Can we choose to believe, and what implications does this have (either way) for questions about the norms of belief?

We will explore different ideas of utility, ranging from the writings of Epicurus and Aristotle in ancient Greece to von Neumann, Ramsey, and Kahneman in the twentieth century. We will examine both predictive and normative issues, as well as comparison and aggregation of utility across individuals.

The class will focus on philosophical issues about death and dying and their bearing on public policies. Readings will include recent books and articles by philosophers, medical professionals, and lawyers.

A forum for the presentation and discussion of work in progress by students in moral and political philosophy. Open only to graduate students in the Philosophy Department or by invitation of the instructors.

A forum for the presentation and discussion of work in progress by students in metaphysics and epistemology. Open only to graduate students in the Philosophy Department or by invitation of the instructors.

Course is required for graduate students in their first year of teaching; optional for students in their second year of teaching. Students must complete both parts of this course (parts A and B) within the same academic year in order to receive credit.

A close reading of selected philosophical texts in German with the aim of developing and improving reading and translation skills.

A close reading of philosophical texts in classical Greek, with the aim of developing reading skills as well as making interpretive progress.

A close reading of philosophical texts in their original Latin language, with the aim of developing reading and translation skills.

2,500 years of essential works, taught by six professors. Humanities 10b is open only to students who completed Humanities 10a in Fall 2017. Humanities 10b includes works by Joyce, Nietzsche, Shelley, Rousseau, More, Machiavelli, Murasaki, Bai Juyi, Augustine, Plato, Sophocles, and Homer. One 90-minute lecture plus a 90-minute discussion seminar led by the professors every week. Students continue to receive instruction in critical writing one hour a week, in writing labs and individual conferences. Students also have opportunities to visit cultural venues and attend musical and theatrical events in Cambridge or Boston.
The course is open only to freshmen who have completed Humanities 10a. Students who take both semesters of Humanities 10 fulfill the College Writing Requirement. This is the only course outside of Expository Writing that satisfies that requirement.

Students who take Humanities 10b also meet the General Education divisional requirement in Arts and Humanities. No auditors. The course may not be taken Pass/Fail.

Political philosophy is the project of offering and evaluating answers to normative questions about politics—about how we as a society should get along and share in all the benefits and costs of living cooperatively. The “feminist” in “feminist political philosophy” can be taken to modify different aspects of that project. Unsurprisingly, then, work in feminist political philosophy is extraordinarily diverse. Notwithstanding some in-fighting about the right way to be a feminist political philosopher, this diversity is part of what equips us to make good progress in developing and refining answers to important political questions. Still, we might wonder what unifies these different traditions and methodologies. Many regard “the personal is political” as the unifying insight of contemporary feminist philosophy. This will be the unifying theme for us as well, as we work to better understand that slogan and explore its implications. We will begin by examining foundational work in contemporary political philosophy on theories of justice, as well as feminist challenges to that work. The tradition of liberalism is of particular interest, because the values it celebrates seem at once empowering and problematic from the perspective of feminist political philosophy. Ideals of liberty, individuality, and free choice can be deployed by feminists to critique unjust institutions, but they also appear to shield a great deal of injustice from censure. On the applied side, then, we’ll consider some “hard cases” for liberal feminist political philosophers: prostitution, pornography, and the gendered division of labor. Along the way, we’ll hear from some more radical voices, and we’ll explore intersections between feminism, social class, and race.

This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Ethical Reasoning.

Well-being, or welfare, is a kind of personal value – it is a value for some individual. We say that someone enjoys a high level of well-being when the life that they lead is a good one for them, and that when someone’s life goes poorly for them, their level of well-being is low. We can all probably point to certain kinds of lives that are paradigmatically high or low in well-being. But it is harder to identify what makes it the case that someone has a particular level of well-being, primarily because it is not obvious what things fundamentally contribute to or detract from the value of one’s life. In this seminar, we will consider contemporary approaches to welfare, including recent defenses of monistic theories like hedonism and the desire-satisfaction theory, as well as pluralistic theories. Though it will not be the primary focus of the course, we will also consider attempts to measure well-being in the social sciences, with special attention paid to what, if anything, value theorists and social scientists have to learn from one another.

This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Ethical Reasoning.

A close examination of three metaethical views that take a deflationary approach toward the moral domain: nihilism, relativism, and expressivism.

This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Ethical Reasoning.

Infinity captivates the imagination. A child stands between two mirrors and sees herself reflected over and over again, smaller and smaller, trailing off to infinity. Does it go on forever?  … Does anything go on forever?  Does life go on forever?  Does time go on forever? Does the universe go on forever?  Is there anything that we can be certain goes on forever? ... It would seem that the counting numbers go on forever, since given any number on can always add one.  But is that the extent of forever? Or are there numbers that go beyond that?  Are there higher and higher levels of infinity?  And, if so, does the totality of all of these levels of infinity itself constitute the highest, most ultimate, level of infinity, the absolutely infinite? In this seminar we will begin our exploration of the infinite with questions like these.

We will examine the different senses of the infinite by seeing how the infinite arises in many disciplines, from theology to the arts, from physics to modern mathematics. We will eventually focus on the infinite in mathematics and we will pursue its systematic study. But even here we are beset by difficulties. For there are so-called ``paradoxes of the infinite'', paradoxes that have led some to the conclusion that the concept of infinity is incoherent. We will see, however, that what these paradoxes ultimately show is that the infinite is just quite different than the finite and that by being very careful we can sharpen the concept of infinity so that these paradoxes are transformed into surprising discoveries. We will follow the historical development, starting with the work of Cantor at the end of the nineteenth century, and proceeding up to the present. The study of the infinite has blossomed into a beautiful branch of mathematics. We will get a glimpse of this subject, and the many levels of infinity, and we will see that the infinite is even more magnificent than one might ever have imagined.

Some philosophers, considering the suffering that we all naturally face, have recommended non-attachment as a way of overcoming that suffering and living a better life.  Often they defend this stance by appealing to ideas concerning the nature of the world, the nature of ourselves, and the relationship between ourselves and the world. In particular, they emphasize the "emptiness" of these phenomena, and argue that grasping this emptiness can help us eliminate attachments and understand why such elimination is sensible.  In this seminar, we explore these themes, drawing on perspectives found in both the Eastern philosophical tradition and the Western philosophical tradition.  We will begin with a general overview of ideas along these lines from the Eastern tradition, starting with ancient Buddhist philosophy and some of its later developments, including work by Nāgārjuna and other Eastern philosophers.  We will then shift to the Western tradition and consider points of contact with the ideas already discussed.  In particular, we will look at philosophical work on the nature of the ordinary objects that make up the world around us, work on what we can know and should believe about that world, and finally work on our selves, our agency, and our freedom to act in that world.  Our aim in these explorations will be to understand these philosophical notions of emptiness and non-attachment and their application to the problem of suffering.

What is death? Is it the end, or can we come back from it? Suppose death really is the end--when you die, you’re gone forever. Is death (ever) bad? If so, why is it bad (when it is bad), and how bad is it (when it is bad)? Do we have strong moral reasons to prevent others’ deaths? How about the deaths of non-human animals? Is it rational to care a lot about one’s future nonexistence while not caring at all about one’s past nonexistence? Many people want to live forever. But would living forever be a good thing, or would it have to get miserably boring? How important is it that other people go on living after we’ve died? In this tutorial, we shall try to answer these questions. Readings will mostly be by contemporary philosophers. Students will be required to give frequent in-class presentations, and to submit a final paper.

An introduction to some of the major topics and figures of 17th- and 18th-century Western philosophy, and to the skills of close reading, argument construction, and clear writing.  We will focus on such metaphysical and epistemological topics as the natures of mind, body and self, the equality of the sexes, the existence of the external world and God, the nature and limits of human knowledge, and the changing relationship between science and philosophy.  We will read such philosophers as René Descartes, Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, Margaret Cavendish, Thomas Reid, Nicolas Malebranche, David Hume, Lady Mary Shepard, and Immanuel Kant.  No pre-requisites. 

You probably want to live the best life for yourself. But what would that look like? Feeling pleasure, and avoiding pain? Having your desires satisfied? Maybe achieving knowledge, or securing fulfilling relationships? You might also care about living a moral life. But what would that look like? What actions are morally right or wrong, and what makes them that way? In this introduction to ethics, we'll begin by looking at three important theories of the good life: the pleasure theory, the desire-satisfaction theory, and the pluralist theory. We'll then turn to moral theories, investigating the relative strengths and weaknesses of those views that focus only on our actions' consequences, and those that reject this approach. In closing, we'll consider questions about the status of morality. What kind of judgment are we making when we say, for example, that something is morally wrong? Are there moral facts awaiting our discovery? If there are, how did they come to be - are they determined by humans and varying across cultures, like facts about the law or etiquette? Or perhaps determined by God? Or could they somehow have not been determined by anyone, standing as fundamental facts about reality?

Political philosophy is the project of offering and evaluating answers to normative questions about politics—about how we as a society should get along and share in all the benefits and costs of living cooperatively. The “feminist” in “feminist political philosophy” can be taken to modify different aspects of that project. Unsurprisingly, then, work in feminist political philosophy is extraordinarily diverse. Notwithstanding some in-fighting about the right way to be a feminist political philosopher, this diversity is part of what equips us to make good progress in developing and refining answers to important political questions. Still, we might wonder what unifies these different traditions and methodologies. Many regard “the personal is political” as the unifying insight of contemporary feminist philosophy. This will be the unifying theme for us as well, as we work to better understand that slogan and explore its implications. We will begin by examining foundational work in contemporary political philosophy on theories of justice, as well as feminist challenges to that work. The tradition of liberalism is of particular interest, because the values it celebrates seem at once empowering and problematic from the perspective of feminist political philosophy. Ideals of liberty, individuality, and free choice can be deployed by feminists to critique unjust institutions, but they also appear to shield a great deal of injustice from censure. On the applied side, then, we’ll consider some “hard cases” for liberal feminist political philosophers: prostitution, pornography, and the gendered division of labor. Along the way, we’ll hear from some more radical voices, and we’ll explore intersections between feminism, social class, and race.

Should we pursue happiness, and if so, what is the best way to do it? This course will critically assess the answers to these questions given by thinkers from a wide variety of different places, cultures, and times, including Stoicism, Epicureanism, Buddhism, Daoism, and contemporary philosophy, psychology, and economics.

How should governments respond to the problem of climate change? What should happen to the level of greenhouse gas emissions and how quickly? How much can the present generation be expected to sacrifice to improve conditions for future generations? How should the costs of mitigation and adaptation be apportioned between countries? Should significant funds be allocated to the study of geo-engineering? We will consider these and other questions in an effort to understand our responsibilities in respect of climate change, with a special focus on the structure of the analytical frameworks that have long been dominant among policymakers.

Graded independent study under faculty supervision. Interested students need approval of the DUS for their topic and must propose a detailed syllabus before the beginning of term.

Close reading and discussion of central themes in two of Aristotle’s works: the Nicomachean Ethics and the Politics. Questions will include: what role, if any, should a conception of virtue play in a theory of ethics and/or politics, and what role does such a conception in fact play in Aristotle’s theory? Is Aristotle’s theory egoistic? What are the respective contributions of habit, on the one hand, and reason, on the other, to an agent’s acting finely? What is the ethical significance of friendship? What roles do justice and civic friendship play in holding a polity together? In addition to our primary texts, we will take some time to discuss recent(-ish) secondary literature, and, if possible, bring in scholars working in the field to discuss their work with us.

In Books V-VII of Plato's Republic, Socrates characterizes the philosophers who are to rule in his ideal city. Through a combination of images and argument, he tries to get clear about the objects that an accomplished philosopher would know and understand: namely, Forms and The Good. This portion of the Republic includes the famous analogies of the sun, the line, and the cave. We will read it closely in Greek. In addition to simply reading this beautiful text, we will attend to strengthening our mastery of ancient Greek syntax, and building up a Plato-specific vocabulary.

We will explore Descartes' dualism in its historical context.  After examining the transformation that Descartes brought about in our conceptions of body and mind (and ourselves), we will consider some of the notorious metaphysical problems his dualism gives rise to and some 17th- and 18th- century attempts to push back against it in the figures of Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia, Henry More, Margaret Cavendish, Anne Conway, and Anton Amo.

A close reading of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, focusing on its treatments of the topics of meaning, reference, rule-following, cognition, perception, "the private mental realm" knowledge, skepticism, and the nature of philosophy. Attention to Wittgenstein's philosophical methodology, with its claim to dissolve philosophical problems rather than propose solutions to them.

A close reading of selected texts from Martin Heidegger’s later work, starting from the period after the publication of Being and Time. Heidegger's later work rejects the humanism of his own earlier period as well as the humanist existentialism made famous by Sartre. In doing so, it attempts to gather and preserve meaningful possibilities of existence in our "destitute times." Topics will be chosen from among Heidegger's encounter with various figures in the history of philosophy as well as with such topics as thinking, poetry, gods, works of art, science, technology, and things.

Three philosophically important results of modern logic: Gödel’s incompleteness theorems; Turing’s definition of mechanical computability; Tarski’s theory of truth for formalized languages. Discusses both mathematical content and philosophical significance of these results. Prerequisite: Some knowledge of deductive logic.

An introduction to philosophical and other accounts of meaning.  Topics may include:  human and non-human modes of communication; thought and reference; skepticism about meaning; vagueness; social meaning; truth and relativism.

A crowning achievement of 20th century science, quantum mechanics is also bizarre enough to lead intelligent people to claim that the universe perpetually splits into many copies of itself, that conscious minds can make physical systems “jump” unpredictably, that classical logic must be revised, that there is no objective reality, and much, much more. We will separate the wheat of genuine mystery from the chaff of philosophical confusion. No prior knowledge of quantum mechanics required.

An examination of the relation between the mind and the natural world. Topics include: the mind – body problem and proposed solutions to it, consciousness, and the mind’s representation of the world. Readings will consist mostly of influential papers from the latter half of the 20th Century.

A close reading of Elizabeth Anscombe's short 1957 monograph Intention, a founding text in the philosophy of action, which propounds an anti-Cartesian, non-behaviorist, non-materialist account of intention and related psychological phenomena on the basis of detailed conceptual analysis. 'The most important treatment of action since Aristotle' (Donald Davidson).

Well-being, or welfare, is a kind of personal value – it is a value for some individual. We say that someone enjoys a high level of well-being when the life that they lead is a good one for them, and that when someone’s life goes poorly for them, their level of well-being is low. We can all probably point to certain kinds of lives that are paradigmatically high or low in well-being. But it is harder to identify what makes it the case that someone has a particular level of well-being, primarily because it is not obvious what things fundamentally contribute to or detract from the value of one’s life. In this seminar, we will consider contemporary approaches to welfare, including recent defenses of monistic theories like hedonism and the desire-satisfaction theory, as well as pluralistic theories. Though it will not be the primary focus of the course, we will also consider attempts to measure well-being in the social sciences, with special attention paid to what, if anything, value theorists and social scientists have to learn from one another.

A close examination of three metaethical views that take a deflationary approach toward the moral domain: nihilism, relativism, and expressivism.

This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the General Education requirement for Ethical Reasoning.

A close examination of several of the late College de France lectures by Foucault (c. 1981-84), focused around issues relating to the care of the self.

This seminar will focus on philosophical issues in contemporary set theory. Topics include: The incompleteness phenomenon, justification and evidence in mathematics, axioms of infinity, axioms of definable determinacy, forcing axioms, and inner model theory.

A study of the varieties of determinacy and indeterminacy in perception.

In this seminar, we’ll work together to design a course that examines the role families play in perpetuating social injustice. Consider the animating problem: We seem to have wide moral prerogative to take special care of those we love, including especially members of our families. But the institution of the family seriously hinders attempts to make society more just, as evidenced by the many ways families transfer advantage across generations. What are we to make of this tension between social justice and the family, and what—if anything—can we do to resolve it? These questions are deeply important for our own lives, and will be deeply important for the lives of the students we go on to explore them with. I hope our group will include participants from different social and disciplinary backgrounds, and correspondingly that the courses we design will incorporate readings and methodologies that reflect our diversity. Most of the readings for our seminar will be scholarship on the central substantive questions outlined above, and each participant will have the opportunity to propose readings for us to consider together. We will engage with the material both as scholarship and as possible content for our subsequent courses, and participants will write regular discussion memos on the readings. Each participant will also read a book on pedagogy or learning theory, and write a precis of the book for the class. The sustained pedagogical project of the course will be to build an understanding of student-centered course design by practicing it in the context of the course we’ll be designing together.

An examination of selected topics in political philosophy. Topics will vary from year to year. In 2017-18, the seminar will focus on questions of justice in the organization of production, and alternative ways of understanding the significance of inequality for distributive justice.

A forum for the presentation and discussion of work in progress by students in moral and political philosophy. Open only to graduate students in the Philosophy Department or by invitation of the instructors.

A forum for the presentation and discussion of work in progress by students in metaphysics and epistemology. Open only to graduate students in the Philosophy Department or by invitation of the instructors.

Course is required for graduate students in their first year of teaching; optional for students in their second year of teaching. Students must complete both parts of this course (parts A and B) within the same academic year in order to receive credit.

A close reading of selected philosophical texts in German with the aim of developing and improving reading and translation skills.

A close reading of selected philosophical texts in French with the aim of developing and improving reading and translation skills.

A close reading of philosophical texts in classical Greek, with the aim of developing reading skills as well as making interpretive progress.

A close reading of philosophical texts in their original Latin language with the aim of developing reading and translation skills.