Course Offerings

2013/14 Graduate Courses

A preliminary list of graduate course offerings for 2013/14 is available here.

2012/13 Graduate Course Listing

The official university schedule of courses offered this term may be accessed online here

Please note that MA Philosophy students are asked to satisfy the following distribution requirement:

Courses:  18 course credits, with the following distribution requirements: (a) at least three credits in history of philosophy; (b) at least three credits in aesthetics, moral philosophy, or social and political philosophy; (c) at least three credits in metaphysics, epistemology or philosophy of science.

 

FALL 2012/2013

 

PHIL 607/2: Kant  (classification A)

Tuesday at 13:15 - 16:00

Ina Goy

Course Description to follow.

 

PHIL 612/2: Ancient Philosophy (classification A)

Monday at 18:00 - 20:15

Andrea Falcon

A study of Plato’s Timaeus. In antiquity the Timaeus was universally considered a contribution to physics, namely a work on nature (peri physeôs). In this course, we are especially interested in the Timaeus as expression of a style of physics that gives an account of the whole world from the beginning (ex archês). By adopting this style of physics, Plato places himself in continuity with the Presocratic tradition of investigation of nature. But he also goes beyond this tradition in significant ways.

 

PHIL 617/2: Origins of Analytic Philosophy

THIS COURSE HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE WINTER 2012/2013 TERM

 

PHIL 618/2: Origins of Continental Philosophy (classification A)

Crosslisted with RELI 629U

Wednesday at 18:30 - 20:45

Michael Oppenheim

Course Description to follow.

 

PHIL 633/2: Selected Topics in Value Theory (classification B)

Wednesday at 18:00 - 20:15

Matthew Barker

Using skills of analysis, we examine ways in which science and values intersect, focusing especially on biotechnologies of genetic engineering in plants, non-human animals, and humans. Does living behavior reduce to genes? Must subjectivity and values enter into science and if so, where? Should we eat genetically engineered foods? Are there moral problems with prenatal screening? Is all eugenics bad eugenics? Topics covered may include reductionism, scientific objectivity, moral status, humanitarian and environmental aspects of genetically engineered crops, animal welfare and rights, prenatal screening and genetic testing, eugenics, disability and enhancement.

 

PHIL 658/2: Selected Topics in Continental Philosophy (classification C)

Tuesday at 18:00 - 20:15

Matthias Fritsch

This course will be devoted to an exploration of deconstruction's possible contributions to environmental philosophy and intergenerational justice. To set the stage, we will study some well-known approaches to these issues (e.g. Rawls, Barry, Page). We will then consider some key texts by Derrida on historicity, futurity, and normativity with a view to rethinking the ontological and normative division between the human and non-human worlds as well as between the living, the dead, and the unborn. Course requirements include in-class presentations and either two shorter critical papers or a longer seminar paper.

 

PHIL 640/2: Metaphysics (classification C)

Thursday at 13:15 - 16:00

Murray Clarke

This course will evaluate various twentieth century responses to metaphysical issues in the philosophy of science. The logical positivists famously eschewed as meaningless all metaphysical talk in the first decades of the century. We will examine this cluster of views as espoused by Schlick, Carnap, Hempel, Ayer, and Neurath. By mid-century, there was a re-birth of metaphysics, as metaphysical realism, in the hands of Quine, Maxwell, and others. By the seventies and eighties, a variety of positions were espoused as various forms of realism and anti-realism provoked a lively metaphysical debate. Authors to be studied for this period will include: Putnam, van Fraassen, Musgrave, Laudan, Hacking, and others.  Texts: Ayer, A.J. (editor).   Logical Positivism (Macmillan, 1959), Curd, M. and Cover, J.A. (editors), Philosophy of Science (Norton, 1998), Putnam, H. Reason, Truth and History (Cambridge, 1981).

 

PHIL 678C/2: Advanced Topics in Philosophy (classification to be determined)

THIS COURSE HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE FALL TERM  AND CANCELLED FROM THE WINTER TERM

Special Topic: - Individuals, Persons & Development

Thursday at 18:00 - 20:15

David Morris

The concept “person” is playing an increasingly important role in recent discussions of, e.g., corporations and fetuses as persons. In this seminar we’ll conduct a critical study of this concept and the related concept “individual.” A working hypothesis is that personhood is an inherently developmental, relational and situationally embedded phenomenon, such that a person is not a substance or entity with a fixed essence. The further hypothesis is that there is a deep and inherent divergence between: what is meant by and appears in the compelling, obvious and important phenomenon of individuality; and the ontology or being of this phenomenon. Our being is not as individual or individuated as it appears to be, and yet the very dynamic of our being is to appear as having a sense of individuality. This hypothesis offers challenges to traditional views of persons, and also resonates with and offers resources with regard to recent approaches to problems of identity in, e.g., feminist philosophy and transgender studies. We’ll start with a study of Peter Strawson’s classic Individuals, briefly look at Hegel on individual agency, then work through issues concerning biological individuality via Arisotle, very recent immunology and developmental biology, and Gilbert Simondon’s work on individuation. This will lead to a study of human development via Merleau-Ponty’s lectures on child psychology. We will also be looking at some work in feminist philosophy and transgender studies on identity and individuality.

 

WINTER 2012/2013

 

PHIL 609D/4: Selected Topics in the History of Philosophy (classification A)

Special Topic: Early Modern Utopias

Thursday at 18:00 - 20:15

Justin Smith

This will be an advanced seminar in early modern political philosophy. We will be approaching our topic through a close reading of a handful of influential works in the so-called utopian genre, that is, works that give an account of a particular vision of the social good through the fictional artifice of an imaginary society. Arguably, the first work of this sort is Plato's Republic, but at the beginning of the modern era the genre enjoyed a new life, starting with Thomas More's Utopia of 1516, in large part as a result of new, real-world encounters with previously unknown civilizations in the Americas. This genre would also feature works that project the ideal society, variously, onto the moon or some imaginary planet, and in this respect early modern utopian writing also constitutes an important precursor to science fiction. We will be considering utopian writing from a literary and historical point of view, but our primary purpose will be to seek to learn what they have to offer for our understanding of the history of political thought in early modern Europe, in particular emerging ideas about liberty, self-determination, religious tolerance, justice, and punishment. Texts studied will include: Thomas More, Utopia (1516); Tommaso Campanella, The City of the Sun (1602); Francis Bacon, New Atlantis (1624); Johannes Kepler, The Dream (1638); Margaret Cavendish, The Blazing World (1666).

 

PHIL 615/4: 19th Century Philosophy (classification A)

Tuesday at 18:00 - 20:15

David Morris

This seminar is devoted to a close reading of substantive portions of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, a work that begins by studying consciousness and experience, and unfolds as a systematic study of the self, identity and community; cultural, moral, and ethical life; science, reason, faith, art, enlightenment and religion. The Phenomenology makes crucial contributions to the study of each of the areas just mentioned. Subsequent movements in philosophy, including those of Marxism, phenomenology, existentialism and deconstruction, are crucially informed by the Phenomenology. The aim of our reading will be to come to grips with the argument of the Phenomenology and the task of reading it, with an eye toward its implications for subsequent philosophical developments.

 

PHIL 617/4: Origins of Analytic Philosophy (classification A)

THIS COURSE HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE WINTER TERM

Monday at 18:00 - 20:15

Gregory Lavers

In 1879 Gottlob Frege put forward a system of modern logic. This new logic became a powerful tool, in the analytic tradition, for clarifying and providing solutions to a wide range of philosophical problems. The early analytic tradition focussed particular attention on questions of meaning and truth. In addition, they showed a strong interest in a priori knowledge. In this class, we look at how the new methods of modern logic were applied to traditional problems of meaning, metaphysics, epistemology and ontology. This course will not be a survey, but will instead look in detail at some of the most influential works within the early part of the analytic tradition. Our attention will be directed towards writings from Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein. The chosen readings are not of a highly technical nature, but strong understanding of predicate logic will be a definite asset in this course.

 

PHIL 621/4: Value Theory (classification B)

Wednesday at 18:00 - 20:15

Sheila Mason

In this course we examine key themes associated with recent developments in Virtue Ethics, such as moral motivation, practical reason and the acquisition of practical wisdom, the concept of virtue, the constitutive aspect of virtue contrasted with situationist psychology, the kinds and degrees of moral understanding, the cultivation of moral sensitivity, the varieties and sources of akrasia, the ideal of human ‘flourishing’, and the social embeddedness of the virtuous self. Class participation and weekly assignments form the backbone of the course. In addition to a few ‘spontaneous’ in-class tests, students will write several short papers, in one of which they will contrast some aspect of virtue theory with deontology or consequentialism, in another of which they will analyze a film of their choice using the key concepts of virtue theory: the exact values and dates of the assignments to be negotiated with the class at the beginning of the term.

*note to Graduate Students – The details of the course will be discussed with Prof. Mason prior to the start of the course*

 

PHIL 626/4: Advanced Political Philosophy (classification B)

Monday at 13:15 - 16:00

Pablo Gilabert

This seminar will be devoted to a sustained examination of recent contributions in political philosophy centered on the elaboration and defense of the socialist ideal. Readings will include texts by Joseph Carens, Gerald A. Cohen, Jon Elster, Pablo Gilabert, Michael Hardt, Will Kymlicka, Ernesto Laclau, Karl Marx, Richard Miller, Chantal Mouffe, Antonio Negri, Onora O’Neill, Miriam Ronzoni, Philippe Van Parijs, Nicholas Vrousalis, and Eric O. Wright, among others. This seminar has two objectives. First, we will seek to understand the texts assigned by engaging in a careful reading of them. Second, we will engage in a critical assessment of the central claims and arguments advanced by the authors of those texts and seek to develop our own views about the issues addressed. The format of the class, encouraging both careful reconstruction of the texts and active critical discussion of the themes, theses and arguments raised in them, is geared toward satisfying these objectives. Class requirements include class participation (including class presentations) and a critical paper. In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University's control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change

 

PHIL 634/4: Honours Epistemology (classification C)

Thursday at 13:15 - 16:00

Murray Clarke

In this course, we begin by evaluating some papers in standard analytic epistemology by Gettier, Goldman, Dretske, and others. Later, we look at the new wave of research on experimental philosophy by Knobe, Nichols, Alexander and Weinberg, Stich, Sosa, Kornblith, Goldman, Pust, Jackson and others. This new movement seeks to conduct empirical research on a variety of philosophical questions rather than rely on the armchair, conceptual analysis and other comfortable analytic tools. In particular, we will ask whether appeals to a priori intuition can answer important epistemological questions and, if not, whether empirical studies of human judgement will provide a better method for resolving such questions. We will also inquire as to the nature of philosophical intuition. What are intuitions? Whose intuitions matter in epistemology? When do intuitions count as decisive and evidential? Texts: Knobe, Joshua and Nichols, Shaun (editors), Experimental Philosophy (Oxford, 2008) and a variety of articles will be made available.

 

PHIL 650/4: Philosophy of Science (classification C)

Wednesday at 13:15 - 16:00

Matthew Barker

We examine issues that recently have clustered together in philosophy of science, including objectivity and values, realism, pluralism, agency and categorization, and even how to do philosophy. This leads to many related questions we’ll grapple with using basic skills of analysis, examples from philosophy of biology, and structured class discussion. What are promising accounts of the categories we name “human”, “living agent”, and “species”? Do we discover or instead invent such categories? How do they and our accounts of them help shape scientific evidence and verdicts about competing evidence? Is there more than one correct system of categories? What do these questions tell us about how science and values interact? How best do we answer these questions? Is it possible to answer them and similar philosophical questions at all? If they can’t be answered, how should we handle the fact that they arise?

 

PHIL 678C/4: Advanced Topics in Philosophy:

THIS COURSE HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE FALL 2012/2013 TERM

David Morris