Fall 2007 Courses

Philosophy 1101. Introduction to Philosophy (Hum, 4cr)

Collier, Tu&Th 2:00- 3:40 and 4:00-5:40

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How should we live our lives? What happens after death? What is the relationship between the mind and body? Does God exist?  Why do bad things happen to good people? In this course, we will examine classical works in philosophy that address these "big questions" about human nature and its place in the universe.  Authors include: Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Lucretius, Sextus Empiricus, Descartes, and Hume.  We will also work on the development of philosophical writing, reading, and speaking skills.

Requirements: Evaluation will be based upon class participation, attendance, quizzes, two short papers, a midterm exam, and a final exam. Texts for this course will be available at the UMM bookstore.

Phil 2112 Professional Ethics (E/CR, 4cr)

Sommers, Tu&Th 10:00-11:40

This course examines ethical issues and problems that arise in professional environments. Topics to be discussed include corporate responsibility, government regulation, employee rights, harassment, affirmative action, and issues concerning social and economic justice in a global economy. The course is divided into roughly three (unequal) parts. First, we study some basic reasoning skills as well as the methods philosophers employ to evaluate arguments. Second, we do a crash course in ethical theory. Finally, we'll use the tools acquired in the first two parts to address the complex moral problems that can be found in contemporary professional life.

Phil 2101 Introduction to Symbolic Logic (M/SR, 4 cr)

Lemke, MWF 10:30-11:35 and 11:45 - 12:50

The study of logic develops our ability to evaluate reasoning, i.e., our own arguments as well as those of others. Symbolic logic is a very useful tool in evaluating more complex forms of reasoning, i.e., those inferences which are better expressed with symbols because their expression in everyday language might render their evaluation more difficult, time consuming, or impossible.

In this course, our approach to symbolic language and reasoning is gradual. At the beginning, we take a look at how arguments are expressed in everyday language and learn to recognize them. In the middle of the course, we introduce some symbolic tools which belong to a quite ancient type of logic, i.e. Aristotelian logic. In the final part of the course, we will learn to translate arguments expressed in ordinary language into a fully symbolic language, to use truth tables, and to evaluate arguments by means of a theory of deduction. In all three parts of the course, we apply some of the techniques we study to samples of writings such as political speeches, newspaper articles, or philosophical essays.

Past students have told us that this course has been quite useful in preparing for LSAT exams. If you enjoy thinking clearly, this is a good course for you. If you know you can think but are scared of symbols, this is again a good course for you!

Requirements: three in-class exams, a comprehensive final, three short papers in which you will analyzes in more depth an argument extracted from one of the readings or exercises; daily homework, attendance and participation.

Phil 3101 Metaphysics (HUM, 4 cr)

Garavaso, MW 3:30-5:10

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that addresses the most central philosophical questions. Some such questions are: What are the basic constituents of reality? What is a person? What makes us one and the same person over time? Is what we do up to us? Are human actions free? We will examine distinct answers to these questions with particular attention to the arguments provided in favor of them. The course will be conducted as a seminar with most of the time devoted to the discussion of the readings.

Requirements: Evaluation will be based on the participation to the discussion of the readings, two take home exams, first and final draft of the term paper, class presentation of the first draft of the term paper, attendance, and class participation. The only prerequisite is one introductory course in philosophy (or of course, any more advanced course). There will be readings on e-reserve at the library or on reserve in my office.

Philosophy 4000. Problems from Hume (Hum; 4cr)

Collier, Tu&Th 10:00-11:40

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David Hume is widely regarded as the greatest philosopher to ever write in the English language. This course examines the "top ten" philosophical problems that Hume raised concerning our scientific, moral, and religious beliefs. Topics include: universals, induction, causation, laws of nature, miracles, intelligent design, evil, free will, moral motivation, and the is/ought gap. We will also evaluate the various responses that contemporary analytic philosophers have offered to each of these problems.

Requirements: Evaluation will be based upon class participation, short "position papers" (for each problem), and a final paper. Primary texts include Hume's Treatise and Enquiries. Additional readings will be available on e-reserve at the library.

Phil 4111. Ethical Theory (Hum; 4 cr)

Sommers, Tu&Th 2:00-3:40

We all have strong moral beliefs and make confident moral judgments: terrorists are evil; discrimination is wrong. But what is the nature or status of these judgments? Are they objective or subjective? Do moral values vary significantly across cultures? If so, does that mean that these values can only be evaluated within a particular culture? This course addresses these and other questions in the field of metaethics.

Part 1 of the course offers an introduction to contemporary metaethical theory, covering all the leading positions including skeptical views that deny the existence of objective moral values. Part 2 examines the metaethical implications of evolutionary theory. We review recent work in philosophy, evolutionary biology, and the social sciences suggesting that moral emotions and norms are biological adaptations. We then ask what this research can tell us about the status of these norms and emotions and the moral beliefs that arise from them.

Texts: Alexander Miller, An Introduction to Contemporary Metaethics . Richard Joyce, The Evolution of Morality. J.L. Mackie, Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong.

Philosophy 4901. Senior Philosophical Defense