PHIL 3357 Philosophy of Film
Dr. Andrew Kania
M 4:30-7:25
Chapman 040

In this course we will investigate several issues in the philosophy of film, concentrating on ‘analytic’ philosophy of film. The issues include the nature of film in general, the nature of various aspects and kinds of film, interpretation, gender issues in film, and the relation between film and philosophy.

Prerequisite: One of PHIL 1301, 1354, FILM 1301 or 2301.

 

 

PHIL 3340 Symbolic Logic II
Dr. Curtis Brown
MWF 11:30-12:20
Chapman 045

This course begins where Symbolic Logic I ends. Symbolic Logic I emphasizes learning to use a formal system to determine whether arguments are valid or not. Symbolic Logic II takes a more abstract view of formal systems, and focuses on metalogical results about them. For this offering of the course, we will use two texts. We will study Jose Zalabardo, Introduction to the Theory of Logic, for rigorous proofs of such properties of (some) formal systems as soundness, completeness, compactness, and the Löwenheim-Skolem Theorem. We will then turn to Peter Smith, An Introduction to Gödel's Theorems, to study the most famous metalogical result of the last hundred years, and to explore some connections with issues about the limits of computability

Prerequisite: PHIL 2340 or CSCI 1323or consent of instructor.

 

PHIL 3331 Philosophy of Mind
Dr. Curtis Brown
MW 2:30-3:45
CGC 045

This course will begin by discussing the problem of how mental phenomena fit into a physical universe. We will discuss the past century's most influential responses to the problem: behaviorism, the identity theory, and functionalism. We will then consider, in some detail, two main obstacles to a physicalist account of the mind: consciousness and mental content. For different reasons, both of these phenomena seem difficult to account for within a physicalist framework; we will look at attempts to accommodate them (and objections to the success of these attempts.) Finally, we will examine in depth the idea, associated with cognitive science, that the mind should be understood as a kind of computer.

Prerequisites: PHIL 1301 or 1354

 

 

PHIL 3322 Early Modern Philosophy
Andrew Brei
MWF 1:30-2:20
Chapman 045

A study of the classical modern philosophers, including the Rationalists; Descartes, Leibniz, and Spinoza; the Empiricists; Locke, Berkeley, and Hume; and the attempted synthesis of Kant.

Prerequisite: PHIL 1301 or 1354.

 

 

PHIL 3339 Epistemology
Dr. Steven Luper
TR 9:55-11:1025
Chapman 045

In this course we will survey a number of issues in contemporary theory of knowledge. 

Our topics will include:  the nature of knowledge and justified belief, skepticism, externalism,

naturalistic epistemology, a priorism, and epistemic relativism. 

The texts will be Knowledge: Readings in Contemporary Epistemology (Bernecker & Dretske, 2000) and Descartes Reinvented (Sorrell, 2005).

Prerequisite: PHIL 1301 or 1354; and 3322.

 

 

PHIL 4391 Seminar on a Problem
Dr. Steven Luper
TR 12:45-2:00
Chapman 045

In this course we will ask what death is and how death might benefit or harm those who die.  We will also consider related questions, such as these:  Why is killing prima facie wrong?  Is suicide morally acceptable?  Should suicides be assisted? Is abortion permissible?  The texts will be Metaphysics of Death (Fischer, 1993) and The Ethics of Killing (McMahan, 2003)
Prerequisite: 6 upper-division hours or consent of instructor.

 

 

PHIL 3325 Existentialism
Dr. Lawrence Kimmel
TR  2:10-3:25
Chapman 045

The development of existential thought from the writings of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche to more recent works by Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus.

Prerequisite: PHIL 1301 or 1354; and 3322.

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