Course Descriptions
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Department of Philosophy | |
| Spring
2008
Course Descriptions |
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| Course
Timetable |
PHIL 002-301 ETHICS FRESHMEN SEMINAR Monday, Wednesday -- 2:00-3:30 Adrienne Martin, adrm@sas.upenn.edu How should we go about morally evaluating our actions? We will read, discuss, and critique historical and contemporary answers to this question. Some moral philosophers focus on evaluating our actions in terms of their consequences, while others believe the intentions motivating our actions are of crucial moral importance. Still others recommend that we attend to the meaing of our actions-what we say by acting as we do. We will also look at historical and contemporary theories that focus on evaluating ourselves rather than our actions. Readings in this class will concern both practical problems (such as cosmetic surgery, abortion, affirmative action, and war) and theoretical issues (such as, what makes a right act right, and whether moral values always trump nonmoral values). ENROLLMENT RESTRICTED TO FRESHMEN SOCIETY SECTOR (ALL CLASSES)
RECITATIONS: PHIL 004-201 Friday -- 12:00-1:00 Brad Berman PHIL 004-202 Friday -- 12:00-1:00 Marcy Latta PHIL 004-203 Friday -- 10:00-11:00 Thomas Hilgers PHIL 004-204 Friday -- 10:00-11:00 Brad Berman PHIL 004-205 Friday -- 11:00-12:00 Marcy Latta PHIL 004-206 Friday -- 11:00-12:00 Thomas Hilgers In this course, we shall read and analyze some of the centrally important works of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophy. Our readings will include writings from Descartes, Locke, Hume, and Kant. We shall focus on metaphysics (the fundamental nature of reality) and epistemology (theory of knowledge). Some of the metaphysical questions dealth with by these authors concern the existence and nature of mind, matter and God, and the problem of human freedom. Some of the epistemological questions dealt with by these authors concern how much and what kind of knowledge we gain by the senses and by pure reason, and the limits of the human intellect. While we shall read these authors in order to get a sense of their historical relations to each other, the aim of the course is not to provide a sweeping survey of philosophy from Descartes through Kant. Rather, the aim is to focus on a few seminal texts in the history of modern philosophy especially appropriate to the themes noted above.
RECITATIONS: PHIL 008-402 Friday -- 10:00-11:00 Uygar Abaci PHIL 008-403 Friday -- 10:00-11:00 Greg Hall PHIL 008-404 Friday -- 11:00-12:00 Kathleen Robel PHIL 008-405 Friday -- 12:00-1:00 Kathleen Robel
PHIL 008-406 Friday -- 12:00-1:00 Greg Hall Cross listed with: PPE 008-406
PHIL 008-407 Friday -- 12:00-1:00 Uygar Abaci Cross listed with: PPE 008-407 This course examines the role of social contract doctrines in Western thought and culture. We will focus on the political writings of the major modern proponents of social contract theory: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Rawls. We will contrast their views with the utilitarian tradition, as represented by the political and economic philosophy of David Hume, Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill. We will also study Karl Marx, regarded as a critic of liberal constitutionalism. The course is designed to provide an introduction to some of the main issues in modern political philosophy. SOCIETY SECTOR (ALL CLASSES)
301 - Tuesday, Thursday -- 9:00-10:30 302 - Tuesday, Thursday -- 12:00-1:30 Matthew Katz, makatz@sas.upenn.edu What makes you who you are, and no one else? And what makes you the same person you were yesterday, or last week, or last year? We each have a unique identity, but wherein does that identity lie? This class introduces students to the problem of personal identity through an exploration of various theories of the self, the relationship between personhood and freedom, and challenges to our everyday understanding of ourselves. Films will serve as our jumping-off points for discussion and writing, and may include Being John Malkovich, Memento, and The Fly, among others. Readings will be drawn from historical and contemporary sources and assignments will include short essays, peer review, and two portfolios. FULFILLS THE COLLEGE WRITING REQUIREMENT MAY NOT BE COUNTED TOWARD A PHILOSOPHY MAJOR
PHIL 009-303 FREE WILL AND DETERMINISM Monday, Wednesday, Friday -- 10:00-11:00 Jason Skirry, skirry@sas.upenn.edu Is conscious choice an illusion or is it genuinely free? Are we free in what we do or are we determined by external factors that are beyond our control? Can our scientific view of the universe be reconciled with out conception of free will? In this course we will explore the perennial problem of freedom and determinism. This course will give students the opportunity to study a philosophical problem in depth, and also give them a starting point to examine other related philosophical problems, ranging from the mind-body problem to moral responsibility. Students will examine this problem from a historical as well as a contemporary perspective, giving them the opportunity to use different writing models, such as argumentative papers, informative reviews, and personal narratives. MAY NOT BE COUNTED TOWARD A PHILOSOPHY MAJOR
This course offers an introduction to three major types of formal reasoning: Deductive, inductive (probabilistic) and practical (also know as decision-making). First, and most centrally, we will be focusing on the logical structure of deductive arguments in the context of sentential and predicate logics, and their applications in scientific reasoning. next, we turn to inductive argument forms within the frameworks of elementary probability theory and statistics, with special regards to reasoning in experimental research. In the third (shortest) module, we introduce the basic principles of decision theory and practical reasoning. This course is designed for students with minimal background in Mathematics.
PHIL 025-001 PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE: EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT Tuesday, Thursday -- 10:30-12:00 Michael Weisberg, weisberg@phil.upenn.edu REGISTRATION REQUIRED FOR LECTURE & RECITATION RECITATIONS: PHIL 025-201 Friday 11:00-12:00 Matt Bateman PHIL 025-202 Friday 12:00-1:00 Matt Bateman An introductory course in the history and philosophy of science focused on the development of the modern, scientific view of the world. Starting with ancient Greek science, the course surveys the history of biology, chemistry, and physics examining the origin of concepts such as force, atom, evolution, species, and law of nature. The course also covers key issues in the philosophy of science including the relationship between theory and evidence, the nature of scientific explanation, and scientific realism. Readings will be drawn from the writings of Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Descartes, Newton, Boyle, Dalton, Darwin, Mendeleev, and Einstein, as well as secondary sources. NAT SCI & MATH SECTOR (NEW CURR ONLY)
PHIL 055-301 EXISTENTIALISM Tuesday, Thursday -- 12:00-1:30 Espen Hammer, ehammer@essex.ac.uk Existentialism was one of the most influential traditions of twentieth century philosophy. Its influence is not difficult to explain: in an often inspired and literary language, existentialism asks questions that are immediately relevant for any human being -- about the self, about authenticity and meaning, and about our possible relations to others. The course will start with a brief examination of the basic philosophical tenets of existentialism. We will in particular focus on notions such as anxiety, freedom, meaning, commitment and absurdity. The authors we will be reading are Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Buber, Sartre and Camus. We will also be watching and discussing some realted films, including Bergman's The Seventh Seal and Persona, as well as Antonioni's La Notte. As we get to understand the preoccupations of these central proponents of existentialism, we will discuss their assumptions as well as the consequences and possible validity of their teaching. Existentialism is both a very bleak philosophy of man and an inspiring call for self-determination and self-assertion. DIST CRS HIST/TRAD - CL OF 09 AND PRIOR
CANCELED
PHIL 209-301 PLATO A survey of central issues in the moral philosophy, metaphysics, and epistemology of Plato's dialogues. Readings will include early dialogues (such as APOLOGY, EUTHYPHRO, LACHES, CHARMIDES, PROTAGORAS, GORGIAS), dialogues from the "middle period" (such as REPUBLIC, PHAEDO, PHAEDRUS, SYMPOSIUM) and later dialogues (such as STATESMAN and LAWS). All works will be read in English translation. DIST CRS HIST/TRAD - CL OF 09 AND PRIOR
CROSS LISTED WITH: PPE 244-401, VLST 244-401 RECITATIONS: PHIL 244-402 Friday -- 11:00-12:00 Jerome Nance Cross listed with: PPE 244-402, VLST 244-402 PHIL 244-403 Friday -- 11:00-12:00 Krisanna Scheiter Cross listed with: PPE 244-403, VLST 244-403 PHIL 244-404 Friday -- 12:00-1:00 Krisanna Scheiter Cross listed with: PPE 244-404, VLST 244-404 PHIL 244-405 Friday -- 1:00-2:00 Jerome Nance Cross listed with: PPE 244-405, VLST 244-405 In this course, we will investigate the nature of the human mind from a philosophical perspective. We will do this by contrasting our mental lives with the cognnitive activities of non-human animals and with the operations of computers. Do either animals or computers have beliefs, desires, and conscious experiences? If they do, do they also have the same ethical rights and responsibilities as humans? If they don't, does this cast doubt on the reality of our own mental lives? DIST CRS HIST/TRAD - CL OF 09 AND PRIOR
PHIL 267-301 KANT & THE 19TH CENTURY The course will start with a brief examination of Hegel's philosophy. It will then proceed to Marx, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. Each of these philosophers can be said to be engaged in a critical dialogue with Hegel. We will reconstruct these critical dialogues and ask whether these thinkers succeed in overcoming Hegel. Of particular importance to the course will be the assessment of Hegel's rationalism. Both Marx, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche attack Hegel's view that "the real is rational and the rational is real." There is in these later thinkers an emphasis on finitude that Hegel seems to lack. Whereas Hegel sees history, nature and society as inherently rational, the neo-Hegelians deny this and argue that reason is at best unrealized and limited. DIST CRS HIST/TRAD - CL OF 09 AND PRIOR
PHIL 279-401 MARKETS, MORALITY & THE FUTURE OF CAPITALISM
PHIL 325-301 TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE: SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION For the last five decades, scientific explanation has been one of the central topics in philosophy of science. In the first part of the seminar, we will examine the major accounts of explanation beginning with Hempel's classic treatment. We will also pay special attention to the accounts offered by Salmon, Railton, Friedman, Kitcher, and van Fraassen. More recently, philosophers of science has turned their attention to the explanations given in specific sciences and this will be the emphasis of the second part of the course. We will analyze the historical and ecological explanations given in Diamond's Collapse and the biological and chemical explanations given in McGee's The Curious Cook. PHILOSOPHY MAJORS ONLY
PHIL 342-301 CONTEMPORARY METAPHYSICS Tuesday, Thursday -- 12:00-1:30 James Ross, jross@sas.upenn.edu Explorations of some issues concerning properties, qualities, holes, truth, necessity and impossibility, the human mind and animal perception, with a manuscript (by the teacher) and further readings from a recent collection from Duns Scotus and William of Ockham (c. 1300). There are three short papers (3-5 pages), one 12-15 page paper on a book or problem to be selected by the student with the teacher's advice, with a take-home final exam based on the assigned readings. Seminar style discussions. PHILOSOPHY MAJORS ONLY
PHIL 345-301 CONSCIOUSNESS AND COMPUTATION Tuesday, Thursday -- 12:00-1:30 Susan Schneider, sls@phil.upenn.edu In this seminar we survey a host of central philosophical issues in cognitive science (as well as philosophy of mind). We shall begin with key theories of the nature of consciousness by both philosophers and scientists. We shall then pursue the related issue: how can thought be computational? Here, we shall consider the language of thought program, as well as the connectionist (neural network) approach to the computational basis of thought. (Here, we shall also touch on the important issues of innateness, ocncepts and modularity). We shall then apply our knowledge of the computational basis of thought to the important new otpic of "neuroethics", examining ethical dimensions of the computational mind. Questions considered include: Should we enhance our cognitive capacities (e.g., as "cyborgs" or "superintelligence"), altering our very natures? Should intelligent androids (and AI systems more generally) have rights? And what sort of 'ethical programming' should such systems possess? Using a blend of science fiction thought experiments and new scientific results, we shll begin to frame philosophical problems at the interface of bioethics and philosophy of mind. PHILOSOPHY MAJORS ONLY
PHIL 412-401 TOPICS IN LOGIC Monday, Wednesday -- 2:00-3:30 Andre Scedrov, scedrov@math.upenn.edu CROSS LISTED W/MATH 571-401, LGIC 320-401, CIS 518-401 Propositional logic: semantics, formal deductions, resolution method. First Order Logic: validity, models, formal deductions; Godel's completeness theorem, Lowenheim-Skolem theorem: cut-elimination, Herbrand's theorem, resolution Method. Computability: finite automata, Turing machines, Godel's incompleteness Theorems. Algorithmically unsolvable problems in mathematics.
PHIL 423-401 PHILOSOPHY AND VISUAL PERCEPTION Tuesday, Thursday -- 1:30-3:00 Gary Hatfield, hatfield@linc.cis.upenn.ed CROSS LISTED WITH: VLST 223-401 The course starts with a discussion of theories of visual perception and their relation to philosophy. We consider a case study of the metaphysics of vision, by examining the metaphysics of color qualities. Then we survey visual theories from Ptolemy to Rock, with stops to include Descartes, Berkeley, Helmholtz, and Koffka. We consider selected philosophical topics, including the existence and structure of visual space, and the representational relation between images and things imaged (e.g., between pictures and what they represent).
PHIL 463-301 BRITISH PHILOSOPHY I Monday, Wednesday -- 3:30-5:00 Karen Detlefsen, detlefse@nous.phil.upenn.edu In this course, we will study the theoretical philosophy of some of the key thinkers of the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century: Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. These philosophers maintain that all our knowledge derives either from sensations or from reflections on sensations, and they extend this empiricism to their general investigations of the natural world. We will study these philosophers' sciences of human nature and of the natural world in general, including their attempts to determine the limits of human cognition, and therefore, the limits of our investigation of nature. In addition to these general themes, we will also follow the development of issues such as the theory of ideas and personal identity.
PHIL 475-402 BEHAVIORAL ETHICS Monday -- 2:00-5:00 Cristina Bicchieri, cb36@sas.upenn.edu CROSS LISTED WITH: PPE 475-402 This is a Capstone advanced research seminar directed at PPE students interested in interdisciplinary research in psychology, philosophy, social and cognitive science. Our focus will be on identifying and discussing issues of philosophical significance raised by recent work in moral psychology, experimental economics and behavioral decision making.
PHIL 475-403 GLOBAL JUSTICE Tuesday -- 3:00-6:00 Kok-Chor Tan, kctan@sas.upenn.edu CROSS LISTED WITH: PPE 475-403 We will read some of the important recent writings on global justice in this course. Questions we will discuss include: is global justice possible, or is the global arena essentially a Hobbesian state of nature? In what sense are human rights universal? Is the idea of universal rights compatible with the political sovereignty of states? How should cultural differences affect our understanding of human rights? What is a just war? What is terrorism, and what are the moral limits in combating terrorism? Can a state engage in military intervention to defend human rights in a foreign country? Authors we will read include Charles Beitz, Thomas Nagel, Martha Nussbaum, Thomas Pogge, John Rawls, and Michael Walzer.
PHIL 505-401 FORMAL LOGIC I Monday, Wednesday, Friday -- 11:00-12:00 This course provides an introduction to the fundamental ideas of logic and computation. Topics will include truth functional logic, quantificational logic, and logical decision problems. This course satisfies the Sector IV: Formal Reasoning and Analysis requirement for students in the Class of 2009 and earlier, and the Foundational Approaches: Formal Reasoning and Analysis requirement for students in the Class of 2010 and later.
PHIL 510-301 LATE PLATO: PLATO'S LAWS Tuesday -- 3:00-6:00 Susan Meyer, smeyer@nous.phil.upenn.edu A study of Plato's last work in political philosophy, the LAWS, which is a dialogue about the goals and methods of legislation. The three interlocutors, an Athenian, a Spartan, and a Cretan, formulate a constitution for the soon to be founded city of Magnesia. Topics that arise in the discussion include moral psychology, the nature of human happiness, the rule of law, the role of religious beliefs and institutions in the state, and the tension between the coercive nature of law, on the one hand, the persuasive ambitions of the moral educator on the other. UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION DIST CRS HIST/TRAD - CL OF 09 AND PRIOR
PHIL 529-301 MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY: AQUINAS Critical examination of some key themes in the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274); seminar format with student presentations, emphasis on individual research and paper writing, and requiring a significant term paper. Topics may include main themes in natural philosophy, religion and science, and natural justice and law. UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION
PHIL 530-301 PHILOSOPHY OF MIND: ASPECTS IN PERCEPTION AND THOUGHT This course will examine a range of cases in which we experience or think of something 'under an aspect', in a way that appears not to be reducible to simply taking in or entertaining propositional information. We'll begin with the most familiar case: aspectual perception. As Wittgenstein says, when I come to see the duck-rabbit figure as a duck, "I see that it has not changed, and yet I see it differently." When I undergo such an aspectual shift, what changes, and what remains constant, in my perceptual experience? What implications does this have for an adequate theory of perceptual experience? Most cases of seeing-as involve the application of a concept, such as duck. However, when I hear a sequence of notes as a melody, the difference in my perceptual experience appears to be more structural than conceptual; and when I hear the melody as sad, the concept sad seems to have a very different sort of application than duck does in the case of the Gestalt figure. How should we understand these cases? Next, we'll consider the application of aspects in thought. Many theorists have wanted to analyze metaphor in terms of 'seeing-as': when Romeo says that Juliet is the sun, they argue, his aim is to induce an overall perspective or way of thinking about Juliet in his hearers, rather than to communicate information about her. In what respects is this 'way of thinking' non-propositional? In what respects does it involve propositions? What are the implications of this for the claims that metaphors express propositional contents, and can be paraphrased? Likewise, understanding the narrative in a work of fiction or history also arguably involves an aspect: an overall sense of the story's arc, and not just a grasp of the sequence of events. In what ways is this similar to and different from the 'structural' aspects that allow us to hear notes as a melody? Finally, we'll consider the role of aspects in affective and evaluative attitudes: to what extent do our emotional, ethical, and aesthetic responses to the world involve the application of aspects? What differentiates the sorts of aspects in play in each of these cases, and in perception and thought?
PHIL 544-301 PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEMS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE Wednesday -- 12:00-3:00 Susan Schneider, sls@phil.upenn.edu Two of the most central debates in philosophy of mind/philosophy of cognitive science concern the following interrelated questions: i. What is the fundamental nature of consciousness? ii. How can thought be computational? Herein, we shall try to answer these two questions, as well as focusing on puzzles emerging from the relationship between our answers to these questions. First, we shall delve into some leading theories of the nature of consciousness. Of particular interest here will be two areas of thought: whether property dualism is the most plausible answer to i., and what a naturalistic theory of consciousness would look like. (Here, we shall read papers by leading philosophers and scientists in my *Blackwell Companion to Consciousness*). Then, we shall turn to computational theories of mind. Jerry Fodor has devised an intriguing and influential philosophical program, which, at least for some, promises up a framework for how thought can be computational. However, Fodor himself (ironically) has offered arguments claiming that his Computational Theory of Mind (CTM) it is not a sufficient answer to ii., although perhaps it goes part way. And CTM has said next to nothing about i., the question about the fundamental nature of consciousness. In this seminar, I set up a new framework for the CTM program, one which dialogues more with current work in neuroscience and AI in order to answer ii., and which connects the computational theory of mind to the important topic of the nature of consciousness to propose an answer to i.. UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION
PHIL 566-401 KANT'S MORAL PHILOSOPHY: THE RECEPTION OF KANT'S ETHICS Wednesday -- 12:00-3:00 Paul Guyer, pguyer@nous.phil.upenn.edu CROSS LISTED WITH: GRMN 566-401 this course will examine the reception and influence of Kant's moral philosophy from its appearance to the present. Philosophers to be studied will be drawn from Friedrich Schiller, J.G. Fichte, G.W.F. Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, T.H. Green, Henry Sidgwick, Max Scheler, R.M. Hare, John Rawls, Juergen Habermas, and Christine Korsgaard. The course will be conducted as a seminar, with each participant required to make a classroom presentation and to write a term paper. PREREQUISITE: Prior study of Kant's moral philosophy (PHIL 466 or its equivalent) is a prerequisite. DIST CRS HIST/TRAD - CL OF 09 AND PRIOR UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION
PHIL 572-301 CONTEMPORARY ETHICS This seminar will be dedicated to close reading and critical discussion of two or three recent works in systematic ethics. Likely candidates include Derek Parfit's manuscript, *Climbing the Mountain*, Stephen Darwall's *The Second-Person Standpoint*, and/or Christine Korsgaard's forthcoming collection, *The Constitution of Agency*. Students will be asked to run at least one discussion during the course of the semester. DIST CRS SOCIETY - CL OF 09 AND PRIOR
PHIL 577-001 PHILOSOPHY OF LAW Tuesday, Thursday -- 3:00-4:20 Stephen Perry, sperry@law.upenn.edu CROSS LISTED WITH: LAW 799-001
In this course we will examine the phenomenon of law from a philosophical perspective, as well as certain philosophical topics that are closely related to law. We will begin by looking at some of the classical philosophical questions about the nature of law, through the lens of readings drawn mainly from contemporary analytic jurisprudence. Drawing on the work of such writers as H.L.A. Hart, Ronald Dworkin, Joseph Raz, and John Finnis, we will, in this section of the course, ask such questions as the following: What is the relationship between law and morality? How can we best account for the apparent normativity of law? What is the nature of the authority that law claims for itself? Is there a general moral obligation to obey the law? In the second half of the course, we will examine a number of philosophical topics that are closely related to law. These are likely to include the following: What is the nature of justice? What is the relationship between justice and law? What is the nature of a right, both in morality and in law? What theory of individual responsibility is presupposed by the criminal law? What is the best justification for the practice of criminal punishment? What is the best justification for the institution of private property? UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION
PHIL 578-301 TOPICS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY Wednesday -- 3:00-6:00 Samuel Freeman, sfreeman@sas.upenn.edu A study of contemporary literature on democracy, republicanism, distributive justice, global justice and duties of affluent countries. DIST CRS SOCIETY - CL OF 09 AND PRIOR UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION
PHIL 580-401 AURA AND REFLECTION: THEORY OF ART, MEDIA AND AESTHETICS OF WALTER BENJAMIN Monday -- 3:00-6:00 Hartmut Boehme CROSS LISTED WITH: GRMN 580-401, COML 582-40, ENGL 778-401 One three-hour class per week, plus two additional classes to be scheduled by the professor. Classes will meet on the following dates: 2/11/08, 2/18/08, 2/25/08, 3/3/08, 3/17/08, 3/24/08 3/31/08. The international Benjamin fad is over. Now is the time to explore the achievements and limits of Benjamin's thinking in a historic as well as theoretic, hermeneutical as well as the critical context. Central to the seminar are writings on the questions of art, media and aesthetic theory. Through these, we will present and discuss the traditions, concepts and development of Benjamin's thinking starting from his first writings of his youth (1914/15) to his death in 1940. The tightly interwoven nature of Benjamin's style and content is matched by few other philosophers. Therefore, we will discuss the expanse of genres in which his thinking takes form: theory becomes literary and literature becomes a form of reflection. Crossover between genres makes Benjamin's texts difficult. The seminar should increase the students' understandings of Benjamin's way of thought through a reconstruction of the methodology of the texts. Texts to be discussed in class will be available online. UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION
PHIL 700-301 DISSERTATION WORKSHOP Tuesday -- 6:00-9:00 Kok-Chor Tan, kctan@sas.upenn.edu Registration required for all third-year doctoral students. Fourth year students and beyond attend and present their work. From time to time, topics pertaining to professional development and dissertation writing will be discussed.
COLLEGE OF GENERAL STUDIES PHIL 002-601 ETHICS An investigation of some of the central questions about the nature of
morality: Are moral judgments objective and justifiable? Can moral disagreements
be resolved rationally? How are we to understand theidea of a good life,
and what is the relationship between a good life and morality? Readings
will be from both contemporary and historical sources, and will concern
both practical problems (e.g. war and peace) and theoretical issues.
PHIL 003-601 HISTORY OF ANCIENTPHILOSOPHY Wednesday -- 6:30-9:30 A survey of classical Greek approaches to questions about knowledge,
the nature of the world, the soul, ethics, and politics. The course will
focus on the Presocratics, Plato, and Aristotle.
PHIL 026-601 PHILOSOPHY OF SPACE & TIME A study of the historical introduction to the philosophy of space and time from ancient Greek conceptions to modern scientific theories. We will especially focus on Zeno's paradoxes of space, time and motion, on Democritus' atomistic concept of empty space and Aristotle's topos, on the development of cosmology from Aristotle-Ptolemy to Copernicus, Tycho Brahe and Kepler. Then we will study the development of a new worldview in the XVI-XVIII centuries; Descartes, Galilei and Newton. Some lectures will be devoted to the crisis of the mechanical worldview and the origin of the modern science: theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and relativistic cosmology. No previous physics or philosophy will be presupposed, and only high school mathematics will be used.
PHIL 028-601 FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY Feminist Political and Social Philosophy:
PHIL 488-640 NATIONALISM AND IDEOLOGY We live in an era of intense, sometimes violent, ideological conflict. For more than 200 years, nationalism has been among the most important sources of such conflict. Starting with an examination of the ideologies of a variety of contemporary and historical nationalist movements, this course will explore the ideology of nationalism, what it means, its philosophical foundations, moral implications, underlying assumptions about the nature of human identity, political consequences, alternatives, and its connections to individualism, rationality, universalism, political extremism, fascism, terrorism, and religious fundamentalism. In the process, we also will consider a variety of questions about ideology in general, the characteristics of ideological thinking, and the role of ideologies in our contemporary world. Our examination of these questions about nationalism and ideology will lead us to a deeper understanding of the ideological foundations of contemporary cultural and political conflicts.
LOGIC, INFORMATION AND COMPUTATION
LGIC 010-401 IDEAS IN LOGIC AND COMPUTATION This course provides an introduction to some of the fundamental ideas of logic and computation. Topics will include truth functional, logic, quantificational logic, and logical decision problems. This course satisfies the Sector IV: Formal Reasoning and Analysis requirement for students in the Class of 2009 and earlier, and the Foundational Approaches: Formal Reasoning and Analysis requirement for students in the Class of 2010 and later. GEN REQ IV: FRML REAS - CL OF 09 & PRIOR
LGIC 220-401 APPLIED MATH INFO & COMP II Topics will be drawn from some subjects useful in the analysis of information and computation: logic, set theory, theory of computation, number theory, probability, and basic cryptography.
LGIC 320-401 LOGIC II Monday, Wednesday -- 2:00-3:30 Andre Scedrov, scedrov@math.upenn.edu CROSS LISTED WITH: MATH 670-401, PHIL 412-401 Propositional logic: semantics, formal deductions, resolution method. First Order logic: validity, models, formal deductions; Godel's completeness theorem, Lowenheim-Skolem theorem: cut-elimination, Herbrand's theorem, resolution Method. Computability: finite automata, Turing machines, Godel's incompleteness Theorems. Algorithmically unsolvable problems in mathematics.
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Oct 26, 2004 |
  
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