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Philosophy Department
UC Santa Cruz
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Phone (831) 459-2070
Fax (831) 459-2650

WINTER 2008
PHILOSOPHY COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Lower Division	History of Phil	Upper Division
Seminar Courses		Graduate

Lower-Division Courses

Phil 9, Intro to Logic (Bowin) Class #39089
TTh 8:00-9:45 am, Classroom Unit 1

This is a first course in symbolic deductive logic encompassing sentential logic, that takes sentences as the fundamental units of logical analysis, and predicate logic, that takes predicates and individual terms as the fundamental units of logical analysis. Major topics will include natural deduction, truth trees, interpretations, and translation from natural
to symbolic languages. The text will be The Logic Book by Bergmann, Moor & Nelson.

For more information: http://bowin.ucsc.edu/~johnbowin/Philosophy/phil9.htm

Phil 80M, Science & Society (Roth) Class # 43955
MW 5:00-6:45 pm, Oakes 105

How does scientific inquiry, imagined as objective and rational, connect and relate to its social milieu, understood as a politicized arena of competing parochial interests? Prior to the 1960s (and indeed through most of the history of philosophy), scientific method was more or less synonymous with the notion of rational/objective inquiry, i.e., a pursuit of knowledge untainted by the passions and the interests that dominate the world outside the laboratory. Call this the “traditional conception” of scientific method and of science as an institution. Yet since the 1960s, this traditional conception has been held to be untenable. This course focuses on the philosophical reasons for the erosion of  traditional conception due to indefensible notions of the objectivity of reasoning and evidence. But challenges to the objectivity claims of the traditional conception arise as well from observations how  scientific theories and practices imbibe and then nurture, e.g., gender bias, racial bias, and distortions due to funding and other economic influences. The philosophical challenge in all of this involves formulating an account of science that acknowledges its existence both as a social institution and yet also as a producer of usable knowledge.

Texts: (available at the Literary Guillotine)
John Zammito, A Nice Derangement of Epistemes
Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd Ed.
Mario Biagioli, ed., The Science Studies Reader

All texts available in paperback, most probably available used.

History Courses

Phil 110, Heidegger (D. Hoy) Class # 43913
TTh 2:00-3:45 PM, Cowell 134

The philosophy of Martin Heidegger, including his most important work, Being and Time, as well as later writings on Technology, Art, and Humanism.

Texts (Available at The Literary Guillotine, 204 Locust Street):
Required: Heidegger, Being and Time
                 Heidegger, Basic Writings (David Krell, ed.)
Recommended: Hubert Dreyfus, Being-in-the-World: A Commentary

Download the full syllabus here. (pdf)

Phil 112, American Philosophy (Winther) Class # 43943
TTh 8:00-9:45 PM, Stevenson 150

What makes our assertions, theories, and beliefs true and justified? How can we ascertain the veracity and validity of our scientific knowledge, moral views, and even emotional states? What do action and communication have to do, if anything, with truth and justification? These philosophical questions are usually interpreted and analyzed within the tradition of Analytic Philosophy, which focuses mainly on syntactic structures and semantic relations, and deemphasizes pragmatic context. From this vantage point, American Pragmatism is seen as hopeless or even irrelevant for understanding truth and justification. Without losing sight of the strengths of Analytic Philosophy, this class explores the ways in which Pragmatism actually elucidates these two core philosophical concepts. Furthermore, examining these questions provides a productive entry-point for understanding what Pragmatism itself is. We will see that Pragmatism brings to the fore the relevance of human intervention, as well as communal interaction and norms, for assessing truth and securing justification.
            The first readings briefly introduce the issues of truth and justification. We then turn to key texts by the classical Pragmatist: C.S. Peirce, William James and John Dewey. We also discuss papers by two of their contemporaneous critics, Bertrand Russell and Hans Reichenbach. The last part of the course discusses work by important thinkers, with strong pragmatic roots, from the latter half of the 20th century: WVO Quine, Hilary Putnam, Richard Rorty and Jürgen Habermas. Each text is discussed in light of the concepts of truth and justification.

Download the full syllabus here. (pdf)

Upper-Division Courses

Phil 125, Scientific Realism in the 20th Century (Winther) Class #43953
TTh 10:00-11:45 PM, College Eight 250

In this class, we will examine the development of scientific realism in the 20th century. What is the ontological status of processes and entities referred to by our best scientific theories? Do these processes and entities exist? How could we possibly know if they existed? What happens to them, if anything, when our theories change? These questions were constitutive for even establishing Philosophy of Science as a profession during the early 20th century. We will examine different types of answers to these questions in roughly chronological order throughout the 20th century. For example, logical positivists (e.g., Rudolf Carnap and Moritz Schlick) and pragmatists (e.g., William James and John Dewey) at the beginning of the last century, metaphysical constructivists at mid-century (e.g., Paul Feyerabend and Thomas Kuhn), and realists (e.g., Richard Boyd and Philip Kitcher) and feminists (e.g., Evelyn Fox Keller and Donna Haraway) at its end, represent five different manners of thinking about these questions. These schools are neither mutually exclusive nor collectively exhaustive. Of course, significant variation existed within each school, but there are general philosophical positions that characterize each tradition as such. One goal of this course will be to assess the internal consistency of these general positions. We will also evaluate the cogency of the contemporary "realist consensus" in light of alternative schools.

Download the full syllabus here. (pdf)

Phil 146, Philosophy of Law (Neu) Class # 44437
TTh 12-1:45 AM, Merrill 102

Exploration of selected problems in jurisprudence: "legal reasoning" and social policy, rules and individual cases, the mental element in the law, punishment and responsibility, causation and fault, liberty and paternalism, etc. (Also offered as Legal Studies 146. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.)

Phil 149, Law, Conceptions of Justice, and Forgiveness (Baker) Class #44574
MWF 12:30-1:40 pm, Crown 208

The focus of this course is the use of law to achieve justice, with special attention to the question: do we need new concepts in the law? The nature of justice itself becomes problematic in the second part of the course. The idea of Retributive Justice is challenged by that of Restortative Justice. We will discuss the issues of forgiveness and reconciliation that underlie the work of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, and seve as a bridge to the conception of Restorative Justice. Issues regarding new evaluative concepts are discussed via J. Lear's account of Radical Hope.

Requirements:
2-hours final: 45%
Midterm: 30%
10-page essay (due at end of term, last class) plus short assignment: 25%

Texts:
Course Reader
Forgiveness and Mercy by Hampton and Murphy (selections)
Truth v Justice (on reserve), articles by Greenwalt and Levinson
Film: Long Night's Journey into Day

Undergraduate Seminar Courses

Phil 190A, Topics in Ancient Greek Philosophy: The Concept of Virtue in Aristotle & Kant (Bowin) Class #44261
W 9:30 am-12:30 pm, Stevenson 217

Course Description: According to Kant, virtue is a sort of moral fortitude in resisting the “strong but unjust opponent” that is our affective and appetitive nature.  Aristotle, however, claims that virtue is a state that results from training this “unjust opponent” to behave reasonably.  The purpose of this course will be to explore the roles that these radically different concepts of virtue play in their respective moral theories. Primary Texts: The primary texts will include Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Rhetoric, and Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, and Metaphysical Principles of Virtue. Secondary Sources: We will use A. O. Rorty (Ed.) (1981). Essays on Aristotle’s Ethics, University of California Press (ISBN: 978-0520040410), as well as articles by Nussbaum, Striker, Korsgaard, Sherman and Herman provided in a course reader available at the Bay Tree Bookstore. Evaluation Basis: Students will be evaluated based on their written work, primarily their term papers, and on assigned presentations to the class. Greek: This course presupposes no familiarity with ancient Greek.  If there is sufficient interest, however, an instructor-led satellite group may be set up for students willing and able to read Aristotle in the original. Prerequisite(s): Phil-91. Also offered as Phil 202.

For more information: http://bowin.ucsc.edu/~johnbowin/Philosophy/phil190&202.htm

Phil 190B, Nietszche (J Hoy) Class #43960
W 2:00-5:00 pm, Cowell 216

This seminar (enrollment restricted to senior philosophy majors) will focus on Nietzsche’s “ethics”, with special attention to critical charges that Nietzsche’s genealogy of morality results in immoralism, nihilism or the aesthetizisation of existence. In addition to a careful reading of primary texts, including The Gay Science and On the Genealogy of Morals, students will be required to engage important secondary materials on Nietzsche, specifically Deleuze’s Nietzsche and Philosophy and essays by contemporary Anglo-American philosophers, such as Philippa Foot, Martha Nussbaum, and Bernard Williams, in the excellent collection Nietzsche, Genealogy and Morality, edited by Richard Schact, as well as in some other anthologies.

The seminar will emphasize student discussion and interaction. Students will be expected to come to seminar prepared – with outlines, reading notes and weekly 2-page response papers – to discuss the week’s readings. Students in conjunction with the instructor will formulate the seminar agenda at the beginning of each meeting by individually presenting issues and questions (to be noted on the board) for further discussion. An important component of the seminar will be a final 10-15-page paper. A complete first draft of the paper, with multiple copies, will be due no later than the beginning of the tenth week of class. Students will share copies of their drafts with two other students, who will then be required to offer detailed written critiques of the drafts, to be returned in time for final revisions.

Required texts (available at The Literary Guillotine, 204 Locust Street):
Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Bernard Williams, ed. (Cambridge University Press)
The Nietzsche Reader, Keith Ansell Pearson and Duncan Lange, eds. (Blackwell)
Gilles Deleuze, Nietzsche and Philosophy (Columbia)
Richard Schact, ed., Nietzsche, Genealogy and Morality (UC Press)

Requirements:
1. Attendance and participation at all seminar meetings; only pre-excused absences permitted. Participation includes proposing questions for seminar agenda.

2. Five 2-page response papers; one10-15 page seminar paper, due at the end of the quarter.

3. Complete first draft of final seminar paper due no later than beginning of tenth week of classes

4. Written critique of two students’ drafts.

5. Presentation of fellow students’ seminar drafts at final seminar meeting.

Recommended texts (available at The Literary Guillotine)
Alexander Nehamas, Nietzsche: Life as Literature (Harvard University Press)
Kelly Oliver and Marilyn Pearsall, eds. Feminist Interpretations of Friedrich Nietzsche
John Richardson and Brian Leiter, eds., Nietzsche (Oxford)
Alan Schrift, Nietzsche and the Question of Interpretation (Routledge)

Phil 190L, The Emotions (Neu) Class #42766
M 3:30-6:30 PM, Oakes 103

Analysis of particular emotions (e.g., jealousy, boredom, regret) and exploration of general theoretical issues (e.g., expression, control) with emphasis on psychoanalytic and philosophical literature. Satisfies seminar requirement. Admission by interview with instructor. Prerequisite(s): satisfaction of Entry Level Writing and Composition requirements. Enrollment restricted to juniors and seniors.

Phil 190O, Epistemology (Hacking) Class #44573
M 9:30 am-12:30 pm, Stevenson 217

The course is intended to provide a background to standard philosophical approaches to truth, followed by a more intensive study of one recent original book, Bernard Williams, Truth and Truthfulness.

Texts:
Michael P. Lynch, The Nature of Truth, MIT Press, 2001.
Bernard Williams. Truth and Truthfulness: An Essay in Genealogy, Princeton University Press, 2002.

Download the full syllabus here. (pdf)

Graduate Courses

Phil 202, Topics in Ancient Greek Philosophy: The Concept of Virtue in Aristotle & Kant (Bowin) Class #43961
W 9:30 am-12:30 pm, Stevenson 217

Course Description: According to Kant, virtue is a sort of moral fortitude in resisting the “strong but unjust opponent” that is our affective and appetitive nature.  Aristotle, however, claims that virtue is a state that results from training this “unjust opponent” to behave reasonably.  The purpose of this course will be to explore the roles that these radically different concepts of virtue play in their respective moral theories. Primary Texts: The primary texts will include Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Rhetoric, and Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, and Metaphysical Principles of Virtue. Secondary Sources: We will use A. O. Rorty (Ed.) (1981). Essays on Aristotle’s Ethics, University of California Press (ISBN: 978-0520040410), as well as articles by Nussbaum, Striker, Korsgaard, Sherman and Herman provided in a course reader available at the Bay Tree Bookstore. Evaluation Basis: Students will be evaluated based on their written work, primarily their term papers, and on assigned presentations to the class. Greek: This course presupposes no familiarity with ancient Greek.  If there is sufficient interest, however, an instructor-led satellite group may be set up for students willing and able to read Aristotle in the original. Also offered as Phil 190A.

For more information: http://bowin.ucsc.edu/~johnbowin/Philosophy/phil190&202.htm

Phil 226, Scientific Reasoning (Hacking) Class # TBA
T 6:00-9:00 pm, Stevenson 217

This seminar addresses traditional questions of truth, reason, knowledge, practice, and "what there is" in a new key. It is not about what we find out, but about how we find out. How our ways of finding out have come into being at different points on the past, what they have done to our conceptions of the world, and why they enable us to remake the world.

Phil 247, Stem Cell Ethics (Suckiel) Class # 43455
T 1:00-4:00 pm, Stevenson 217
Also offered as BME 247 and BIOL 288

Scientific, ethical, social and legal dimensions of human embryonic stem cell research, including the moral status of the embryo, the concept of respect for life, ethical constraints on oocyte procurement, creation of embryonic chimeras, federal policies and political realities.

PHIL-280-01 Philosophy Colloquia (Roth) Class # TBA
A colloquia series that sponsors several speakers each quarter. Students are required to attend at least three colloquia and write a 1-2 page response paper. There is no regular class meeting. Enrollment restricted to philosophy majors. May be repeated for credit.

For complete course information, visit the course web page at http://philosophy.ucsc.edu/colloquia_course.html
For colloquia location and times, visit http://philosophy.ucsc.edu/colloquia.html

11/5/07 ljm