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Fall Semester Course Overview:
101 - Introduction to Moral and Political Philosophy
Throughout the history of Western
philosophy, there have been debates concerning how human beings
should live: What should we do both with our lives as wholes and
in specific problematic situations? The debates have addressed us
both as individuals and as members of political communities. This
course aims to aid us in responding to these debates, and in
living our lives, on the basis of reasoned conclusions rather than
from unrecognized presuppositions. The course concentrates on
Plato's Republic, the most influential ethical and political text
within Western philosophy, but we assess the Republic in light of
elaborations and criticisms that have developed over the past 2500
years, in works by Aristotle, Kant, and Mill.
Format:
lecture/discussion.
Requirements: class discussion. frequent short
papers (totaling 20-30 pages).
No prerequisites.
Enrollment limit:
19 per section. Preference given to first-year students and
sophomores.
Instructors: BARRY, J. PEDRONI
102 - Introduction
to Metaphysics and Epistemology
Metaphysics and epistemology are
the two core pursuits of theoretical philosophy (as opposed to
practical philosophy, the focus of Philosophy 101). Metaphysics is
concerned with the ultimate character of reality. The metaphysician
seeks to develop knowledge (as opposed to mere opinion or belief) of
all things natural, human, and divine. She asks, for example: Are we
free, or are our acts determined? Is there a God? If so, what must
God be like? Epistemology is concerned with how we determine the
difference between knowledge and mere opinion. The epistemologist
thus asks: What does it mean truly to know something? How can we
acquire such genuine knowledge? Answers to these epistemological
questions are essential if we are to have any confidence in the
methods and results of our metaphysical investigations. This course
will emphasize the established historical classics that provide the
basis for understanding contemporary work on metaphysics and
epistemological issues; we will consider, among others, the work of
Descartes, Hume, and Kant.
Format: lecture/discussion.
Requirements:
class discussion. frequent short papers (totaling 20-30 pages).
No
prerequisites.
Enrollment limit: 19 per section (expected: 19 per
section). Preference given to first-year students and sophomores.
Instructors: CRUZ, GERRARD, McPARTLAND
209 - Philosophy of Science
It is a generally held belief, in our times and culture, that science is the best source of our knowledge of the world, and of ourselves. The aim of this course is to examine the origins, grounds, and nature of this belief. We will analyze and discuss various accounts of scientific method, structure and justification of scientific theories, scientific choice, change, and the idea that scientific knowledge is progressive. The course will begin with the "received view" of scientific theories, methods, and knowledge, advanced by logical positivists, which assumes the objectivity and the rationality of science. We will then discuss philosophies of science that emerged out of various criticisms of this view-especially those of Popper, Lakatos, Kuhn and Feyerabend-and the challenges to the assumptions of scientific objectivity and rationality their works provoked. This discussion will naturally lead us to the relativist and social-constructivist views developed within contemporary science studies. Finally, we will analyze the current debate about the cognitive credentials of science and the proper approach to the study of science, which came to be known as "the science wars."
Requirements: frequent short assignments, class presentation, class participation, and a longer (5-7 pages) term paper.
Prerequisites: Philosophy 102; or permission of instructor. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19).
Instructor: MLADENOVIC
213T - Biomedical Ethics
Much like the construction of medical knowledge itself, it is from specific cases that general principles of biomedical ethics arise and are systematized into a theoretical framework, and it is to cases they must return, if they are to be both useful and comprehensible to those making decisions within the biomedical context. In this tutorial we will exploit this characteristic of biomedical ethics by using a case-based approach to examining core concepts of the field. The first portion of the course will be devoted to developing and understanding four moral principles which have come to be accepted as canonical: respect for autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. The remainder of the course will consider key concepts at the core of medical ethics and central issues for the field, such as privacy and confidentiality, the distinction between killing and "letting die," therapy vs. research, and enhancement vs. therapy. To this end, each week we will (1) read philosophical material focused on one principle or concept, and (2) consider in detail one bioethics case in which the principle or concept has special application or relevance. In some weeks, students will be asked to choose from a small set which case they would like to address; in others the case will be assigned. Students will meet with the professor in pairs for approximately one hour per week, writing and presenting 5- to 7-page essays every other week, and commenting orally on partners' essays in alternate weeks.
Format: tutorial. Evaluations will be based on written work, on oral presentations of that work, and on oral critiques.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10). Preference will be given to declared and prospective philosophy majors and students committed to taking the tutorial.
Tutorial meetings to be arranged.
Instructor: PEDRONI
222 - Minds, Brains, and Intelligent Behavior: An Introduction to Cognitive Science (Same as COGS 222 and Psychology 222)
This course will emphasize interdisciplinary approaches to the study of intelligent systems, both natural and artificial. Cognitive science synthesizes research from cognitive psychology, computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, and contemporary philosophy. Special attention will be given to the philosophical foundations of cognitive science, representation and computation in symbolic and connectionist architectures, concept acquisition, problem solving, perception, language, semantics, reasoning, and artificial intelligence.
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: midterm and final exams, and self-paced weekly computer lab exercises.
Prerequisites: Psychology 101 or Philosophy 102 or Computer Science 134. Background in more than one of these is recommended. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected: 25). Preference given to first-and second-year students.
Satisfies one semester of the Division II requirement.
Instructor: CRUZ
235T - Morality and Partiality: Loyalty, Friendship, Patriotism
The aim of this tutorial is to critically examine the nature, importance, and
ethical value of personal attachments and loyalties. Loyalty is frequently
expected by family, friends and lovers, and demanded by institutions, religious
and political communities, as well as by the state. A person incapable of
loyalty is often characterized as fickle, cold, self-serving and sometimes even
pathological. However, the status of loyalty as a virtue has always been
suspect: it has been argued that it is incompatible with impartiality, fairness
and equality, and claimed that it is always exclusionary. So, some relationships
with other people - such as friendships, familial ties, love, patriotism - seem
to be ethically desirable, central to the quality of our lives, and yet prima
facie in tension with the widely held belief that morality requires impartiality
and equal treatment of all human beings. Are we ever justified in having more
concern, and doing more, for our friends, family, community or nation? Does
morality require that we always subordinate our personal relationships to
universal principles? Is patriotism incompatible with cosmopolitanism, and if
so, which of the two should we value? If loyalty is a virtue, what are the
proper limits of its cultivation and expression? Philosophical literature on
this topic will include Plato and Aristotle on friendship and civic virtues
(supplemented by secondary literature), contemporary discussion of the moral
value of personal relationships (B. Williams, A. Rorty, D. Velleman, L.A. Bloom,
P. Railton) as well as texts on nationalism, patriotism, cosmopolitanism and
universal human rights written by contemporary philosophers, sociologists and
political theorists (M. Nussbaum, R. Rorty, K.A. Appiah, S. Nathanson, I.
Primoratz).
Format: tutorial. Requirements: tutorial pairs will meet with the instructor for one hour a week; each student will write a 5-page paper every second week, and comment on the tutorial partner's paper on alternate weeks. There will be no final paper.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10). Preference given to sophomores.
Tutorial meetings to be arranged.
Instructor: MLADENOVIC
272T - Free Will and Responsibility
In moral and legal decisions we hold people responsible for their deliberate
actions. This practice seems justified as long as people are free to make the
choices that they do. But which criteria must a decision meet in order to
qualify as free? Clearly, a free decision must not be the result of external
coercion. But must the decision also be free from any outside influence at all?
If so then freedom may seem impossible, for we are all deeply influenced by
external factors ranging from the general laws of nature to specific features of
our genetic endowment and social environment including religion, political
ideology, and advertising. These affect not only our particular choices but
also, more fundamentally, who we are and what we value. Since it is undeniable
that we are pervasively influenced by such forces, the real question is whether,
and how, free choice is possible amidst all of these influences. In this course
we will examine the best-known recent philosophical attempts to make sense of
the nature of free will and responsibility. Since these issues have a direct
bearing on which theory of legal punishment we should accept, we will also
examine influential theories of punishment. Our focus will be on works by
contemporary authors.
Format: tutorial. Requirements: students meet with the instructor in pairs for roughly an hour each week; each student will write a 5- to 6-page paper every other week (6 in all) and comment on his or her tutorial partner's paper in alternate weeks. Emphasis will be placed on developing skills in reading, interpretation and oral argument as well as critical reasoning and writing.
Prerequisite: Philosophy 101 or 102, or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10). Preference will be given to current majors, prospective majors, and students committed to taking the tutorial.
Tutorial meetings to be arranged.
Instructor:
BARRY
280 - Frege, Russell, and the Early Wittgenstein
The last line of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus famously reads: "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." Are there things that cannot be put into words? What are the limits of language? What is the nature of language? How do logic and language relate? We will examine these (and other questions) in the context of the great philosophical revolution at the beginning of the last century: the linguistic turn and the birth of analytic philosophy. We will see how a focus on language affects our understanding of many traditional philosophical questions, ranging from epistemology and metaphysics to aesthetics and ethics. Our texts will include Gottlob Frege, The Foundations of Arithmetic, Bertrand Russell, Principles of Mathematics, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.
While you're debating whether to take this class, consider the following puzzle. There is a village where the barber shaves (a) all those and (b) only those who do not shave themselves. Now, ask yourself: who shaves the barber? You will see that if the barber does not shave himself, then by condition (a) he does shave himself. And, if the barber does shave himself, then by condition (b) he does not shave himself. Thus, the barber shaves himself if and only if he does not shave himself. See if you can figure out why this is sometimes called a paradox, and then ask yourself what this has to do with our opening questions.
Format: seminar. Requirements: two short papers (5 pages) and one longer final paper (12-15 pages).
Prerequisite: Philosophy 102. Expected enrollment: 12-15. Preference give first to Philosophy majors, and then to seniors and juniors of any major.
Instructor: GERRARD
282 - The Turn to Religion in Post-Modern Thought (Same as Jewish Studies 280 and Religion 303)
As thinkers of the 20th century came to question the Enlightenment ideal of
human self-sovereignty, both for its intellectual and political consequences,
many turned back to religious imagery and concepts in pursuit of alternate modes
of conceptualizing the human being. This course will examine some such endeavors
in the fields of philosophy, psychoanalysis and literature. While none of the
texts we examine will be explicitly theological, all will, in some form or
another, make use of theological notions such as revelation, redemption, or
sacrifice. In examining these texts we will be asking some fundamental
questions: What meaning do religious concepts have when emptied of dogmatic
content? How effective are these concepts when employed in the service of
cultural critique? How might such efforts reflect back on the theorizing and
practice of religions in contemporary society? We will, furthermore, analyze the
very category of the post-modern by considering its relationship to the
Enlightenment, debating whether this relationship is one of continuity, rupture
or both, and dissecting the critique that post-modern philosophy's concern for
religion is a sign of its nostalgic or reactionary nature. Readings will include
Immanuel Kant's Religion within the Limits of Reason alone, Friedrich Nietzsche's Twilight of the Idols, Jacques Lacan's Feminine Sexuality, as well as essays by Luce Irigaray, Georges Bataille, Emmanuel Levinas, Jean-François Lyotard and Jacques Derrida.
Format: discussion. Requirements will include regular participation and four writing assignments: three shorter papers of 3-5 pages on a question assigned by the instructor and a longer essay of 12-15 pages on an approved topic of the student's choice.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19). Preference given to Religion and Philosophy majors and Jewish Studies concentrators.
Instructor:
HAMMERSCHLAG
288 -
Embodied Mind: A Cross-Cultural Exploration (Same as Religion 288)
This course examines some of the central questions concerning the nature of the mind: the place of intentionality, the role of emotions, the relation with the body, the nature of subjectivity, the scope of reflexivity, etc. In confronting these questions, we do not proceed purely theoretically but consider the contribution of various observation-based traditions, from Buddhist psychology and meditative practices to phenomenology to neurosciences.
Format: Seminar.
Requirements: attendance to a day-long introduction to the practice of meditation, regular practice of editation, a class presentation and a research paper (15 pages).
Prerequisites: No prerequisites.
Enrollment limit: 22 (expected: 15). Preference given to students with relevant background.
Instructor:
DREYFUS
307 - Exploring Creativity (Same as ArtS 309, EXPR 309. Mathematics 309 and Music 309)
This course centers on the creative process involved in generating original ideas, theories, and artistic works. Here, in three-week blocks, we will explore intensively the creativity involved in studio art, philosophy, music, and mathematics by attempting to produce original works in each of these areas of study. Our focus will be more on the creative process rather than the final products. Students will be encouraged to take risks, xperiment, push their imaginations beyond their limits, and explore consequences of failed attempts. Questions with which we will struggle include: What constitutes art, music, philosophy, and mathematics? How can we judge the quality and aesthetics within these areas? What are the similarities and differences in the act of creating within these seemingly disparate contexts? Can we become more creative by intent?
Format: Primarily student led discussions and hands-on "studio" work. Evaluation will be based on presentations, participation, short papers, and projects.
Prerequisites: permission of the instructor. As this course is designed to be an exploration into unfamiliar intellectual worlds, students with expertise in one or perhaps two of the areas (art, music, philosophy, and mathematics) are especially encouraged to participate. Enrollment limit: 12 (expected: 12). Preference will be given to juniors and senior majors of at least one of these areas.
Satisfies one semester of the Division I, II or III requirement. Each student may choose the division for which he or she wishes credit.
Instructor: Faculty Advisors: W. Dudley (Philosophy); M. Glier (Studio Art); I. Perez Velazquez (Music)
330 - Plato (Same as Classics 330) (W)
Plato is one of the most important and influential thinkers in the history of
the western tradition. His depiction of the trial and death of Socrates is one
of the classics of western literature, and his views on ethics and politics
continue to occupy a central place in our discussions 2400 years after they were
written. It is, in fact, quite difficult to get through any course of study in
the liberal arts without some familiarity with Plato. Nevertheless,
comparatively few people realize that the views we commonly think of as
"Platonic" represent only one strand in Plato's thought. For example, we commonly attribute to Plato a theory of the Forms on the basis of his claims in the so-called "middle dialogues" (mainly Republic, Phaedo, and Symposium). However, in his philosophically more sophisticated and notoriously difficult later dialogues (such as the Parmenides, Philebus, Sophist and Statesman), Plato engages in radical criticism and revision of his earlier views. In this course, we will spend the first third of the semester attempting to understand the metaphysics and epistemology in Plato's middle dialogues. We will spend the balance of the semester coming to grips with Plato's arguments in the later dialogues. We will read several complete dialogues in translation, and will also read a wide variety of secondary source material.
Format: lecture/discussion. This class will be a roughly equal mixture of lectures, student presentations, and seminar discussion. Requirements: students will be expected to prepare a seminar presentation, to write several focused short analytical pieces, and to write a 15- to 20-page term paper in multiple drafts.
Prerequisites: Philosophy 101, Philosophy 102 or permission of instructor. (A prior course in logic will be extremely helpful, but is not necessary.) Enrollment limit: 15 (expected: 15). Preference given to upper-level philosophy and classics majors. This course is part of the Critical Reasoning and Analytical Skills initiative.
Instructor: McPARTLAND
401 - Senior Seminar: Truth and Rationality
Humans take pride in being rational animals: we define ourselves, in no small
part, by our capacity to offer and evaluate reasons in support of our
theoretical and practical commitments. The attempt to justify our beliefs and
practices makes us concerned with the truth. What we should think and how we
should live depend upon what is true about the world and ourselves. But what is
the truth, and how can we know it? What are the criteria of rational belief and
action? These questions, which have defined philosophy since its inception,
remain central to, and hotly contested within, every area of philosophical
inquiry. This seminar will begin with some of the best and most influential
contemporary work on truth and rationality. Students will then have the
opportunity to pursue the particular aspects of these general themes that are of
greatest interest to them. Students will be responsible for presentations on the
assigned readings, and for the development of a final paper involving
independent research.
Format: seminar. Requirements: several short assignments, final paper, attendance and participation.
Enrollment limited to senior Philosophy majors.
Instructor: DUDLEY
Spring Semester Course Overview:
101 - Introduction to Moral and Political Philosophy
Throughout the history of Western
philosophy, there have been debates concerning how human beings
should live: What should we do both with our lives as wholes and
in specific problematic situations? The debates have addressed us
both as individuals and as members of political communities. This
course aims to aid us in responding to these debates, and in
living our lives, on the basis of reasoned conclusions rather than
from unrecognized presuppositions. The course concentrates on
Plato's Republic, the most influential ethical and political text
within Western philosophy, but we assess the Republic in light of
elaborations and criticisms that have developed over the past 2500
years, in works by Aristotle, Kant, and Mill.
Format:
lecture/discussion.
Requirements: class discussion. frequent short
papers (totaling 20-30 pages).
No prerequisites.
Enrollment limit:
19 per section. Preference given to first-year students and
sophomores.
Instructors:
BARRY, MLADENOVIC, SAWICKI
102 - Introduction
to Metaphysics and Epistemology
Metaphysics and epistemology are
the two core pursuits of theoretical philosophy (as opposed to
practical philosophy, the focus of Philosophy 101). Metaphysics is
concerned with the ultimate character of reality. The metaphysician
seeks to develop knowledge (as opposed to mere opinion or belief) of
all things natural, human, and divine. She asks, for example: Are we
free, or are our acts determined? Is there a God? If so, what must
God be like? Epistemology is concerned with how we determine the
difference between knowledge and mere opinion. The epistemologist
thus asks: What does it mean truly to know something? How can we
acquire such genuine knowledge? Answers to these epistemological
questions are essential if we are to have any confidence in the
methods and results of our metaphysical investigations. This course
will emphasize the established historical classics that provide the
basis for understanding contemporary work on metaphysics and
epistemological issues; we will consider, among others, the work of
Descartes, Hume, and Kant.
Format: lecture/discussion.
Requirements:
class discussion. frequent short papers (totaling 20-30 pages).
No
prerequisites.
Enrollment limit: 19 per section (expected: 19 per
section). Preference given to first-year students and sophomores.
Instructors:
McPARTLAND, WHITE
103 -Logic and Language
Logic is the study of reasoning and argument. More particularly, it concerns
itself with the difference between good and bad reasoning, between strong and
weak arguments. We all examine the virtues and vices of good arguments in both
informal and formal systems. The goals of this course are to improve the
critical thinking of the students, to introduce them to sentential and predicate
logic, to familiarize them with enough formal logic to enable them to read some
of the great works of philosophy, which use formal logic (such as Wittgenstein's
Tractatus), and to examine some of the connections between logic and philosophy.
Requirements: a midterm, a final, frequent homework and problems sets.
No prerequisites. No enrollment limit (expected: 50-80).
Instructor:
GERRARD
202 - Philosophy of Language and Philosophy of Mind (W)
This course is designed to introduce students to twentieth-century philosophy by
focusing on two of its premier research areas, language and mind. Each of these
topics been studied independently of the other, with the philosophy of language
dominating the first half of the century and the philosophy of mind surging in
the second half. Research on language and mind have also enjoyed a fruitful
liaison, as much of the technical apparatus of the philosophy of language has
been used to illuminate the mind. The other side of this coin is that language
is something that minds achieve, and some prominent theories of linguistic
meaning have emphasized psychological elements of language use. The course will
begin with the work of Frege, Russell, and Wittgenstein, and end with the work
of Putnam, Dennett, Fodor and Churchland. The course is intended to prepare
students for more advanced research on either language or mind. At the same
time, the course aims to offer an overview of the methods and intellectual style
of analytic philosophy. Thus, it will also serve as preparation for advanced
work in epistemology, philosophy of science, metaphysics, and ethics. The
syllabus can be found at: http://www.williams.edu/philosophy/fourth_layer/faculty_pages/jcruz/courses/lang&mind.html.
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: short writing assignments each week, and two longer papers.
Prerequisite: Philosophy 102 or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 12-18). Preference given to Philosophy, Psychology, Linguistics and Computer Science majors. This course is writing intensive.
Instructor:
CRUZ
220T -Immortality and the Soul in Ancient and Medieval Thought (Same as Religion 282T) (W)
According to a 2003 poll, 84% of Americans believe that the soul survives death.
Ideas about immortality and the soul have a long history, and have been at the
center some of the major philosophical and religious traditions of Western
culture. The central aim of this course is to examine how some central figures
in these traditions think about immortality and the soul. In addition, we will
discuss some of the philosophical difficulties that come to the fore when
thinking about these issues. Is the immortality of human persons even coherent?
What would it mean for an individual to survive her own death? Does belief in
the indestructibility of the human soul have ethical implications? What evidence
is there for the existence, let alone immortality, of the soul?
Format: tutorial. Requirements: students will be expected to write a short paper every other week, and to give a presentation based on their papers. They will also be expected to write a final paper. We will pay close attention to revising papers in light of peer and instructor feedback. We will also work on critically reading and evaluating texts in the history of philosophy. Readings for the class may include: Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Fragments from the Stoics and Pre-Socratics, Plotinus, Origen, Tertullian, Augustine, Moses Maimonides, Ibn Sina, Averroes, and Aquinas.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10). Preference given to sophomores.
Instructor: MCPARTLAND
225 -Classics in Western Feminist Thought (Same as WGST 225) (W)
This course provides an introduction to feminist thought through readings of
seminal feminist texts from the Enlightenment to the present. Special attention
will be given to feminist revisions (including those by woman of color) of
traditional and contemporary emancipatory theories such as liberalism, Marxism,
psychoanalysis, poststructuralism, and queer theory as well as transnational
feminism. Authors read may include the following: Mary Wollstonecraft, John
Stuart Mill, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alexandra Kollantai, Sojourner Truth,
Harriet Jacobs, Emma Goldman, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Adrienne Rich, Marilyn
Frye, Gloria Anzaldua, Audre Lorde, Catherine MacKinnon, Judith Butler, Iris
Young, Nancy Fraser, Gayatri Spivak, and Chandra Mohanty. We conclude the course
with an exploration of the wide range of feminist analyses of issues concerning
prostitution and pornography.
Format: discussion. Requirements: several 2-page essays, one 4-page essay, one 6-page essay (including a draft) and participation in in-class exercises including short oral presentations.
Prerequisites: Women's and Gender Studies 101, or Philosophy 101, or permission of instructor. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 10).
Satisfies the Women's and Gender Studies theory requirement for the major.
Instructor: SAWICKI
232 - Modern Political Thought (Same as Political Science 232)
This course provides a close reading of texts by some of the major thinkers of
the early modern and modern period: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), John Locke (1632-1704), F. M. de Voltaire (1694-1778), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), and Karl Marx (1818-1883). We will look at the contexts in which these thinkers wrote, and the political problems and events to which their writings were (in part) a response. Some of the questions posed by these early thinkers are however still enormously important to politics today, and we will also read these texts with these questions in mind: Are politicians obligated to act honorably and morally, or only to secure the peace and keep office? What is human nature really like, outside of political society? Why should people obey political authority anyway? Who gets to be a citizen, and why? What do citizens owe one another? Should democratic states tolerate groups with highly unorthodox beliefs and practices, and if so, why? How did social and political inequality come about? And does justice require an equitable distribution of power, and of economic resources?
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: active class participation, 3 papers (varying from 4-8 pages in length).
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected: 21). Preference given to sophomores and political science majors.
Political Theory Subfield
Instructor: DEVEAUX
239 - Issues in Contemporary Islamic Thought (Same as Religion 239)
This seminar examines some of the most important issues, debates, and polemics
that occupied Muslim thought since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1978 (with
special emphasis on the Arab world- the heartland of Islam). The basic
theoretical, philosophical and theological principles underlying those
controversies will be carefully explored, discussed and critically brought
forward. The influence, use and abuse of traditional Western critiques of
modernity and of current postmodern European attacks on the Enlightenment will
be elaborated in the context of their appropriation and exploitation by Islamist
theoreticians. These will include, for example, Foucault's discourse theory,
Bachelard's "Epistemological Break", Heidegger's "authenticity",Feyerabend's "Farewell to Reason" and his "epistemological anarchism", Thomas Kuhn's notion of the "incommensurability of paradigms" and the wholesale assault on the idea of progress. Some of the debates to be examined are: (a) the real nature of the Islamic Revolution in Iran: (b) the legitimacy and adequacy of such concepts as "Fundamentalism", "Revivalism" and "Islamism" when applied to Islam; (c) The Sunni doctrine of "Hakimiah" (God's Sovereignty) as against the Shi'i doctrine of "Vilayet-e-Faqih" (the rule of the Jurist): (d) the question of "Orientalism" as triggered by Edward Said;(e) the Salman Rushdie affair and his novel the Satanic Versuses; (f)the concepts of jihad and jihadism;(g) the future of political Islam after its evolution from fundamentalism to jihadism to spectacular terrorism. The approach will be historical, comparative and explanatory. The instructor will draw on his experiences as a long-time participant in the discussions, controversies and polemics produced by and around these issues.
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: Midterm essay or book report on an approved topic of the student's choice. Term paper to be submitted at the end of the semester (15-20 pages).
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit 19 (expected 19). Open to all.
Instructor:
AL-AZM
290 - The Philosophy and Economics of Higher Education(Same as INTR 290) (W)
Students compete ferociously for the opportunity to pay large sums of money for the privilege of attending Williams
College. The value of the educational experience they receive is usually taken to be self-evident. Less obvious,
however, are the nature of education, and the factors that determine how much it costs, who has access to
it, and how successful it is.
This interdisciplinary seminar will explore both the philosophy and the economics of higher education. Which
purposes can and should college serve? Which curricular and extra-curricular programs best accomplish those
purposes? How can we measure and evaluate the effects of policies concerning college admission, pricing, and
financial aid? How can we assess and enhance educational productivity?
Students will read and discuss texts in the philosophy of education, while also learning to apply economic theory
and econometric techniques to the analysis of educational issues.
Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: Evaluation will be based upon the writing and revision of three
8-page papers, as well as the quality of contributions to class discussion.
Prerequisites: Economics 110 and at least one philosophy course. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19). Preference
given to sophomores intending to or juniors majoring in either philosophy or economics.
Students will get credit for one philosophy course, which fulfills one-semester of the Division II requirement.
Instructor: SCHAPIRO and DUDLEY
301 - Textual Meaning and Interpretation (Same as Linguistics 330) (W)
Early philosophy of language focused on meaning of assertions, denials and
descriptions. However, this approach is too narrow, since people use language to
do a myriad of things: to ask, demand, promise, praise, blame, threaten,
command, insinuate, evoke, express feelings, and sometimes just to play. The
philosophical study of what we do in language, and how we understand one
another, is called pragmatics; within the analytic tradition, the main
philosophical contributions to the study of pragmatics in language came from
Peirce, Wittgenstein, Austen, Grice and Searle. Other philosophers and literary
theorists have used some of their ideas recently to throw light on the nature of
textual meaning and the interpretation of literary texts. We shall first explore
the salient features of the pragmatic approaches to language, paying special
attention to Austin's notion of illocutionary force and Grice's notion of
non-natural meaning. We will then examine how these notions may be exploited in
the consideration of various long-standing issues in the theory of literary
interpretation. We will discuss the importance of specific genre conventions and
broader contextual matters to the interpretation of literary texts (along the
lines suggested by Quentin Skinner); the possibility of using intention to rule
out mistaken and arrive at acceptable interpretations, if not a single correct
interpretation (a possibility denied by such relativists as Stanley Fish); the
use and meaning of metaphors; and the host of questions surrounding the
"intentional fallacy" (the alleged result of invoking authorial intention to determine textual meaning).
Format: seminar. Requirements: class participation, 10 short weekly response papers, and 2 longer (5-7 page) papers.
Prerequisites: Philosophy 102 or 103. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 6-10). Open to all students, preference given to philosophy majors.
Instructor: MLADENOVIC
304T - Authenticity: From Rousseau to Poststructuralism (W)
The eighteenth-century aesthetician Edward Young once asked: "Born originals, how comes it to pass we die copies?" In the same century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau answers this question about the origins of authenticity by charting the individual's "fall" into society; that is, into artifice, hypocrisy, vanity, and conformism. This tutorial begins with Rousseau's reflections on authentic individuality as they are developed in several of his works. We then trace the idea of authenticity (as an aesthetic and ethical category) in both literary and philosophical texts associated with romanticism, existentialism, Marxian critical theory, and the self-analysis of the psychoanalytic tradition. We conclude with recent challenges to the coherence, viability, and value of the ideal of authenticity as it applies not only to individuality, but also to group identities and "artifacts". Themes and questions investigated include the following: (1) Must "authenticity" refer to some notion of an innate core or deep self? Are there other terms in which we can imagine "being ourselves"?; (2) Can one adopt authenticity as a project? ;(3) Does being authentic require that one defy social conventions in favor of the "natural" or "instinctual"? Is it compatible with adopting conventional roles or forms of selfhood, with belonging to a community, with being "civilized" or with an artful self-styling?; (4) What impact do the rise of bourgeois society, the machine age, consumerism, and mass media have on the possibilities for authenticity?; (5) Is the voice and style of authenticity necessarily simple, direct, and sincere? ; (6) Are particular versions of the ideal of authenticity either gender- or racially-inflected?
Students will work with partners. Each student will write and present orally an essay of 5-6 pages every other week on an assigned topic in the reading for that week. Students not presenting an essay will offer critiques of their partner's essay.
Format: tutorial. Evaluation will be based on written work, oral presentation of essays, and critiques.
Prerequisite: one course in Philosophy or permission of instructor. Enrollment limit: 10.
Tutorial meetings to be arranged.
Instructor:
SAWICKI
310 - EVIL
What is evil, and why does it exist? Can nature be evil, or is all evil
attributable to the freely willed actions of human beings? Is evil compatible
with God, or is it a powerful argument for atheism? Can evil be understood, or
is it necessarily incomprehensible? These persistent and perplexing questions,
which arise from the suffering of people in every time and place, have drawn the
sustained attention of the greatest thinkers in the Western philosophical
tradition. This course will examine some of the most important and influential
responses to the problems that the existence of evil poses. We will begin with
Leibniz, who coined the term "theodicy" to name the project of defending God from the charge that a truly perfect being could not have created a world that contains evil. Other authors to be considered may include: Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Voltaire, Hume, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Freud, Camus, and Arendt. In the course of our reflections we will discuss some of the events that make evil not merely an intellectual challenge, but also an immediate and pressing practical concern, including Auschwitz, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina.
Format: discussion. Requirements: several short assignments, final research paper, attendance, and participation. Prerequisites: Philosophy 101 or 102. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19). Preference to students majoring or intending to major in philosophy.
Instructor: DUDLEY
331 - Contemporary Epistemology (W)
Epistemology is one of the core areas of philosophical reflection. In this
course, we will study the literature in contemporary philosophy on the nature of
knowledge and rational belief. Epistemologists seek answers to the following
kinds of questions:
-When is it rational to have a particular belief?
-What is knowledge (as opposed to mere opinion)?
-In order to be justified in holding a belief, must someone know (or believe) that she is justified in holding that belief?
-What, if anything, justifies our scientific knowledge?
These questions are typically asked within a framework where the overarching goal is attaining truth and avoiding falsity. Beyond this common ground, however, epistemologists are much divided. Some maintain that these issues are solely the provinces of philosophy, using traditional a priori methods. Others maintain that these questions will only yield to methods that incorporate our broader insight into the nature of the world including, perhaps, feminist thought or science. Both stances face severe difficulties. Further, even where there is agreement as to the proper way of answering epistemological questions, there is a stunning variety of possible answers to each question. The syllabus can be found at: http://www.williams.edu/philosophy/fourth_layer/faculty_pages/jcruz/courses/episty.html
Format: seminar. Requirements: short writing assignments each week, and a final paper written in several drafts.
Prerequisites: Philosophy 102 or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 5-12). Preference given to Philosophy, Psychology, Linguistics, and Computer Science majors.
Instructor: CRUZ
335 - Contemporary Metaethics (W)
We often speak as if moral judgments can be true or false, well-reasoned or not.
But how should objectivity in this domain be understood? Is moral objectivity
like scientific objectivity, assuming we have a clear sense of what that
involves? If not, should that concern us? Are there other models for
understanding moral objectivity besides science? While answers to such questions
are implicit in historically important accounts of morality, these issues became
the topic of explicit, sustained debate in the twentieth century. Our focus will
be on the most recent and sophisticated work in this area. We will examine
several different approaches in depth, including realism, constructivism,
expressivism, and skepticism. Readings will include works by Moore, Stevenson,
Harman, Mackie, Railton, Boyd, Blackburn, Williams, McDowell, Korsgaard, and
Nagel.
Format: seminar. Requirements: final paper, several shorter assignments, attendance and participation.
Prerequisites: Philosophy 101 required; one 200- or 300-level Philosophy course is recommended. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 5-15). Preference given to Philosophy majors and those considering the Philosophy major.
Instructor: BARRY
350T - Beauty (W)
Until modernity, there was widespread agreement among philosophers that beauty
is the fundamental aesthetic value, that beauty is real, and that beauty is
present in nature as well as in works of art. Since the 17th century, these
traditional views have weakened. Increasingly many artistic and aesthetic values
have been distinguished from beauty (these include sublimity and ugliness), all
such values are often deemed to be subjective-"in the eye of the beholder"-and many philosophers restrict aesthetic values to works of art (or only to experiences of works of art). This tutorial is devoted to an examination of these and related issues: among aesthetic and artistic values, what status should we accord to beauty? To what degree, if any, is beauty (and are, perhaps, other aesthetic values) matters of fact rather than merely of opinion? Is there aesthetic value only in-or is there aesthetic experience only of-works of art? Is there no beauty in nature, or in experiences of nature?
Format: tutorial. Requirements/Method of Evaluation: students will meet as paired. Each week, on the basis of assigned readings, one student in each pair will write and present a paper of 6-8 pages, the other student will respond, and the two will discuss both issues addressed in the paper and other issues from the readings. Criteria for evaluation are quality of papers, quality of presentations, quality of responses, and quality of discussions.
Prerequisites: Philosophy 101 or 102 or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10). Preference given to actual and potential philosophy majors. TUTORIAL MEETINGS TO BE ARRANGED.
Instructor: WHITE
360 - The Political Thought of Frantz Fanon (Same as Africana Studies 402 and
Political Science 360)
Martinican psychiatrist, philosopher, and revolutionary Frantz Fanon was among
the leading critical theorists and Africana thinkers of the twentieth-century.
Fanon ushered in the decolonial turn in critical theory, a move calling on those
both within and outside of Europe to challenge the coloniality of the age and to
forge a new vision of politics in the postcolonial period. This course is an
advanced seminar devoted to a comprehensive examination of Fanon's political
thought. We will begin with an analysis of primary texts by Fanon and end by
considering how Fanon has been interpreted by his contemporaries as well as
activists and critical theorists writing today.
Format: seminar. Evaluation will be based upon attendance and participation, a class presentation (oral and written components), and one 25-page final research paper.
Enrollment limit: 14. This seminar is open to all seniors, but priority will be given to Africana Studies concentrators.
Instructor: ROBERTS
494 - Senior Thesis
498 - Independent Study
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