Possible additional topics would include: modal logic, the theory of counterfactuals, alternative representations of conditionals, the use of logic in the foundations of arithmetic and Godel's Incompleteness theorems. [more], In this course we will examine traditional philosophical approaches to understanding death and related concepts, with a special focus on the ethical concerns surrounding death and care for the dying. Readings will be drawn from recent work in the Frankfurt School and poststructuralist traditions of critical theory as well as anti-racist, anti-colonial, feminist and queer theories that draw upon them. However, few (haters gonna hate) would say that the expression has a referent. In confronting these difficult questions, we do not proceed purely theoretically but consider the contributions of various observation-based traditions, from Buddhist psychology and meditative practices to phenomenology to neurosciences. It will be very helpful, though not absolutely necessary, for you to have some familiarity with logic and some experience in reading philosophy. Are we capable of disinterested altruism, or are we motivated solely by self-interest? What is the basis on which current psychiatric diagnostic manuals are organized? But is the best conclusion we can come to with respect to our intellectual endeavors that skepticism always carries the day and that nothing at all is true? that we have a clear sense of what that involves? Where have you been taught them? 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 and twenty-first century. : On Justice and Freedom in Western Political Philosophy. How do logic and language relate? Our main goal in this course is to work our way through Aristotle's text which can be extremely daunting, and to reconstruct his central positions and his arguments for these positions. Our discussions will range over historical and contemporary works in the Western tradition. 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. After working through these arguments, we will reflect more generally on the proper roles of reason and faith in justifying religious belief. Dean's Office. In this tutorial we will read philosophical texts from a range of approaches in professional philosophy since the early 20th Century (Analytic, Pragmatist, Continental or European, and Public). How does our experience justify our beliefs? Throughout the course, our focus will be on the best theoretical and practical knowledge we now have to diagnose, explain, and alleviate mental illness. Our focus will be on recent influential work in this area. Secondly, we will try to make sense of the moral dimensions of our relationship to animals. How important are honor, money, love, work, friendship and our connections to others to our happiness? These questions are typically asked within a framework where the overarching goal is attaining truth and avoiding falsity. It is at the same time the most intimately known fact of our humanity and science's most elusive puzzle. A number of conceptual themes will emerge throughout the course of the term, including notions of exploitation and coercion, privacy and confidentiality, and the balance between public interests and individual rights. this course, we will consider the relationship between freedom and social order. But perform those exact same steps in a different order--check the stove, say "I didn't leave the stove on", then say "I might've left the stove on"--and something's gone quite wrong. We also introduce the practice of meditation as a way to observe the mind and raise questions concerning the place of its study in the mind-sciences. We will look at civil disobedience and theories of legal interpretation. Is there a room for the notion of collective intention in filmmaking? What are the purposes of liberal arts colleges in America? We will concentrate both on making precise the philosophical problem of consciousness and on understanding the role of the relevant neuroscientific and cognitive research. The AFL is in shock after Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh was stabbed to death at his home, with his 26-year-old son arrested and charged with murder. In this tutorial we will read philosophical texts from a range of approaches in professional philosophy since the early 20th Century (Analytic, Pragmatist, Continental or European, and Public). On the sports field? [more], In her groundbreaking book, The Tentative Pregnancy, Barbara Katz Rothman writes that "[t]he technological revolution in reproduction is forcing us to confront the very meaning of motherhood, to examine the nature and origins of the mother-child bond, and to replace--or to let us think we can replace--chance with choice." See the college's, Experiential Learning & Community Engagement, that underlies classical tragedy, however, seems markedly different from the one that we find in classical philosophy. Among the questions that we will address: What is justice? How could proponents of each be claiming to follow in the footsteps of Socrates? In this course, we will spend the first third of the semester attempting to understand the metaphysics and epistemology in Plato's middle dialogues. Can science contribute to our understanding of these issues? Each book was chosen by and will be introduced by a professor from a different department, and then Professor of Philosophy Steve Gerrard will continue the discussion. Student interest will be taken into consideration in deciding what additional topics to cover. For example, many people would agree that 'Keith's favorite unicorn' is a meaningful expression. If so, is that knowledge importantly different in kind or in rigor from the knowledge we gain through physics, chemistry or geology? Against the first, people often don't seem to reason very well. Could the world be made up of sensory properties only? We will then examine writings in the Stoic and Epicurean traditions, as well as Cicero's On the Ends of Good and Evil. We'll attempt to answer this question by examining recent philosophical work on the nature of free will and responsibility. modernity and of politics offered by such thinkers as Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, Mill, and Freud. When I attended the Chairmans dinner at the West Coast Eagles- Adelaide Crows AFL game a few week ago there was a pall of sadness in the room. What is the nature of language? Rather than seeing philosophy as an esoteric discipline, the pragmatic philosophers (with the possible exception of Peirce) see philosophy as integral to our culture and see themselves as public intellectuals. What is the mind? The aim of this course is to explore and evaluate a number of rival conceptions of persons and personal identity over time. These affect not only our particular choices but also, more fundamentally, who we are and what we value. We will begin with Aristotle's Poetics and will continue with Hume's Of Tragedy, Hegel's various writings on tragedy, and Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy. Edited by John . Along the way, we will need to come to grips with the following surprising fact. of subjectivity, the scope of reflexivity, the nature of perceptual presence, etc. Some of the questions that we will discuss are: What is psychopathology and what are its causes? health and disease, and then apply them to human psychology. To what extent do these myriad force relations limit, enable, or deform our participation as political citizens, and our capacity to transform and improve them? Firstly, we will try to understand the mental lives of non-human animals. We will examine well-known philosophical arguments for and against the existence of God (including the ontological argument, the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, the argument from religious experience, and the argument from evil). Assigned works will include Booker T. Washington. 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. We begin by examining some of the central concepts of Buddhist psychology, its treatment of the mind as a selfless stream of consciousness, its examination of the variety of mental factors and its accounts of the relation between cognition and affects. At least, let's assume that you are for the sake of argument. This tutorial will bring to life the debate between Locke and Leibniz, and enable students to reach their own conclusions about Empiricism vs. Rationalism, Realism vs. Idealism, and related issues. [more], What gives an individual life meaning? Love it or hate it, you cannot ignore it. 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. Unsurprisingly, philosophers have proffered a variety of answers to these questions, prompting one philosopher to remark, half-jokingly, that "there are as many definitions of philosophy as there are philosophers." No domain of inquiry is immune to this destructive skepticism and confident relativism. How can it be known and pursued? nature and origins of the mother-child bond, and to replace--or to let us think we can replace--chance with choice." Reasoning and Inference: The Philosophy of Logic, and thinking within formal systems and how to prove various things within these systems. We will closely analyze classical arguments by Augustine, Avicenna, Aquinas, Anselm, Maimonides, Descartes, and others. If so, what are the constraints on good revisions? this class, we will attempt to carry on the noble tradition of corruption by philosophy. In this course, we will study the most important and influential chapters of the, Topics in Philosophy of Race: Hegel and Africana Philosophy, double? make requests, establish rules, utilize power, issue protests, and much more. We will also read selections from the vast secondary literature on Aristotle's. [more], In this course we will explore the ways in which feminist approaches to moral thinking have influenced both the methodology and the content of contemporary bioethics. How should we think about the boundaries and methods of theorizing about film? First of all, Greek thinkers, especially Plato and Aristotle, radically shaped the trajectory of western thought in every area of philosophy. Topics will range from consideration of "mundane" technologies such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), prenatal genetic screening and testing, and surrogacy, to the more extraordinary, possibly including pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), post-menopausal reproduction, and post-mortem gamete procurement. Conversation is dynamic--the back and forth exchange of information is a process that grows and adapts to the surrounding context. In this course, we will survey the ethics of public health through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic, investigating concepts and arguments that are central to the ethics of public health research and practice. To do this we will explore topics that might traditionally be considered "women's issues" in healthcare, such as medicine and body image (e.g., cosmetic surgery, eating disorders), reproductive and genetic technologies, and research on women and their health care needs. Swift, Jonathan. In a philosophy of logic class, we think about what we are doing when we do logic. experiences, have thoughts and feelings, motivation and agency; a person is thought of as continuous over time, and as related to, recognized and respected by other persons. Topics will depend to some extent on student interest, but are likely to include concerns that fall under such headings as euthanasia, conscientious eating, abortion, the ethics of protest, and Covid-19. Mark Williams remains shattered by the death of his great mate Phil Walsh, but finds solace in the fact one of his sons regularly visits Walsh's son in an Adelaide psychiatric facility. "For any family, regardless of who it is, is one of the worst things that you could imagine that could happen to you," he said. We will pay special attention to the first amendment and questions concerning free speech and hate speech. According to one, there is a single group of students that had their hands extremely full this semester. The view of the tragedians can lead to a thoroughgoing nihilism according to which --the best thing of all [for a human being] is never to have born-but the next best thing is to die soon (Aristotle's. This introduction to philosophy will see how far the microscopes of reason and logic can carry us in traditional arguments about the existence and nature of God. And, Existentialists express their thought in philosophical treatises as often as in literary works. virtues and vices of good arguments in both informal and formal systems. But how should objectivity in this domain be understood? [more], The aim of this tutorial is to critically examine the nature, importance, and ethical value of personal attachments and loyalties. [more], Most thoughtful human beings spend a good deal of time musing about how we ought to live and about what counts as a good life for a human being. Black Marxism: Political Theory and Anti-Colonialism, What Philosophy Is: It's Methods, Aims and Values. 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