Courses for Spring 2017 | Department of Philosophy

	Title	Instructor	Location	Time	Description	Fulfills	Registration Notes
PHIL 001-001	INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY	STEINBERG, STEPHEN	STITELER HALL B6	MW 1000AM-1100AM	Philosophers ask difficult questions about the most basic issues in human life. Does God exist? What can we know about the world? What does it mean to have a mind? How should I treat non-human animals? Do I have free will? This course is an introduction to some of these questions and to the methods philosophers have developed for thinking clearly about them.	Hum & Soc Sci Sector (new curriculum only)	SECTION ACTIVITY CO-REQUISITE REQUIRED; HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCE SECTOR
PHIL 001-601	INTRO TO PHILOSOPHY	ROSENTHAL, SAUL	FISHER-BENNETT HALL 244	M 0600PM-0900PM	Philosophers ask difficult questions about the most basic issues in human life. Does God exist? What can we know about the world? What does it mean to have a mind? How should I treat non-human animals? Do I have free will? This course is an introduction to some of these questions and to the methods philosophers have developed for thinking clearly about them.	Hum & Soc Sci Sector (new curriculum only)	HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCE SECTOR
PHIL 002-601	ETHICS	CASTELLITTO, PAUL	MCNEIL BUILDING 285	R 0600PM-0900PM	Ethics is the study of right and wrong behavior. This introductory course will introduce students to major ethical theories, the possible sources of normativity, and specific ethical problems and questions. Topics may include euthanasia, abortion, animal rights, the family, sexuality, bioethics, crime and punishment and war.	Society sector (all classes)	SOCIETY SECTOR
PHIL 003-601	HIST ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY	PARKER, HAROLD	WILLIAMS HALL 218	MW 0430PM-0600PM		History & Tradition Sector (all classes)	HISTORY & TRADITION SECTOR
PHIL 004-401	HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOS	CHIGNELL, ANDREW	FISHER-BENNETT HALL 419	MW 1200PM-0100PM	This course is an introduction to a few central themes in philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries, and to some of the crucial thinkers who addressed those themes. Topics to be covered may include, among others, the nature of the human being (including the human mind), the relationship between God and the created world, the nature of freedom, and the relations among natural sciences, philosophy and theology in this rich period of human history.	History & Tradition Sector (all classes)	SECTION ACTIVITY CO-REQUISITE REQUIRED; HISTORY & TRADITION SECTOR
PHIL 005-401	FORMAL LOGIC I	WEINSTEIN, SCOTT	CLAUDIA COHEN HALL 402	MWF 1000AM-1100AM	This course provides an introduction to some of the fundamental ideas of logic. Topics will include truth functional logic, quantificational logic, and logical decision problems.		FORMAL REASONING COURSE; FORMAL REASONING
PHIL 008-601	THE SOCIAL CONTRACT	WILLISON, ROBERT	CLAUDIA COHEN HALL 392	R 0630PM-0930PM	This is a critical survey of the history of western modern political philosophy, beginning from the Early Modern period and concluding with the 19th or 20th Century. Our study typically begins with Hobbes and ends with Mill or Rawls. The organizing theme of our inventigation will be the idea of the Social Contract. We will examine different contract theories as well as criticisms and proposed alternatives to the contract idea, such as utilitarianism. Besides the above, examples of authors we will read are Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Mill and Marx.	Society sector (all classes)	SOCIETY SECTOR; PERMISSION NEEDED FROM INSTRUCTOR
PHIL 010-301	TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY I: COGNITION & EMOTION	TAYLOR, JORDAN	FISHER-BENNETT HALL 140	MW 0200PM-0330PM	In classical Athens the question of how a government should work was an urgent one. They invented democracy, adopted it successfully for decades, and then it faced challenges, from oligarchs and others. At this time of tumult, the philosopher Plato set out to explore the question of the best form of government by framing it as a question of justice. Which mode of governing is the one that delivers justice? But to understand this question, a person first needs to understand what justice itself is. Coming up with an answer to this is a thorny and difficult prospect. By focusing on Plato's Republic, this course aims to explore how best to govern a society, what kinds of qualities one should expect in a leader, and how these questions are connected to very basic understandings about human nature, society, and the world in general.
PHIL 015-001	LOGIC & FORMAL REASONING	DOMOTOR, ZOLTAN	WILLIAMS HALL 27	MWF 1100AM-1200PM	This course offers an introduction to three major types of formal reasoning: deductive, inductive (probabilistic and statistical), and practical (decision-making). The course will begin with the study of classical sentential and predicate logics. It will move on to elementary probability theory, contemporary statistics, decision theory and game theory.	General Requirement in Formal Reasoning & Analysis	FORMAL REASONING COURSE; FORMAL REASONING
PHIL 015-050	INTRODUCTION TO FORMAL LOGIC				This course offers an introduction to three major types of formal reasoning: deductive, inductive (probabilistic and statistical), and practical (decision-making). The course will begin with the study of classical sentential and predicate logics. It will move on to elementary probability theory, contemporary statistics, decision theory and game theory.	General Requirement in Formal Reasoning & Analysis	STUDY ABROAD
PHIL 024-301	PHIL OF BIOLOGY: HUMAN NATURE	CURRY, DEVIN		TR 1030AM-1200PM	An introductory course about conceptual and ethical issues in the life sciences. Topics may include the nature of species, adaptation, fitness, the evolution of altruism, and debates about human nature. No prior background about biology or its history are required.
PHIL 025-001	PHILOS OF SCIENCE	SPENCER, QUAYSHAWN	MCNEIL BUILDING 110	TR 1030AM-1130AM	What counts as a scientific theory? What counts as evidence for a scientific theory? Are scientific inferences justified? Does science give us truths or approximate truths about a world that exists independently of us? How can we know? Does it matter? These are all perennial questions in the philosophy of science, and the goal of this course is to look at how philosophers have answered these questions since the scientific revolution. In addition to reading classic work by philosophers of science, we will read material from living and dead scientists in order to gain a deeper appreciation of the philosophical questions that have troubled the most brilliant scientists in Western science.	Nat Sci & Math Sector (new curriculum only)	SECTION ACTIVITY CO-REQUISITE REQUIRED; NATURAL SCIENCE & MATH SECTOR
PHIL 029-601	PHILOSOPHY OF SPORT	MEYER, MILTON	CLAUDIA COHEN HALL 204	W 0600PM-0900PM	This is an introductory philosophy course that uses philosophical tools to understand and answer questions that arise in and about sports. Is there a principled basis for determining which methods of performance enhancement are acceptable? Developing a framework to answer this question will take us through: 1) questions about rules: what is their point in sports and what are appropriate reasons to change them; 2) questions about the point of participation in a sport; 3) questions about the kinds of virtues sports participants can demonstrate; and 4) questions about integrity of participants and a sport itself. A related set of questions concerns the appropriate competitors in sporting events: Should competition be restricted to single sex categories; Should competition be divided into disabled and non-disabled categories?
PHIL 032-301	CONTEMPORARY PHIL: Enhancing the Human Mind through Technology	PURPURA, GARY	FISHER-BENNETT HALL 24	MW 0330PM-0500PM	Selected issues in contemporary philosophy of mind, metaphysics, epistemology, or ethics, with topics that vary from term to term. Most recently, the topic has been transhumanism (the movement to extend the human mind beyond biology). What philosophical conception of mind underpins this movement? What is it to be human, or to possess a human mind? What are the ethical implications of creating transhumans?		FRESHMAN SEMINAR; FRESHMAN SEMINAR
PHIL 045-301	ANIMAL MINDS: ANIMAL COGNITION & ETHIC	CHANG, SHEREEN	VAN PELT LIBRARY 425	TR 0300PM-0430PM	In this course, we will examine philosophical issues in nonhuman animal cognition. We will consider questions such as the following: Do nonhuman animals use concepts? How do we assess different interpretations of their behaviour? What is the role of anthropomorphism in thinking about nonhuman animal cognition? How are intelligence and sociality related?		COMMUNICATION WITHIN THE CURRICULUM
PHIL 050-401	ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY	HAMID, NABEEL	VAN PELT LIBRARY 302	TR 1200PM-0130PM	This course will take the student thorugh the major topics of Indian philosophyby first introducing the fundamental concepts and terms that are necessary fo r a deeper understanding of themes that pervade the philosophical literature of India--arguments for and against the existence of God, for example the ontological status of external objects, the means of valid knowledge, standards of proof, the discourse on the aims of life. The readings will emphasize classical Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophical articulations (from 700 B.E. E. to 16th century CE) but we will also supplement our study of these materials with contemporary or relatively recent philosophical writings to modern India.	History & Tradition Sector (all classes)	HISTORY & TRADITION SECTOR
PHIL 051-301	YOGA AND PHILOSOPHY	MIRACCHI, LISA	FISHER-BENNETT HALL 323	TR 1200PM-0130PM	"Yoga" means to yoke in Sanskrit. Metaphorically, this is often interpreted as union, or integration. This course will explore central aspects of yogic philosophy and practice, and how they relate to, and might be integrated with, contemporary analytic philosophy, college life, and beyond. We will focus on three key issues: (1) What is yogic philosophy? How does it relate to the western philosophical tradition more commonly taught in philosophy departments in the U.S.? (2) What does the practice of yoga have to do with theoretical understanding? (3) Is it possible to integrate a yogic worldview and a scientific worldview? Is there scientific evidence that yoga "works"? What does that even mean? This course will contain both a theoretical component and a practice component. In addition to writing analytical essays on these topics, students will maintain a yoga practice and a reflective journal throughout the course. No prior experience with yoga is required.		CROSS CULTURAL ANALYSIS; FRESHMAN SEMINAR; PERMISSION NEEDED FROM INSTRUCTOR; CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS; FRESHMAN SEMINAR
PHIL 072-401	BIOMEDICAL ETHICS	HARRIS, DIANA	ARTS, RSRCH & CULTR - 3601 LO 208	MW 1100AM-1200PM	This course is an introduction to bioethics, focusing on ethical questions arising at the beginning and end of life. Topics will include procreative responsibilities, the question of wrongful life, and prenatal moral status as well as questions of justice related to markets for sperm, eggs and gestation. We will also attend to dilemmas at the end of life, including the authority of advance directives, euthanasia and the allocation of life-saving therapies.	Society sector (all classes)	SECTION ACTIVITY CO-REQUISITE REQUIRED; SOCIETY SECTOR
PHIL 223-401	PHIL & VISUAL PERCEPTION: ISSUES IN COLOR PERCEPTION	DAOUST, LOUISE	FISHER-BENNETT HALL 141	MW 0200PM-0330PM	In this course, we'll use the biology, psychology and phenomenology of vision to explore philosophical questions abaout color, such as these: Color vision helps us get around in our environments, but in what sense is it a window onto reality, if it is? Are colors properties of objects, or are they inherently private, subjective properties of minds? What can non-human forms of color vision teach us about the nature of color, and how should we empirically study color vision? Do we need to see in color to understand it? How do our ordinary ways of talking and thinking about colors relate to the experiences we have in color? How does color vision figure in aesthetic judgment? And to what degree can it be influenced by learning, or by social biases like sexist or racist prejudices?
PHIL 228-401	PHIL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE	PARKER, HAROLD	COLLEGE HALL 200	MW 0100PM-0200PM	This course is about the foundations of contemporary social science. It focuses on the nature of social systems, the similarities and differences between social and natural sciences, the construction, analysis, and confirmation of social theories, and the nature of social explanations. Specific topics may include: What are social norms and conventions? What does it mean to have one gender rather than another, or one sexual orientation rather than another? Should social systems be studied quantitatively or qualitatively?		SECTION ACTIVITY CO-REQUISITE REQUIRED
PHIL 234-050	GOD IN PHILOSOPHY: PLATO TO HUME				This course will focus on arguments for and against the existence of God. It will begin by examining the ontological, cosmological, and design arguments for the existence of God. Included will be a discussion of purported evidence for the existence of God from modern biology and cosmology. It will then examine arguments against the existence of God based on human and animal suffering, followed by arguments against the existence of God arising from the scarcity of credible miracle claims.		STUDY ABROAD
PHIL 295-401	IDENTITY	DETLEFSEN, KAREN	CLAUDIA COHEN HALL 493 VAN PELT LIBRARY 113	R 0300PM-0530PM S 1030AM-1200PM	The content of the course may include the following, and related, themes: what makes a human the same human over time? What constitutes our identities? Are gender, race, sexual orientation, and the like essential features of our identities, and if so, how do they become so? How do ethics, politics and identity interact? After learning this philosophical content, Penn students will develop lesson plans for introducing this content to Philadelphia public high school sudents. Mid way through the semester, Penn students will start to prepare the high school students to present their own original work on the philosophy of identity at a conference to be held at Penn in May 2017. Penn students will be assessed on their own written and other work for the course, and in no way on the written or oral work of the high school students. Enrollment by permit only. Please contact Professor Detlefsen detlefse@sas.upenn.edu to schedule an interview for admission to the course.		AN ACADEMICALLY BASED COMMUNITY SERV COURSE; PERMISSION NEEDED FROM INSTRUCTOR
PHIL 298-050	THEORY AND HISTORY OF MARXIST-LENINIST PHILOSOPHY						STUDY ABROAD
PHIL 298-051	GERMAN ENLIGHTENMENT						STUDY ABROAD
PHIL 298-052	INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY THROUGH FILM						STUDY ABROAD
PHIL 298-053	PHILOSOPHY OF PSYCHOLOGY AND MIND						STUDY ABROAD
PHIL 343-301	PHILOSOPHY OF MIND: SUSAN HURLEY'S CONSCIOUSNESS IN ACTION	MIRACCHI, LISA	FISHER-BENNETT HALL 24	TR 0300PM-0430PM	This majors seminar will focus on selected topics in Philosophy of Mind.		MAJORS ONLY
PHIL 409-301	PLATO'S DIALOGUE: PLATO ON PLEASURE	MEYER, SUSAN	CLAUDIA COHEN HALL 493	M 0330PM-0630PM	A study of selected dialogues of Plato. All texts will be read in translation. No prior experience in Plato is required, but students should have some background in philosophy. Dialogues studied will vary from term to term.
PHIL 412-401	TOPICS IN LOGIC	KUZNETSOV, STEPAN	DAVID RITTENHOUSE LAB 4C6	TR 0300PM-0430PM	The course focuses topics drawn from the central areas of mathematical logic: model theory, proof theory, set theory, and computability theory.
PHIL 414-301	PHIL OF MATH: Philosophy of Mathematics	WEINSTEIN, SCOTT	CLAUDIA COHEN HALL 203	MW 0200PM-0330PM	The course will focus on the development of the foundations and philosophy of mathematics from the late nineteenth-century through the present day. Topics may include logicism, formalism, intuitionism, and the foundations of set theory. Ample consideration will be given to some of the fundamental results of mathematical logic, such as the Godel incompleteness theorems and the independence of the Continuum Hypothesis from Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory, that have had a profound impact on contemporary approaches to the philosophy of mathematics.
PHIL 431-301	Modal Logic and Formal Epistemology	DOMOTOR, ZOLTAN	WILLIAMS HALL 28	MW 0200PM-0330PM	Selected topics in Epistemology such as: bridging the gap between mainstream and formal epistemology, the familiar tripartite definition of knowledge (knowledge as justified true belief), basic logical and probabilistic models of knowledge (Hintikka, Aumann, and Bayesian) and their multi-agent variants, logical omniscience and other problems (including the epistemic closure principle), attempts at formalizing joint and common knowledge, resource-bounded knowledge, knowledge under limited logical powers, and empirical knowledge obstructed by system complexity.
PHIL 466-401	KANT II: From Enlightenment towards perpetual peace: Kant's political philosophy	HAHMANN, ANDREE	CLAUDIA COHEN HALL 493	TR 1030AM-1200PM	This course is a study of Kant's moral and political philosophy. Texts may include Kant's Lectures on Ethics, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, Critique of Practical Reason, Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, and Metaphysics of Morals.
PHIL 472-301	SURVEY OF ETHICAL THEORY	LORD, ERROL	CLAUDIA COHEN HALL 337	TR 1200PM-0130PM	This course is an investigation of the main questions and problems in metaethics since the turn of the 20th century. We will investigate questions about the metaphysics of morality, the philosophy of language of moral talk, the philosophy of mind of moral thought, the epistemology of morality, and the objectivity of morality.
PHIL 505-401	FORMAL LOGIC: FORMAL LOGIC I	WEINSTEIN, SCOTT	CLAUDIA COHEN HALL 402	MWF 1000AM-1100AM	This course provides an introduction to some of the fundamental ideas of logic. Topics will include truth functional logic, quantificational logic, and logical decision problems.		FORMAL REASONING COURSE; UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION; FORMAL REASONING
PHIL 525-301	TOPICS PHIL SCI: RACE AND BIOLOGY	SPENCER, QUAYSHAWN	CLAIRE M. FAGIN HALL (NURSING 103	R 0100PM-0400PM	For the last four centuries, scientific research has provided our most reliable understanding of the world. Although the scientific revolution started modestly with attempts to understand stellar movement, we now know the age and constitution of the universe, the basis of heredity, and we can make and break chemical bonds at will. By all appearances, science seems to have made substantial progress from the scientific revolution to the global scientific enterprise of the 21st centry. This course is about how science has generated this knowledge, and whether it has been as progressive and reliable as it seems. We will consider methodological issues such as the sources of scientific knowledge, objectivity, the growing importance of computation in the natural sciences, and the nature of modeling. We will examine products of scientific research: explanations, models, theories, and laws of nature. And we will discuss questions about science and values, including whether non-scientific values can and should enter scientific research, the relationship between science and religion, and the role of the public in guiding the scientific enterprise.		UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION
PHIL 532-301	Social and Political Epistemology	SINGER, DANIEL	COLLEGE HALL 311A	M 0330PM-0630PM	This seminar will cover topics of interest to contemporary epistemologists. Possible topics may include skepticism, accounts of knowledge and justification, virtue epistemology, formal epistemology, social epistemology, feminist epistemology, meta-epistemology and epistemic normativity.		UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION
PHIL 554-640	CONTEMPRY CONT'L PHILOS	STEINBERG, STEPHEN	CLAUDIA COHEN HALL 203	W 0600PM-0900PM	This MLA seminar is an introduction to 20th-century continental European philosophy, focusing on the origins and development of phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, and deconstruction. No previous background in philosophy is required. We will begin with an introduction to the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl and the contemporary debate over its proper interpretation. Then we will examine three existentialist critics of Husserl, whose philosophies have influenced much of recent continental thought: Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Finally, we will examine the important influence of phenomenology and existentialism on contemporary trends in continental philosophy as exhibited in works by Paul Ricoeur, Hans Georg Gadamer, Jacques Derrida, Hannah Arendt, and Emmanuel Levinas. Finally, we will examine the important influence of phenomenology and existentialism on contemporary trends in continental philosophy as exhibited in works by Paul Ricoeur, Hans Georg Gadamer, Jacques Derrida, Hannah Arendt, and Emmanuel Levinas.
PHIL 567-401	DEVEL OF GERMAN IDEALISM: SCHELLING,GOETHE,NATURE	RICHTER, SIMON HAHMANN, ANDREE	STITELER HALL B30	R 0300PM-0600PM	This course will start with a brief review of some features of Kant's philosophy and will focus on Fichte and Schelling, and will end with a discussion of the reaction to Idealism by Schopenhauer and Nietzsche.		ALL READINGS AND LECTURES IN ENGLISH; UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION
PHIL 572-301	Epistemology of Morality & Aesthetics	LORD, ERROL	MCNEIL BUILDING 409	T 0300PM-0600PM	A venerable idea throughout the history of ethics is that rationality is a fundamental or foundational part of the metaphysics of the normative. The course will be an investigation of several different strains of this rationalist idea. We'll disucss four rationalist views of the nature of normative reasons (Kantian, Humean, Aristotelian, and new-fangled constructivism). Our aim will be to investigate the plausibility of these rationalist views against the backdrop of a more recent hypothesis about the metaphysics of the normative--viz., the claim that normative reasons themselves are the fundamental constituents of the normative.		UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION
PHIL 577-401	Political Authority and Political Obligation	PERRY, STEPHEN	TANENBAUM HALL - LAW SCHOOL 253	W 0430PM-0630PM	This seminar will examine leading academic theories of constitutional interpretation, starting with classic texts by (for illustration) Thayer, Wechsler, Ely, Bobbitt, Dworkin, and Scalia, and emphasizing current debates within originalism and between originalists and their critics. While the focus will be on American constitutional interpretation, we will also see how that literature is currently running up against, and possibly contributing to, more "philosophical" or "jurisprudential" accounts of the contents of law. Consistent with the nature of the material, the reading load is likely to be somewhat heavier and more demanding than in the average seminar. Students will be expected to read the assigned material carefully and to participate actively in class discussions; they will have the option of submitting either a single research paper or several shorter papers.		UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION
PHIL 578-301	TOPICS IN POLITICAL PHIL: Liberalism and Economic Justice	FREEMAN, SAMUEL	CLAUDIA COHEN HALL 493	W 0330PM-0630PM	This is a topics-based graduate seminar in political philosophy. Examples of topics we can examine in this course include distributive justice, liberty, equality, and global justice. Course readings will be drawn from a combination of seminal and more recent works on the selected topics.		UNDERGRADUATES NEED PERMISSION
PHIL 601-001	PHILOSOPHY CONSORTIUM	FREEMAN, SAMUEL		TBA TBA-	For graduate students taking courses at other institutions belonging to the Philadelphia area Philosophical Consortium.
PHIL 700-301	DISSERTATION WORKSHOP	MEYER, SUSAN	CLAUDIA COHEN HALL 493	T 0300PM-0600PM	Registration required for all third-year doctoral students. Third-year students and beyond attend and present their dissertation work or their preliminary exam prospectus. From time to time, topics pertaining to professional development and dissertation writing will be discussed.		FOR PHD STUDENTS ONLY