Search for Fall 2021 courses on Albert.
PHIL-UA 2; Great Works in Philosophy; M/W 11:00am-12:15pm; John Richardson
An introduction to philosophy through the study of some of the most important and influential writings in its history. Authors studied may include Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein. (More detailed course description forthcoming.)
*There are mandatory recitations associated with this course. Please visit Albert to view the schedule.
PHIL-UA 5; Minds and Machines; T/R 2:00-3:15pm; David Chalmers
This course will be an introduction to some central issues in philosophy through the lens of modern technology. We will consider issues such as "How do we know about the external world?" , "What is the relationship between mind and body?" , "How can we know about other minds?" , and "Can machines be conscious?" , in part by thinking hard about technologies such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence.
*There are mandatory recitations associated with this course. Please visit Albert to view the schedule.
PHIL-UA 8; Philosophical Approaches to Race and Racism; T/R 11:00am-12:15pm; K. Anthony Appiah
This course has two themes. The first is an exploration of the concept of race. This is a question in social ontology, which is the philosophical study of the nature of social entities. The second is an examination of some of the normative and conceptual issues surrounding the most morally significant of the ways in which “race” has mattered for social life, namely as the concept that defines the object of the attitudes, practices, institutions and beliefs we call “racist.” We shall ask what racism is, what sorts of things can be racist, and what makes racism wrong.
The course also aims to be an introduction to the ways in which philosophers approach such ontological and normative questions. We shall see that answering the questions in social ontology may require knowledge of history and the social sciences. We shall also see that addressing the normative questions will often require us first to answer ontological ones.
*There are mandatory recitations associated with this course. Please visit Albert to view the schedule.
PHIL-UA 20; Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy; T/R 3:30-4:45pm; Tim Maudlin
This class will introduce some important texts in the philosophy of ancient Greece, starting with the Pre-Socratics, and then Plato and Aristotle. Our focus will broadly be on issues in metaphysics and epistemology. After examining existing fragments of texts by Thales, Anaximander, Anaxemines, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles and Democritus, we will read Platonic dialogues including Meno, Republic and Theaetetus, and Aristotle’s Categories, Posterior Analytics, and parts of Physics and Metaphysics.
*There are mandatory recitations associated with this course. Please visit Albert to view the schedule.
Prerequisite: one introductory course in philosophy
PHIL-UA 30; Kant; M/W 2:00-3:15pm; Rosalind Chaplin
This course is an introduction to the critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Since the 18th century, few philosophers have more profoundly impacted the disciplines of metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and moral philosophy. We will focus on two of Kant’s most important works in these areas: the Critique of Pure Reason and the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Topics discussed will include: the nature and possibility of metaphysics, the relation between mind and world, knowledge and justification, the nature of space and time, causation, freedom and causal determinism, the autonomy of the will, moral motivation, the value of humanity, and the nature of moral obligation.
*There are mandatory recitations associated with this course. Please visit Albert to view the schedule.
Prerequisite: one introductory course in philosophy
PHIL-UA 45; Political Philosophy; M/W 9:30-10:45am; Daniel Viehoff
Examines fundamental issues concerning the justification of social and political institutions. Topics may include liberty and equality, political obligation and civil disobedience, criteria of a just society, punishment and criminal justice, civil and human rights, and democracy.
*There are mandatory recitations associated with this course. Please visit Albert to view the schedule.
Prerequisite: one introductory course in philosophy
PHIL-UA 70-001; Logic; M/W 12:30-1:45pm; Vishnya Maudlin
An introduction to the basic techniques of sentential and predicate logic. Students learn how to put arguments from ordinary language into symbols, how to construct derivations within a formal system, and how to ascertain validity using truth tables or models.
PHIL-UA 70-002; Logic; T/R 4:55-6:10pm; Laura Gradowski
An introduction to the basic techniques of sentential and predicate logic. Students learn how to put arguments from ordinary language into symbols, how to construct derivations within a formal system, and how to ascertain validity using truth tables or models.
PHIL-UA 70-003; Logic; T/R 8:00-9:15am; Vishnya Maudlin
An introduction to the basic techniques of sentential and predicate logic. Students learn how to put arguments from ordinary language into symbols, how to construct derivations within a formal system, and how to ascertain validity using truth tables or models.
PHIL-UA 78; Metaphysics; M/W 3:30-4:45pm; Evan Boyd
Metaphysics is concerned with philosophical issues about the fundamental nature of reality. This course covers various metaphysical topics including necessity and possibility, causation, laws of nature, time and personal identity.
*There are mandatory recitations associated with this course. Please visit Albert to view the schedule.
Prerequisite: one introductory course in philosophy
PHIL-UA 85; Philosophy of Language; T/R 11:00am-12:15pm; Matthew Mandelkern
Meaning is ubiquitous. Stripes can mean that a snake is poisonous; discoloring on leaves can mean that a tree is blighted. Some kinds of meaning are linguistic: these words communicate something to you thanks to the remarkable human ability to produce, comprehend, and record meanings, in an endlessly generative manner. We will explore what linguistic meaning is, how it is possible, and how we use it to communicate and think. We will explore questions like: Does meaning involve reference to individuals, and if so, how? How do we represent time in language? How do we represent alternative (possibly non-actual) possibilities? How do we follow, and exploit, the rules of conversation to use meanings to express non-literal contents? What is the relationship between thought and language? What is the relationship between human and formal languages? Between human and non-human communication? Between language, logic, and paradox?
*There are mandatory recitations associated with this course. Please visit Albert to view the schedule.
Prerequisite: Logic (PHIL-UA 70) and one introductory course
PHIL-UA 93; Philosophical Applications of Cognitive Science; T/R 9:30-10:45am; Michael Strevens
We will discuss the relevance of recent discoveries about the mind to philosophical questions about metaphysics and ethics. The questions include: What is causation? Is there a right way to “carve up” the world into categories? Why do we see the world as consisting of objects in places? Is there such a thing as objective right and wrong? Is there such a thing as free will?
*There are mandatory recitations associated with this course. Please visit Albert to view the schedule.
Prerequisite: one introductory course in philosophy
PHIL-UA 94; Philosophy of Physics; T/R 12:30-1:45pm; Tim Maudlin
This course will focus on quantum theory, in particular various different so-called “interpretations” of the theory, the different accounts of the physical world they provide, and the sorts of consideration that might make one preferable to another. Students should be prepared to learn a little about hw the theory is formulated mathematically, and how to make predictions using it. This will require some amount of mathematics, but nothing beyond elementary algebra and geometry. There will be some focus on Bell’s Theorem and the apparent tension between quantum theory and the Theory of Relativity.
*There are mandatory recitations associated with this course. Please visit Albert to view the schedule.
Prerequisite: one introductory course in philosophy
PHIL-UA 101; Topics in the History of Philosophy; M/W 8:00-9:15am; Snow Zhang
Song-Ming Confucianism.
Like many other schools of philosophical thoughts, Confucianism went through several transformations across Chinese history. Among them, the intellectual movement that spanned across three dynasties (Song, Yuan, Ming) from 960 CE to 1644 CE was arguably one of the most concerted and self-conscious attempts by Confucian scholars to establish a coherent foundation for the tradition’s metaphysics, ethics, epistemology and moral psychology. This is an advanced introductory course to this rich philosophical tradition (which has come to be known as “Neo-Confucianism” among western scholars). We will read writings by some of the most influential figures of this movement, including Cheng Hao (1032-1085), Cheng Yi (1033-1107), Zhu Xi (1130-1200), Lu Xiangshan (1139-1192) and Wang Yangming (1472-1529). As we will see, these thinkers struggled with many questions that continue to perplex philosophers today: Is human nature good or bad? How is moral learning/moral knowledge possible? Can we act against our best judgment? What is the relationship between knowledge and action? Understanding their attempts at addressing those questions will help us better understand the confines of our own philosophical thinking.
This course is designed to be accessible to students with no prior background in Chinese philosophy or Chinese language.
Prerequisite: one course from those listed in Group 1: History of Philosophy on our General Course Offerings page.
PHIL-UA 103; Topics in Metaphysics & Epistemology; M/W 4:55-6:10pm; Sophia Dandelet
Most of us take it for granted that it makes sense to criticize beliefs in ethical terms. Racist and sexist beliefs strike us as not just irrational, but also morally repugnant. We can be hurt and offended when others dismiss our testimony, and we feel that good friends should give one another the benefit of the doubt. But can we really have ethical responsibilities in the realm of belief, given that we cannot choose what to believe in the way that we can choose what to have for dinner? Supposing that we do have ethical responsibilities as believers, what are they exactly? Is ethical believing simply a matter of responding correctly to the evidence? Or does ethical believing sometimes require going beyond, or even against, the evidence? For the most part, we will investigate these very abstract questions in the context of specific examples, with a particular focus on the duties of belief that seem to come with friendship.
Prerequisite: Epistemology (PHIL-UA 76) or Metaphysics (PHIL-UA 78) or Philosophy of Science (PHIL-UA 90). May be repeated once for credit as topics change.
PHIL-UA 202; Honors Thesis Workshop; R 12:30-2:30pm; Cian Dorr
A seminar taken in fall of senior year. Students begin developing their thesis projects by presentations in the seminar, which is led by a faculty member. Students also begin to meet individually with a separate faculty advisor. See the description of the honors program in the “Program” section of our website.
Prerequisite: upon admission into the honors program, students are expected to read for the thesis over the summer between junior and senior years. Email jm5706@nyu.edu for enrollment permission.