Search for Spring 2023 courses on Albert.
PHIL-UA 2; Great Works in Philosophy; T/R 3:30-4:45pm; Gabriel Shapiro
Friendship
What is friendship? Why is it so valuable? How does friendship differ, if at all, from loving romantic or sexual relationships? Do we love our friends themselves or do we love them for their qualities? Should we be biased in favor of our friends—giving them the benefit of the doubt even when the weight of evidence is against them? In this course, we will cover these and other central questions in the philosophy of friendship.
In the last few decades, the phenomena of friendship and love have received significant attention from philosophers. Much of this work is indebted to and rooted in Aristotle’s theory of friendship, to which Aristotle devotes two of the ten books of Nicomachean Ethics. We will begin with a close reading of Aristotle’s theory, including his analysis of the nature of friendship, his classification of types of friendship, and his defense of the value of friendship. We will then turn to recent work on the philosophy of friendship that departs from, develops, and challenges Aristotle’s theory. Here, we will cover topics including, the relationship between friendship and love, the conflict between the obligations of friendship and the requirements of morality, how to be friends with bad people, and the epistemology of friendship.
*This course fulfills the philosophy introductory course requirement, only. If you have already taken an introductory course, it will not count toward the major or minor.
PHIL-UA 3; Ethics and Society; T/R 9:30-10:45am; Daniel Viehoff
An introduction to philosophy through the study of selected moral, social, and political issues. Topics may include criminal justice and punishment; political authority and civil disobedience; toleration and free speech; racial justice.
*There are mandatory recitations associated with this course. Please visit Albert to view the schedule.
*This course fulfills the philosophy introductory course requirement, only. If you have already taken an introductory course, it will not count toward the major or minor.
PHIL-UA 6; Global Ethics; M/W 11:00-12:15pm; K. Anthony Appiah
This course aims to accomplish two things. The first is to introduce three broad traditions of normative thinking about social issues from around the globe: a Confucian tradition, one based in Islamic legal traditions, and one derived from European liberalism. The second is to address three current areas of normative debate: about global economic inequality, about gender justice and human rights. We shall explore these first-order questions against the background of the three broad traditions. Our aim will be to understand some of the differences of approach that shape the global conversation about these issues that concern people around the world.
*There are mandatory recitations associated with this course. Please visit Albert to view the schedule.
*This course fulfills the philosophy introductory course requirement, only. If you have already taken an introductory course, it will not count toward the major or minor.
PHIL-UA 21; Early Modern European Philosophy; T/R 9:30-10:45am; Tim Maudlin
We will read a selection of central works in European philosophy from Descartes to Kant, focussing largely on foundational questions in epistemology, metaphysics, the theory of ideas and the nature of meaning. Even with this restriction of scope, and a relatively small group of authors, there is a lot to be read and the reading must be done with attention and care. We will follow a collection of topics across the different authors. The works we will discuss are Descartes’ Meditations, parts of Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Leibniz’s Discourse on Metaphysics and Monadology, Berkeley’s Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, Hume’s An Enquiry on Human Understanding and Kant’s Prolegomenon to Any Future Metaphysics.
*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 3:30-4:45pm; Daniel Brinkerhoff Young
Human beings don't live in isolation from one another; we form complex associations through which we pursue activities and goals together--associations like nation-states, economic markets, social movements, and religious organizations. In the course of forming these associations, however, some people come to govern others--that is, some people come to hold power or authority to direct or control the actions of other people.
In this course, we will focus on two main sets of questions. The first is, what could justify these collective associations? In other words, what goods come about because we form such associations? Are these associations for the sake of justice, freedom, equality, or some other value? The second question is, what are the dangers of living together in association? How do social evils such as racist hierarchies, inequalities of power, gender oppression, and social antagonism result from the way our collective associations are set up?
*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; 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 70-002; Logic; M/W 3:30-4:45pm; Vincent Peluce
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 4:55-6:10pm; Vincent Peluce
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 76; Epistemology; M/W 2:00-3:15pm; Pablo Zendejas Medina
This is an introduction to epistemology, which is the study of what it is for believing and reasoning to go well or badly in different ways. For example, we evaluate beliefs or reasoning as rational or irrational, say that beliefs are justified or unjustified, and that people know or don't know what they believe. In this course, which will cover a lot of ground, we'll study theoretical questions about knowledge, justification, and rationality as well as applied issues that arise within the field. In the former category, we'll ask questions like "What is it to know something?", "How do justified beliefs hang together?", "How can we know facts that describe the external world, or facts concerning the future?". In the latter, applied category, we'll consider "When can I know things by being told that they are true?", "What is rational to believe when others disagree with me?" and "What does one owe to others in their capacity as knowers?". Readings will primarily be drawn from contemporary works.
*There are mandatory recitations associated with this course. Please visit Albert to view the schedule.
Prerequisite: one introductory course in philosophy
PHIL-UA 90; Philosophy of Science; T/R 12:30-1:45pm; Xueyin (Snow) Zhang
We will consider a wide range of questions about the nature of scientific theory and practice, including what makes a discipline a science, how are scientific theories confirmed and falsified, how to interpret idealized models, and to what extent is science "objective" rather than "subjective".
*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; T/R 9:30-10:45am; Michelle Dyke
Philosophy of Mind in the Early Modern and Modern Periods
When I will to raise my hand, how does my mind, or soul, causally interact with my body? When I look at a tree, how do I form an idea that represents that object in nature? How do I become aware of other minds? How might these processes be dependent upon the will of an all-knowing and all-powerful God? Does God’s involvement in these processes render God responsible for what I think and do? In this course, we will critically examine historical answers to these questions about the nature of the mind and its faculties from authors including Descartes, Spinoza, Malebranche, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant.
Prerequisite: one course from those listed in Group 1: History of Philosophy. May be repeated once for credit as topics change.
PHIL-UA 103-001; Topics in Metaphysics & Epistemology; T 2:00-4:30pm; Peter Unger
Though there will be many shorter selections read and discussed, as well, this course will be primarily concerned with what’s presented in Professor Unger’s most recent book, Empty Ideas: A Critique of Analytic Philosophy. This book discloses how terribly little has ever been accomplished in the core of academic philosophy – in metaphysics, and in the most metaphysical parts of, or aspects of, epistemology, philosophy of language and philosophy of mind. What’s more, it exposes how terribly little has been even attempted on that most central philosophical front in the last half-century, or more. For philosophical sophisticates, this will seem shocking: Most academic philosophers are under the impression that, with the work of such brilliant thinkers as Saul Kripke, David Lewis and Hilary Putnam, mainstream philosophy has made some real contributions to our understanding of how things are, in certain quite deep and general respects, with concrete reality - with the likes of water and gold, and tables and chairs, and sentient beings, too. But, as Empty Ideas explains, that’s all just an illusion, pretty easily recognized as such, when, as the book tries to make happen, philosophical sophisticates are awakened from their dogmatic slumbers. As Professor Unger greatly hopes, you will greatly enjoy being awakened from any and all of your own dogmatic slumbers, whatever yours may be.
Prerequisite: Epistemology (PHIL-UA 76), Metaphysics (PHIL-UA 78), or Philosophy of Science (PHIL-UA 90). May be repeated once for credit as topics change.
PHIL-UA 103-002; Topics in Metaphysics & Epistemology; M/W 12:30-1:45pm; Lu Teng
Compare a sighted person with a blindsighted person, who has no experience of a visual stimulus, but nevertheless registers its presence in unconscious processing. Does the sighted person have more justification for believing that a visual stimulus is present? Compare a visual experience with a visual imagining. Does the visual experience have a distinctive kind of phenomenal character? If so, does such phenomenal character help explain how the experience justify beliefs? In this course, we will survey a few features of perceptual experiences that might explain their ability to justify beliefs, including phenomenal character, content, and etiology. We will also consider the epistemological significance of a range of perceptual phenomena, such as cognitive penetration and perceptual learning.
Prerequisite: Epistemology (PHIL-UA 76), Metaphysics (PHIL-UA 78), or Philosophy of Science (PHIL-UA 90). May be repeated once for credit as topics change.
PHIL-UA 201; Junior Honors Proseminar; W 10am-12pm; Tim Maudlin
To be taken by honors program students in the spring of their junior year.
In the first part of the semester, students study a variety of potential topics for honors theses, as determined in part by the interests of those enrolled. (Some possibilities:-- “”What is truth?”; “Are there absolute facts as to what we do is, or is not, morally right?”; “How can something not merely exist, but necessarily exist?; “Are experiences nothing but states of the brain?”)
Later in the semester, students present and discuss their own original work, leading toward the development of a detailed and substantial honors thesis prospectus.
Each student must submit a thesis prospectus at the end of the semester. Its approval by the course instructor and a prospective faculty advisor is required to pass the course.
Prerequisite: admission to the department’s honors program – which will only be granted to philosophy majors with a grade-point average of 3.65 or higher in philosophy and overall, and who have taken at least five philosophy courses, of which two are numbered higher than PHIL-UA 8. Email jhm378@nyu.edu for enrollment permission.