Location: Bowdoin / Philosophy / Courses / Fall 2007

Philosophy

Courses

Fall 2007

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027. Moral History: Lawrence Simon M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55 Edward Pols House-Conf Room; What can history tell us about morality? What can morality help us understand about history? Does the fact that humans are capable of great evil mean that moral progress is a chimera? Why are some individuals capable of great moral insight, sensitivity and courage in the midst of widespread moral collapse? We will ask these and related questions in the context of some of the moral atrocities and dilemmas of recent history including the holocaust and other genocides, war and war crimes, totalitarianism and systematic oppression, torture and slavery.
111. Ancient Philosophy: Sarah Conly M 10:30 - 11:25, W 10:30 - 11:25, F 10:30 - 11:25 Searles-215; The sources and prototypes of Western thought. We try to understand and evaluate Greek ideas about value, knowledge, and truth.
152. Death: Matthew Stuart T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25 Sills-Smith Auditorium; Considers distinctively philosophical questions about death: Do we have immortal souls? Is immortality even desirable? Is death a bad thing? Is suicide morally permissible? Does the inevitability of death rob life of its meaning? Readings from historical and contemporary sources.
210. Philosophy of Mind: Scott Sehon M 11:30 - 12:25, W 11:30 - 12:25, F 11:30 - 12:25 Hubbard-22; We see ourselves as rational agents: we have beliefs, desires, intentions, wishes, hopes, etc.; we also have the ability to perform actions, and we are responsible for the actions we freely choose. Is our conception of ourselves as rational agents consistent with our scientific conception of human beings as biological organisms? Can there be a science of the mind, and, if so, what is its status relative to other sciences? What is the relationship between mind and body? Can we have free will, or moral responsibility, if determinism is true? Readings primarily from contemporary sources.
223. Logic: Scott Sehon M 9:30 - 10:25, W 9:30 - 10:25, F 9:30 - 10:25 Searles-115; The central problem of logic is to determine which arguments are good and which are bad. To this end, we introduce a symbolic language and rigorous, formal methods for seeing whether one statement logically implies another. We apply these tools to a variety of arguments, philosophical and otherwise. We also demonstrate certain theorems about the formal system we construct.
337. Hume: Matthew Stuart M 6:30 - 9:25 Edward Pols House-Conf Room; An examination of Hume's metaphysics and epistemology, focusing on his masterpiece, A Treatise of Human Nature. This work – completed when the author was only 26 – was largely ignored during his lifetime, but is now recognized as the high-water mark of British Empiricism. Topics to include Hume's theories about cognition, imagination, causality, inductive reasoning, free will, personal identity, miracles, and moral evaluation.
346. Philosophy of Gender: Sex and Love: Sarah Conly M 1:00 - 2:25, W 1:00 - 2:25 Edward Pols House-Conf Room; Issues of sex and love preoccupy us but may not be well understood. Considers what "counts" as having sex, why that matters, and what it is to love someone. These and other relevant topics will be explored through readings and discussion.