550 Epistemology
Perin, 357 Bartlett
A survey of recent work in the theory of knowledge with special focus on problems of skepticism and justification.  Requirements: several short papers or exams.  Prerequisites: three courses in philosophy, or permission of the instructor.

551 Metaphysics
Schaffer, 359 Bartlett
In this course we will discuss reduction, emergence, and supervenience.  We will try to articulate the relationship between the levels of nature.  Requirements: a class presentation and a seminar paper.  Restricted to graduate philosophy students and upper-level philosophy majors.

592S Metaphysics of Motion
Brown, 358 Bartlett
Debates about the nature and cause of motion were central to the scientific revolution of the 17th and 18th centuries.  These debates raised profound questions in metaphysics and natural philosophy.  This course will involve a critical examination of these questions and the answers that they provoked from the major scientific and philosophical figures of the period.  Among the figures we will discuss are Galileo, Descartes, Malebranche, Huygens, Wallis, Wren, Leibniz, and Newton.  Texts:  to be determined.  Requirements: midterm exam, final exam, 15-20 page term paper on a topic approved by the instructor.  Prerequisites:  three courses in philosophy.

592T Seminar: Hume's Treatise
Chappell, 380 Bartlett
Critical study of Hume's Treatise of Human Nature.  Emphasis on topics of current interest, e.g. causation, free will,  personal identity, skepticism, motivation, and morality.  Text:  Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, ed. Norton and Norton (Oxford: 2000).  Requirements: several short papers, class presentation, term paper; no final exam.  Prerequisite: three courses in philosophy, or consent of the instructor.

594S Seminar: Space and Time
Bricker, 356 Bartlett
Selected topics in the philosophy of space and time, including Zeno's paradoxes (and infinity machines); substantial vs. relational views of space and time (Newton, Leibniz, Mach); the epistemology of geometry (Poincare, Reichenbach); the foundations of special relativity (space vs. spacetime, the twin paradox, conventionality of simultaneity); and the possibility of time travel.  Texts: to be determined.  Requirements: take-home midterm and final exams, and three short papers.  Prerequisites: two courses in philosophy and high school algebra and physics, or consent of instructor.

702A--Augustine
Matthews, 368 Bartlett
A consideration of the philosophically most interesting topics in Augustine, including skepticism, cogito-like reasoning, the concept of mind, the problem of other minds, the concept of the will, the problem of happiness, language acquisition, time, creation ex nihilo, the problem of evil, foreknowledge and free will, and interpretation. Readings will include the Confessions, some of the City of God, On Free Choice of the Will, Against the Academics, The Teacher, much of On the Trinity, and short selections from other works, plus a selection of the best recent philosophically-oriented secondary literature. Requirements: a seminar presentation, a short paper, and a longer paper.

703--Cartesianism
O'Neill, 379 Bartlett

CANCELLED

760--Ethics
Feldman, 362 Bartlett
The main theme of the seminar will be "problems in the measurement of moral value." We will consider such questions as the question whether the intrinsic value of a complex whole (such as a person's life, or a possible world) must be equal to the sum of the values of the relevant parts of that whole. Another likely question is this: are there sorts of value that are relevant to the moral evaluation of a possible world, but which are "incommensurable?" And what would it mean to say that they are incommensurable anyway? Are there "higher goods?" Another question might be: is there any way to compute the value of a world that contains infinitely many minimal value states? Another question might be: are there states of affairs that have intrinsic value, but that do not have any determinate amount of intrinsic value? Readings will be from works by James Griffin, Derek Parfit, Shelly Kagan, Larry Temkin, Michael Stocker, and many others. Prerequisites: some background in ethical theory, an interest in the topic, a pocket calculator.

794F--Free Will*
Baker, 366 Bartlett
This seminar will focus on a variety of positions on free will and the relation of free will to moral responsibility. We shall read recent articles defending and criticizing agent-causation and libertarianism by authors such as Galen Strawson, Richard Double, Daniel Dennett, Thomas Nagel, Carl Ginet, Robert Nozick, Robert Kane, Timothy O'Connor, Randolph Clarke, Peter van Inwagen, and John Martin Fischer and Mark Ravizza. Then, we shall read a new book -- Living Without Free Will by Derk Pereboom -- that defends the view that, whether determinism is true or not, our actions are the result of factors beyond our control and thus that we lack moral responsibility for any of our actions. The book tries to reconcile absence of moral responsibility with morality, meaning and value. We shall examine all these positions critically. Requirements: class presentations, short paper, term paper. Prerequisites: departmental standing as a Ph.D. student or permission of the instructor.

* This course replaces PHIL 794E: Emergence, originally scheduled for Spring 2002, which Baker plans to teach in a later semester.

794S--Speech Act Theory
Klement, 353 Bartlett
Close examination of speech act theory and its relation to philosophy, with a particular emphasis on the work of J. L. Austin. Topics include performative utterances, locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts, conversational implicature, speakers' and hearers' meaning, and the relationship between pragmatics and semantics. We shall also be exploring the potential relevance (or lack thereof) of these things to traditional philosophical problems in ethics, epistemology and metaphysics. Texts: works by Austin, Searle, Grice, Cavell, Strawson, Stalnaker, Martinich, Vanderveken, Vendler, and/or others. Requirements: weekly reading assignments, seminar presentations and term paper. Prerequisites: graduate student status, or consent of instructor.