METHDS/PROB OF PHILOS THOUGHT
Critical introduction to philosophical problems, ideas and methods.
- TR 6:40 p.m.-7:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Justin Clarke-Doane
h-index: 10 Info - 3 points
SYMBOLIC LOGIC
Corequisites: PHILV3413 Required Discussion Section (0 points). Advanced introduction to classical sentential and predicate logic. No previous acquaintance with logic is required; nonetheless a willingness to master technicalities and to work at a certain level of abstraction is desirable.
- TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Achille Varzi
CULPA: 30
Wikipedia
h-index: 40
Info
- 4 points
PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE
- MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Melissa S Fusco
CULPA: 1 Info - 3 points
Introduction to Classical Chinese Philos
Classical Chinese Philoso
Many of China’s most influential philosophical traditions emerge within the context of war and harsh living conditions following the collapse of the Zhou dynasty, during the historical period known as the Warring States (6th-3rd c. BCE). In response to the political turmoil they lived through, thinkers of the Confucian, Daoist, Mohist, Zhuangist, and Legalist schools of thought each posited their own diagnostic, emerging with radically different philosophical views. Their disagreements included issues such as the origin of virtues, the function of ritual, the appropriate extension of moral feelings, the demands of good governance, the proper human place in the natural world, cosmology, and the aim of argumentation. This course will introduce students to these seminal figures and themes in early Chinese thought. We will occasionally consider philosophical issues overlapping with the Western canon, but our primary focus is on the unique concepts and context which guided the inquiry of Chinese thinkers. Our inquiry will be grounded in primary texts, with secondary materials as supplements. Readings will be entirely in English, and no knowledge of Classical Chinese is required (though we will sometimes discuss issues in translation which require reference to Chinese terms). Please note that as this course is centered on intellectual traditions indigenous to early China, we will not systematically consider comparable issues through the lens of Buddhist thought.
As this course is designed to be accessible to students beginning their philosophical studies (and not just as an extension or application of ideas acquired through the Western canon), there are no prerequisites. As with any philosophy course, success in this class does not rely heavily on prior knowledge or reading, but rather on the continued exercise and refinement of the philosophical skills of critical thinking, writing, discussion and argumentation. A typical session will include an introductory lecture from me and a brief student presentation in the first hour, before transitioning to group discussion in the second hour. In this small, seminar format class you are expected to not only read all the assigned material and attend classes, but actively engage in and contribute to discussion.
SEMINAR
SEMINAR: Epistemology
Required of senior majors, but also open to junior majors, and junior and senior concentrators who have taken at least four philosophy courses. This exploration will typically involve writing a substantial research paper. Capped at 20 students with preference to philosophy majors.
- M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Tamar A Lando
CULPA: 8 Info - 3 points
SEMINAR
Required of senior majors, but also open to junior majors, and junior and senior concentrators who have taken at least four philosophy courses. This exploration will typically involve writing a substantial research paper. Capped at 20 students with preference to philosophy majors.
- W 10:10 a.m.-noon
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Instructor:
Carol Rovane
CULPA: 13 Info - 3 points
EPISTEMOLOGY
Corequisites: PHIL W3963 Required Discussion Section (0 points). What can we know? What is knowledge? What are the different kinds of knowledge? We will read classic and contemporary texts for insight into these questions.
- MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
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Instructor:
Timothy Williamson
Info - 4 points
MODAL LOGIC
- W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
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Instructor:
Achille Varzi
CULPA: 30
Wikipedia
h-index: 40
Info
- 3 points
PHILOSOPHY OF MIND
- R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
Christopher Peacocke
CULPA: 4
Wikipedia
Info
- 3 points
SYMBOLIC LOGIC
Advanced introduction to classical sentential and predicate logic. No previous acquaintance with logic is required; nonetheless a willingness to master technicalities and to work at a certain level of abstraction is desirable. Note: Due to significant overlap, students may receive credit for only one of the following three courses: PHIL UN3411, UN3415, GR5415.
- TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Achille Varzi
CULPA: 30
Wikipedia
h-index: 40
Info
- 4 points
Proseminar for PhD and MA Students
Offered in both semesters, the weekly seminar is for incoming PhD students (required) and for MA students of the first year (required) and second year (optional). MA students can take the class at any stage during their studies for the MA. The class is graded Pass/Fail. Every two weeks, the seminar will be co-led by the instructor and an invited member of the department who will select a reading for discussion, historical or contemporary, from their area of expertise. Students will submit responses to the readings. The alternate weeks will be divided into an hour for the PhD cohort and an hour for the MA students. Here, research skills in reading, writing, and conversing will be developed through a range of intellectual exercises.
- T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Lydia Goehr
CULPA: 26
Wikipedia
Info
- 3 points
AESTHETICS AND POLITICS
The theme for this seminar is public art--old and new. Readings from antiquity through Habermas, Arendt, Adorno, Kracauer, Benjamin, to Rancierre, etc.
- M 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Lydia Goehr
CULPA: 26
Wikipedia
Info
- 3 points
PHILOS OF PHYSICS:QUANTUM MECH
- M 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
David Albert
CULPA: 32 Wikipedia h-index: 40 Info - 3 points
PRACTICAL REASON
This course will explore the nature and significance of our capacity for practical reason, focusing on a variety of questions: What we should want from a philosophical account of practical reason (should it be descriptive or normative, for example)? Are reasons causes? What does practical reason require? What is the relation between rationality and morality? How can practical reasoning fail? We will pursue these and related questions through a variety of historical and contemporary texts. This course will explore the nature and significance of our capacity for practical reason, focusing on a variety of questions: What we should want from a philosophical account of practical reason (should it be descriptive or normative, for example)? Are reasons causes? What does practical reason require? What is the relation between rationality and morality? How can practical reasoning fail? We will pursue these and related questions through a variety of historical and contemporary texts.
- W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
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Instructor:
Akeel Bilgrami
CULPA: 28 Wikipedia Info - 3 points
THESIS PREPARATION SEMINAR
The purposes of the Seminar are (a) to aid graduates in developing and refining material for their dissertation; (b) to give graduates experience in presenting material to a philosophical audience in an informed and supportive environment; (c) to give graduates experience in critically discussing presented material, and thereby to see how their own presentations and work can be developed to withstand critical examination. The Seminar is restricted to Columbia graduate students in their third or later years, and all such students are strongly encouraged to attend. No faculty (other than the organizer) will be present. Those attending the seminar will be expected to make one or more presentations of work in progress. The material for a presentation may range from a near-final draft of a chapter, to an early critical overview of an area with an outline plan for an approach to some chosen problem. We will attempt as far as possible to organize the presentations in such a way that they are grouped by subject-matter, and provide a rational path through the territory we cover.
- F 10:10 a.m.-noon
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Instructor:
Christopher Peacocke
CULPA: 4
Wikipedia
Info
- 3 points