[lit-ideas] Re: Auerbach on Mimesis
- From: wokshevs@xxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Andy <min.erva@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 17:31:45 -0230
Re "applied philosophy": here is but a thin cross-section of the possible
offerings.
Jurisprudence, educational philosophy, business ethics, philosophy of science,
philosophy of communications, philosophy of mind and language, philosophy of
human sexuality, medical and bio-technological ethics, social and political
philosophy, philosophy of religion, the epistemology of liberal education,
philosophy of multiculturalism and religious diversity, feminist epistemology,
aboriginal epistemology, transcendental metaphysics of single malt whiskeys ...
and the list goes on and on. Is this sufficiently interresting?
Walter O.
MUN
Quoting Andy <min.erva@xxxxxxxxx>:
> In my opinion, unless that activity can be useful in some way, it doesn't
> rise above a bunch of isms . I said quite the opposite of philosophy lying
> in the material realm. I said it lies in the intellectual realm, only I
> called it the spirit. As such it would seem to comprise different frameworks
> with which to understand reality. Unfortunately, the frameworks are
> necessarily non-empirical. Going back to that movie, can philosophy help me
> to understand it, to put it into some sort of perspective? Possibly, but I
> suspect that's not the reason for being of philosophy. It exists for itself,
> a game for the few. I didn't see a course entitled "Applied Philosophy".
> Now that would be interesting.
>
>
>
> Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Irene wrote
>
> > Then what is philosophy? It's intangible, it's a concept, a
> > contention, a set of contentions, a way of looking at the world. If
> > philosophy doesn't lie in the spirit of something, where does it
> > lie? Outside the spirit, which is to say in the body, the material
> > realm?
>
> Philosophy is an activity, not a body of knowledge like history or
> what's contained in a telephone book. It does not 'lie' anywhere, any
> more or any less than biology 'lies somewhere.' There are philosophers
> and there are biologists and there are stand-up comedians. What
> philosophers and biologists and stand-up comedians do officially is
> philosophy; biology; and stand up comedy, respectively, although the
> first and last enterprises mentioned sometimes overlap.
>
> If you believe that philosophy deals only with things 'outside the body
> [or] the material realm,' you've been misled, I think. Epistemology must
> of necessity take account of the 'material world,' even though
> philosophical sceptics deny we can ever know it. Philosophy deals with
> difficult problems that cannot be answered by performing an experiment
> or solving an equation. It must do so however, without denying the
> findings of the physical scientists or the findings of mathematicians.
>
> Here's an unedited listing of the philosophy courses taught at Reed
> (entirely undergraduate) during 2007-2008. One may scoff, one may
> snicker, one may shake one's head in dismay. Nevertheless, this is
> fairly standard stuff in colleges and universities now. What do you see
> these courses as having in common?
>
> Robert Paul
>
> Philosophy Course Descriptions
>
> Philosophy 201 - Logic
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is an introduction to the
> formal logic of propositions, identity, and quantification, culminating
> in an introduction to metalogic and a study of some alternate and
> deviant logics. Lecture.
>
> Philosophy 202 - Introduction to Metaphysics
>
> Full course for one semester. An examination of selected topics in
> metaphysics, such as: What kind of beings are we? Do we have free will?
> Does God exist? Is time real? Does anything exist independently of our
> minds? Conference. Not offered 2007-08.
>
> Philosophy 203 - Introduction to Ethics
>
> Full course for one semester. An examination of selected historical and
> contemporary accounts of how we should live, of what makes life good, of
> what does harm, of what constrains our actions, and of what gives our
> lives meaning. Conference.
>
> Philosophy 204 - Introduction to Epistemology
>
> Full course for one semester. An examination of the sources, structure,
> and scope of knowledge and justification. Conference.
>
> Philosophy 205 - Introduction to Mind and Action
>
> Full course for one semester. This course will investigate problems in
> the philosophy of mind, the theory of action, and some relations between
> the two. Topics include the mind-body problem, intentionality,
> first-person authority, the nature of mental states, intention, and free
> will. Conference.
>
> Philosophy 206 - Minds, Brains, and Machines
>
> Full course for one semester. Science gives us an increasingly detailed
> picture of the world. According to this picture, the world is at bottom
> physical: all there is are bits of matter arranged in various ways. How
> do we fit into this picture? Are we identical to our bodies, or are we
> essentially minds? Is the mind the same as the brain, or is it a
> separate kind of entity? Or is it not an entity at all, but a property
> of something physical, such as our brain? Does having a mind require
> having a brain, or could a machine have a mind, too? Is perhaps the
> relation of the mind to the brain the same as that of a computer program
> to a computer running the program? Finally, does the answer to these
> questions matter to how we should live our lives? Conference.
>
> Philosophy 301 - Ancient Philosophy
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is an introduction to ancient
> Greek philosophy focusing on the works of Plato and Aristotle.
> Prerequisites: Philosophy 201 and one other 200-level course in
> philosophy. Conference.
>
> Philosophy 302 - Modern Philosophy
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is an introduction to the
> metaphysical and epistemological views of major Modern philosophers such
> as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant.
> Prerequisites: Philosophy 201 and one other 200-level course in
> philosophy. Conference. Not offered 2007-08.
>
> Philosophy 303 - Hellenistic Philosophy
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is an introduction to
> Hellenistic philosophy, including skepticism, stoicism, and
> Epicurianism. Prerequisites: Philosophy 201 and one other 200-level
> course in philosophy. Conference. Cross-listed as Classics 303. Not
> offered 2007-08.â?¨Classics 303 Description
>
> Philosophy 304 - Empiricism
>
> Full course for one semester. An examination of the prospects and
> problems of the view that our only source of information about the world
> is experience. Prerequisite: Philosophy 201 and one other 200-level
> course in philosophy. Conference.
>
> Philosophy 308 - Post-Kantian Continental Philosophy
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is an examination of the
> development of philosophy in Germany following the publication of Kantâ??s
> Critique of Pure Reason in 1781. Figures to be studied include Kant,
> Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. Prerequisites: Philosophy 201 and one
> other 200-level course in philosophy. Conference. Not offered 2007-08.
>
> Philosophy 309 - Existentialism
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is an introduction to some
> central topics in modern continental philosophy including subjective
> freedom, self-deception, anxiety, and death. Figures to be studied
> include Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre. Prerequisites: Philosophy 201
> and one other 200-level course in philosophy. Conference. Not offered
> 2007-08.
>
> Philosophy 310 - Metaphysics
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is a study of the central
> topics and problems of metaphysics, including the mind-body problem,
> free will and determinism, persistence and change, and the natures of
> particulars, properties, time, space modality, causality, identity, and
> persons. Prerequisites: Philosophy 201 and one other 200-level course in
> philosophy. Conference.
>
> Philosophy 311 - Epistemology
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is an introduction to the
> central topics in the theory of knowledge, including the nature of
> knowledge, the nature of epistemic justification, and varieties of
> skepticism. Prerequisites: Philosophy 201 and one other 200-level course
> in philosophy. Conference. Not offered 2007-08.
>
> Philosophy 312 - Ethical Theories
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is an introduction to the
> central theories and problems of ethics. Prerequisites: Philosophy 201
> and one other 200-level course in philosophy. Conference. Not offered
> 2007-08.
>
> Philosophy 313 - Philosophy of Literature
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is an examination of such
> topics as the concept of a character in fiction; the ontological status
> of persons, objects, and events in a fictional world; our emotional
> responses to the speech and action of fictional characters; fiction and
> reference; and the relevance of authorial intentions to the
> understanding of literary works of art. Prerequisites: Philosophy 201
> and one other 200-level course in philosophy. Conference.
>
> Philosophy 314 - Aesthetics
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is a study of the principal
> theories of criticism and taste. Prerequisites: Philosophy 201 and one
> other 200-level course in philosophy. Conference. Not offered 2007-08.
>
> Philosophy 315 - Philosophy of Language
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is a study of such topics as
> truth, reference, meaning, convention, linguistic and non-linguistic
> communication, and the relationships between language, thought, and
> reality. Prerequisites: Philosophy 201 and one other 200-level course in
> philosophy. Conference. Not offered 2007-08.
>
> Philosophy 317 - Philosophy of Mind
>
> Full course for one semester. Some physical things, such as the page you
> are looking at, represent other things, such as the contents of
> philosophy courses offered in 2007-2008. How is this possible? How can
> a physical thing represent anything? Can we explain how a mental thing
> (e.g., your thought that it is raining) represents another thing (e.g.,
> today's weather) in the same way? In the first part of the course, we
> look at answers to these questions, and in the second part, we examine
> how the answers pertain to the contents of mental states. Prerequisites:
> Philosophy 201 and one other 200-level course in philosophy. Conference.
>
> Philosophy 318 - Philosophy of Biology
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is a philosophical study of
> such topics as adaptation; units of selection; emergence and reduction;
> function and teleology; the status of species and systematics;
> evolutionary trends; implications of evolutionary theory for psychology,
> culture, epistemology, and ethics; and social implications of
> contemporary biology (such as the human genome project, genetic
> engineering, and artificial life). Prerequisites: Philosophy 201 and one
> other 200-level course in philosophy. Conference.
>
> Philosophy 321 - Modal Logic and Metaphysics
>
> Full course for one semester. This course is an introduction to modal
> logic, possible-world semantics, and associated philosophical issues.
> Prerequisites: Philosophy 201 and one other 200-level course in
> philosophy. Conference. Not offered 2007-08.
>
> Philosophy 405 - Senior Seminar
>
> Half course for one semester. An intensive study of selected
> philosophical problems or works. Primary emphasis is placed on
> exercising and developing the skills required for original and creative
> work in philosophy. Open to majors with senior standing, and to others
> with consent of the instructor. Discussion.
>
> Philosophy 411 - Advanced Topics in Metaphysics: The Material World
>
> Full course for one semester. We will examine central topics in the
> metaphysics of the physical world, focusing on the nature of material
> objects and their relation to the matter or parts of which they are
> composed. We will consider both historical and contemporary theories
> and issues, such as: ancient atomism, hylomorphism, and Platonism;
> early modern views on matter and substance; and contemporary discussions
> of identity over time, the possibility of spatial and spatio-temporal
> coincidence, mereology, essentialism, the problem of the many, and
> nihilism. Prerequisite: Philosophy 310 or consent of the instructor.
> Conference.
>
> Philosophy 412 - Advanced Topics in Epistemology
>
> Full course for one semester. An intensive study of a subject within
> epistemology. Specific topics vary from year to year. Prerequisite: one
> 300-level course in philosophy. Conference. Not offered 2007-08.
>
> Philosophy 413 - Advanced Topics in Ethics: Humeanism and Its Critics
>
> Full course for one semester. This course will investigate Humean
> approaches to ethics and criticisms of such approaches made by
> contemporary virtue ethicists. We will look at the contrasting views of
> moral psychology, value and practical rationality that divide the Humean
> and virtue ethicist. We will conclude by looking at how the two camps
> might approach a problem in applied ethics. Prerequisite: two courses at
> the 300-level or higher, or consent of the instructor. Conference.
>
> Philosophy 414 - Advanced Topics in Contemporary Philosophy: Philosophy
> of Logic and Mathematics
>
> Full course for one semester. We will examine central topics within, and
> spanning, the philosophy of logic and the philosophy of mathematics.
> Possible topics include: Tarski's theory of logical consequence, free
> logic, other non-classical logics, the status of second-order logic,
> mathematical platonism, formalism, logicism, intuitionism,
> structuralism, and the status of set theory. Prerequisite: One
> 300-level course in philosophy or mathematics. Conference.
>
> Philosophy 415 - Major Figures in Philosophy
>
> Full course for one semester. This variable topics course focuses on
> the work of a major figure in philosophy. Prerequisite: Philosophy 301,
> 310, or 318. Conference. Not offered 2007-08.
>
> Philosophy 470 - Thesis
>
> Full course for one year.
>
> Philosophy 481 - Individual Work in Special Fields
> One-half or full course for one year. Prerequisite: approval of
> instructor and division.
>
> -----------------------
> Robert Paul
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