[lit-ideas] Re: Auerbach on Mimesis
- From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:07:26 -0700
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.
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 Kant’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.
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Robert Paul
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