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Graduate Classes

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Empiricism (Phil 422) (154)

            Alan Nelson

American Political Philosophy (Phil 473) (160)

            Bernard Boxill

Honors Lecture (Phil 691H) (100A)

            John T. Roberts

Philosophy, Politics and Economics Capstone Course (Phil 698)

            Geoffrey Brennan & Douglas MacLean

Proto-Seminar (Phil 700) (200)

            Dorit Bar-On & Ram Neta

Systematic Philosophy: Wilfrid Sellars (Phil 705) (205)

            Jay Rosenberg

The Domain and Methods of Metaphysics (Phil 730) (230)

            Thomas Hofweber

Moral Theory (Phil 765) (265)

            Thomas Hill

International Law (Phil 770) (270)

            Gerald Postema

Colloquium Seminar (Phil 790) (290)

            Keith Simmons

Summa Seminar (Phil 800) (300)

            Staff

Kenan Seminar: Empirical Moral Psychology (Phil 805) (305)

            Joshua Knobe & Jesse Prinz

Understanding Character Through Philosophy, Literature & Film

                                                                     (Phil 805) (305)

            Susan Wolf & Maria Di Battista

Reading Group: Looking at Love (Phil 990) (390)

            C.D.C. Reeve

Reading Group: Philosophy of Modal Logic (Phil 990) (390)

            Keith Simmons

         

 

        

 

Alan Nelson

We shall concentrate on the philosophical systems of three of the great early modern empiricists: Hobbes, Locke, and Hume. The initial focus in empiricism concerns the theory of knowledge, but in Hobbes's Leviathan, Locke's Essay . and Hume's Treatise we shall also examine the consequences for scientific theorizing and for morals and politics. The course will conclude with a study of the extent to which classical empiricism plays a role in comtemporary philosophy.

This course meets on Thursday from 1:00-3:30.

American Political Philosophy (Phil 473) (160)

Bernard Boxill

We will begin with the writings of the Founders and Framers, especially Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton. Then we will take up texts that represent American liberalism and American republicanism, and that debate the constitutionality of slavery. Authors here will include Calhoun, Fitzhugh, Spooner, Lincoln, Douglass, and DuBois. Finally we'll read some Rawls and Sandel as representing the contemporary debate about American liberalism.

This course meets on Tuesday from 1:00-3:30.

John T. Roberts

This course meets on Monday from 5:30-7:30.

Geoffrey Brennan & Douglas MacLean

Working to integrate the approaches of philosophy, political science, and economics it will address foundational issues related to: Taxation, Human Nature, Globalization, and Time and Decision making.

As with the PPE Gateway course, it will meet for half the semester at UNC and for the other half at Duke. Seniors who would like to get the minor can ask permission to waive the Gateway Course requirement and, as long as they have the various other distribution requirements satisfied, take this Capstone course and receive a minor. For information about the PPE minor go to: philosophy.unc.edu/ppe

This course meets on Tuesday from 4:25-6:55.

Proto Seminar (Phil 700) (200)

Dorit Bar-On & Ram Neta

This course is an intensive seminar intended for all and only first-year graduate students in philosophy. Readings will be fairly short and on a variety of topics. The aim of the course is to develop basic professional skills such as careful reading, argument reconstruction, critical analysis, oral argumentation, and dialectic. An exercise is assigned every week; exercises and oral presentations are extensively critiqued. The two instructors work closely with each student.

This course meets on Thursday from 10:00-12:30.

Systematic Philosophy: Wilfrid Sellars (Phil 705) (205)

Jay Rosenberg

Among the Anglophone philosophers whose work helped to set and decisively shaped the philosophical agenda in the English-speaking world during the second half of the 20th century, Wilfrid Sellars bids fair to leave the deepest and most lasting impact. The central theses of his acknowledged masterwork, “Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind”, published fifty years ago and now engaging the attention of a third generation of readers, are still very much the focus of spirited debate. While the work of the contemporary colleagues with whom he actively entered into dialogue is fading from view, interest in Sellars’ writings has never been stronger. New introductions to his work are freshly published, and the list of influential philosophers who express a debt to that work continues to grow. In this course, we will read many of Sellars’ most important essays, giving special attention to their systematic interconnections. Every student attending will be responsible for introducing one of the readings for class discussion; enrolled students will also submit a term paper.

This course meets on Monday from 1:00-3:30.

Thomas Hofweber

Metaphysics seems to be a paradigmatic case where philosophy steps away from the rest of inquiry and tries to figure something out by itself. But besides some general worries that nothing like this could be possible, there is the concrete worry that in various cases of metaphysical debate this does not happen. Consider the case of ontology, in particular numbers. Ontological questions are questions about what there is, and so in this case metaphysics tries to establish whether or not there are numbers. But it is universally accepted in mathematics that there are infinitely many prime numbers, which implies that there are numbers. So, hasn't the ontological question already been answered by mathematics? How is it a metaphysical question? Or consider the problem of change, often put as the problem to say how change is possible. But isn't it widely known in material science that the consistency of wax changes with a rise in temperature, and why that is so? So, isn't it known how this change is possible, and thus how change is possible? How then is the problem of change a metaphysical problem?

In this course we will discuss how metaphysical problems relate to other problems that sound a lot like them. We will consider views that accept metaphysics as a legitimate philosophical discipline, and ones that reject it. In particular, we will focus on what methods there are to approach metaphysical problems, and how they relate to other methods of inquiry. I expect to focus on ontology and the problem of change, but I am quite open to adding your favorite metaphysical problem to the list.

This course meets on Wednesday from 1:00-3:30.

Thomas Hill

The plan is to examine selected works of John Rawls and others, including T. M. Scanlon, especially concerning the nature, methods, and resources of moral and political theory. We will examine basic texts and changes in Rawls theory, but also the similar but different alternatives in moral theory proposed by Scanlon and my broadly Kantian ideas. Readings, topics, and assignments remain to some extent flexible, depending on the interests and needs of the participants. Comments and suggestions by potential participants are welcome.

This course meets on Monday from 4:00-6:30.

Gerald Postema

This course will explore the nature and moral foundations of international law. After an opening discussion of dimensions of international law, we will focus on some central and related issues in international law. Among these will be, first, the nature, dynamics, and normative force of customary law, and second, the place of human rights and humanitarian principles in a system that has long been grounded on the principle of state sovereignty. This course will be taught jointly by Professors Buchanan (Duke) and Postema (UNC). Classes will meet for half of the semester at UNC and the other half at Duke.

This course meets on Tuesday from 4:25-6:55.

Keith Simmons

This course meets on TBA.

Staff

This course will meet on TBA.

Kenan Seminar: Empirical Moral Psychology (Phil 805) (305)

Joshua Knobe & Jesse Prinz

Recent philosophical work on moral psychology has taken an interdisciplinary turn. Philosophers have been calling on empirical findings to assess traditional theories, and psychologists have been exploring questions that emerged within philosophy. What role do emotions play in moral judgment? Is morality an evolved capacity? Could there be a faculty of moral intuition? What is the empirical viability of Aristotelian virtue ethics? How do notions of freedom and responsibility hold up in light of recent research on mind and brain? In this seminar, we will read articles addressing such questions, and, through the generous support of the Kenan foundation, we will also have the opportunity to engage in intensive discussion with some of the leading authors in the field. Visitors will include (at least) philosophers John Doris, Shaun Nichols, and Walter Sinnott- Armstrong, as well as psychologists Daniel Gilbert, Liane Young and Fiery Cushman.

This course will meet on Wednesday from 4:00-6:30.

Understanding Character Through Philosophy, Literature & Film (Phil 805) (305)

Susan Wolf & Maria Di Battista

A great portion of our thoughts and attitudes about ourselves and other people is tied to attributions of character traits to them. In recent years, however, the very existence of character has been questioned from a variety of perspectives in psychology and the humanities. This makes problematic patterns of thought, perception, and choice that we had previously taken for granted.

This interdisciplinary course will explore the idea of character, and the way it has changed over time, through a discussion of philosophical and literary texts, as well as films. What is character? Does it exist? If so, how does it reveal itself? What role does, and should, character play in our ways of thinking and acting toward ourselves and others?

This course is being co-taught with Professor Maria Di Battista, a professor of English at Princeton University.

This course will meet on Thursday from 4:00-6:30.

Research Reading Group: Looking at Love (Phil 990) (390)

C.D.C. Reeve

The topic of the seminar is how films help us think philosophically about love, sexuality, identity, and autonomy. Each week we will watch a film together and discuss it, perhaps also in the next session. We will also read some philosophical works relevant to, about, or inspired by the films, including some by Derek Parfit, Bernard Williams, Harry Frankfurt, and others. Some of the films we will consider are: Talk to Her (Almodovar); A Short Film About Love (Kieslowski); Time Out (Laurent Cantet); Kings and Queen (Arnaud Desplechin); The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry).

This course will meet on Monday at 7:00.

Research Reading Group: Philosophy of Modal Logic (Phil 990) (390)

Keith Simmons

My thought is for us to read as much modal logic as we need for our philosophical purposes. I won't be assuming any prior knowledge of modal logic, and my intention is cover technical material in a fairly informal way - it will be easily understood by anyone who has had Phil 101/455. (We won't, for example, be much concerned with metalogical results.) We'll get familiar with some of the basic propositional modal systems (for example K, T, D, S4, S5 and B), and some basic modal notions, like the notion of an accessibility relation and a frame. We'll then move on to quantified modal logic. Again, we'll approach the material in a fairly informal way, and focus on topics of philosophical interest, such as the de re/de dicto distinction, the Barcan formula and expanding domains, modality and existence, identity and descriptions, and intensional objects.

Once we have some modal logic under our belt, we'll turn to philosophical issues. Here is a list of possible topics. The list isn't fixed by any means - we can see where our interests lie, and adjust the topics accordingly.

(1) The metaphysics of modality. The nature of possible worlds. The debate between Lewis and Kripke, and others.

(2) The epistemology of modality. I'm inclined to say that the claim 'I could have been in Trafalgar Square today' is true. But on what grounds is such a modal claim justified? Is conceivability a guide
to possibility?

(3) Modal logic and the philosophy of language. Possible world semantics. Modalities and intensional languages.

(4) Modal logic and counterfactuals. Possible world semantics and counterfactual conditionals.

(5) Scepticism about modal logic. Quinean misgivings.

This course will meet on Tuesday at 5:00.