First-Year Courses in PhilosophyConsult the new Course Guide at: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/lsa/cg_subjectlist/0,2030,8,00.html?show=20&termArray=f_04_1510&cgtype=ug This page was created at 1:01 PM on Wed, May 5, 2004. Fall Academic Term, 2004 (September 7 - December 23)PHIL 196. First Year Seminar.Section 001 — Political Philosophy: Democracy and Citizenship.Instructor(s): Claudia Moscovici (cmoscovi@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (HU). May not be repeated for credit. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Today we tend to tend to take it for granted that out of all forms of government, democracy is the most desirable. This course asks: what is the basis for this belief? More fundamentally, what does democracy mean? In looking at theories of democracy, we will be attuned to the historical and conceptual differences among different models of citizenship: ranging from the Greek city-state to the Enlightenment models of elite liberal democracy (in England) versus more wide-spread French republicanism to today's different versions of democracy (such as parliamentary and electoral). We will examine both democracy's strengths — especially in relation to other existing forms of government — and its flaws. We will read classical works in political philosophy — by Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Condorcet — as well as contemporary discussions of democracy by Rawls, Dahl, Shapiro, and Nussbaum. Aside from tracing the historical changes in models of democracy, we will also assess democracy's value and desirability
PHIL 196. First Year Seminar.Section 003 — Aesthetics, History, and the Value of Art.Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: Only first-year students, including those with sophomore standing, may pre-register for First-Year Seminars. All others need permission of instructor. (3). (HU). May not be repeated for credit. Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. No Description Provided. Contact the Department.
PHIL 230 / ASIAN 230 / RELIGION 230. Introduction to Buddhism.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Patrick Arthur PrankePrerequisites & Distribution: (4). (HU). May not be repeated for credit. May not be included in a concentration plan in philosophy.
Credits: (4). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted.
PHIL 232. Problems of Philosophy.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Louis E Loeb (lloeb@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: (4). (HU). May not be repeated for credit. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in PHIL 181, 182, 202, 231, 234, or 297. Credits: (4; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This course is open to students from all areas of the University. No previous work in philosophy is assumed. First-term undergraduates are welcome. The course will provide an introduction to some fundamental philosophical problems drawn from a variety of branches of philosophy. The course also seeks to develop, through written work and intensive discussion, skills in critical reasoning and argumentative writing. Topics will be selected from among the following:
There will be two required papers and a midterm and cumulative final examination. Texts are to be determined.
PHIL 296. Honors Introduction to Logic.Section 001.Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: Honors students or permission of instructor. (3). (MSA). (BS). (QR/1). May not be repeated for credit. Credit is granted for only one of PHIL 203, 303, or 296.
Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. An introduction to the study of modern formal logic, with attention to its mathematical development and to its philosophical foundations and applications.
PHIL 297. Honors Introduction to Philosophy.
Section 002 — Descartes and Hobbes.Instructor(s): Edwin M Curley (emcurley@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Honors students or permission of instructor. (3). (HU). May not be repeated for credit. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in PHIL 181, 182, 202, 231, 232, or 234. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/emcurley This course will provide an historical introduction to philosophy by studying the most enduring works of two of the founders of modern philosophy: Rene Descartes (1596-1650) and Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679). We'll read two works by Descartes: his Discourse on Method and Meditations; we'll read one work by Hobbes: his Leviathan. The main aim of Descartes' work is to find a firm foundation for human knowledge, asking whether we can really know anything, and if so, what we can know and how we can know it. The main aim of Hobbes' work is to provide a foundation for political obligation, arguing that it is rational for people to set up political institutions, if they wish to have any kind of tolerable existence, and asking what they need to do to make those institutions work. Both Descartes and Hobbes also deal extensively with religious issues, Descartes by defending the belief in God and immortality, Hobbes by questioning both these doctrines. No prerequisites. Texts: Descartes, Selected Philosophical Writings, trans. by John Cottingham, Robert Stoothoff, and Dugald Murdoch, Cambridge paperback; Hobbes, Leviathan, ed. by Edwin Curley, Hackett paperback. For further information, see the professor's website:www.sitemaker.umich.edu/emcurley.
Consult the new Course Guide at: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/lsa/cg_subjectlist/0,2030,8,00.html?show=20&termArray=f_04_1510&cgtype=ug This page was created at 1:01 PM on Wed, May 5, 2004.
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