Transfer Student Courses in Philosophy This page was created at 7:20 PM on Mon, Jan 21, 2002. Winter Academic Term, 2002 (January 7 - April 26) Open courses in Philosophy (*Not real-time Information. Review the "Data current as of: " statement at the bottom of hyperlinked page) Wolverine Access Subject listing for PHIL Winter Academic Term '02 Time Schedule for Philosophy. Philosophy is about as broad a subject as one can find in a university curriculum. It addresses a wide array of questions, some quite familiar (Does God exist? Why be moral? What is art?), others less so (What is a thing? Is space a substance?). Philosophy includes the examination of its own methods, and its own history. It also falls within philosophy to examine the methods and practices of virtually all academic disciplines. Because of this breadth, a person can study philosophy in ways involving the styles and techniques of thought of most other fields of inquiry. For example, the work of a philosopher concentrating in logic is much like that of the student of mathematics. A philosopher primarily interested in the philosophy of religion will often be doing much the same things as a theologian or a student of the history of religion. Political philosophy is regarded by some as including political activity itself. Many other such examples exist. In addition, Philosophy examines the practices of other activities, such as the fine arts, that are sometimes thought of as different from typical academic disciplines. However, for the most part the activities characteristic of philosophy are peculiar to the discipline. The only way to know what it's really like is to give it a try. The Department offers a number of courses that do not carry prerequisites: (A) general introductions designed to acquaint students with a representative sample of philosophical problems (181, 202, 232, and 297); (B) introductions that focus on a particular branch of philosophy or area of human concern - e.g., the mind and consciousness, the law, and literature - designed for students who, having no previous background in philosophy, want to study these areas in a philosophical way (196 and 355); and (C) introductions to logic and reasoning (180, 201, and 303). (A) The general introductions deal, for example, with questions concerning the nature of reality, knowledge, the self and the mind, freedom, morality, society, and religion, but they differ in their instructional format and staffing. Philosophy 202 is taught by advanced graduate students in independent sections of 25 students. Philosophy 181 is taught by faculty, in a combination lecture/discussion format, limited to 50 students. In Philosophy 232, a faculty member delivers a lecture two hours per week, and students divide into groups of 25 for discussion sections led by graduate students. Finally, Philosophy 297, "Honors Introduction", is taught by a faculty member to a group of 25 students. (B) Winter courses not carrying prerequisites that focus on a specific area of human concern or philosophical thought include first-year seminars (196) and "Contemporary Moral Problems" (355). These courses do not require previous work in philosophy. Philosophy 196 is taught in a seminar format by a member of the faculty. In Philosophy 355, a faculty member delivers a lecture two hours per week, and students divide into groups of 25 for discussion sections led by graduate students. A number of Winter 300-level courses require only a single philosophy introduction as a prerequisite: "Language and Mind" (345), "Political Philosophy" (366), "Experience and Reality" (383), "Continental Philosophy" (385), and "History of Philosophy: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century" (389). All of these courses meet requirements for the concentration. (C) Among the introductions to logic, Philosophy 180 is designed both to improve critical reasoning skills, and to provide an introduction to formal logic. Philosophy 201, is designed to improve critical reasoning skills, through an introduction to informal logic. Philosophy 303 is an introduction to formal or symbolic logic. Philosophy 180 and 303 are taught by faculty, in a combination lecture/discussion format, limited to 50 students. Philosophy 201 is taught by advanced graduate student teaching assistants in independent sections of 25 students. There is additional information about the Department's curriculum in "The Undergraduate Program in Philosophy." This brochure contains information intended for students interested in taking philosophy courses, whether or not they are considering a Philosophy concentration. The Department also maintains a home page (http://www.lsa.umich.edu/philosophy/). Students considering a concentration in Philosophy are encouraged to make an appointment with a Philosophy concentration advisor; students considering an Honors concentration should consult with the Philosophy advisor for the Honors concentration. To request a copy of the undergraduate brochure, or to schedule an appointment with a concentration advisor, contact the Department Office (2215 Angell Hall, 764-6285). The Office can also provide information about the Department's Undergraduate Philosophy Club and undergraduate e-mail group. PHIL 232. Problems of Philosophy. Section 001. Instructor(s): James M Joyce (jjoyce@umich.edu) Prerequisites & Distribution: No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in Phil. 181, 182, 202, 231, 234, or 297. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jjoyce/phil232.htm This course provides undergraduates with a broad overview of modern philosophy. Topics to be covered will include at least some of the following: The problem of knowledge: How are we able to know things about aspects of the world that go beyond facts about our immediate experiences? The problem of free will: Do we choose our actions freely, or is what we do determined by past events? Can a person be held morally responsible for actions that s/he did not freely perform? The problem of our knowledge of the external world: How can we gain knowledge of the world external to our minds given that we have access to nothing but our thoughts and experiences? The problem of morality: What features of actions make them morally right or morally wrong? Is there any reason for us to act morally? The problem of God: It is possible to establish God's existence by argument alone? Is the existence of God confirmed by what we know about the world? The problem of the state: On what is the state's authority based? Under what conditions can a government restrict individual freedoms for the purpose of securing collective benefits? Students will be asked to read about 30 pages of material per week, to write two 7-8 page papers, and to take a midterm examination and a cumulative final exam. TEXTS: Feinberg, J. and Shafer-Landau, R. Reason and Responsibility, 11th ed. (Wadsworth Press, 2001) Feinberg, J. Doing Philosophy, 2nd ed. (Wadsworth Press, 2002) Check Times, Location, and Availability Cost: No Data Given. Waitlist Code: No Data Given. PHIL 355. Contemporary Moral Problems. Section 001 – Meets with Philosophy 455.001. Instructor(s): Rebecca Walker (walkerrl@umich.edu) Prerequisites & Distribution: No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in Phil. 455. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. In contemporary life, we are faced with many questions that have moral dimensions only some of which may be obvious to us. In this course, we will delve into the moral dimensions of a range of contemporary issues, including biotechnology and modern medicine, equality, affirmative action, freedom of expression, justice across national boundaries and across generations, and the treatment of animals. In the process, we will also be examining different conceptions of morality and justice, and the presuppositions about human nature, society, and value that underlie them. Throughout the course we will be concerned with issues of race and gender and how these categories interplay with the moral issues that we grapple with in contemporary society. Check Times, Location, and Availability Cost: No Data Given. Waitlist Code: No Data Given. PHIL 360(475) / CHIN 360 / ASIAN 360 / RCHUMS 375 / HISTART 387. The Arts and Letters of China. Section 001. Instructor(s): Shuen-Fu Lin (lsf@umich.edu) Prerequisites & Distribution: (4). (HU). May not be included in a concentration plan in philosophy. Credits: (4). Course Homepage: https://coursetools.ummu.umich.edu/2002/winter/asian/360/001.nsf See Chinese 360.001. Check Times, Location, and Availability Cost: No Data Given. Waitlist Code: 1 PHIL 385. Continental Philosophy Since 1900. Section 001. Instructor(s): Michelle K Kosch (mkosch@umich.edu) Prerequisites & Distribution: One course in philosophy. (3). (HU). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. The course will cover the recent history of social and political thought on the continent, with emphasis on the early Frankfurt School, Habermas, and Foucault. Readings will also include selections from Nietzsche, Freud, Weber, and others. Check Times, Location, and Availability Cost: No Data Given. Waitlist Code: No Data Given. PHIL 389. History of Philosophy: Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Sections 003, 004 ONLY satisfy the Upper-Level Writing Requirement. Instructor(s): Louis E Loeb (lloeb@umich.edu) Prerequisites & Distribution: One philosophy introduction. (4). (HU). Credits: (4; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This course examines the development of modern philosophy in Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Considerable attention is devoted to each of Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. The primary emphasis is placed upon philosophical and interpretive issues that arise in conjunction with the philosophers' works. The philosophical issues addressed are drawn from epistemology and metaphysics: skepticism about the existence of the material world, theories of perception and of the nature of material objects, the problem of induction, the nature and limits of a priori knowledge, innate knowledge, empiricist theories of meaning, analytic and synthetic truth, necessary and contingent truth, God, substance, causation, free will and determinism, the self, the relationship between mind and body, and personal identity. Students are evaluated on the basis of two or three papers and midterm and final examinations. There are three hours of lecture and one hour of discussion per week. Check Times, Location, and Availability Cost: No Data Given. Waitlist Code: No Data Given. PHIL 455. Contemporary Moral Problems. Section 001 – Meets with Philosophy 355.001. Instructor(s): Rebecca Walker (walkerrl@umich.edu) Prerequisites & Distribution: Not open to graduate students in philosophy. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in Phil. 355. (4). (Excl). Does not meet the Philosophy Department's 400-level course requirement for Philosophy concentrators. Credits: (4; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Intended primarily for graduate students outside the philosophy department. Course content is the same as in Philosophy 355. Philosophy 455 requires longer and more substantial papers than those expected in Philosophy 355. Check Times, Location, and Availability Cost: 3 Waitlist Code: No Data Given. PHIL 458. Philosophy of Kant. Section 001. Instructor(s): Ian Proops (iproops@umich.edu) Prerequisites & Distribution: Phil. 389, 461, or 462, or permission of instructor, or concentration advisor. (3). (Excl). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. The class studies Kant's mature philosophical system with particular attention to Kant's metaphysics and epistemology. We'll look at Kant's effort to work out the scope and limits of possible human knowledge, his effort to sum up morality in a single categorical imperative, and his effort to give a purely moral basis to religious faith. But the bulk of our time will be devoted to the account of human experience and human factual knowledge in the Critique of Pure Reason. There Kant argues that the world of our experience must possess certain very general features if experience is to be possible – for example, that every event must have a cause. And he argues that 'behind' the familiar world of our experience is a second, more fundamental world about which we can know next to nothing. Readings will be drawn both from Kant's works and from some of the more accessible secondary literature. Written work is three short (6-8 page) papers. Class participation is strongly encouraged. Check Times, Location, and Availability Cost: 2 Waitlist Code: No Data Given. PHIL 462. British Empiricism. Section 001 – The British Empiricists & the French Enlightenment. Instructor(s): Edwin M Curley (emcurley@umich.edu) Prerequisites & Distribution: One philosophy introduction. (3). (Excl). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. The content of this course will be considerably broader than the title suggests. In addition to studying the three classical British Empiricists (Locke, Berkeley, and Hume), we will also give nearly equal time to some of the leading figures of the French Enlightenment (Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau). There will be three papers. For further details please consult the information available at: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~emcurley/. Check Times, Location, and Availability Cost: No Data Given. Waitlist Code: No Data Given. PHIL 469 / CHIN 469 / ASIAN 469. Later Chinese Thought. Section 001. Instructor(s): Philip Ivanhoe Prerequisites & Distribution: Upperclass standing; no knowledge of Chinese required. (3). (Excl). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~ivanhoe/phil469.htm See Chinese 469.001. Check Times, Location, and Availability Cost: No Data Given. Waitlist Code: No Data Given. This page was created at 7:20 PM on Mon, Jan 21, 2002. University of Michigan | College of LS&A | Student Academic Affairs | LS&A Bulletin Index | Department Homepage This page maintained by LS&A Academic Information and Publications, 1228 Angell Hall Copyright © 2001 The Regents of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA +1 734 764-1817 Trademarks of the University of Michigan may not be electronically or otherwise altered or separated from this document or used for any non-University purpose.