PHI 350 - Seminar in Philosophy

Spring 2021

The Evolution of Morality

As humans we tend to think that we ought to behave morally toward each other. Those who cheat, steal, and kill act immorally and deserve censure, while those who are honest, peaceful, and helpful act morally and deserve praise. What explains why we think in moral terms? Is there an evolutionary explanation for our sense of morality? Is there an evolutionary explanation for the way we treat each other?  And if there is, what does that say about morality itself? Do evolutionary explanations of morality somehow call morality into question? Or do they serve to confirm our moral sensibilities? In this seminar, we shall study some of the recent answers that philosophers and scientists have proposed to these questions.

Fall 2020

A. Classics of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
Layman

Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) combines insights and methodologies from its three constituent disciplines to address perennial problems raised by our shared lives as social beings: How can we be free when we all depend on one another? Does economic value differ from other kinds of value? Should the state or the market be responsible for distributing the goods and services we all need? Although PPE may be relatively new as a course of study, as an approach to social, political, and moral questions, it stretches back to the 17^th century. In this seminar, we will work directly with texts by some of the most important thinkers of the PPE tradition, including John Locke, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, Friedrich Hayek, Dierdre McCloskey, Charles Mills, and Elizabeth Anderson, among others. The seminar will be heavily driven by student discussion, and each student will be responsible for no fewer than twenty pages of graded writing during the course of the semester, in addition to short in-class writing assignments. Moreover, students will be expected to come to each meeting ready to discuss significant amounts of assigned primary and secondary reading. Some prior coursework in political theory, political philosophy, or economic thought is recommended.

Satisfies Justice, Equality and Community requirement when taught as Classics of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

B. The Good Life
McKeever

It seems uncontroversial to assume that every human being, or at least nearly every human being, hopes to lead a happy life, a life that goes well for them.  But philosophers, psychologists, economists, artists, and politicians have all struggled to bring into clearer focus just what that would amount to.  In this seminar we will take up the question what it takes to live a good life.  Among the more particular questions we will consider are: Must a good life have meaning, and if so what could give life meaning.  What lessons can be drawn by attempts to measure happiness empirically, as has been attempted by some psychologists?  What is the relationship, if any, between being happy and getting what you want?  Is much of our happiness biologically fixed such that we always tend to return to the same basic level of satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) with our lives?  What is the relationship, if any, between leading a good life and living a moral life?  Is happiness a matter of luck?  Readings will be drawn primarily from contemporary and recent philosophy and supplemented with select readings from other disciplines such as psychology and economics.

Satisfies the Philosophy major seminar requirement.
Counts as an elective for the Philosophy minor.

Spring 2020

Persons and Values
Jankovic

At some point in your life, you’ve probably asked questions like “What makes me me?” and “What kind of life would be best for me?” In this course, we will explore these questions from the perspective of contemporary metaphysics and ethics (with a sprinkling of perspectives from literature, films, and cognitive science).

Some examples of issues we might address are: Do we persist over time as one and the same person? What do we owe our future selves? Should we deny ourselves present pleasures (e.g., stop smoking or procrastinating) in order to make our future selves better off? What is the role of the narrative of our lives in constituting our personal identity? What is the role of our moral commitments? Can one human be multiple persons? Can multiple humans form a single person, that is, do we, quite literally, participate in many social persons larger than ourselves?

Prerequisites & Notes
This course can be repeated for credit given sufficiently distinct topics: check with the department chair. (Fall, Spring)