Graduate Seminars

Prof. Douglas, PHL 800/880, ProSeminar & Seminar in Philosophy of Science

Topic: History of Philosophy of Science 1900-1960

The period of 1900 to 1960 was one of the most formative and complex periods in the development of the philosophy of science.  During this period, the main journals were founded, many canonical texts were written, and the field professionalized, changing from an arena of conversation between scientists and philosophers to something one could do within a disciplinary framework.  Yet as recent scholarship has revealed, logical positivism was neither apolitical nor simplistically dominant.  Logical positivism was a deeply progressive movement that shifted ground as its adherents fled fascist Europe.  Further, the central institutions of philosophy of science were founded by leftists aiming to further progressive pursuits and concerned with the political implications of science.  How logical positivism came to be seen both as apolitical in the Cold War and as the dominant strain of philosophy of science will be a central issue.  This course will provide a survey of this turbulent period.   We will read work by Duhem, Neurath, Popper, Carnap, and Dewey, as well as secondary sources, such as Mary Jo Nye’s Michael Polanyi and His Generation (2011), that will help contextualize and elucidate the philosophical work of the time.

Prof. Dean, PHL 870 Seminar Philosophy of Health Care

Topic: Feminist Bioethics

This course offers an overview of feminist approaches to bioethics. We will discuss key feminist methodologies and theoretical contributions, including care ethics, narrative theory, relational autonomy theory, as well as feminist Foucauldian work. Specific topics will include reproduction, care work, the management of intersex conditions, disability and chronic illness, and issues related to food and eating, such as weight-loss dieting, eating disorders, and the so-called obesity crisis.

Prof. Lotz, PHL 820, Seminar in Continental Philosophy

Topic: Materialist Social Epistemology

In this seminar we will read and discuss critical societal epistemology. We will look into the Marxist tradition, the British cultural studies tradition, French Structuralism and Situationists, as well as contemporary authors. Philosophers discussed come from the following list of authors: Marx, Althusser, Butler, Mannheim, Bourdieu, Foucault, Sohn-Rethel, Hall, Williams, Debord, Habermas, Haslanger, and Shelby. We will ask two questions: [1] how and what do we know about society (theory)? and [2], how and what does society know of itself (ideology)? Overall, we will try to figure out whether we can think of societal self-knowledge as something different than (collective) world-views, biases, or (mental) beliefs.

Prof. Peters, PHL 850 (Seminar in Social-Political Philosophy)

Topic: Contemporary Readings in Indigenous and Black Political Philosophy

The course explores philosophical responses to Indigenous erasure, chattel slavery, capitalism, racialization, and the coloniality of gender. Throughout the semester, we will read recent interdisciplinary monographs and articles that utilize Indigenous and Black political philosophy to analyze critical approaches to racial capitalism, decolonization, feminism, critical theory, cultural production, and decolonial methodologies. Texts covered will likely include (but will not be limited to) works by Glenn Coulthard, Robert Nichols, Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, and Ruth Gilmore.

Prof. Ferkany, PHL 840, Seminar in Value Theory

Topic: Reasons and Persons and What We Owe Each Other

cancelled

Prof. Lotz, Phl 820, Seminar in Continental Philosophy

Topic: Architecture and Politics

The connections between architecture and philosophy have been discussed by many and span centuries. Some thinkers have even argued that architecture is a spatial organization of ideas and a reflection of philosophical concepts. Moreover, the concepts of space and embodied perception have been central for phenomenology, French critical social thought and the cultural sciences. More recently, geography and urbanization studies have paid increasing attention to the “spatial turn” within the humanities and social sciences disciplines. In addition, design studies have begun to focus on how normative biases and social-political assumptions figure into the (technological) design of objects, buildings, towns, etc. In this seminar, we will think about architecture and design as a projection and material organization of social and political concepts and struggles. Famous examples for how European philosophers have dealt with architecture from a political and social perspective, among others, include Foucault’s reflections on prison architecture and heterotopias, Lefebvre’s writings on space, Engels’ writings on housing, Agamben’s interpretation of the “camp” as the “space of exception” and Benjamin’s writings on commodified city spaces. Beyond this, the intellectual impulses of many philosophers of the last 50 years have influenced architecture and design theory in interesting and meaningful ways. To demonstrate this, the seminar might include documents and examples from Bauhaus, the Werkbund movement, the Russian avantgarde, general architecture and urban planning. The main tasks of this seminar are to think philosophically about building as ideology, as well as to develop basic concepts of political space, embodied perception, and architecture as both a condition for and expression of political and social frameworks. The hope is that we learn how to pay more attention to and critically reflect on our built environment on the basis of theoretical texts selected for this class. The seminar might include excursions.

Lotz Phl 810/820/850: Seminar in Continental Philosophy

Topic: Marx, Grundrisse

In this seminar we will closely read one of Marx’s mature later works. In only 4 months Marx feverishly produced around 1000 pages, now entitled Grundrisse (1858). The Grundrisse deviate in important respects from Capital (1867), but they are, overall, more philosophical and contain famous sections, such as the introduction in which Marx outlines methodological considerations and the “machine fragment” which is one of the most often cited passage in contemporary receptions of Marx’s philosophy, such as accelerationism, postoperaism (Negri) and critical theory (Postone). We will closely read the Grundrisse, paying less attention to its extensive historical reflections, and read major essays about the Grundrisse by contemporary philosophers.

Prof. Rauscher, Kant’s Political Philosophy (PHL 810:  seminar in history of philosophy)

Immanuel Kant’s social and political philosophy.  Kant applied his “critical” philosophical methodology emphasizing the a priori foundation of knowledge to practical philosophy.  He defended a universalist morality based on a conception of the nature of human beings as rational, freely-deliberative beings. The part of morality that dealt with specifiable external duties is governed by right (German “Recht”, roughly a combination of right, justice, and law). Right is based on the freedom of each rational being in contrast to any political goal of happiness, prosperity, or power. Kant strove to present an a priori political philosophy but also discussed what we might today call “social” philosophy, roughly concerning practices and institutions independent of the state, e.g. religious institutions, gender and race, education, and the economy. That social philosophy as well as some of the political philosophy clearly incorporate empirical elements, and one theme of the course is whether Kant is able successfully to provide a “pure” a priori political philosophy. We will also discuss Kant’s relation to Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Achenwall, Beccaria, and others.

Prof. Dean, PHL 840 Seminar in Value Theory: Ethics of Food and Eating

This course explores philosophical work on the ethics of food and eating. We will read classic work in food ethics alongside more contemporary work from a variety of philosophical traditions, including feminist, analytic, and Continental/European philosophy. Topics will include the relationship between eating and the construction of the self, including gender, race, and class identities, the ethics of eating non-human animals, food justice and sovereignty, and dieting and eating disorders. Evaluations will include class presentations, short written assignments, and a conference-length paper (3000 words) that will be workshopped throughout the semester.

Prof. Hedrick, Seminar in Social and Political Philosophy

This seminar examines the connection between critical social theory and psychoanalysis; e.g., how have ideas such as repression, identification, and instinct been employed in descriptive social theory to explain both conformity and resistance to established social orders? What are the prospects for normatively grounding a critical stance on society using notions such as sublimation, recognition, and play? Authors include: Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, Jacques Lacan, Jessica Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Axel Honneth, Slavoj Žižek, and Amy Allen (units will involve pairings between critical theorists and the psychoanalytic thinkers they draw on, e.g., Adorno and Freud, Honneth and Winnicott, Klein and Allen, etc.).

Prof. Douglas, PHL 800/880—Proseminar/Seminar in Philosophy of Science         

Topic: Science and Values

What role should values, particularly social and ethical values, play in science?  While science is often portrayed as “value-free,” even defenders of the value-freedom of science acknowledge the importance of social and ethical values in science­—in helping to shape research agendas, in placing ethical restrictions on methodologies, and in shaping how the results of research get used.  As a result, contemporary philosophy of science is in the midst of a robust discussion on values in science.  This debate has led many philosophers to reject an ideal for science that aims for value-freedom.  However, what ideal should replace the value-free ideal remains very much contested. This seminar will discuss the current debate over values in science, considering the myriad ways in which values are seen to influence science (both legitimately and illegitimately), the competing norms concerning these influences, and the implications of these arguments for our understanding of science in democratic societies.  We will consider the role of both epistemic and non-epistemic values, the nature of objectivity and bias, and the justification of scientific claims.  Key arguments to be considered will be the epistemic priority of evidence and whether values are more subjective (and thus less reliable) than evidence. This course will center on this debate as an example of an ongoing and robust philosophical debate, and one with profound practical import.  We will use this example to examine how philosophical debate proceeds, how to learn from and intervene in such debates, and how to craft one’s own research agenda against the backdrop of ongoing academic work.  Students will develop their own research project in the space of the discussion over values in science; such a project will focus on a particular area of science and/or a particular aspect of the current debate.  Students will learn how to do formal peer review (doing so on each other’s work) and how to present their work formally.  Finally, the seminar should result in a paper which could be submitted to a journal or conference.  Required readings include Current Controversies in Values and Science (edited by Kevin Elliott and Daniel Steel, 2017).

Prof. Lotz, PHL 810/820 – Seminar in History of Philosophy/Continental Philosophy   

Topic: Marxist Philosophies

In many contemporary philosophical discussions, Marx and Marxism have been reduced to simplistic doctrines centered on exploitation, class struggle, and alienation; thereby dismissing these complexly intertwining epistemological and metaphysical questions within the horizon of a critical theory of society. In this seminar we will read and discuss major positions that emerged within the history of European Marxist thought and philosophy of the last 150 years. We will focus on philosophical and social aspects of these positions, while paying less attention to economic theory (narrowly conceived), political philosophy and political movements. Though the scope of literature and figures in this field is vast, we will try to cover central aspects of structural Marxism, Humanism, Value Form Theory, Austro Marxism, Feminist Marxism, and Post-Operaism. Authors discussed will be, among others, Althusser, Marcuse, Adorno, Fromm, Lukacs, Lenin, Korsch, Negri, Frederici, Luxemburg, and Dunayevskaya. Perhaps we will figure out why Sartre’s famous statement that Marxism “remains the philosophy of our time. We cannot go beyond it” might still be valid.

Prof. Katz, PHL 801 – Seminar in Teaching Philosophy

The seminar’s aim is to help students to find ways to teach well and efficiently.  We focus on PHL 101, since this is the one course most of our students will eventually teach.  Seminar assignments include a teaching demo, a mock teaching interview, designing a syllabus and several assignments for PHL 101, and compiling a teaching dossier.  Students bring their work to class, where we discuss it and offer suggestions.

Students also work with a faculty mentor (teaching a 100-300 level course) on the following:  observing the mentor’s teaching (for one lecture) and discussing his/her teaching strategies; guest lecturing for the faculty mentor (observed by the mentor) and then meeting to discuss the student’s performance.  (This faculty mentor will then be in a good position to contribute a teaching letter to the student’s teaching dossier.)

We also devote as much time as is needed to discuss classroom dynamics:  how to prevent or resolve conflicts, how to create and maintain an inclusive classroom environment, how to handle difficult or disruptive students. In addition to these practical matters, we also read about, discuss, and reflect on various theories of teaching and learning.  As Aristotle argues, expertise requires knowing “the ‘why’ and the cause” (Metaphysics A.1 981b28-30).  The theoretical readings we cover will help students to understand why certain approaches might work better than others, so that they can make the best possible decisions about their teaching.

Prof. Whyte, PHL 840 – Seminar in Value Theory

Topic: Environmental Justice and Anti-Colonial Philosophy

The seminar will explore the intersection of bodies of literature covering environmental justice and anti-colonial theory: Indigenous feminism and resurgence theories, coloniality of power, settler-colonial theory and landscapes of power theory (from environmental sociology). The seminar will connect these theories against ongoing analysis throughout the semester of the recent activism resisting North American expansion of the fossil fuel industries.

Prof. Peters, PHL 850 – Seminar in Social and Political Philosophy

Topic: Freedom, Sovereignty, and Decolonization: Readings in Contemporary Indigenous and Black Political Philosophy

This seminar examines four interrelated questions, a) what frameworks should we utilize to interpret the histories of colonialism and anticolonial resistance? b) how do Black and Indigenous political philosophies contribute to theoretical and practical project(s) of decolonization? c) what is the relationship between Indigenous and Black political philosophies of decolonization? d) how can Black and Indigenous political philosophy aid our analyses of contemporary politics. Themes explored in the course include Indigenous erasure, chattel slavery, capitalism, racialization, and the imposition of sex and gender norms. Throughout the semester special attention will be paid to the similarities and differences between Black and Indigenous conceptions of decolonization, sovereignty, freedom, internationalism, the sacred, history, feminisms, and artistic productions. We will read contemporary interdisciplinary monographs and articles that utilize Indigenous and Black political philosophy to analyze critical approaches to de/colonial formations.

Prof. Smith, PHL 897/WS 897 – Seminar in Feminist Theories, Epistemologies & Pedagogy

Foundational knowledge, theory, epistemology, and pedagogy in women’s and gender studies from a multi-disciplinary, global perspective. This course serves as the gateway course to the graduate specialization in Women’s and Gender Studies in the College of Arts and Letters.

PHL 800/830—Proseminar/Seminar in Logic and Language (O’Rourke)   

This hybrid seminar will combine detail about the profession of philosophy with close, critical attention to human communication. The multifarious roles of human communication in shaping identity and in creating community mark it as a crucial human activity. This seminar experience will involve closely reading and critically analyzing philosophical perspectives on human communication, including those from the philosophy of language, communication theory, and social epistemology. Much of the second half of the semester will focus on ethical aspects of human communication, including recent work on slurs, hate speech, and microaggressions. A smaller but equally important part will involve attention to the practice of professional philosophy. In thinking about professional philosophy, we will attend to it both as practitioners and as philosophers. From the side of practice, the course will supply information about the profession, resources you can use in making decisions about your career, and opportunities to function as a research philosopher. From the philosophical perspective, we will attend critically to institutional structures and prevailing tendencies within the profession, as well as to metaphilosophical questions about our discipline. The syllabus will include an integrated set of readings drawn from the philosophy of language (both semantics and pragmatics), communication theory, value theory, philosophy of action, metaphilosophy, social epistemology, and feminist epistemology. Graduate students in their second year and beyond interested in receive credit for this course should enroll I the 830 section of this course.

PHL 820 – Seminar in Continental Philosophy (Ruíz)                                

Continental Feminisms and the Politics of Revolt

This is a specialized survey course in continental philosophy geared towards students interested in feminist philosophical approaches to culture, politics, and especially issues of oppression and violence. It focuses on close readings of primary texts in continental feminisms, broadly construed to include poststructuralist, critical theorist and hermeneutic feminisms throughout the Global South. We will also take up core issues in anti-colonial feminisms that challenge deeply held assumptions about selfhood, discursivity, and the possibilities for freedom articulated in continental thought. We will ask whether past traditions and current trends in continental thought articulate a view of human existence compatible with the epistemic diversity and liberation projects throughout the Global South, and how one might proceed in light of our answer. Focusing on philosophical responses to different articulations of violence and oppression, we will read works by Julia Kristeva, Gayatri Spivak,  Sarah Kofman, Sandra Bartky, Nelly Richard, Judith Butler, Ofelia Schutte, Frantz Fanon, as well as more canonical authors like Michel Foucault and Friedrich Nietzsche. In the process, students will gain basic familiarity with core issues, key thinkers, and associated movements in continental thought such as poststructuralism, psychoanalysis, phenomenology, hermeneutics and critical theory, always with attention to practices of marginalization in the history of philosophy.

PHL 860 – Seminar in Metaphysics and Epistemology (Dotson)

Exploring Women of Color Feminist Epistemology and Purposeful Epistemology

This class will cover a growing school of thought in analytic epistemology today, called, “purposeful epistemology.” Some of its main proponents in analytic epistemology include Edward Craig, David Henderson, John Greco and Michael Williams. This particular vein of analytic thought has opened the door for Miranda Fricker’s work on epistemic injustice in professional philosophy. It also has the greatest capacity to intersect with women of color feminist epistemologies because the point and purpose of epistemology is a central question in women of color feminist thought. This class will interrogate the limitations and scope of intersections between purposeful epistemology and women of color feminist epistemologies, particularly Black feminist and Indigenous feminist epistemologies. Class texts include, but may not be limited to: Lee Maracle, Memory Serves; Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider; Angela Davis, The Angela Davis Reader, Freedom is a Constant Struggle, The Meaning of Freedom; Edward Craig, Knowledge and the State of Nature;  David Henderson & John Greco’s edited volume, Epistemic Evaluation: Purposeful Epistemology; Miranda Fricker, Epistemic Injustice.

PHL 801 – Teaching Philosophy (Ferkany)

This seminar introduces students to fundamental ideas in the philosophy of education, in the theory of teaching and learning, and to managing the practical challenges of teaching undergraduate philosophy. Unlike many other seminars, theoretical study in this course will largely be in the service of improving practice. Seminar assignments include regular reading, a teaching demo, a mock teaching interview, designing a syllabus and several assignments for an introductory level course, comparing your standards for grading student work to your professor’s and your peers’, and compiling a teaching dossier. Students bring their work to class, where we discuss it and offer suggestions. Students also work with a faculty mentor (teaching a 100-300 level course) on the following: observing the mentor’s teaching (for one lecture) and discussing his/her teaching strategies; guest lecturing for the faculty mentor (observed by the mentor) and then meeting to discuss the student’s performance. (This faculty mentor will then be in a good position to contribute a teaching letter to the student’s teaching dossier.) We also devote as much time as is needed to discuss classroom dynamics: how to prevent or resolve conflicts, how to create and maintain an inclusive classroom environment, how to handle difficult or disruptive students.

PHL 880 – Seminar in Philosophy of Science (Douglas) 

Commercialization of Science 

As intellectual property regimes take an increasingly important place in science, this seminar will examine the influence of commerce and the private economic sector on science.  We will examine the benefits of and concerns over private sector funding of science (which can both direct scientific attention to practical outcomes and distort scientific findings) and the role of patents in science (which can both motivate scientific efforts and curtail research in some areas).  The influence of private sector funding will be considered within the political context for science, where there remains a mix of public and private funding for science (private funding of science has outstripped public funding of science and is now the predominant source of funding for most OECD states), and where science is pursued in such institutional contexts as universities, private labs, and government agencies.  We will consider policies that might curtail the more pernicious influences on science and public interest, and whether such policies (as some have argued) are doomed to failure.

PHL 897 – Seminar in Feminist Theories, Epistemologies & Pedagogy (Chaudhuri)

This class has been designed as an introduction for graduate students to the interdisciplinary study of feminist theories in global perspective, feminist methodology and epistemology, and feminist pedagogy. Students will become familiar with the historical origins of feminist scholarship and equip themselves with the applications of women’s and gender studies epistemologies, theories, and questions to varied academic domains as well as to feminist praxis in non-academic settings. Several weeks of classroom work will be devoted to feminist praxis inside and outside the academy.  This course serves as the gateway course to the graduate specialization in Women’s and Gender Studies in the College of Arts and Letters. (Cross-listed as WS 897, and with ENG, SOC, and TE)