Graduate Course Schedule

PHIL 5320: Seminar in the History of Philosophy: Descartes. Monday 4:00pm-6:30pm. Lionel Shapiro

The seminar will be centered around a close study of the Meditations on First Philosophy, paying attention to the (argumentative and non-argumentative) strategies of this unusual text. We will also try to work out aspects of the world view Descartes hopes his reader will come away with, drawing on writings including the Replies and letters, Principles and Passions of the Soul. Among the topics I hope we can focus on: the theory of ideas, including sensory representation; the metaphysics of substance, essence, eternal truths, mind-body union; foundationalism and circularity.

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: History of Philosophy

PHIL 5331: Seminar in Philosophy of Mind: Origins of Meaning. Tuesday 11:00am-1:30pm. Dorit Bar-On

Origins of Meaning

This seminar will center around Bar-On’s manuscript Expression, Communication, and Origins of Meaning, which features major issues, debates, and themes in contemporary philosophy of mind and language, animal minds and communication, the evolution of language and more. These include: the nature of mental states and mental content, Millikan’s teleosemantics, expressive communication (both verbal and nonlinguistic), theory of mind, and more.

PHIL 5350: Seminar in Recent Social and Political Philosophy: Sociotechnical Perspectives on AI. Thursday 11:00am-1:30pm. Ting-an Lin

This seminar will center around many ethical and social-political questions raised by the recent technological developments of artificial intelligence (AI). For example: How do AI systems shape the contemporary sociotechnical structures? Do AI systems bring about new forms of injustice—for example, in terms of distributive, representational, and epistemic injustice? How can we ensure the design and implementation of AI systems are more aligned with desirable values? The goal of this seminar is to familiarize students with contemporary discussions surrounding the ethical and societal impacts of AI, to reflect critically on the central debates, and to develop their own views on these issues.

PHIL 5397 Section 002: Special Topics: Logic, Truth, Ideal Language. Thursday 2:00pm-4:30pm. Marcus Rossberg (Online)

PHIL 5397 Section 003: Special Topics: Moral Realism. Tuesday 2:00pm-4:30pm. Paul Bloomfield

This class will be about moral realism. Readings will be taken from The Oxford Handbook of Moral Realism (2023).

PHIL 5397 Section 004: Special Topics: Global Southern Phenomenology. Monday 11:00am-1:30pm. Lewis Gordon

Although there are many kinds of phenomenology, we will devote our attention to the line developed from Edmund Husserl via Franz Brentano as it has implications for the various research interests of students conducting doctoral work at UConn. Thus, we will devote attention to phenomenology in the context of metacritique in formal and transcendental logic and then move on to problems in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of social sciences (especially problems of anonymity and social reality), and recent developments in the question of disciplinary formation such as the decolonization of theory/philosophy and what could be considered beyond that.

PHIL 5397 Section 005: Special Topics. Wednesday 4:00pm-6:00pm. Lynne Tirrell

PHIL 5301. Wednesday 6:00-8:30. Elena Comay del Junco

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: 5301

"Seminar in Contemporary Philosophy" is something of a misnomer in two senses. First, the seminar aims to develop skills in philosophical method, argument, reading, and so on, rather than focusing on any particular topic or writer. Second, many, though certainly not all, of the texts we will be reading are not cotemporary in the usual - that is to say chronological - sense. We shall be considering a selection, necessarily partial, of engagements with the question of what philosophy is, what the proper way to do philosophy is, and what its limits are. We shall approach these texts, whether "historical" or "contemporary," as living documents which speak directly to these questions.

PHIL 5307. Logic for philosophers. Tuesday 11:00-1:30. Stewart Shapiro.

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: 5307

An introduction to the theory and meta-theory of sentential and first-order languages. The proof theory and model-theoretic semantics for a standard formal language will be developed. The course will include proofs of the completeness, compactness, and Löwenheim-Skolem theorems. The purpose of the course is to provide an introduction to logic, and to provide some of the logical background presupposed by many contemporary philosophical authors. Occasionally, issues in the philosophy of logic will be raised. There will be a midterm exam, a final exam, and several quizzes or homework exercises.

PHIL 5320: Seminar in the History of Philosophy: Kant. Monday 4:00-6:30. Nick Smith

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: History of Philosophy

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is a pivotal figure in the history of modern philosophy. Some familiarity with Kant is essential for understanding the major currents of nineteenth and twentieth century philosophy, in both the ‘continental’ and ‘analytic’ traditions. Kant’s ‘critical philosophy’ - also called the system of ‘transcendental idealism’ - was developed principally in three treatises: the Critique of Pure Reason (A-edition 1781; B-edition 1787), the Critique of Practical Reason (1788) and the Critique of Judgement (1790). While each of these texts is important (and Kant wrote much more), the foundation for Kant’s system is laid down in the Critique of Pure Reason - the so-called ‘first Critique’. The first Critique is considered by many to be one of the most important and profound single works of philosophy ever written. Our aim in the course is to acquaint ourselves with this text, to reflect critically upon its central arguments, and to develop an awareness of its place in the history of philosophy.

PHIL 5342: Seminar in Philosophy of Language. Tuesday 2:00-4:30. Lynne Tirrell

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: Metaphysics and Epistemology

This course begins with a study of some classics of 20th century philosophy of language, and then will feature deep dives into two recent major works: The Politics of Language, by David Beaver and Jason Stanley, and Dogwhistles and Slurs, by Jennifer Mather Saul. The classics chosen will help ground exploration of the contemporary work. This course will examine some pretty harsh modes of discourse, including slurs.

PHIL 5397: Environmental Philosophy: Climate Change. Thursday 2:00-4:30. Tom Bontly

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: Metaphysics and Epistemology

Global climate change raises difficult questions in numerous areas of philosophy, including the philosophy of science, philosophy of social science, ethics and political philosophy. The plan for this seminar is to take on a cross-section of these issues with the precise balance guided in large measure by the interests of the participants. Very roughly, I expect the first part of the course will get us up to speed on climate modeling and some related philosophical concerns (e.g., the role of models and idealizations in science, the confirmation and tuning of models, the sources of uncertainty in climate models). The second (and I expect longer) part of the course will dive into the swirl of ethical, political, social and economic questions related to climate justice: e.g., intergenerational obligations, global inequality, reparations, geoengineering, climate denial, collective action, economic (de-)growth and alternative visions for a just and sustainable future. We will read selectively from a few recent monographs (e.g., Winsberg’s Philosophy and Climate Science) and anthologies (e.g., Budolfson, McPherson & Plunkett’s Philosophy and Climate Change; Kanbur & Shue’s Climate Justice: Integrating Economics and Philosophy).

PHIL 5350: Seminar in Recent Social and Political Philosophy. Monday 11:30-2:00. Tracy Llanera

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: Ethics/Social-Political Philosophy

The Philosophy of Extremism

What is extremism? Why do people adopt extremist commitments? Can people with extremist commitments change, and can they change in a deep way? This graduate seminar in philosophy examines the existential, psychological, and socio-political roots of extremist commitments, investigates stereotypes and profiles of contemporary extremists, and explores the phenomena of deradicalization and disavowal of extremism. Readings include, among others, the writings of Eric Hoffer, Eric Fromm, Theodor Adorno, Frantz Fanon, Max Weber, Kathleen Blee, Quassim Cassam, Paul Katsafanas, Tracy Llanera, Michael Lynch, Isabel Wilkerson, Lydia Khalil, Kathleen Belew, and Josh diPaolo.

PHIL 5350: Seminar in Contemporary Social and Political Philosophy, Lewis Gordon

Mondays 11:30 AM – 2 PM, Manchester Hall 2^nd Floor Seminar Room

This course aims first to explore two aspects of social and political philosophy not often addressed in American courses in social and political philosophy: (1) the social and (2) the political. After offering a critique of the reduction of so-called “mainstream” social and political philosophy, which, in effect, is mostly moral philosophy, we will then examine political problems actually being discussed across the globe, with special attention to Global Southern Social and Political Philosophy. As we are already in the 3^rd decade of the 21^st century rolling its way toward the 22^nd, we will examine political philosophical challenges raised by philosophers ranging from Steve Bantu Biko, Amílcar Cabral, Drucilla Cornell, Frantz Fanon, Kwame Gyekye, Kwasi Wiredu, and He-Yin Zhen to Angela Y. Davis, Jane Anna Gordon, Nelson Maldonado-Torres, Chika Mba, Michael Monahan, Mabogo More, Nkiru Nzegwu, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Shuchen Xiang, and more.

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement in: Ethics/Social/Political PHIL

PHIL 5305: Seminar in Aesthetics: Fiction Mitch Green M 4:00-6:30 PM

This seminar will focus on issues occupying the nexus of several different philosophical areas including aesthetics, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, and metaphysics. Our phenomenon of study is the use of fictional discourse and behavior that in some way involves play, make-believe, pretense, supposition for argument’s sake, or thought experiment. We find this phenomenon in novels, short stories, plays, and fictional films—as well as in some philosophical argumentation, model-building in science, and play therapy; some also hold that we should construe certain kind of discourse, such as mathematical discourse or talk of possible worlds, as at bottom fictional.

With the aim of developing a defensible and reasonably comprehensive theory of fiction we’ll consider what kind of action is being performed by its utterer: is fiction a special kind of speech act, or does it fall outside the illocutionary realm? (Theories by Currie, Stock, Searle, Friend, and Davies will be considered here.) We will also look into theories of ‘truth in fiction’ that attempt to understand what it is for a proposition to be true in a fictional work even when not stated explicitly in that work. (Lewis, Friend, Pavel, Garcia-Carpintero.) Also, we will consider whether in spite of the fictional character of a work such as a novel, readers can gain anything of epistemic value from it such as knowledge or understanding. (Currie, Mikkonen, Green and Gibson.) We will also consider what it means to be a “fictionalist” about a certain realm of discourse (numbers, minds, possible worlds, God, propositions, values, etc.), and whether views of this kind are tenable in light of what we have learned about the nature of fictional discourse. (Rosen, Balaguer, Thomasson, Yablo, Kroon.)

This being a research seminar, students will be expected to develop work over the term that stands a chance of being a contribution to knowledge. To this end, students will write a mid-term essay (10-ish pages), and develop that into a larger paper (in the 15-20 page vicinity) due at the end of the term. Regular and informed contributions to seminar discussion are expected, and each enrolled student will present their work in progress in the final weeks of the term.

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement in: M&E

PHIL 5397: Seminar in Political Epistemology: Truth in Democracy Michael Lynch T 11:00-1:30

This seminar will center around two questions central to the emerging field of political epistemology: (1) Is truth (and related concepts like evidence, reason and justification) a democratic value? And (2) what, if anything, could make a political judgment true? In the course of examining these questions, we will consider the various alleged threats to the value of truth often associated with the idea that we are living in a "post-truth” culture, including the nature of misinformation, propaganda and polarization. And we will have the occasion to analyze how traditional theories of truth fare when applied to political judgments. The central text will be the manuscript of my forthcoming book, Truth in Democracy; additional readings will include papers by Elizabeth Anderson, Cheryl Misak, John Rawls, Hannah Arendt, Briana Toole, Michael Hannon, Robert Talisse, Sally Haslanger, Thi Nguyen and others. Assignments will include short papers and a term paper.

This seminar can be used to satisfy either the course requirement in Ethics/Social/Political PHIL or M&E, both not both.

Phil 5344: Seminar in Philosophical Logic: Truth. Keith Simmons. T 2:30-5:00 PM

My seminar is on truth. I am at work on a book on truth, and the seminar will explore the major themes from the book, ranging over philosophy of language, philosophical logic and metaphysics. I won’t be presupposing much – I’ll make sure to introduce the views and the issues we’ll be discussing. Some of the readings will be chapters from my book draft.

The central contemporary debate about truth is between the deflationist and the substantivist. At one end of the spectrum is the deflationist, for whom, roughly speaking, the truth predicate is just a logical device, the concept of truth has no genuine explanatory power, and there is no robust property of truth. At the other end of the spectrum is the pluralist, for whom the concept of truth is a substantive explanatory concept, and there is a plurality of robust truth properties. I’m interested in navigating between deflationism and pluralism.

In critically examining deflationism and pluralism, and exploring a middle position between them, we’ll be looking at a variety of truth-related notions, including meaning, assertion, and truth-aptness. And we’ll also discuss a number of truth-related isms: not just deflationism and pluralism, but also primitivism, realism, anti-realism, and expressivism. We’ll also look at the impact of the semantic paradoxes, crucially the Liar paradox, on the debate about truth.

Readings will include classic work by Russell, Tarski, and Quine, together with some very recent articles, and drafts of chapters from my book.

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement in: M&E

PHIL 5301 Seminar in Contemporary Philosophy Tues 3:00-5:30 Lynne Tirrell

This course will closely study and discuss recent philosophical articles, drawn from a wide range of philosophical areas, along with some canonical essays. the focus of the course is not on a specific topic, but philosophical writing and the development of philosophical skills in general.

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: PHIL 5301

PHIL 5307 Logic Wed 5:30-8:00 Keith Simmons

5307 will be centered on modal logic – we’ll study propositional and quantified modal logic. We’ll cover a variety of modal systems from both the semantic and the proof-theoretic points of view. And we’ll go on to explore modal logic in three directions: (i) further topics in quantified modal logic, including varying domains, and intentional objects. (ii) applications, including possible world semantics in the philosophy of language. (iii) philosophical issues, including the metaphysics of modality (the ontological status of possible worlds), and the epistemology of possible worlds (imagination, conceivability, and possibility).

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: PHIL 5307

PHIL 5320 Seminar in the History of Philosophy Thurs 3:00-5:30 Elena Comay del Junco

This course will examine philosophical accounts of love (erôs, ‘ishq) as an entry point to the study of the Graeco-Arabic philosophical tradition. Starting with the “pre-Socratics,” love is posited simultaneously as a human, psychological phenomenon and as a metaphysical, cosmological principle. We will begin with these authors before moving through Plato and Aristotle and then turning to the reception of Greek philosophy in the Islamo-Arabic world in works by al-Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and, time permitting, texts by Suhrawardi, al-Ghazali, and/or authors in the sufi tradition (e.g. Hallaj, Daylami). Texts will include some or all of: Symposium, Phaedrus (Plato), Metaphysics A and Λ (Aristotle), Ennead III (Plotinus); the Liber de Causis and Theology of Aristotle; Book of Letters (al-Farabi); Pointers and Reminders and Letter on Love (Ibn Sina) etc.

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: History of Philosophy.

PHIL 5342 Philosophy of Language Mon 5:00-7:30 Lionel Shapiro

A tradition of theorizing about propositionally contentful discourse (most prominently Robert Brandom, Huw Price, and Michael Williams) claims to eschew explanatory appeal, or at least certain kinds of explanatory appeal, to “representation.” We’ll seek an understanding what’s at issue. What makes a theory count as anti-representationalist, and what are the advantages of and challenges for such theories? In addressing these questions, we’ll need to consider different views of the tasks of semantics and “meta-semantics”.

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: Metaphysics and Epistemology

PHIL 5344 Seminar in Philosophical Logic Thurs Noon-2:30 Stewart Shapiro

This seminar will be run as a team-taught enterprise with Stefan Kaufmann. Formally, it will be two seminars, one in Philosophy and one in Linguistics, but de facto it will be run as a single team-taught seminar. Many philosophers of language and metaphysicians make assumptions about what language can tell us about the nature of the world we live in. But this raises the general question of what Emmon Bach (1986) and others have called natural language metaphysics: What can the semantics of natural language tell us about the nature of the world itself, which we so effectively navigate with the aid of the linguistic descriptions we share? In this seminar we'll look at some specific sub-domains in semantics which are of special interest from the point of view of natural language semantics and descriptive metaphysics. After some general introductory discussion, we will focus on some specific items of interest to both linguists and philosophers of language. Possible examples include the semantics of number; the semantics of plurals, mass and count; the semantics of events (eventualities); the relationships between the mass/count domains and those of the atelic/telic eventualities; the semantics of cardinal numbers; and the semantics of gradability. We will address the tradition of compositional, truth conditional semantics in generative grammar, and consider how scholars have attempted to bring the semantic analyses to bear on metaphysical and ontological questions, always grounding these explorations in concrete linguistic data.

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: Metaphysics and Epistemology.

PHIL 5397 Theorizing the Decolonial Turn Tues Noon-2:30 Nelson Maldonado-Torres

Theorizing the Decolonial Turn: Philosophy, Theory, and Critique. The decolonial turn is a shift in theory, philosophy, and critique from the Global South that consists of two broad areas: a view of colonialism as a fundamental problem in the modern world, and the idea and praxis of decolonization as an unfinished project. Central to the decolonial turn is a differentiation between colonialism, as a juridico-political and/or a cultural relation, on the one hand, and coloniality, as a matrix of power, being, and knowledge, grounded on the imbrication of race, antiblackness, capitalism, and the coloniality of gender, on the other. Coloniality works alongside and after the end of formal colonial relations. Likewise, in the decolonial turn, decolonization is not defined by the search for independence, but rather by the opposition to the multilayered dimensions of coloniality and by the emergence of ideas, practices, codes, and symbolic representations that facilitate the emergence of decolonial forms of being human and social relations. This seminar will provide an overview of selected foundational and recent scholarly production about coloniality, decoloniality, and the decolonial turn, including decolonial feminism and a consideration of theoretical postures such as Africana philosophy, Indigenous environmentalism, Red pedagogy, and Black Marxism.

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: Ethics and Social-Political Philosophy.

Tues. January 17, 2023 – Fri. May 6, 2023

PHIL 5397: Seminar in Context-dependence and Contextualisms. Professor: Bill Lycan. Tuesday 11:00-1:30

The semantics and metaphysics of context-dependence. Indexicals, hidden parameters, purpose-relativity of predication, "common ground," "context of assessment," and such. Contextualist theories and relativisms in various philosophical domains: epistemology, meta-ethics, metaphysics of modality, epistemic modals.

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: Metaphysics and Epistemology

PHIL 5315: Seminar in Moral Philosophy. Paul Bloomfield. Thursday 1:30-4:00

The Virtues of Human Beings: Elizabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgely, Philippa Foot, and Iris Murdoch were all students together at Oxford University, starting in the late 1930s. Dissatisfied with the metaethical non-naturalism and emotivism prominent at the time, they developed theories based on the biological fact that Homo sapiens are animals: they saw human morality as the study of living well qua human being. We will be reading through some highlights of their philosophies in the order given above.

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: Ethics and Social-Political Phil

PHIL 5344: Seminar in Philosophical Logic. Professor: Julian Schloeder. Monday 11:30-2:00

Our central question will be how logic can be used to model language in a philosophically productive way, with a focus on proof-theoretic semantics. The orthodoxy in semantics is referentialism: that the meaning of an expression is to be identified with what it stands for, its reference, and that reference is best explained in terms of truth-conditions. Proof-theoretic semantics is an opposing view according to which the meaning of an expression is best explained in terms of the inference that a sentence can, in virtue of containing the expression, feature in. This view, an objection has it, is not applicable to language at large, but only to logical vocabulary. A forthcoming book, “Reasoning With Attitude” (Incurvati & Schloeder 2023) argues that the scope of proof-theroetic semantics can be extended by combining it with another view of semantics: expressivism, according to which the meaning of an expression is given by the attitude one expressed in uttering a sentence containing the expression.

We will work through “Reasoning With Attitude”, taking into account additional recent works that are in opposition to proof-theoretic or expressivist semantics, or indeed in opposition to the use of logic to model language at all. We will be exploring how one might apply proof-theoretic semantics to, among others, the truth predicate, vagueness, attitude predicates, moral and political talk, and epistemic/probabilistic terms. Moreover, we will examine how the pragmatist methodology can help us to determine what the role of logic in language is. Finally, by examining the soundness and completeness of a proof-theoretic semantics for an appropriate model theory, we will explore its conceptual relationship to model-theoretic (i.e. referentialist) accounts and investigate what this means for metaphysical questions.

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: Metaphysics and Epistemology.

PHIL 5314: Action Theory. Origins of Intentional Action. Professor: Dorit Bar-On. Wednesday 1:30-4:00

According to the “standard theory” of the nature of action, actions properly so-called – as opposed to ‘mere behavior’ – are bodily movements that are caused ‘in the right way’ by mental states, such as desires and beliefs. Real agents, the theory goes, are motivated by goals and This theory has been challenged from a number of directions. Our interest in this seminar is in the following challenge: the standard theory appears to be overly intellectual, insofar as it excludes from the category of genuine action any being who lacks the sophisticated psychological life that allows it to form intentions and be motivated and guided by reasons. This, in turn, raises the question how human agency could have emerged in the natural world. In the seminar, we will examine some defenses of the standard theory, review some familiar objections to it, and then turn to our main topic: the origins of intentional action in the natural world. Can there be forms of genuine agency that fall short of the paradigm of fully rational human agency, on the one hand, but go beyond mere automatic/reflexive behavior or bodily movements? If so, how can these forms of more basic (‘prereflective’) agency illuminate the emergence of human agency?

This seminar can be used to satisfy the course requirement for: Metaphysics and Epistemology.

PHIL 5800: Race in the Formation of the Human Sciences. Professor: Nelson Maldonado-Torres Thursday 11:00-1:30.

The concept of race and the human sciences emerged out of the theological, epistemological, and political upheavals the consequence of which is the modern western world. This course will explore their symbiotic relationship and the extent to which the question of race offers insight into the continued logic(s) of the human sciences. This approach challenges the presumption that race and racism in the disciplines are results of misapplication of otherwise race-free sciences. The readings explore the emergence of the Western discourse about the human and its entanglement with the idea of race in the context of “discovery,” conquest, racial slavery, and the naturalization of colonial and racial differences from 16th century to the present. Crucial in this trajectory are the formation of the European Renaissance, the European Enlightenment, the emergence of the modern research university and the modern disciplines of study in the 19^th century, as well as specific 20^th century contributions by the US university in the forms of area, women, and ethnic studies. The course will seek to reach a better understanding of the entanglement between race and the human sciences, as well as explore the possibility of counter-racist knowledges.

This seminar can be used to satisfy either the course requirement for Ethics and Social-Political Philosophy OR the course requirement for History of Philosophy, but not both.

Mon. August 29, 2022 – Sun. December 18, 2022

PHIL 5301 Seminar in Contemporary Philosophy, Marcus Rossberg, Thursday 11:00-1:30

We will closely study and discuss recent philosophical articles, drawn from a wide range of philosophical areas. The focus of the course is not a specific topic, but philosophical writing and the development of philosophical skills in general. Course requirements include two short presentations, writing a short essay each week, and one longer essay. Presenters are expected to take the initial lead in the discussion.

PHIL 5307: Logic, Keith Simmons, Wednesday 9:30-12:00

PHIL 5327: Seminar on Kant, Nick Smith, Thursday 4:30-7:00

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is a pivotal figure in the history of philosophy. Some familiarity with Kant is essential for understanding the major currents of nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century philosophy, in both the ‘continental’ and ‘analytic’ traditions. Kant’s ‘critical philosophy’ - also called the system of ‘transcendental idealism’ - was developed principally in three treatises: the Critique of Pure Reason (1781/1787), the Critique of Practical Reason (1788) and the Critique of Judgement (1790). While each of these texts is important (and Kant wrote much more), the foundation for Kant’s system is laid down in the Critique of Pure Reason - the so-called ‘first Critique’. The first Critique is considered by many to be one of the most important, and profound, single works of philosophy ever written. Our aim in the course is to acquaint ourselves with this text, to reflect critically upon its central arguments, and to develop an awareness of its place in the history of philosophy.

This course can be used to meet either the History of Philosophy Requirement or the Metaphysics/Epistemology Requirement, but not both.

PHIL 5330: Seminar on Theory of Knowledge, Heather Battaly, Monday 11:30-2:00

Which traits help persons resist oppression and make progress toward liberation? To put this differently, which traits are liberatory virtues and why? Can rage and arrogance be liberatory virtues for some persons but not others? Can humility be a liberatory virtue for some persons but not others? Can groups of people and structures have liberatory virtues? This seminar will explore liberatory virtues in epistemology and ethics. Readings are likely to include work by Myisha Cherry, Vrinda Dalmiya, Robin Dillon, Kristie Dotson, Miranda Fricker, José Medina, and Lisa Tessman.

This course can be used to meet either the Metaphysics/Epistemology Requirement or the Ethics/Social/Political Philosophy requirement, but not both.

PHIL 5350: Seminar in Recent Social and Political Philosophy: Extremism, Conversion, and Transformative Experience, Tracy Llanera, Tuesday 4:30-7:00
Why do people adopt extremist commitments? What is the link between extremism and authoritarianism? Can people with extremist commitments change, and can they change in a deep way? The first part of this graduate seminar examines the existential, psychological, and socio-political roots of extremist commitments. The second half of the seminar investigates the phenomenon of transformative experience, with the aim of examining how disengagement from extremism and fanaticism, along with the possibility of disavowal and conversion from these absolutist commitments, is possible. The course will approach this theme with interdisciplinarity in mind. The readings include, among others, the work of Eric Hoffer, Eric Fromm, Kathleen Blee, Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Hannah Arendt, René Girard, Theodor Adorno, Frantz Fanon, Simone Weil, Max Weber, William James, Edna Ullman-Margalit, Quassim Cassam, Michael Lynch, Richard Rorty, Paul Katsafanas, Tracy Llanera, L. A. Paul, and Agnes Callard.

This course can be used to meet the Ethics/Social/Political Philosophy Requirement.

PHIL 5397: Seminar on Genocide: Philosophical Issues & Approaches, Lynne Tirrell, Tuesday 11:00-1:30

We will focus on philosophical issues in genocide, including distinguishing genocide from other atrocities, the metaphysical project and the discursive elements that fuel genocide, and the competing projects of witnessing/testimony versus denialism. The seminar will include attention to several genocides.

This course can be used to meet either the Metaphysics/Epistemology Requirement or the Ethics/Social/Political Philosophy requirement, but not both.

PHIL 5320: Seminar in the History of Philosophy | Marcus Rossberg (marcus.rossberg@uconn.edu) | Tu 10:30 – 1:00

The “standard narrative” goes something like this:  The importance of Frege’s ideas within analytical philosophy would be hard to exaggerate.  He was the inventor of modern logic, and the influence he exerted on philosophy of language and logic has been so deep, and felt so pervasively within analytical philosophy at large, that he has a strong case to be regarded as the inventor of that too.  While the claim about the de facto historical influence of Frege’s writings is largely correct, we will critically examine the suspicious “genius” narrative. We will start our course by a (relatively) close reading of Frege’s The Foundations of Arithmetic (1884) [transl. by J.L. Austin; eschew other translations]; followed by the 1891/92 trilogy of papers on Frege’s famous sense and reference distinction, and excerpts from magnum opus, Basic Laws of Arithmetic (1893/1903).  After this preparation, we will run this seminar as a research seminar, focussing on Frege's context and sources and where his idea were anticipated (and where he “borrowed” some of them).  The exact course of the course will in part be determined by the interests of the participants.

Please get hold of a copy of Austin’s translation of Foundations (absolutely eschew other translations) and start reading it before the course starts; all other readings will be provided.

PHIL 5320: Seminar in the History of Philosophy | Lionel Shapiro (lionel.shapiro@uconn.edu) | W 6:00-8:30

Topic: John Locke  

We'll be undertaking a close study of much of Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Throughout, we'll try to keep in mind Locke’s epistemological aims and the various traditions he’s responding to: Scholastics, Cartesians, and non-Cartesian mechanists. Topics to be discussed include: Locke’s theory of ideas and their role in knowledge, his distinction between primary and secondary qualities, his position on substance, the role of mechanism in his philosophy, his account of kinds and their essences, his view of the functioning and philosophical significance of language, and his account of personal identity and moral agency. In recent decades, each of these topics has generated controversy, often informed by different views of Locke’s aims and continuing relevance. As time allows, we'll explore some of this literature. Anticipated requirements: weekly written questions, two short papers, a longer paper, and a presentation.

PHIL 5331: Seminar in Philosophy of Mind | Dorit Bar-On (dorit.bar-on@uconn.edu) | W 1:30 – 4:00

Some contemporary views concerning what is both distinctive and essential to mature human mentality seem to imply a problematic “continuity skepticism” (Bar-On 2013). This is the claim that there can be no philosophically cogent explanation of the ‘natural history’ of our central psychological, communicative, and moral capacities, since no philosophical sense can be made of the possibility of ‘half-minds’ (e.g. Davidson, 1982 and elsewhere). The Spring 2022 seminar will look at recent work in the philosophy of mind through the lens of the question of origins: How could minds like ours emerge from more ‘basic’ or simpler minds – either in (ontogenetic) development or in (phylogenetic) evolution? We will aim to determine whether given views face the challenge posed by continuity skepticism and evaluate available ways of tackling it. We will be reading works by well-known philosophers such as Sellars, McDowell, Brandom, Evans, Davidson, Burge, and Millikan, as well as recent works by ‘new(er) generation’ philosophers of mind, including Elizabeth Camp, Jacob Beck, Kristina Musholt, and Tad Zadwidzki.

PHIL 5344: Seminar in Philosophical Logic | Keith Simmons (keith.simmons@uconn.edu) | Tu 5:00 – 7:30

Readings will include work by Russell, Tarski, Quine, Horwich, Field, Brandom, Wright, Lynch, together with some very recent articles, and drafts of chapters from my book.

PHIL 5397: Seminar: Global Southern Phenomenology  | Lewis Gordon (lewis.gordon@uconn.edu) | Tu 2:00 – 4:30

This seminar will focus on developments Global Southern phenomenology through addressing examining ideas from Africana phenomenology, decolonial and postcolonial phenomenology, intersectional and queer phenomenology, and the significance of teleological suspensions in phenomenological philosophical inquiry.    

PHIL 5397: Seminar: Political Truth | Michael Lynch (mplynch@uconn.edu) | M 3:00 – 6:00

This seminar is devoted to a single question: what, if anything, makes our political judgments true and false? This is a question we must answer if we wish to grapple with the fake news and misinformation eating away at the foundations of democracy and rediscover truth as a democratic value. But it is also a question with deep relevance to democratic theory semantics, and social epistemology.

 Interest in truth’s role in democracy has—unsurprisingly—increased throughout the culture in the last several years. Yet in political philosophy, liberal democratic theory has always had a decidedly mixed reaction to the concept. Influential political thinkers John Rawls (and to a lesser extent, Jürgen Habermas) even argued that appeals to truth are antithetical to democratic discourse. And while more recent work has pushed back on this view, and argued that the concepts of truth and knowledge can play an important role in legitimizing democratic political authority, many researchers continue to be wary of truth. They agree it is important, but worry it is out of place in the messy world of real politics. Indeed, as Hannah Arendt famously noted, no one has ever really doubted that truth and politics are on bad terms with one another. 

Political authority and democratic theory are deeply important issues; but when it comes to the question of truth and politics, there is a prior question at stake. That question, and the one with which this seminar is ultimately concerned, is whether “political truth” is even coherent in the first place.  If it is not, then the ideal that democracies should value truth and related notions like evidence is empty. Students will be asked to do bi-weekly short writing assignments and write a substantive research paper on the topic of the course. Readings will primarily be on HuskyCT. 

PHIL 5397: Seminar: The Gendered-Racial Mythologies of Predictive Policing and Knowing Crime  | Ayanna Spencer (ayanna.spencere@uconn.edu) | Th 2:00 – 4:30

This seminar will explore current debates on big data policing in the US through engagement with Black feminist analyses of the US criminal punishment system. Connecting Feminist Theory, Social and Political Philosophy, Epistemology, and Science and Technology Studies, we will examine how gendered racial mythologies about crime/criminality inform the design and implementation of predictive policing technologies. We will analyze relationships between data used to create these technologies, how these technologies are deployed to create “crime data,” and knowledge production on “crime.” Some required readings include Angela Davis’ Are Prisons Obsolete, Safiya Umoja Noble’s Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson’s The Rise of Big Data Policing: Surveillance, Race, and The Future of Law Enforcement, and Predictive Policing and Artificial Intelligence edited by John McDaniel and Ken Pease. Additionally, we will study resistance efforts like Carceral Tech Resistance, Data for Black Lives, and the Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab. This seminar may be of interest to scholars who aim to learn more about big data, Black feminisms, anti-carceral literatures, abolition, algorithmic oppression and injustice, epistemic oppression, and US policing.  

PHIL 5397: Proposal, Prospectus, and Dissertation Writing Seminar. Monday 11:30-2:00 PM, Heather Battaly

This course is designed to help students who are writing the Proposal, Prospectus, or Dissertation. Students will write and circulate drafts, practice presenting, and get feedback. Philosophy students working on a proposal, prospectus, or dissertation on any topic are encouraged to register. Students working on philosophical theory outside the department are also welcome. This is a 3 credit course (for a grade). The course will count toward overall credits earned at UCONN. It will not count as a seminar ‘content course’ in the Philosophy department.

Mon. Aug 30, 2021 – Sun. Dec 19, 2021

PHIL 5301: Seminar in Contemporary Philosophy | W 5:00 - 7:30 PM | Elena Comay del Junco | In Person

This course focuses not on a specific topic, but on philosophical writing and the development of philosophical skills in general. It is structured around metaphilosophical themes and conceptions, historical and contemporary, such as: (i) the nature of "philosophy"; (ii) the relationship between philosophy and its history; (iii) the practicality of philosophy for politics; (iv) the use of empirical methods in philosophy; (v) philosophical "naturalism"; (vi) philosophy as a way of life; (vii) philosophy and/as literature; (iiiv) the "analytic-continental" divide (its existence, relevance, etc.)

Authors may include some (though perhaps not all) of the following: Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Seneca, Spinoza, Marx, Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. DuBois, Jean-Paul Sartre, Frantz Fanon, W.V.O. Quine, John Rawls, Michel Foucault, Bernard Williams, Gilbert Harman, Charles Mills, and Elizabeth Anderson.

Course requirements include (i) at least two short presentations, (ii) short response papers approximately every other week, and (iii) comments on peers' short responses on the other weeks. Presenters will take the initial lead in leading the class discussion.

PHIL 5307: Logic | W 1:30 - 4:00 PM | Keith Simmons | In Person

We’ll study propositional and quantified modal logic. We will study a variety of modal systems from both the semantic and the proof-theoretic points of view. We will also study the metalogic of these systems.

We’ll go on to explore modal logic in three directions:

(i) further topics in quantified modal logic, including modality and existence, identity and descriptions, intensional objects.

(ii) applications, including possible world semantics in the philosophy of language.

(iii) philosophical issues: the problem of interpreting quantified modal logic (‘quantifying in’), the metaphysics of modality (the ontological status of possible worlds), the epistemology of modality (imagination, conceivability, and possibility).

PHIL 5320: Seminar in the History of Philosophy | Tu 10:30 AM - 1:00 PM | Gustavus McLeod | In Person

We will be looking at the indigenous philosophical thought of Mesoamerica (mainly prior to the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century), particularly Maya, Nahua (Aztec), and Ñudzahui (Mixtec) Philosophy. Major topics covered include personhood and identity, essence, time, language, and vision/knowledge. We will use my forthcoming book “Introduction to Mesoamerican Philosophy” as a background frame, and look at a host of other works by scholars such as James Maffie, Sebastian Purcell, Miguel Leon-Portilla, Linda Schele, David Stuart, Gloria Chacón, David Carrasco, among others. We will also read some primary texts in translation, such as the K’iche’ Maya Popol Vuh and parts of the Florentine Codex.

PHIL 5344: Seminar in Philosophical Logic | Th 1:30 - 4:00 PM | Stewart Shapiro| In Person

We focus on two contrasts, one between the finite and the infinite, and the other between the continuous and the discrete.

Aristotle insisted that the actual infinite is incoherent, and that the only sensible notion is that of the potentially infinite, a process that can be continued indefinitely. This Aristotelian theme was echoed throughout the history of philosophy and mathematics, by, for example, Descartes and Leibniz. Today, thanks to the pioneering work of Cantor, the prevailing (but not universal) attitude is almost the diametric opposite, that the potentially infinite only makes sense if there is an actual infinity underlying it. But there are dissenting voices, from the traditional mathematical intuitionists and others.

Aristotle also argues that a continuous thing, such as a line segment (or a stretch of time), is not composed of points (or instants). Indeed, any part of a continuous thing is itself continuous. For Aristotle, points are only the boundaries of line segments (or potential line segments). Points are not parts of lines. This thesis, too, was echoed throughout history, with notable exceptions here and there. Today, the prevailing view is the diametric opposite: a line segment is no more than a set of points. But here, too, there are exceptions, serious theories of continuity that maintain at least some of the Aristotelian intuitions, in some cases at the cost of employing a non-classical logic.

A theme that connects our two contrasts is whether there are extended, infinitesimal line segments. Aristotle insisted that there are not, and this is reflected in Euclid’s Elements. The standard contemporary treatments of the calculus also eschew infinitesimals. Cantor rejected them vehemently. But infinitesimals had an important role in the development of the calculus, and they are alive and well in alternate theories of the continuum—theories that enjoy a solid, rigorous foundation.

The only prerequisite is basic logic. The course will be historical, metaphysical, and logical. We will begin with Zeno’s paradoxes, and Aristotle’s response. After a brief look at some medieval thoughts on the topics, we will turn to the development of the calculus, mostly Descartes, Leibniz, and the trenchant critique of infinitesimals due to Berkeley. Then we will cover some contemporary theories of continuity: the dominant theory, due to Dedekind and Cantor (and others), and some alternatives.

Each enrolled student will write a few (very) short essays on various topics, a seminar paper that they will present to the class, a commentary on another student’s seminar paper, and a medium-sized term paper.

PHIL 5331: Expression | Tu 1:30 - 4:00 PM | Mitchell Green | In Person

The notion of expression has borne theoretical weight in numerous intellectual projects: in understanding emotions and their evolution; in elucidating aspects of normative thought and discourse; in explaining how inanimate objects can have, or seem to have, affective properties; and in addressing features of self-knowledge, among others. Yet compared to other philosophical warhorses such as justification, causation, or action, expression has received comparatively little analysis in its own right. This suggests that there is still innovative research remaining to be done in elucidating the notion of expression.

To that end, this seminar will take a look at the phenomenon of expression from a variety of perspectives: evolutionary, psychological, semantic, meta-ethical, pragmatic, and aesthetic.

Among our questions will be: What is it to express something; what kinds of things can be expressed; and what kinds of things can express? What is the difference between expressing a state S and conveying it in some other way, such as by describing it? Might expression be a form of implicature, albeit one that is neither conversational nor conventional? Can one express oneself in the privacy of one’s thoughts? How is it possible for an inanimate object to possess affective qualities? What role might expressive forms of communication have played in the evolution (both genetic and cultural) of language? In what way does expressive behavior recruit or enable empathic responses from addressees? When a range of discourse seems to raise metaphysical puzzles, do we avoid such puzzles by re-describing such discourse as expressive? Should “charged” language such as slurs be given an expressivist analysis to supplement their semantic characterization?

Readings will be drawn inter alia from Charles Darwin, A.J. Ayer, Rudolph Carnap, Stuart Hampshire, John Searle, Paul Grice, Alan Tormey, Richard Wollheim, Peter Kivy, Steven Davies, Dorit Bar-On, David Kaplan, Robin Jeshion, Deirdre Wilson, Chris Potts, Mitch Green, Alex Silk, Liz Camp, Alex Worsnip, and Seth Yalcin.

PHIL 5397: Seminar | M 4:00 - 6:30 PM | Thomas Bontly | In Person

Global climate change raises difficult questions in numerous areas of philosophy, including the philosophy of science, philosophy of social science, ethics and political philosophy. The plan for this seminar is to take on a cross-section of these issues with the precise balance guided in large measure by the interests of the participants. Very roughly, I expect the first part of the course will get us up to speed on climate modeling and some related philosophical concerns (e.g., the role of models and idealizations in science, the confirmation and tuning of models, the sources of uncertainty in climate models). The second part of the seminar will focus on policy-making under uncertainty (expected utility and precautionary principles, valuation of future costs and benefits, etc). The third (and longest?) part of the course will focus on climate ethics and environmental justice (obligations to future generations, principles for allocating the costs of mitigation and adaptation, and the relationship between individual and collective responsibility).

We will read selectively from a few recent monographs (e.g., Winsberg’s Philosophy and Climate Science; Bunzl’s Uncertainty and the Philosophy of Climate Change; Broome’s Climate Matters: Ethics in a Warming World) and anthologies (Kanbur & Shue’s Climate Justice: Integrating Economics and Philosophy; Arnold’s The Ethics of Global Climate Change; Gardiner, Caney, Jamieson & Shue’s Climate Ethics: Essential Readings; French & Wettstein Ethics and Global Climate Change). Required work will include at least two presentations and a final paper.

PHIL 5800: Race in the Formation of the Human Sciences | Th 4:00 - 6:30 PM | Lewis Gordon| In Person

The concept of race and the human sciences emerged out of the theological, epistemological, and political upheavals the consequence of which is the Euromodern world. This course will explore their symbiotic relationship (if any) and the extent to which the question of race offers insight into the continued logic(s) of the human sciences. This approach challenges the presumption that race and racism in the disciplines are results of misapplication of otherwise race-free sciences. We will read a lot of material. The approach will be conversational. The instructor will offer introductory remarks and then different discussion leaders will introduce the readings for critical discussion. We will, in other words, be “reading together” as we critically assess this important historic and philosophical convergence of these seemingly opposed models of inquiry and thought.

PHIL 5320. Aristotle's Natures | W 1:15 - 3:45 PM | Elena Comay del Junco | Distance Learning

Aristotle was not the first ancient Greek thinker to use the term “nature” (phusis), but his account of nature and the natural has had more impact on the subsequent history of philosophy than perhaps any other. This seminar will examine the concept of “nature” as it occurs across Aristotle’s work. After a brief survey of earlier Greek natural philosophy (the so-called “pre-Socratics”) as well as Plato, we will begin with Aristotle’s Physics, where he famously defines nature as an “internal principle of motion and rest.” Then we shall look in more detail at Aristotelian biology (particularly the Parts of Animals) and the role nature plays there, before turning to practical philosophy. In both the Ethics and the Politics, Aristotle appeals to what is natural as a way of explaining how both individual character and social order comes to be. At times, he also appears to rely on something’s being natural as a way of justifying it -- most infamously in the twin cases of slavery and the oppression of women.

Throughout the course, we shall thus consider how Aristotelian nature connects with contemporary themes: whether Aristotle can be considered a forerunner of ethical naturalism, whether he commits the “naturalistic fallacy,” his apparent naturalization of oppressive social practices, and what, if any, resources he offers for thinking about humans’ relation to the natural world. In addition to the works mentioned above, we shall read writing by scholars of ancient philosophy and other authors such as: L. Daston, P. Dubois, P. Foot, M. Heidegger, B. Holmes, R. Hursthouse, I. Kant, D. Keyt, S. Kelsey, L. Irigaray, M. Leunissen, J.S. Mill, S. Monoson, Spinoza etc.

This course does not presuppose background knowledge and will serve as an introduction to doing advanced work in ancient philosophy. Course requirements will be one seminar presentation and one final paper, to be developed in consultation with the instructor. Knowledge of Greek is not required, but I will hold optional additional sessions for students with Greek if there is interest.

PHIL 5325: Seminar: Africana | M 5:00 - 7:30 PM | Lewis Gordon | Distance Learning

Africana philosophy is also called “African diasporic philosophy.” It is a modern form of philosophy addressing problems of what could be called the “underside of Euromodern philosophy,” problems often avoided in Euromodern philosophy and thus paradoxically become more central in significance than many Euromodern philosophers may realize. We will examine these problems, across African American philosophy, Afro-Caribbean philosophy, and African philosophy, through three guiding questions: (1) What does it mean to be human in a world that challenges one’s humanity? (2) What is freedom in a world governed by colonialism, enslavement, exploitation, and other forms of dehumanizing practices? And (3) is reason legitimate or justified in a world that uses it to rationalize injustice and misrepresentations of reality? These questions will be examined through writings from Africana analytical, dialectical, existential, feminist, phenomenological, and pragmatist thought. This class will be distanced learning synchronous.

PHIL 5330. Seminar on Theory of Knowledge | Tu 1:30 - 4:00 PM | Heather Battaly | Distance Learning

Virtue epistemology examines qualities that make us good thinkers—intellectual virtues such as open-mindedness, intellectual humility, and epistemic justice—and the ways that intellectual virtues can contribute to knowledge. The seminar will begin with a brief introduction to virtue epistemology, and focus on readings in three recent additions to the field: (1) vice epistemology, (2) social virtue epistemology, and (3) liberatory virtue epistemology. (1) 20^th century virtue epistemology focused on virtues, and had relatively little to say about vices. In contrast, vice epistemology examines qualities that make us bad thinkers—intellectual vices such as closed-mindedness, intellectual servility and arrogance, and epistemic injustice—and the ways they can impede knowledge. Some likely readings include work by: Jason Baehr, Quassim Cassam, Alessandra Tanesini. (2) Virtue epistemology also began with a focus on analyzing the intellectual virtues and vices of individuals and the ways in which those virtues and vices could contribute to or impede an individual’s knowledge. By contrast, the field of social virtue and vice epistemology examines the ways in which intellectual virtues and vices impact and involve groups, institutions, and other individuals. Some likely readings include work by: Mark Alfano, Adam Carter, Miranda Fricker, Heidi Grasswick. (3) 20^th century virtue epistemology also had relatively little to say about virtues in ‘non-ideal’ conditions. Whereas, liberatory virtue epistemology explores intellectual qualities that contribute to resisting marginalization and oppression and achieving liberation. Some likely readings include work by: Myisha Cherry, Robin Dillon, Ian Kidd, José Medina, Lisa Tessman.

PHIL 5340. Seminar in Metaphysics | Th 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM | Donald Baxter | Distance Learning

The general topic of the seminar will be identity, which will quickly lead us into metaphysical issues about change, becoming, composition, resemblance, universals, instantiation, relative identity, identity in the loose and popular sense, existence, contingency, negative facts, distinctions of reason, infinite divisibility, time, temporal parts, internal relations, et al., plus issues in the philosophy of language concerning reference, substitution, quantification, and vagueness. We may explore the metaphysics of the relational self, defended by some thinkers in feminist and Africana philosophy.

We will begin with a few fundamental problems that will help us understand and keep track of the variety of solutions they have generated. Some readings will be drawn from the history of philosophy with snippets likely from Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Boethius, Suarez, Leibniz, Locke, Butler, Hume, Reid, Bradley, and Frege. Also, we will read essays by the likes of Quine, Moore, Geach, Chisholm, Lewis, Armstrong, Evans, and van Inwagen, as well as a number of other recent and contemporary published and unpublished essays.

Requirements for the seminar will be a 15-20 page research paper, with a topic proposal and rough draft turned in along the way, as well as a seminar presentation.

PHIL 5342. Philosophy of Language | Th 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM | Mitchell Green | Distance Learning

A survey of Philosophy of Language suitable for graduate students new to the field as well as advanced undergraduates. We will use the instructor’s new text Philosophy of Language (Oxford, 2020) which covers such topics as theories of linguistic and other kinds of meaning; sense and reference; definite and indefinite descriptions; context-sensitivity; speech acts; expressive communication; conventional and conversational implicature; presupposition; non-ideal philosophy of language (including slurs, silencing and other types of communicative injustice); metaphor, irony and verbal humor. In addition to the primary text, readings will also be drawn from Frege, Russell, Austin, Ayer, Grice, Searle, Davidson, Carston, Marcus, Langton, and Kripke among others.

Students will write a mid-term and final-term paper, and take a final examination.

Pre-requisite: at least one course in symbolic logic, such as Phil 2211Q or equivalent.

PHIL 5350. Seminar in Recent Social and Political Philosophy | Th 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM | Tracy Llanera | Distance Learning

What makes people adopt extremist commitments? What is the link between extremism and authoritarianism? This seminar will examine the existential, psychological, and socio-political roots of extremist commitments. It will also investigate how disengagement from extremism and fanaticism is possible. Seminar readings include the works of religio-mystic philosophers St. Augustine and Simone Weil, medieval political philosopher al-Fârâbî, psychoanalytic and critical theorists Freud, Fromm, and Adorno, Black philosophers du Bois and Fanon, and contemporary philosophers Linda Alcoff on visible identities, L.A. Paul on transformative experience, Quassim Cassam on extremism and radicalization, and my work on apostasy out of hate groups.

PHIL 5301 Seminar in Contemporary Philosophy M 1:00-3:30 PM Bill Lycan

We will study and discuss some recent philosophical articles and chapters, drawn from a wide range of philosophical areas. The focus of the course is not a specific topic, but philosophical writing and the development of analytical skills in general. Course requirements include at least two short presentations, one short essay each week, and one longer essay. Presenters will take the initial lead in the discussion.

PHIL 5307 Logic Th 9:30 AM-12:00 PM Marcus Rossberg

Topic of the course is modal first-order logic. We will study a variety of modal systems from the proof-theoretic as well as semantic perspective. We start with a brief review of standard (non-modal) first-order logic, spend most of the semester getting a firm grasp on modal propositional as well as first-order logic, and investigate specific applications such as deontic, epistemic, and provability logics. Time permitting, we will take a brief look at modal second-order logic.

PHIL 5320 Seminar in the History of Philosophy: Wilfrid Sellars Tu 9:30 AM-12:00 PM Lionel Shapiro

For some of us, Sellars is one of the most rewarding twentieth century philosophers, whose deeply systematic worldview is worked out in dialectical engagement with opposed tendencies of thought (with a keen sensitivity to their history). Several Sellarsian catchphrases and distinctions have become ubiquitous: the “Myth of the Given,” the “manifest” and “scientific images,” the “logical space of reasons,” and linguistic meaning as “fraught with ought.” Besides pioneering conceptual role semantics, functionalism in the philosophy of mind, and the ‘theory theory’ of psychological concepts, Sellars made contributions that can illuminate current debates over expressivism, (anti)representationalism, foundationalism/coherentism and internalism/externalism in epistemology, deflationary approaches to commitment to abstract entities, and pluralism and relativism about truth.

In the first part of the seminar, we’ll read a few of his key papers dating from 1949 to 1963, on language, mind, epistemology and metaphysics. Then, in a second pass, we’ll consider some of his later elaborations. Depending on interest, we may expand our focus to include (always closely related!) topics such as Sellars’s philosophy of science, his theory of sensory consciousness, and his practical philosophy. Time permitting, we may take into account some recent engagements with Sellarsian ideas. Requirements will be three short papers and a longer paper, as well as presentations.

PHIL 5342 Seminar in Philosophy of Language Tu 1:30-4:00 PM Lynne Tirrell

This seminar starts with the classics of "ordinary language philosophy", work by Wittgenstein and J.L. Austin,with attention to Grice, speech act theory, and Inferentialism (Brandom & others). Understanding language games, as social and discursive practices, will be a central theme to help us understand the mechanisms by which language enacts social and political power. After reading the classic texts, we will read and discuss recent work in "non-ideal" philosophy of language addressing issues such as hate speech, propaganda, toxic speech, and more. Some specific topics will be fixed, but some will vary depending on student interests.

PHIL 5397 Seminar: Number W 1:30-4:00 PM Stewart Shapiro

We will look at various conceptions of the concept of number, from a number of different perspectives. The seminar will have different focuses. Here are some:

I. Historical. The role and place of number in Aristotle, Plato, Kant and perhaps a few other central figures.

II. The main programs from the middle of the 20th-Century: logicism, constructivism, various kinds of platonism and anti-realism, etc.

III. The contemporary scene in the philosophy of mathematics, but with a focus on number: neo-logicism, structuralism, etc.

IV. The semantic turn: the semantics of number expressions in natural languages: words like “number”, “one”, “six”, and “third”. Particular attention on the use of arithmetic in order to give semantic accounts of these and other expressions.

V. The development of number concepts in children. How do children acquire number concepts, and the use of number-words? Work on this in cognitive and developmental psychology has revealed a number of fascinating and vexed questions and issues.

Each student taking the course for credit will (i) post a comment or question on the reading for each week, (ii) write and present a seminar paper on one of the topics, (iii) provide a commentary on someone else’s seminar paper, and (iv) write a substantial term paper. Students taking the course pass/fail should do all but (iv); auditors are asked to do (i) and/or (ii).

Presuppositions for the course are minimal. I do not assume familiarity with sophisticated mathematics; basic arithmetic will suffice. Students should have some familiarity with logical notation and concepts.

PHIL 5320 Seminar: Kant Th 9:30 AM-12:00 PM Jessica Tizzard

This seminar will be centered around a close study of Kant’s conception of practical reason, with emphasis on the Critique of Practical Reason, or second Critique. Our aim will be to understand the position that everyday moral concepts occupy within the Kantian system, and reflect upon how this positioning might inform and deepen our grasp of them. To achieve this, we will also spend some time reading the Critique of Pure Reason, or first Critique, building a grasp of Kant’s more general philosophical framework. Thinking about his views on the sources of and limits upon human knowledge more broadly will lead us to discuss the major differences between theoretical and practical knowledge, and why Kant thinks practical reason ultimately has primacy. At the end of the semester, we will focus on the particular implications of Kant’s view for issues like moral psychology, human evil, and the path to virtue, with our study determined in part by student preferences.

PHIL 5330 Seminar: Political Epistemology T 4:00-6:30 PM Michael Lynch

This seminar will focus on the relationship, if any, between truth and politics. The questions we will examine will include whether democracies have a particular interest in promoting true beliefs in their citizens, whether political claims can even be true, and the various alleged threats, technological, political and epistemological, to the value of truth often associated with the idea that we are living in a post-truth culture. Readings will include selections from philosophers such as Arendt, Williamson, Kitcher, Rorty, Talisse, Fricker, Gordon, Tanesini, Battaly, Harcourt, Medina, Rini, Lynch, Price and Blackburn together with some classic essays on the nature of truth. Requirements will include several short writing assignments and a research paper.

PHIL 5342 Seminar in Philosophy of Language W 5:30-8:00 PM Dorit Bar-On

In this seminar we will study recent work on expression, expressive communication, and the origins of meaning (including chapters from Dorit’s forthcoming book, OUP) – examining, among other things, continuities and discontinuities in expressive behavior and communication between humans and nonhuman animals and 'pragmatics-first' approaches to animal communication and language evolution -- as well as expressivism in metaethics and other areas. We will then look at recent work that invokes the notion expression to address puzzles about self-knowledge, including chapters from a manuscript in-progress on expression and self-knowledge co-authored with Prof. Crispin Wright (Stirling, NYU), who will be joining some of the seminar meetings. (Senior grad students working on knowledge of meaning, expressivism, animals’ expressive behavior, and self-knowledge will lead some of the seminar meetings.) Students will be guided toward new research questions in the relevant areas. Seminar requirements will include seminar presentations, a short paper, and a longer final paper.

PHIL 5344 Seminar in Philosophical Logic T 1:00-3:30 PM Keith Simmons

My seminar is on truth. Dorit and I are working on a book on truth, and the seminar will explore the major themes from the book, ranging over philosophy of language, philosophical logic and metaphysics. I won’t be presupposing much – I’ll make sure to introduce the views and the issues we’ll be discussing.

Over the last thirty years or so, the central debate about truth is between the deflaionist and the substantivist. At one end of the spectrum is the deflationist, for whom, roughly speaking, the truth predicate is just a logical device, the concept of truth has no genuine explanatory power, and there is no robust property of truth. At the other end of the spectrum is the pluralist, for whom the concept of truth is a substantive explanatory concept, and there is a plurality of robust truth properties. I’m interested in navigating between deflationism and pluralism.

In critically examining deflationism and pluralism, and exploring a middle position between them, we’ll be looking at a variety of truth-related notions, including meaning, assertion, and truth-aptness. And we’ll also discuss a number of truth-related isms: not just deflationism and pluralism, but also primitivism, realism, anti-realism, and expressivism. And we’ll also look at the impact of the semantic paradoxes, crucially the Liar paradox, on the debate about truth.

Readings will include work by Russell, Tarski, Quine, Horwich, Field, Brandom, Wright, Lynch, together with some very recent articles, and some drafts of chapters from our book.

PHIL 5397 Seminar: Pragmatics W 9:30 AM-12 PM Mitchell Green

Pragmatics is currently the most active area of research in philosophy of language; it also shares territory with linguistics and psychology. This seminar will survey central problems in the field of pragmatics while keeping an eye on open questions that are attractive loci for new research. To that end we will investigate such topics as speaker meaning, expressive behavior, speech acts, implicature (both conversational and conventional), presupposition, conversational dynamics, slurs and other types of pejorative, fictional discourse, and figurative uses of language such as metaphor and irony. We will also address varieties of communicative injustice including those discussed under the rubrics illocutionary silencing and subordinating speech. Students will be expected be active participants in discussion, to make brief presentations, and to write mid-term and final essays.

PHIL 5397 Seminar: Phenomenology M 10:00 AM-12:30 PM Lewis Gordon

Although there are many kinds of phenomenology, we will devote our attention to the line developed from Edmund Husserl via Franz Brentano as it has implications for the various research interests of students conducting doctoral work at UCONN. Thus we will devote attention to phenomenology in the context of metacritique in formal and transcendental logic and then move on to problems in philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, philosophy of social sciences (especially problems of anonymity and social reality), and recent developments in the question of disciplinary formation such as the decolonization of knowledge/philosophy and what could be considered beyond that.

PHIL 5300: ECOM Independent Studies Dorit Bar-On

This course will be linked to activities and events of the Expression, Communication, and Origins of Meaning research group (ECOM -- see ecomresearchgroup.com), as well as to Bar-On’s Mind and Language seminar (W1:30-4). Students will be guided through research and writing on an interdisciplinary ECOM-related topic. Course plan and requirements will be individually tailored. Please contact the instructor for more details.

PHIL 5301 Seminar in Contemporary Philosophy T 10:30-1:00 PM Marcus Rossberg

We will closely study and discuss recent philosophical articles, drawn from a wide range of philosophical areas. The focus of the course is not a specific topic, but philosophical writing and the development of analytical skills in general. Course requirements include two short presentations, writing a short essay each week and one longer essay. Presenters are expected to take the initial lead in the discussion.

PHIL 5307 Seminar on Logic W 4:15-6:45 PM Keith Simmons

Phil 5307 is an introduction to modal logic. We'll study propositional and quantified modal logic. I'll begin at the very beginning. We'll study a variety of modal systems from both the semantic and the proof-theoretic points of view.

We’ll go on to explore modal logic in three directions:

(i) further topics in quantified modal logic

(ii) applications, especially to the philosophy of language

(iii) philosophical issues, including the metaphysics of modality (what are possible worlds?) and the epistemology of modality (exploring the relation between imagination, conceivability, and possibility).

Our main text is Hughes and Cresswell, A New Introduction to Modal Logic.

PHIL 5320 Seminar on Descartes M 12:30-3:00 PM Lionel Shapiro

The seminar will be centered around a close study of the Meditations, paying attention to their argumentative and non-argumentative structure. We’ll also try to work out aspects of the world view Descartes hopes his reader will come away with, by drawing on writings including the Replies, Principles and Passions, and by taking into account recent debates. Among the topics I hope we can focus on: the theory of ideas, including sensory representation; the metaphysics of substance, essence, eternal truths, causation and mind-body union; skepticism and the issue of circularity. We'll all need to have at least Volume II of Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Cambridge).

PHIL 5342/LING 5420 Seminar on Plurals Th 1:30-4:00 PM Stewart Shapiro and Stefan Kaufmann

There are a number of areas of mutual concern to philosophers of language and linguists interested in empirical semantics. For a wide range of topics, such as modals, predicates of personal taste, and propositional attitude reports, there is a fruitful interaction and collaboration between these scholars. One striking exception is the treatment of plurals, with phrases like “the Montague’s and the Capulet’s hate each other” (which has three distinct readings). There is extensive work on plurals by logicians and philosophers of language, and by semanticists. They do regularly cite each other, but there is not much in the way of interaction.

One key difference is that virtually all semanticists are “singularists”, who take it that a plural expression, like “The Montague’s” refers to a single thing, like a set or group. Most philosophers are “pluralists”, who deny this.

The explanation may lie in different interests for the two groups. Plurals were brought into the mainstream of philosophical logic by George Boolos, who suggested that the plural construction can make sense of mathematical cases, where, intuitively, there is no set-like thing to be had (or where assuming that there is one leads to paradox). His example is:

There are some sets such that a given set is one of them just in case it is a member of itself.

Russell’s paradox follows if we assume that there is a set of all such sets.

Most semanticists do not worry about the specter of paradox, following Landman’s Semanticists Bill of Rights: The right to solve Russell’s paradox later shall not be infringed.

In this course, we will look at a wide range of work on plurals, by philosophers such as Boolos, Oliver and Smiley, Linnebo, and Florio, and linguists such as Landman, Carlson, Krifka, Gillon, and Cherchia. On the positive side, we are looking for a modal interpretation that bridges the gap.

The final grade will be based on class participation, a class presentation, a commentary on someone else’s presentation, and a substantial term paper.

PHIL 5380 Seminar on Race & the Human Sciences T 3:00-5:30 PM Lewis Gordon

This course will explore the symbiotic relationship (if any) between race and the formation of the human sciences and the extent to which the question of race offers insight into their continued logic(s). The discussions and readings will thus challenge the presumption that race and racism in the disciplines are results of misapplication of otherwise race-free sciences. Readings will include writings from Bartolome Las Casas, Anténor Firmin, W.E.B. Du Bois, Franz Boas, Frantz Fanon, Stephen J. Gould, Robert Bernasconi, Tommy Lott, Michel-RolphTroillot, Raewyn Connell, Drucilla Cornell, Lisa Lowe, Ellen Feder, Dorothy Roberts, Hortense Spillers, Sylvia Wynter, Robert V. Guthrie, J. Reid Miller, Michael Monahan, and Jane Anna Gordon.

PHIL 5397 Seminar in Philosophy of Religion W 9:30-12:00 PM Jc Beall

This seminar focuses on recent topics in philosophy of religion. The topics are live issues, and so students have the opportunity to engage directly in current debate. But the seminar is also a platform to explore applications of contemporary ideas in metaphysics, philosophy of language, philosophy of logic and beyond. We will first go through Jeff Speaks’ new (and short) monograph /The Greatest Possible Being/, which applies tools from contemporary metaphysics and philosophy of language to argue against the viability of a “greatest possible being” conception of God. We will also briefly examination recent forms of “negative theology” and “analogical theology” (e.g., Dawn Eschenhauer Chow’s work). (If we can’t say anything true of a genuinely transcendent being then…how can we truly say that? And how would we know as much? Etc.) We will also briefly look at “deviant-logic-based” accounts of God (e.g., UConn alum A. J. Cotnoir’s work or perhaps Beall’s work). Other topics will be driven by student/instructor interest. The guiding idea of the seminar is to explore interesting philosophical ideas in a variety of areas (metaphysics, maybe epistemology, language, logic, perhaps more) while using philosophy of religion as a springboard for such exploration.

PHIL 5330 Seminar on Epistemic Vice T 12:30-3:00 Heather Battaly

Epistemic vices, like closed-mindedness, arrogance, and epistemic injustice, are qualities that make us bad thinkers. The seminar will address: (1) what makes a quality an epistemic vice and theoretical issues; (2) analyses of individual epistemic vices; and (3) the draft papers for the forthcoming Vice Epistemology volume (eds. Kidd, Battaly, and Cassam) which will be presented at UConn’s Conference on Epistemic Vice in April. The plan is for students in the seminar to comment on the papers at the conference. (1) On what makes a quality an epistemic vice. Must epistemic vices inhibit knowledge and produce false belief? Must epistemic vices be blameworthy character traits? If bad vision, epistemic injustice, and intellectual arrogance are all epistemic vices, are they so because of features they all share? Or is there more than one type of epistemic vice? Are epistemic vices stealthy—does an agent’s having a vice like closed-mindedness make it difficult for her to detect this vice in herself? What does group epistemic vice look like? Can we rehabilitate epistemic vices? If so, how? (2) On analyses of individual epistemic vices. We are likely to discuss epistemic vices such as: closed-mindedness, intellectual arrogance and servility, epistemic laziness, epistemic injustice, epistemic intemperance and self-indulgence, and epistemic insouciance. In addition to those already mentioned, likely readings include work by Battaly, Bloomfield, Cassam, Crerar, Dillon, Fricker, Kidd, Medina, and Tanesini.

PHIL 5340 Metaphysics: Identity-in-Difference R 9:30-12 Don Baxter

The general topic of the seminar will be identity, which will quickly lead us into metaphysical issues about change, becoming, composition, resemblance, universals, instantiation, relative identity, identity in the loose and popular sense, existence, contingency, negative facts, distinctions of reason, infinite divisibility, time, temporal parts, et al., plus issues in the philosophy of language concerning reference, substitution, quantification, and vagueness. We may pay special attention to instantiation--the "non-relational tie" between universals and particulars.

We will begin with a few fundamental problems that will help us understand and keep track of the variety of solutions they have generated. Some readings will be drawn from the history of philosophy with snippets likely from Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Boethius, Suarez, Leibniz, Locke, Butler, Hume, Reid, Bradley, Frege. Also we will read essays by the likes of Quine, Geach, Chisholm, Lewis, Armstrong, Evans, van Inwagen, as well as a number of other recent and contemporary published and unpublished essays.

I will present and defend my theories of many-one identity (including composition as identity), of aspects, and of instantiation as partial identity. These views are often cited but rarely given more than a cursory refutation, so knowledge of their details may give our students an advantage in some current debates. I will try to show how they contribute to a general theory of "identity-in-difference." Requirements for the seminar will be a 15-20 page research paper, with a topic proposal and rough draft turned in along the way, as well as a seminar presentation.

PHIL 5312 Philosophy of Science M 11:30-2 Thomas Bontly

This seminar will investigate epistemological and methodological issues in the philosophy of science, focusing on especially on questions about evidence, values, and uncertainty. According to tradition, science is supposed to be an objective, evidence-driven endeavor free of the distorting influence of political and other non-epistemic values. However, this “value-free ideal” has been challenged on numerous grounds, for instance underdetermination and inductive risk. While not new, these challenges have recently resurfaced and taken on new dimensions in connection with policy-relevant sciences such as climate science and toxicology.

Accordingly, my aim for this seminar is to rethink the relationship between evidence, values, and uncertainty or risk. The plan is to start off with some classics on confirmation theory and theory choice, then dive into some recent debates about evidence and statistical hypothesis testing. In the second half of the semester, we will grapple with recent challenges to the value-free ideal and examine the role of values, both epistemic and non-epistemic. In the third half, finally, I hope to look at how these issues play out in the field of climate modeling. If time allows, we may also think about the bearing of all this on the long-running debate between realists and instrumentalists.

No prior knowledge of science, statistics, or the philosophy of science will be assumed. Readings will be drawn both from the canon (Hempel, Popper, Kuhn, et al) and diverse contemporary sources (Laudan, Sober, Longino, Mayo, Douglas, Winsberg, …). Requirements will include several short discussion papers, a presentation or two, and a longer seminar paper.

PHIL 5397 Alienation & Freedom: Frantz Fanon’s Philosophy of Human Science, Politics, and Liberation

M 5:30-8 Lewis Gordon

Frantz Fanon is now a canonical thinker in a variety of disciplines. The purpose of this course will be to read his past published work in light of and alongside the recently published collection Alienation and Freedom, which includes his dissertation, plays, psychiatric writings, and additional political writings, for a coherent critical portrait of what his thought offers for philosophy, critical theories of human science, political theory, decolonial thought, and theories of liberation. Students will be expected to select a recent critical secondary text on Fanon’s thought in her or his discipline or field to place in conversation with the primary texts.

PHIL 5342 Philosophy of Language: Force and Content W 1:30-3 Lionel Shapiro

Our topic will be the distinction between the "force" and the "content" of speech acts and mental acts. This is widely regarded as one of Frege's great innovations, but both the historical claim and the evaluative one have recently become the subject of debate. After a look at some of the history, we'll examine arguments for and against a force-content distinction. Among the issues to be discussed will be the nature and unity of propositional contents, the nature of assertion, the so-called "Frege-Geach problem" (typically posed as a challenge to versions of expressivism), and the relation between content and self-consciousness. Contemporary readings will be drawn from the "analytic" philosophy of language as well as the German idealist tradition.

PHIL 5300: ECOM

Instructor: Dorit Bar-On
Description: We will be comparing animal communication systems with human language (PART I), exploring some issues in language evolution (Part II), and studying Michael Tomasello’s recent book A Natural History of Human Morality (Harvard, 2016).

PHIL 5320: History of Philosophy: Early Chinese Thought: Truth, Persons, and Natural Propensities

Instructor: Alexus McLeod
Description: Using the conception of tian li 天理 (Patterns of Nature/Natural Propensities) as a frame, we will investigate the issues of truth, personhood/agency, free will, and conceptualization in Pre-Qin and Han thought, with forays into Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism. We will look at primary source texts including Zhuangzi, Lushi Chunqiu, Huainanzi, Chunqiu Fanlu, and the works of Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming. We will also look at the work of Bo Mou, Brook Ziporyn, Erica Brindley, Roger Ames, Stephen Angle, and others on these issues. We will begin with a background “primer” on key issues in early Chinese philosophy (from the Analects of Confucius through Hanfeizi), and move into the specific issues of debates surrounding the content of nature (天tian), the development of persons, and truth and ideal personhood as constructed through following patterns of nature. We will consider the connection of a variety of theories of truth developed in Pre-Qin and Han texts to the conceptions of personhood advanced in these texts. We will also read key chapters of my manuscript Following the Natural Propensities on these debates in the Pre-Qin and Han periods and their relevance to contemporary work on truth and agency.

PHIL 5330: Truth

Instructor: Michael P. Lynch
Description: Historically, the concept of truth was taken to play a deep role in our understanding of knowledge, meaning and logic. Moreover, it has typically been seen—both in the philosophical and public imaginations—as an important political value. Yet at the turn of the present century, the concept was widely regarded amongst philosophers working on the topic as doing little explanatory work, or even incoherent, subjective, or politically and epistemically irrelevant.
The major issue of this seminar will be whether these charges are justified.
In particular, the seminar will focus on two clusters of questions. The first cluster concerns the character and point of the concept of truth: Is there a single concept or more than one, what is the function of the concept(s) and should the concept be “re-engineered”? The second concerns the value and politics of truth: why does truth matter, and how? Along the way, we will touch on some of the major and developing theories of the concept in the literature.

Required Reading:

Truth, Burgess and Burgess. Princeton U Press 2012
Truth, C. Wrenn. Polity, 2014.
The Nature of Truth, ed. Lynch. MIT Press. 2001.
Truth as One and Many, Lynch. Oxford University Press. 2009.
Various papers, Husky CT (Readings by: Beall, Simmons, Ripley, Bar-On, Wright, Tarski, Horwich, Rorty, Sharp, Greenough, Edwards, Pedersen, Field, Quine, Davidson etc.).

PHIL 5331: Philosophy of Mind

Instructor: Dorit Bar-On
Description: The topic is contemporary views of self-knowledge and evaluation of empirical evidence (from cog sci and social psychology) designed to show that we really do not know our own minds.

PHIL 5340: Metaphysics: Identity and Aspects

Instructor: Donald Baxter
Description: The general topic of the seminar will be identity, which will quickly lead us into metaphysical issues about change, becoming, composition, resemblance, universals, instantiation, relative identity, identity in the loose and popular sense, existence, contingency, negative facts, distinctions of reason, infinite divisibility, time, temporal parts, et al., plus issues in the philosophy of language concerning reference, substitution, quantification, and vagueness. We may pay special attention to instantiation--the "non-relational tie" between universals and particulars.

We will begin with a few fundamental problems that will help us understand and keep track of the variety of solutions they have generated. Some readings will be drawn from the history of philosophy with snippets likely from Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Boethius, Suarez, Leibniz, Locke, Butler, Hume, Reid, Frege. Also we will read essays by the likes of Quine, Geach, Chisholm, Lewis, Armstrong, Evans, van Inwagen, as well as a number of other recent and contemporary published and unpublished essays.

I will present and defend my theories of many-one identity (including composition as identity), of aspects, and of instantiation as partial identity. These views are often cited but rarely (and understandably) given more than a cursory refutation, so knowledge of their details may give our students an advantage in some current debates.
Requirements for the seminar will be a 15-20 page research paper, with a topic proposal and rough draft turned in along the way, as well as a seminar presentation.

PHIL 5344: Logic Seminar

Instructor: Stewart Shapiro
Description: The problem of logical omniscience arises in a number of philosophical contexts. One source is in epistemic and doxastic logic. Many accounts knowledge and belief are formulated in terms of possible worlds. Worlds are usually taken to be closed under logical consequence, so it follows that an agent knows (believes) all of the logical consequences of what she knows (believes). It also follows that if an agent knows (or believes) p and if q is logically equivalent to p, then the agent knows (or believes) q.

A related area of concern is in the semantics of terms for just about all propositional attitudes. The standard accounts of these are also formulated in terms of possible worlds and, so far as I know, there are not many well-worked out alternatives. All such accounts fail to distinguish logically equivalent propositions.

Finally, accounts of ideal rationality, in formalized epistemology and elsewhere, typically assume logical omniscience, usually explicitly. The problems arise when we try to draw conclusions about rationality for agents, like normal humans, who are limited in their resources.
In this seminar, we will cover most of the basic literature on logical omniscience, looking to see how viable various solutions are for the various issues.

Reading List:

Required
- Robert Stalnaker, Inquiry, ISBN: 978-0262691130
- David K. Lewis, On the Plurality of Worlds, ISBN: 978-0631224266
- Robert Stalnaker, Ways a World Might Be, ISBN: 978-0199251490
Recommended
- Saul Kripke, Naming and Necessity, ISBN: 978-0631128014

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PHIL 5300: ECOM

PHIL 5320: History of Philosophy: Early Chinese Thought: Truth, Persons, and Natural Propensities

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PHIL 5331: Philosophy of Mind

PHIL 5340: Metaphysics: Identity and Aspects

PHIL 5344: Logic Seminar

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