Advent 2005

Note: All 100- and 200-level courses except Logic (Phil. 201) meet the general distribution requirement in Philosophy.

PHILOSOPHY 101: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

PHILOSOPHY 101A AND 101B: GOD, DEATH, AND THE MEANING OF LIFE (CONN)

PHILOSOPHY 101c: CLASSICAL THEORIES AND CONTEMPORARY ISSUES (GARLAND)

PHILOSOPHY 101D: WHY BE MORAL? (MOSER) FIRST YEAR PROGRAM

We typically suppose that there are some things we ought to do, other things we ought not to do; that some people, characters, and actions deserve our praise while others do not; and that some lives are better or more meaningful than others. These are all suppositions about ethical demands and ideals operating in our lives. But what gives these demands and ideals their authority? Why should we take them seriously? In other words, why be moral? We'll look at various ways of making sense of that question, as well as various attempts, classical and contemporary, to address it. Readings will include Plato's Republic, Kant's Grounding of the Metaphysics of Morals, and Nietzsche's The Genealogy of Morals. Students will be expected to engage critically with the views we discuss in several short papers and writing assignments.

PHILOSOPHY 101E: THE ETHICS OF HONOR

In this course, we will examine some classic debates about the cogency of an ethics of honor, and related questions of the nature of integrity and the wrongness of cheating. The goal of the work of the class will be to develop a Sewanee web site that will examine some classical and recent debates about this ideal and apply them to Sewanee's Honor Code and Tradition. We will begin with an examination of recent studies of the problem and nature of cheating. Once we clarify the contemporary issue, we will examine the Homeric ideal of honor and Plato's argument that a life defined around the ideal of honor would be less than fully just. We will also examine the classical cowboy movies High Noon and Unforgiven as a way to exmaine the western notion of honor. Along with watching these movies, we will read Peter French's book Cowboy Metaphysics, which analyzes the ideal of honor in classical Westerns. One key issue we will discuss is whether the ideal of honor is in tension with Christian ethics. We will, finally, turn to some recent analyses of the ethical ideal of integrity as a possible alternative to the ideal of honor. We will end by examining Wyatt-Brown's book Southern Honor, followed by debates on the Honor Code at Sewanee. There will be a great deal of class discussion and debate. Required work will be three essays, which will be submissions to the Sewanee web site. There will also be regular reading responses.

PHILOSOPHY 202: ETHICS (GARLAND)

This course is an introduction to significant alternatives in ethical theory and to the application of these theories fo contemporary moral issues. We will read selected works in ethical theory from Aristotle,
Kant, and Mill, and then apply these theories to current moral issues, such as capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, war and terrorism, animal rights, and environmental concerns. We will also view movies such as "Dead Man Walking" and "Good Morning, Vietnam." Class sessions will incorporate
lectures, class discussions, and class debates. There will be two hour exams, two short papers, and a final exam, as well as weekly journals on the reading material.

PHILOSOPHY 203: ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY FROM HOMER TO AUGUSTINE (PETERS)

This course will examine ancient thought from Homer to Augustine. We will study ancient philosophical and literary thought in its historical, cultural and religious setting. We will pay special attention to how ancient thinkers understood human life, the order of the universe, and the limits of human knowledge and reason. In our class sessions, we will have three primary goals: 1) to understand ancient philosophers within their historical context.; 2) to understand their arguments; and (3) to evaluate their arguments. Class sessions will be a mixture of lectures, student discussions and class debates. There will be short critical papers, short personal reflections, a midterm and a final exam.

PHILOSOPHY 226: PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES IN DAOISM (PETERMAN)

In this class, we will examine classical texts of Chinese Daoism : Laozi's Daodejing and Zhuangzi's reflections in the book Zhuangzi . We will examine the historical context of debate in which these texts take part. In particular, we will examine the views of human nature offered by the Confucians Mencius and Xunzi, who debated the question whether human nature is good or evil and the ethical alternative to Confucianism found in the text of Mozi, who grounded ethics in a principle of love. We will then turn to the texts of Daoism and their radical critiques of these efforts to present systematic accounts of dao, which means the proper mode of conduct , and their presentation of an ethics that does not depend on clear definitions and fundamental principles. These critiques rest on the principle that dao cannot be put into words. Time allowing, we will turn to recent debates over the cogency of positions, like these, that seem to characterize dao, by claiming that dao cannot be characterized and that seem, on some readings to reduce to a vague, mystical ethical relativism. Required work: three essays, a group presentation, and weekly reading responses.

PHILOSOPHY 308: METAPHYSICS (GARLAND)

An in-depth study of the difference between substance metaphysics andprocess metaphysics and the arguments for and against each orientation.Readings will be taken from Aristotle, Descartes, Bergson, Dewey,Whitehead, and Nicholas Rescher. We will meet as a class once during each week and then in small tutorials for the rest of the week. Each week one student will present a paper on some aspect of the readings and another student will give a critique of the paper in that tutorial. Every member
of the class must participate in the tutorials. This course is writing-intensive, thought-intensive and (hopefully) satisfaction-intensive. Prerequisite: Philosophy major or permission ofthe instructor..

PHILOSOPHY 350: ARISTOTLE (CONN)

An examination of Aristotle's philosophy, with an emphasis upon his accounts of being and goodness. The following issues will be most prominent: the nature of reality and its fundamental constituents; change, persistence and identity-through-time; the existence and nature of God; freedom and determinism; the ground of morality and the nature of the good life,and the differences bertween men and women. In each instance our focus will be, first, on Aristotle's response to his predecessors, and second, on modern and contemporary criticisms of Aristotle's position.For example, we will examine Aristotle's critique of Plato's view of forms and Plato's account of morality, and contemporary critiques of these arguments. Each week, new material will be introduced in lecture/discussion sessions; these will be followed by seminars in which students articulate and defend a critical assessment of this new material.. Required work: three four-five page papers that will provide the focus of seminar discussion, six short commentaries on other students' papers, and an independent research paper.

PHILOSOPHY 353: THEORIES OF WAR AND PEACE (PETERS AND MCKEEN)

This course examines historical and contemporary perspectives on war and peace. We will study classical, modern, and contemporary theories of the nature of justice between states and the moral basis of war and violence. In conjunction with our study of these theories, we will examine various writings from Christian and Islamic traditions on just war, pacifism, genocide, jihad, and terrorism. Seminar format. Cross-listed as Political Science 353.