Ezra A. Hale Chair
in Applied Ethics
Φ Course offerings for
the next few years
Some External
Philosophy Sites
Dept mailing address:
Department of Philosophy
College of Liberal Arts
Rochester Institute of
Technology
92 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester NY 14623-5604
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Copyright ©2008–2011
Department of Philosophy,
Rochester Institute of Technology
Summer 2012–2013
0509-449 Special Topics: Zen Thought and Practice. The philosophy of Zen developed as a result of the interaction between Indian Buddhism and Chinese Daoism and reached its flowering in medieval Japan. This course will consider some of Zen’s classical sources (e.g., Laozi, Huangbo, Linji, Ikkyu, Dogen, Hakuin), focusing on Zen’s principal thematics as well as its intellectual history of development. The course will conclude with a brief consideration of the works of several contemporary philosophers such as Abe, Suzuki, Nishitani, Kasulis, and Parkes whose thinking attempts to develop a dialogue between Zen and European existential philosophy. Attention will also be given to the aspects of practice (meditation) and aesthetics. (Instructor: Schroeder.)
Fall 2013–2014
PHIL 401 Great Thinkers: Hume. We will examine the skeptical views of David Hume. He argues that the human mind is incapable of knowledge about causation, external objects, or personal identity and so undercuts the Cartesian assumption that a mind cleansed of its false ideas is as capable as God’s of knowledge of the world. We shall thus examine the nature of skepticism, the Cartesian views that the mind and the world are both rational, and Hume’s attacks on these views in the Treatise of Human Nature. (Prerequisite: At least one prior course in philosophy.) (Instructor: Robison.)
PHIL 416 Seminar in Philosophy: Technology and Freedom. Largely due to the cultural prominence of central ideas associated with Enlightenment humanism, autonomy is deemed to be of exceptional moral and political value in the Western tradition. To a significant extent, mature individuals are expected to be self-governing, and society is charged with making it possible for citizens to develop into independent and authentic persons—free from overly coercive external forces and conditions. In this course, we will consider why freedom matters, why views promoting autonomy have been criticized, and how technological constraints and affordances impact the pursuit of freedom, individually and collectively. Interdisciplinary and future-oriented considerations will be emphasized, especially with respect to two books we’ll be reading: Evgeny Morozov’s To Save Everything Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism and Tim Maughan’s Paintwork. (Prerequisite: 2 courses in philosophy.) (Instructor: Selinger.)
PHIL 449 Special Topics: Philosophy of Death. This course will explore a number of related metaphysical and ethical issues about death. Our conception of death will be a secular notion; the idea (usually religious) of an immortal soul will not be our concern. Nor will we be much concerned about the criteria for death. We will understand death to be the permanent cessation of life. Issues which we will devote our attention to include: Can death be bad for the one who died? If death is, at least in some cases, some kind of evil, is it different from other kinds of evil in having no bad consequences (for the one who died)? Is dying the same as not continuing to live? Is there reason to be afraid of death (or of not continuing to live)? If death (or else ceasing to live) can be bad, would immortality be good? Is it possible that death is neither good nor bad, and that continuing to live is also neither good nor bad? Is it ever wrong to kill (in self-defense, for sport, as a capital punishment)? If so, is it because death is bad for the one who died? Or for some other reason? (Prerequisite: At least one prior course in philosophy.) (Instructor: Suits.)
Spring 2013–2014
PHIL 416 Seminar: 19th Century American Individualist Anarchism. The American anti-authoritarian movement during the 19th century advocated purely voluntary associations and equality of all persons regardless of race or gender. These anarchists were associated with anti-slavery, free thought, free love, and feminist movements; many of them were pacifists, and most of them were concerned to oppose invasive, corrupt and repressive economic arrangements (maintained by persons with ties to governmental power and privilege). In this course we will study a number of prominent writers in this tradition, including Henry David Thoreau, Josiah Warren, Lysander Spooner, Ezra Heywood, Joshua Ingalls, Benjamin Tucker, and Voltairine de Cleyre. (Prerequisite: 2 courses in philosophy.) (Instructor: Suits.)
Last updated 29 April 2013