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
Dept email:
philosophy@rit.edu
Webmaster:
dbsgsh@rit.edu
Copyright ©2008
Department of Philosophy,
Rochester Institute of Technology
Current and/or upcoming
“variable topic” philosophy courses
Fall, 20081
0509-325 Honors: Design Research. Students will research the strengths and weaknesses of collaborative environments at RIT, at other colleges and institutions, as well as at non-institutional collaborative environments toward the end of identifying features, and combinations of features, that support collaboration. (Meets T 4:00–7:50 in 05-A400. Instructors: Selinger and Matychak. Cross-listed in Honors in Science and Mathematics as 1055-359.)
0509-571 Honors: Skepticism. We each have believed things which have turned out to be false, and that should be enough to make us skeptical of any belief that we now have. How, after all, can you now know which of your current beliefs will turn out to be true? We shall be examining various arguments for skepticism, with the aim of determining the extent and limits of our capacity for true belief and knowledge. We will begin by asking some very simple questions. For instance, what is your name? And, how do you know? (Meets TR 2:00–3:50 in 86-1150. Instructor: Robison.)
Winter, 20082
0509-449 Special Topics: Phenomenology. Considered by many to be the most important theoretical movement of the 20th Century, phenomenology has gained adherents around the globe and in dozens of disciplines after its first expression in the writings of German philosopher Edmund Husserl. Recent intellectual movements such as existentialism, hermeneutics, and deconstruction have their roots in phenomenology, and such prominent theorists as Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Derrida, Emmanuel Levinas, Judith Butler, and Michel Foucault, began their careers as students of phenomenology. In this introductory course to phenomenology, we will explore questions such as: What is phenomenology and how is it practiced? What distinguishes this method from other past and current approaches to philosophical problems? Who are the major figures of this movement, and what are their key contributions? In particular, we will focus on the thought of Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. (Prerequisite: At least one prior course in philosophy. Meets MW 10:00–11:50. Instructor: Benso.)
0509-449 Special Topics: 19th Century Philosophy and Music. This team-taught course will introduce students to the unique and extensive confluence between philosophy and the musical arts in the 19th century, a particularly productive era in both disciplines marking a significant transition from the modern to the contemporary age. Philosophers cover will include Hegel, Schopenhauer, Schelling, Marx, and Nietzsche. Music figures will include Beethoven, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, and Schoenberg. (Meets TR 12:00–1:50 in 04-A120. Instructors: Schroeder and Ruhling. Cross-listed as 0505-465.)
0509-449 Special Topics: Sustainability Ethics. Although it is widely agreed that sustainability is an important goal, disagreement exists as to what sustainability actually means and why citizens, governments, and institutions should view it as an urgent priority. The purpose of this class is to critically review some of the leading theories of sustainability in order for students to gain a better understanding of the moral and political values, principles, and virtues that advocates claim promote sustainable living. The instructor will not advocate for any particular outlook. Rather, the goal is to guide students through the complexity of competing positions. (Meets TR 2:00–3:50. Instructor: Selinger.)
0509-450 Seminar in Philosophy: American Individualist Anarchism. The American anti-authoritarian movement, very strong in 19th century, promoted purely voluntary associations and equality of all persons regardless of race or gender. These anarchists were associated with anti-slavery, free thought and free love movements; they were usually pacifists. In this course we will study a number of prominent writers in this tradition (Henry David Thoreau, Josiah Warren, Lysander Spooner, Stephen Pearl Andrews, Ezra Heywood, Voltairine de Cleyre, and Benjamin Tucker). If time allows, other writers will be introduced (such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Joshua K. Ingalls, Victor Yarros). (Prerequisite: At least two prior courses in philosophy. Meets MW 2:00–3:50 in 06-A264. Instructor: Suits.)
Spring, 20083
0509-325 Honors: In Search of Socrates. It would not be an exaggeration to say that philosophers are virtually obsessed with the figure of Socrates. Most every philosopher in the Western canon has written something about Socrates; indeed, philosophers’ statements about this spectral figure tend to present telling narratives about philosophers’ own theoretical initiatives. Each philosopher seems to have her or his “own” Socrates and to conceive of her philosophical project as directly engaged with the Socratic mission—whether by railing against it or expanding upon it. But who was Socrates really and why is he so powerfully compelling? On what grounds does someone who wrote virtually nothing continue to inspire so much thinking and writing? And what do philosophers’ claims about Socrates tell us about the rest of their philosophical programs? In this seminar, we will encounter Socrates first in the ancient texts of those who knew him—Xenophon, Aristophanes, and Plato—with the goal of understanding something of the ideas and personality of both Socrates and his contemporaries. We will ask how “fact” can be separated from “fiction” when it comes to Socrates and will pursue the question of why this might matter for philosophers. We will then trace the engagement with Socrates in a set of later thinkers, including Kant, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Murdoch and Derrida, with the goal of discerning both how the figure of Socrates has influenced these thinkers, and of using our “Socratic” angle to understand key ideas in these later philosophers’ works. By grappling with philosophers’ relationship with the figure of Socrates, we will develop and defend our own view of Socrates, and we will gain access to a multifaceted philosophical conversation spanning from ancient Athens to the present. (Meets TR 10:00–11:50 in 06-A264. Instructor: Terezakis.)
0509-444 Great Thinkers: Emmanuel Levinas. This course will explore the thought of the contemporary French Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas (1906–1995) as it develops from his early writings in the 1940s to his most mature works of the 1960–1970s such as Totality and Infinity (1961) and Otherwise Than Being (1974). One of Levinas’s fundamental claims is that the appearance of the other gives rise not to antagonism but rather to ethics, and that it is only by assuming the ethical stance that an encounter with the other becomes possible. In this course we will explore the rather non-traditional meaning that such a Levinasian notion of ethics entails and its most significant implications for other fundamental philosophical concepts such as the notions of time and death, subjectivity, freedom and responsibility, reason, and sensibility. (Prerequisite: At least one prior course in philosophy. Meets MW 12:00–1:50 in 07-1440. Instructor: Benso.)
0509-449 Special Topics: Philosophy and Literature. There will be two broad areas of concern in this class. The first might be called philosophy of literature and deals with questions about the nature of interpretation and truth, and judgments about artistic value. The second might be called philosophical issues in literature in which we will examine philosophical issues raised by fiction writers. Among the authors that we might read are Calvino, Camus, Disk, Dostoevsky, Hammett, Lessing, Nabokov, and Wilde. Among the issues that we might examine are free will and determinism, the nature of personal identity, theism and atheism, and the nature of morality. (Meets TR 10:00–11:50 in 06-3225. Instructors: Capps and Elahi.)
0509-449 Special Topics: Marx, Philosophy and Religion. (Meets TR 2:00–3:50 in 12-3245. Instructor: Schroeder.)
Summer 20084
0509-449 Special Topics: Zen Thought and Practice. This course examines the origin and development of the philosophy of Zen through a consideration of selected thinkers, schools, and classic and contemporary texts of Daoist, Buddhist, and Zen thought. We will treat Zen here as a philosophy and not as a religion. Questions of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics are emphasized with reference to the nature of reality and the person, social harmony and self-realization, causality, right action, and awakening. Comparisons will also be made with contemporary and classical Western philosophers. Though primarily a traditional philosophy class in format, some attention will also be given to exploring the practical application of Zen philosophy in its effort to develop self-discipline, focused concentration, and stress management. We will therefore examine and engage in such traditional practices as zazen (the practice of sitting still, regulating one’s breathing, and calming the mind), kinhin (the walking form of such practice), and koan meditation (the reflection on paradoxical philosophical questions). (Instructor: Schroeder.)
Fall 20091
0509-449 Special Topics: Art and Intention. (Instructor: Aguilar.)
0509-449 Special Topics: Bioethics. (Instructor: Torcello.)
Winter 20092
0509-450 Seminar in Philosophy: Philosophy of Biology. (Instructor: Brister.)
Spring 20093
0509-444 Great Thinkers: Foucault. (Instructor: Engström.)
0509-449 Special Topics: Punishment. (Instructor: Suits.)
Summer 20094
Fall 20101
0509-449 Special Topics: Richard Powers: Literature, Philosophy, Innovation. (Instructors: Selinger and Mazzolini.)
0509-450 Seminar in Philosophy. (Instructor: Robison.)
Winter 20102
0509-449 Special Topics: Contemporary Italian Philosophy. (Instructor: Benso.)
0509-449 Special Topics: Sustainability Ethics. Although it is widely agreed that sustainability is an important goal, disagreement exists as to what sustainability actually means and why citizens, governments, and institutions should view it as an urgent priority. The purpose of this class is to critically review some of the leading theories of sustainability in order for students to gain a better understanding of the moral and political values, principles, and virtues that advocates claim promote sustainable living. The instructor will not advocate for any particular outlook. Rather, the goal is to guide students through the complexity of competing positions. (Instructor: Selinger.)
Spring 20103
0509-449 Special Topics: Latin American Philosophy and Literature. (Instructor: Aguilar.)
0509-449 Special Topics: The Kyoto School. (Instructor: Schroeder.)
Summer 20104