Upcoming courses with variable topics

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Department of Philosophy
College of Liberal Arts
Rochester Institute of
Technology
92 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester NY 14623-5604

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dbsgsh@rit.edu

Department of Philosophy

Current and/or upcoming
“variable topic” philosophy courses

Spring 20113

0509-444 Great Thinkers: Thomas Kuhn. Thomas Kuhn was a 20th century historian and philosopher of science whose ideas, many argue, were more radical than he realized. Kuhn’s concepts of paradigm shifts and scientific revolutions significantly influenced philosophy of science, and they have also had a lasting impact on diverse fields such as literary theory and sociology. In this course we will read texts by Kuhn and examine his impact on contemporary philosophy of science. The topics we will study include how scientific theories change, the social and political context of mid-20th century science, the nature of scientific progress, and the role of epistemic and social values in science. (Instructor: Brister.)

0509-449 Special Topics: Philosophies of Love, Sex & Gender. This course will focus on one of the most central concerns in everyone’s life: the issue of love in several of its forms and variations. We will examine some views from classical, medieval, and contemporary thinkers on the various kinds of love, their relation to sex and sexuality, and how they are all affected and affect gender roles and images. Our main goal will be the unfolding of: 1. A map of the different kinds or types of love; 2. An understanding of the nature and existential status of love and its problems; 3. An analysis of the value of love and its forms; and 4. A pragmatic analysis aimed at locating the place of love in every day’s life. Since philosophy and literature intertwine when it comes to dealing with love, the course will avail itself of philosophical as well as literary texts. To this purpose, several movies will be shown. As narratives of life, movies will constitute the literary exemplification of the theoretical themes addressed in the philosophical discussion. Therefore, attendance to the movies is mandatory, and constitutes an integral part of the course. (Instructor: Benso.)

0509-450 Seminar in Philosophy: Agnotology—The Study of Ignorance. Ignorance is not simply the absence of knowledge; it can also be the outcome of design and commitment, of specific traditions, processes and mechanisms. Epistemology—the study of how we know and justify our claims to know—is given a great deal of philosophical attention. Increasingly, attention is also being paid to Agnotology—the study of how and why we don’t know, to how we might theorize and respond to the production and maintenance of ignorance. This course will investigate recent analyses in the study of ignorance (see Agnotology: The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance, eds. R. N. Proctor & L. Scheibinger); it will also investigate specific examples of how ignorance is produced and applied, and some of the consequences that follow from such processes, regarding, for example: censorship, secrecy, climate change, public health and environment, the human body, lost knowledges and potentially new and challenging knowledges. This course should broaden students’ understanding of the various ways in which knowledge and ignorance might be related, and some of the ways philosophy can contribute to that understanding. (Instructor: Engström.)

Summer 20114

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 kōan meditation (the reflection on paradoxical philosophical questions) to realize more fully the philosophy of Zen. (Instructor: Schroeder.)

Fall 20121

0509-444 Great Thinkers: Heidegger. In this course, we will examine the thought of one of the most original twentieth century German philosophers, Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), from his groundbreaking work in phenomenology and the position of human beings in the world to his later essays on language, poetry, and technology. (Instructor: Benso.)

0509-449 Special Topics: Sustainability Ethics. Sustainability Ethics is a unique course that emphasizes experiential learning. Through various formats (in class, online, and blended learning) students will participate in cross-university ethics experiments presented as games that model collective action problems: externalities, Tragedy of the Commons, weak vs. strong sustainability, and intergenerational justice. In playing these games, students will confront two basic questions: 1) What obligations do I have to others? and 2) What sacrifices am I willing to make to meet these obligations? (Instructor: Selinger.)

0509-450 Seminar in Philosophy: Collective Responsibility. “Man is by nature a social animal [...] anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.” —Aristotle, Politics

Given the social condition of humanity, to what degree, if any, does group affiliation imply moral responsibility? Can one remain free of the moral failings of one’s community, country, or religious group? Is one morally responsible for one’s attitudes and speech, or merely one’s overt actions? This course will take seriously the possibility that one is morally responsible for one’s actions, attitudes, affiliations, speech, and inactions. In it, we will examine what the moral implications of shared responsibility mean for the individual’s life. (Instructor: Torcello.)

Winter 20122

0509-449 Special Topics: Philosophy and Science Fiction. In this course we will be exploring various philosophical themes and problems brought up by a selection of science fiction stories and films, augmented by some more traditional philosophical works. One of the central themes will be the problem of choice. This will require us to investigate a number of related issues. What is choice? Are there truly free choices? Are there ethical and conceptual constraints to choice? Is there a problem with irrevocable choices? (Can/may I choose to give up choosing? Can/may I choose to become a slave or to commit suicide?) Aren’t all choices irrevocable? Is choice possible if everything is determined? (Do we exist in a determined world? If time travel is possible, is determinism necessarily incorrect? If true choice is possible, is time travel necessarily impossible?) Can machines make choices? How do our culture and our experiences constrain our choices? What kinds of theories of mind allow for (or do not allow for) freedom of choice? (Instructor: Suits.)

0509-449 Special Topics: Advanced Logic. (Instructor: Capps.)

0509-449 Special Topics: Medical Ethics. This course will examine a number of philosophical issues surrounding the practice of medicine, as well as social issues related to healthcare and to biomedical research. Among the topics to be explored are abortion, animal research, birth control, definitions of death, healthcare allocation, informed consent, organ transplantation, physician assisted suicide, and stem-cell research. Students in this course will develop a clearer understanding of controversial topics related to healthcare practices and medical research. As well, students will sharpen their analytic abilities while developing an appreciation for the practicality of philosophy in assessing complex healthcare issues, both in their personal lives and in the political sphere. (Instructor: Torcello.)

Spring 20123

0509-444 Great Thinkers: J.S. & H.T. Mill. (Instructor: Brister.)

0509-449 Special Topics: Expertise. Questions about how to identify experts and when to defer to them remain daunting. Indeed, while the problem of whether genuine expertise can be distinguished from its social markers cuts across and even reshapes disciplinary boundaries, the conundrum of how to classify and organize different kinds of expertise traverses descriptive and prescriptive terrain. The goal of this course is to explore these and related issues by employing methods and insights from different traditions of critical philosophy. (Instructor: Selinger.)

0509-450 Seminar in Philosophy: The Kyoto School. The so-called Kyoto School of comparative religious philosophy in Japan is characterized by its active engagement from a Buddhist and Zen orientation with post-Kantian European philosophy. This seminar will engage the philosophies of several principal theorists of the Kyoto School—Nishida, Nishitani, and Tanabe—with that of Western thinkers such as Hegel, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Heidegger. Topics addressed will include the status of being, nothingness, freedom, mind, knowledge, ethics, and religion. (Instructor: Schroeder.)