Honours Seminars in the Department of Philosophy for 2009

Semester 1

On Toleration
Dr Thomas Besch
Tues 2-4 Mills Tutorial Room 202
*Please note previously published incorrectly as Semester 2
In recent political philosophy, toleration has received considerable attention. Yet even philosophers that agree that toleration matters often disagree about its nature, content, and methodological standing: some see it as quality of practices and institutions, while others see it as something by which to govern our very thinking about political justification, reasoning, and justice. The course addresses a range of recent texts on the topic. It introduces students to contemporary ideas of toleration, their depth, aspirations and their limits.

Advanced Philosophy of Science
Prof Paul Griffiths
Mon 10-12 Quadrangle Room S227
This focus of this course is epistemic analysis of the various processes that might be thought to make up science: explaining phenomena, reducing one class of phenomena to another, formulating laws and theories and confirming those laws and theories. The course assumes familiarity with the classic ‘philosophies of science of Popper and Lakatos, Kuhn and Feyerabend taught in most introductory philosophy of science courses (see e.g. Chalmers, A. F. (1999). What is This Thing Called Science (Third Edition). Queensland: University of Queensland Press.) Texts: Salmon, M. H., Earman, J., Glymour, C., Lennox, J. G., Machamer, P., McGuire, J. E., et al. (1992). Introduction to the Philosophy of Science. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, plus selected articles and chapters from the research literature for each topics.

Romanticism as Philosophy
Prof Paul Redding
Fri 2-4 Eastern Avenue Seminar Room 311
Besides the romantic sensibility pervading many distinct areas of 19th European culture, a distinctly philosophical variant of romanticism has recently been acknowledged. This unit examines versions of philosophical romanticism from the 1790s to the present, interpreting and evaluating them as responses to what has been perceived as the nihilistic consequences of a distinctly modern form of human subjective existence. The links of philosophical romanticism to the movements in the arts, politics, science and religion will be examined.

Rights and Norms
Dr Justine McGill
Thurs 2-4 Woolley Tutorial Room S334
There is little agreement about the grounds and nature of rights. In this seminar, we will examine various arguments about the nature and status of human rights. We will also consider the relation between the universalism of human rights and the specificity of various cultural, social and political norms, including those arising from the political struggles of indigenous peoples, Asian cultural values, gender difference(s), and the suffering of the stateless.

Semester 2

Cosmopolitanism and Community
Dr Thomas Besch
Wed 12-2 Badham 141 Tutorial Room 1
Should we think of our moral and political obligations as limited by our membership in particular communities? Should we define our conceptions of moral and political community according to particular cultural or national characteristics, or in terms of of a shared common humanity? Do we have special obligations to our compatriots or general obligations to humanity as a whole? What is the relation between universal principles and local practices, and what are the consequences for our conceptions of practical reason? We shall explore these questions, and others, through an engagement with the arguments of leading contemporary moral and political philosophers.

Metaphilosophy
Dr Adrian Heathcote
Thurs 4-6 Education Seminar Room 323
The purpose of this course is to examine certain logical problems that permeate philosophy, but examine them at a higher level than is usually done. So this year I will be looking at use-mention problems that affect the theory of truth, identity and modal logic. A set of readings will be provided, starting with Quine's discussion of use-mention in his Mathematical Logic. Another important paper that students may wish to look at before the course begins is Quine's "The Problem of Interpreting Modal Logic" in the Journal of Symbolic Logic, 1947, pp. 43-8.

Philosophical Naturalism
Dr David Macarthur
Tues 2-4 Badham 145 Tutorial Room 2
"Naturalism" - a slogan which signals a new relationship between philosophy and science - is the dominant philosophical movement in contemporary analytic philosophy; and it has played an important role in the history of continental philosophy e.g. the Methodenstreit of the late C19th. In this unit we will discuss naturalism, anti-naturalism and supernaturalism. Key issues taken up include scientific method, the scientific image, the legitimacy of the human sciences, the "placement problems" of contemporary metaphysics and especially those concerning normativity.

Ayer and Quine
Dr Michael McDermott
Wed 11-1 Quadrangle Room S212
Analytic philosophy in the first half of the twentieth century was dominated by "Logical Positivism". Its main doctrine was the "Verification Principle", which (roughly speaking) identified the meaning of a statement with its consequences for experience. Analytic philosophy in the second half of the century was dominated by Quine. This course examines Quine's philosophy, especially his attack on the concept of meaning presupposed by the Positivists.

Sympathy: connecting with other minds
Dr Anik Waldow
Friday, 10-12, Madsen Tutorial Room 315
This unit will pursue the question of how it is possible for us to understand other persons’ thoughts, desires and beliefs and how we connect emotionally with them. We will look at the early modern theories of Francis Hutcheson, David Hume ad Adam Smith and examine the moral implications related to our ability to sympathise with one another. We will thereby gain valuable conceptual resources to create a better understanding of the contemporary debate about empathy. (Literature: Francis Hutcheson, An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections. With Illustrations on the Moral Sense. Dublin, 1728, edited by Aaron Garrett, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2003; David Hume, Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals, edited by L. A. Selby-Bigge. 3rd ed., revised by P. H. Nidditch. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975; Adam Smith The Theory of Moral Sentiments, London, 1790, edited by Knud Haakonssen, Cambridge: University Press, 2007.)

Venue details for all of these units will be posted on the philosophy notice board, outside the Philosophy Common Room S413, Main Quad A14, at the beginning of semester.