Mount Allison University :: Philosophy Department

This course investigates the history of ideas about the self in the western philosophical tradition. Issues discussed may include freedom and responsibility, otherness, the relationship between mind and body, the relationship between humans and animals, the impact of trauma or suffering on self-identity, and the existence or nonexistence of the soul. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours)

Instructor: Dr. S. Chow

This course is an introduction to the study of philosophy that looks at some major thinkers in the Western philosophical tradition as well as the fundamental and enduring questions they raise about human beings and the world. Specific topics discussed may include the nature of knowledge, desire, goodness, human flourishing and freewill. Students explore these themes to discover the relations between reason, the will, and the world. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours)

Exclusion: Any version of PHIL 1991 previously offered with the title ‘The Story of Reason’.

Instructor: Dr. M. Fedyk

Successful science claims to give us knowledge of what exists in the universe, and it claims to explain why what happens in a given localized system happens. The italicized words in the last sentence indicate philosophical assumptions within science which this course will explore. Based on historical cases, philosophical interpretations will be compared from logical positivism to Kuhnian paradigms, and the most recent critiques from social constructivism and feminism.

Prerequisite: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department.

Instructor: Dr. R. Majithia

An introduction to the history and philosophical problems of ethics in the western tradition. This will acquaint the student with a number of received traditions based on metaphysical, religious, rational, and pragmatic grounds, as well as introduce certain fundamental perennial problems of moral decision-making. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours)

Prerequisite: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department.

Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden

It has been said that the philosophical revolution in Germany and the ascent of German idealism was Germany's counterpart to the French Revolution next door. It challenged the traditional understanding of the relationship of mind and world, and the nature of reality itself. This course will begin with the late 18th century, with J.G. Fichte's attempt to carry on the spirit of the Kantian critical philosophy by grounding it in the radical freedom of the I. We will cover the Romantics, Novalis and Schlegel, then Schelling, Hegel, and finally Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. Questions to be pursued in the class include: What is the effect of different philosophical styles (fragments vs. treatises)? What is the purpose of philosophy? What is the relationship of philosophy to life? How is thought itself shaped by culture and history?

Prerequisite: Six credits from Philosophy, including at least three credits from 2000 level Philosophy excluding PHIL 2611; or permission of the Department

This course is an historical introduction to the major philosophers and movements in the analytic and Anglo-American philosophical traditions from the turn of the twentieth century to 1950. Topical focus is on language, logic, ethics, and the attempts to change the conception of metaphysics and to diminish the scope of philosophy. Authors studied may include Bradley, James, Frege, Russell, Moore, Dewey, Wittgenstein, Schlick, Carnap, Ayer.

Prereq: 3 credits at the 2000 level in Philosophy; or permission of the department.

Disciplines like economics, sociology, and anthropology underwent an interesting transition around the beginning of the 20th century. Practitioners in these disciplines self-consciously made efforts to transform their fields into sciences, and if subsequent history is any guide, these efforts were successful. But at the same time, the social sciences which emerged look in many deep and interesting ways to be very different than natural sciences like chemistry and even biology. This course uses a historical and methodological examination of perhaps the most prestigious social science, economics, to address a number of philosophical questions about the aims, scope, methods, failures, and successes of the social sciences. In addition, we'll investigate the interdisciplinary connections between human sciences like psychology and natural sciences like evolutionary biology. Topics that we will cover in more detail include causation at the social level, rational choice theory, and the morality of the market system of production. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours)

This is an advanced course in Symbolic Logic, concentrating on the nature of propositional, predicate, and modal logic. Topics covered include model theory, philosophy of logic, and (time permitting) various extensions to standard logic. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours)

The aim of this course is to help you obtain a basic grasp of the Indian Philosophy by studying its primary philosophical texts. We will begin by considering the foundations of Indian thought as found in the Vedas, the Upanishads and the early Buddhist texts of the Pali Cannon. We will then consider later philosophical thought in terms of the Hindu view concerning the four ends of human life: (a) Dharma (which encapsulates the activities of virtue and duty) as discussed in the Laws of Manu and the Bhagavad Gita; (b) Artha (the activities concerned with material gain) as discussed in the Artha Shastra; (c) Kama (the activities of pleasure) as discussed in the Kama Sutra; and (d) Moksha (liberation), and in general, metaphysics and epistemology as discussed in the Brahma Sutras, the Samkhya Karika, the Nyaya Sutras. If we have time, we will discuss the philosophical views of recent thinkers such as S. Radhakrishnan and M. Gandhi.

Prerequisite: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the Department.

Disability studies is an interdisciplinary field that has emerged in the last few decades out of the growth of disability rights activism. Disability theorists seek to understand disability as not only a medical phenomenon, but also as something created by social, cultural, and environmental interactions. This course will cover key questions and debates within disability theory, from a philosophical perspective: social versus medical models of disability; definitions of impairment and disability; relationships between physical and mental disabilities; disability as identity and how it interacts with other identities; and the role of technologies and prostheses in our understandings of the self. The key question of the course will be how our thinking and assumptions are changed if we consider disability as a central human experience. (Format: Seminar 3 Hours)

Prerequisite: Permission of the Department

Plato's Republic is a seminal text that originates, discusses and unifies important philosophical concerns that are perennially relevant. In addition to giving us an introduction to issues such as the nature of morality, mind, God, reality and knowledge, it provides us with an excellent point of departure for examining how other traditions of the world have originated and discussed these issues in their own contexts. Grounding our wide-ranging examination in the Republic will allow us to examine these issues in a dialogical fashion. More importantly, the use of non-western sources will throw light on some of the central presuppositions and concerns of the western philosophical tradition that are still with us today. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours)

Our intellectual heritage is laced with shifting and conflicting attitudes towards "Nature" which impact everything, from how we can come to know about nature, scientifically, to ethical implications for how human beings relate to other natural beings. This course will use readings from the history of western philosophy, especially from the early modern era, to assess the extent to which we have inherited these convictions or developed alternatives to them. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours)

Exclusion: Any version of PHIL 1611 previously offered with a different title.

This course focuses on aesthetics and the philosophy of art, drawing on both the history of philosophy (including figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Nietzsche) and on contemporary theories about art. Topics may include the problem of defining art, the role of art and the artist in society, the experience of the sublime, and the nature of aesthetic judgment and taste. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) [Note: This course may count as 3 credits in Art History.]

Prerequisite: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department.

This is an introduction to reasoning broadly conceived. It will consist of three sections including the analysis of argument structure and informal fallacies, issues in inductive reasoning, and an introduction to symbolic logic including syllogisms, Venn diagramming, truth table analysis of arguments, and some basic natural deduction proofs. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours)

Prerequisite: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department.

It has been said that the philosophical revolution in Germany and the ascent of German idealism was Germany's counterpart to the French Revolution next door. It challenged the traditional understanding of the relationship of mind and world, and the nature of reality itself. This course will begin with the late 18th century, with J.G. Fichte's attempt to carry on the spirit of the Kantian critical philosophy by grounding it in the radical freedom of the I. We will cover the Romantics, Novalis and Schlegel, then Schelling, Hegel, and finally Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. Questions to be pursued in the class include: What is the effect of different philosophical styles (fragments vs. treatises)? What is the purpose of philosophy? What is the relationship of philosophy to life? How is thought itself shaped by culture and history?

Prerequisite: Six credits from Philosophy, including at least three credits from 2000 level Philosophy excluding PHIL 2611; or permission of the Department.

This course is an historical and topical introduction to the major figures and trends in the analytic philosophical tradition from 1950 to the present day, with special attention to the various ways philosophy comes to be presented and practiced. Topical focus may include ordinary language philosophy, the attack on logical positivism, the blend of empiricism and pragmatism, naturalism, and the re-emergence of work in metaphysics and ethics. Authors studied may include Wittgenstein, Ryle, Austin, Quine, Searle, Kripke, Putnam, Davidson, Lewis, Anscombe, Foot, Sellars, Rorty, Brandom.

In recent decades the philosophical assumptions underlying the life sciences have been seen increasingly as distinct from the physical sciences. This course will examine this difference as well as the linkage between them, then turn to the philosophical issues within evolutionary theory, the notion of species and problems of classification, persistent controversies surrounding sociobiology, genetic control, use of animals in research, and the application of bioethics. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours)

Prerequisite: Normally, PHIL 2511 is expected, however B.Sc. students already doing 3/4000 level work in their own field, and students in either Environmental Science or Environmental Studies or Cognitive Science programmes, will be admitted; or permission of the Department.

The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle and the Bhagavad Gita stand at the origin of their respective ethical traditions. In this course, we will examine some common themes (for e.g., the motive and content of virtue, the role and nature of moral agency, the relation of the active and reflective lives, etc.) and tensions (for e.g., on the role of violence and war, the differences in their respective lists of virtues, etc.); think about the broader goals and frameworks that inform them (for e.g., the role of Aristotle's naturalistic humanism and the Gita's syncretism and theism in their respective ethics); and finish the term by reflecting on the value of the comparative enterprise. (Format: Seminar 3 Hours) [Note: Students may register for PHIL 4111 more than once, provided the subject matter differs.]

Philosophy Department:

Courses In Fall Term 2013 Philosophy 1611: Self, Society, and Freedom (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden This course investigates the history of ideas about the self in the western philosophical tradition. Issues discussed may include freedom and responsibility, otherness, the relationship between mind and body, the relationship between humans and animals, the impact of trauma or suffering on self-identity, and the existence or nonexistence of the soul. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Exclusion: Any version of PHIL 1611 previously offered with a different title. Philosophy 1621: Reason, Will, and World (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. S. Chow This course is an introduction to the study of philosophy that looks at some major thinkers in the Western philosophical tradition as well as the fundamental and enduring questions they raise about human beings and the world. Specific topics discussed may include the nature of knowledge, desire, goodness, human flourishing and freewill. Students explore these themes to discover the relations between reason, the will, and the world. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Exclusion: Any version of PHIL 1991 previously offered with the title ‘The Story of Reason’. Philosophy 2511: Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. M. Fedyk Successful science claims to give us knowledge of what exists in the universe, and it claims to explain why what happens in a given localized system happens. The italicized words in the last sentence indicate philosophical assumptions within science which this course will explore. Based on historical cases, philosophical interpretations will be compared from logical positivism to Kuhnian paradigms, and the most recent critiques from social constructivism and feminism. Prerequisite: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department. Philosophy 2701: Introduction to Ethics (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. R. Majithia An introduction to the history and philosophical problems of ethics in the western tradition. This will acquaint the student with a number of received traditions based on metaphysical, religious, rational, and pragmatic grounds, as well as introduce certain fundamental perennial problems of moral decision-making. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Prerequisite: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department. Philosophy 3250: 19th Century German Philosophy (6 credits) Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden It has been said that the philosophical revolution in Germany and the ascent of German idealism was Germany's counterpart to the French Revolution next door. It challenged the traditional understanding of the relationship of mind and world, and the nature of reality itself. This course will begin with the late 18th century, with J.G. Fichte's attempt to carry on the spirit of the Kantian critical philosophy by grounding it in the radical freedom of the I. We will cover the Romantics, Novalis and Schlegel, then Schelling, Hegel, and finally Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. Questions to be pursued in the class include: What is the effect of different philosophical styles (fragments vs. treatises)? What is the purpose of philosophy? What is the relationship of philosophy to life? How is thought itself shaped by culture and history? Prerequisite: Six credits from Philosophy, including at least three credits from 2000 level Philosophy excluding PHIL 2611; or permission of the Department Philosophy 3301: Analytic Philosophy in Origin (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. S. Chow This course is an historical introduction to the major philosophers and movements in the analytic and Anglo-American philosophical traditions from the turn of the twentieth century to 1950. Topical focus is on language, logic, ethics, and the attempts to change the conception of metaphysics and to diminish the scope of philosophy. Authors studied may include Bradley, James, Frege, Russell, Moore, Dewey, Wittgenstein, Schlick, Carnap, Ayer. Prereq: 3 credits at the 2000 level in Philosophy; or permission of the department. PHIL 3991: Philosophy of the Social Sciences (3 credits) Instructor: TBA Disciplines like economics, sociology, and anthropology underwent an interesting transition around the beginning of the 20th century. Practitioners in these disciplines self-consciously made efforts to transform their fields into sciences, and if subsequent history is any guide, these efforts were successful. But at the same time, the social sciences which emerged look in many deep and interesting ways to be very different than natural sciences like chemistry and even biology. This course uses a historical and methodological examination of perhaps the most prestigious social science, economics, to address a number of philosophical questions about the aims, scope, methods, failures, and successes of the social sciences. In addition, we'll investigate the interdisciplinary connections between human sciences like psychology and natural sciences like evolutionary biology. Topics that we will cover in more detail include causation at the social level, rational choice theory, and the morality of the market system of production. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Prerequisite: PHIL 2511; or permission of the department. Philosophy 3631: Symbolic Logic (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. M. Fedyk This is an advanced course in Symbolic Logic, concentrating on the nature of propositional, predicate, and modal logic. Topics covered include model theory, philosophy of logic, and (time permitting) various extensions to standard logic. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Prerequisite: PHIL 2611; or permission of the Department. Philosophy 3891: Indian Philosophy (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. R. Majithia The aim of this course is to help you obtain a basic grasp of the Indian Philosophy by studying its primary philosophical texts. We will begin by considering the foundations of Indian thought as found in the Vedas, the Upanishads and the early Buddhist texts of the Pali Cannon. We will then consider later philosophical thought in terms of the Hindu view concerning the four ends of human life: (a) Dharma (which encapsulates the activities of virtue and duty) as discussed in the Laws of Manu and the Bhagavad Gita; (b) Artha (the activities concerned with material gain) as discussed in the Artha Shastra; (c) Kama (the activities of pleasure) as discussed in the Kama Sutra; and (d) Moksha (liberation), and in general, metaphysics and epistemology as discussed in the Brahma Sutras, the Samkhya Karika, the Nyaya Sutras. If we have time, we will discuss the philosophical views of recent thinkers such as S. Radhakrishnan and M. Gandhi. Prerequisite: Three credits from 2000-level Philosophy; or permission of the Department. PHIL 4991: Philosophy of Disability (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden Disability studies is an interdisciplinary field that has emerged in the last few decades out of the growth of disability rights activism. Disability theorists seek to understand disability as not only a medical phenomenon, but also as something created by social, cultural, and environmental interactions. This course will cover key questions and debates within disability theory, from a philosophical perspective: social versus medical models of disability; definitions of impairment and disability; relationships between physical and mental disabilities; disability as identity and how it interacts with other identities; and the role of technologies and prostheses in our understandings of the self. The key question of the course will be how our thinking and assumptions are changed if we consider disability as a central human experience. (Format: Seminar 3 Hours) Prerequisite: Permission of the Department Courses In Winter Term 2014 Philosophy 1601: Philosophy in Dialogue (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. R. Majithia Plato's Republic is a seminal text that originates, discusses and unifies important philosophical concerns that are perennially relevant. In addition to giving us an introduction to issues such as the nature of morality, mind, God, reality and knowledge, it provides us with an excellent point of departure for examining how other traditions of the world have originated and discussed these issues in their own contexts. Grounding our wide-ranging examination in the Republic will allow us to examine these issues in a dialogical fashion. More importantly, the use of non-western sources will throw light on some of the central presuppositions and concerns of the western philosophical tradition that are still with us today. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Exclusion: Any version of PHIL 1611 previously offered with a different title. Philosophy 1651: The Changing Image of Nature (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. M. Fedyk Our intellectual heritage is laced with shifting and conflicting attitudes towards "Nature" which impact everything, from how we can come to know about nature, scientifically, to ethical implications for how human beings relate to other natural beings. This course will use readings from the history of western philosophy, especially from the early modern era, to assess the extent to which we have inherited these convictions or developed alternatives to them. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Exclusion: Any version of PHIL 1611 previously offered with a different title. Philosophy 2401: Introductory Aesthetics (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden This course focuses on aesthetics and the philosophy of art, drawing on both the history of philosophy (including figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Nietzsche) and on contemporary theories about art. Topics may include the problem of defining art, the role of art and the artist in society, the experience of the sublime, and the nature of aesthetic judgment and taste. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) [Note: This course may count as 3 credits in Art History.] Prerequisite: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department. Philosophy 2611: Introductory Logic (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. S. Chow This is an introduction to reasoning broadly conceived. It will consist of three sections including the analysis of argument structure and informal fallacies, issues in inductive reasoning, and an introduction to symbolic logic including syllogisms, Venn diagramming, truth table analysis of arguments, and some basic natural deduction proofs. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Prerequisite: Three credits from Humanities 1600 Series; or permission of the Department. Philosophy 3250: 19th Century German Philosophy (6 credits) (Continued from Fall 2013) Instructor: Dr. J. Dryden It has been said that the philosophical revolution in Germany and the ascent of German idealism was Germany's counterpart to the French Revolution next door. It challenged the traditional understanding of the relationship of mind and world, and the nature of reality itself. This course will begin with the late 18th century, with J.G. Fichte's attempt to carry on the spirit of the Kantian critical philosophy by grounding it in the radical freedom of the I. We will cover the Romantics, Novalis and Schlegel, then Schelling, Hegel, and finally Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. Questions to be pursued in the class include: What is the effect of different philosophical styles (fragments vs. treatises)? What is the purpose of philosophy? What is the relationship of philosophy to life? How is thought itself shaped by culture and history? Prerequisite: Six credits from Philosophy, including at least three credits from 2000 level Philosophy excluding PHIL 2611; or permission of the Department. Philosophy 3311 – Analytic Philosophy in Progress (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. S. Chow This course is an historical and topical introduction to the major figures and trends in the analytic philosophical tradition from 1950 to the present day, with special attention to the various ways philosophy comes to be presented and practiced. Topical focus may include ordinary language philosophy, the attack on logical positivism, the blend of empiricism and pragmatism, naturalism, and the re-emergence of work in metaphysics and ethics. Authors studied may include Wittgenstein, Ryle, Austin, Quine, Searle, Kripke, Putnam, Davidson, Lewis, Anscombe, Foot, Sellars, Rorty, Brandom. Prerequisite: Three credits from 2000 level Philosophy; or permission of the Department. Philosophy 3511: Philosophy of the Life Sciences (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. M. Fedyk In recent decades the philosophical assumptions underlying the life sciences have been seen increasingly as distinct from the physical sciences. This course will examine this difference as well as the linkage between them, then turn to the philosophical issues within evolutionary theory, the notion of species and problems of classification, persistent controversies surrounding sociobiology, genetic control, use of animals in research, and the application of bioethics. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) Prerequisite: Normally, PHIL 2511 is expected, however B.Sc. students already doing 3/4000 level work in their own field, and students in either Environmental Science or Environmental Studies or Cognitive Science programmes, will be admitted; or permission of the Department. Philosophy 4111: Comparative Moral Philosophy (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. R. Majithia The Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle and the Bhagavad Gita stand at the origin of their respective ethical traditions. In this course, we will examine some common themes (for e.g., the motive and content of virtue, the role and nature of moral agency, the relation of the active and reflective lives, etc.) and tensions (for e.g., on the role of violence and war, the differences in their respective lists of virtues, etc.); think about the broader goals and frameworks that inform them (for e.g., the role of Aristotle's naturalistic humanism and the Gita's syncretism and theism in their respective ethics); and finish the term by reflecting on the value of the comparative enterprise. (Format: Seminar 3 Hours) [Note: Students may register for PHIL 4111 more than once, provided the subject matter differs.] Prerequisite: Permission of the Department is Required. Philosophy 4511: Philosophy of Mind (3 credits) Instructor: Dr. S. Chow A study of the contemporary philosophical arguments which attempt to resolve the real nature of mental states vis a vis the physical states of the brain: What is a conscious mental state? Is it reducible to a physical (i.e. brain/body) state? Does a mind require thought? Does thinking require language? Could a non-human animal or a machine have a mind? How are we aware of others' minds, and how do we have knowledge of our own sensations, beliefs, and desires? We will also examine the more general questions of how we should best proceed to resolve these issues, for example, whether the explorations of psychology and the cognitive sciences can be used to take up or abandon philosophical positions. (Format: Seminar 3 Hours) Prerequisite: Permission of the Department is Required.