Philosophy

The general purpose of the course is to develop students' capacity for critical analysis through the study of Social Critique, Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, and Cultural Critique. The aim is to promote a deep understanding of social, cultural, and political dynamics, as well as to foster the ability to question and reflect on modern society and its cultural expressions.

This course surveys the religious traditions of Japan aimed at identifying and defining the most characteristic aspects of Japanese thought and belief.  It covers religion in pre-historic Japan; Shinto mythology, deities, and worship; the introduction of Buddhism; Esoteric Buddhism and Shugendo; Pure Land, Nichiren and Zen Buddhism; introduction of Christianity and Kakure Kirishitan; folk shamanism, and modern New Religions

This course is a philosophical exploration of the foundations of logic via the analysis of various theories and perspectives based on the writings of notable thinkers in this field such as Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, Stecherbatsky, and others.  

The course considers two main topics: 1) The epistemology of logic deals with the nature of knowledge and how knowledge is acquired, exploring how truth is reached through logical reasoning. The class presents the fundamental structure of traditional logical reasoning and allows students to examine how knowledge can be expanded. 2) From an ontological perspective, the course explores how the concepts and propositions addressed by logic relate to the existence of the real world. 

This course allows students to deepen their philosophical thinking and develop clear and creative reasoning skills. Through diverse methodologies of philosophical analysis, students will focus on cultivating their original thinking when addressing fundamental questions in logic. 

This course examines the history of philosophy across several traditions, as well as contemporary research, to explore questions such as, what is the relationship between happiness and pleasure? Is happiness an emotion, a mental state, a social construct, or an objective condition? How is well-being/happiness pursued across different cultures, including Australian Indigenous cultures? And what does happiness have to do, if anything, with the philosophical idea of a well-lived life? This course doesn’t promise to make you happy, but it will certainly help you to clarify your thinking about happiness and the meaning(s) of life.

Our central question in this  course will be the extent to which our everyday experiences are determined by the nature of the world itself versus the extent to which they're determined by the structure of our own minds. Our approach to this question will be multi-faceted, drawing on philosophical texts, films and literary works, as well as our personal experiences. In topic 1, the nature of the world, we'll discuss Realism, Idealism, and Skepticism. Is the world really as it seems intuitively to be to us (Realism) or is it just a projection of our minds (Idealism). In topic 2, the nature of the self, we'll examine (i) what changes you can undergo and still remain yourself, (ii) the extent to which your personality and mind are constructed by you vs. being given to you by nature or upbringing, and (iii) whether genuine relationships exist between you and others or whether it's mostly a projection on your part. In topic 3, the nature of time, we'll examine time. Does only the present moment exist or does reality consist of many moments of time - some past, some present, and some future? Is there really any such thing as time or is it, as Kant says, just a feature of our minds? Does contemporary physics show there's no such thing as time, or is there a way to reconcile the findings of physics with our intuitive view that time exists?

Is justice the guiding ideal of human action? Or a weapon the powerful use against the weak? Does democracy work, or should we leave government to experts? What is change: is the seed the same as the tree that grows from it? Is our world made up of objects and properties, or of processes and motions? These questions, and others, were subject to intense and profound investigation in the ancient Greek world. In this course, we join in this investigation alongside thinkers like Heraclitus and Parmenides, Plato and Aristotle. We will learn to interpret their works using philosophical analysis, and understand the context of their philosophy using historical and sociological analysis. 

This is an independent research course with research arranged between the student and faculty member. The specific research topics vary each term and are described on a special project form for each student. A substantial paper is required. The number of units varies with the student’s project, contact hours, and method of assessment, as defined on the student’s special study project form.

This course will introduce students to some of the main authors and concepts associated with structuralism, as well as to its legacy in authors and texts that in France came to be known as neostructuralist and elsewhere are most widely known as “poststructuralist.”  

It is probably safe to suggest that the various thinkers and movements that came to be known collectively under the banner of “structuralism” represent one of the most important and influential moments in 20th century European, and particularly French, thought. Although it may be said to find its beginnings in linguistics, structuralist thinking quickly expanded into a wide variety of fields, from anthropology and psychoanalysis to philosophy, aesthetics and literary theory.  

The course focuses upon works that have had an important direct or indirect influence on the aesthetic tradition while exploring how the terms “structuralist” and “poststructuralist” are both highly problematic and contested; as a result, students will examine the various aspects that might make thinking “structuralist,” as well as examining some of the limits that led many thinkers to attempt to move beyond it. 

Suppose one event happens, and then another. What does it take for the first to be a cause of the second? We will consider answers to this question that reduce causation to laws of nature and to counterfactual facts. Then we will turn to grounding, which is the relation of determination that physicalists take to hold between physical facts and mental facts. We will look at the recently popular idea that grounding is closely analogous to causation, or even a kind of causation.

This course explores topics at the intersection of philosophy of mind and language, such as whether thought depends on talk or vice versa, whether we think in words or images, whether those words are words of English or a sui generis mental language just for thinking, whether animals which can't talk can think and whether the mind is like a computer. These questions are central to contemporary philosophy and language and are also an important case study in the relationship between the methods of analysis, experiment and introspection in philosophical psychology. The course requires students to take prerequisites.