Philosophy

This course examines philosophical issues concerning knowledge and the mind. These include metaphysical questions about what minds are, such as whether the mind is something non-physical, and questions about what knowledge is and how (and whether) we can obtain it. We will also cover questions about the existence of god, the possibility of free will, and personal identity.

The objective of this course is to offer students a guided exploration of fundamental aspects of argumentation theory in some of its most relevant variants. It is about acquiring the ability to recognize the most important elements of the reasoning structures used in the community of philosophical inquiry.

This course explores various philosophical proposals that attempt to conceptually capture the activity of bullshitting and the mental state of those who engage in it. It addresses suggestions from the psychological debate related to the recipients of bullshit, focusing on the susceptibility to and the detection of bullshit. The focus of the seminar is on interdisciplinary discussion of the weekly seminar readings. Using Harry Frankfurt’s essay “On Bullshit,” questions include what is this phenomenon of misleading speech referred to as bullshit? How can bullshitting be distinguished from lying and deceiving? What are the bullshitter's goals? Who is particularly susceptible to falling for bullshit? And how can bullshit be recognized, exposed, or even overcome?

The extremes of human experience have been contemplated by Eastern and Western thinkers beyond traditional philosophic categories of logic, epistemology, ethics, and metaphysics in a movement we refer to as "existentialism". In this course, students explore Western existential philosophers such as Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, de Beauvoir, Sartre, and Heidegger, as well as existential aspects of Asian philosophies such as Buddhism, Daoism, and the Kyoto School writings of Nishitani Keiji. Students also read the works of existential literary figures, such as Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Camus, Oe, or Kawabata. 

In this course, students identify and discuss the importance of the Roman Republic on contemporary debates in political philosophy, and in particular to understand the contribution of Cicero to Western philosophy. The focus of this course is the last 100 years of the Roman Republic, and in particular the philosophical works of Cicero. Students examine Cicero's writings on a range of philosophical topics, friendship, moral duties, old age, and death. 

This course examines the philosophical thought of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. As a cornerstone of Chinese culture, Confucianism contributes to the establishment of the human moral way by articulating a conception of humans as moral subjects. Taoism stresses the pursuit of an ideal life by understanding the changes of the universe, while Buddhism applies the concept of karma to show how the ultimate cause of human suffering lies in ignorance. Other Chinese philosophical thought such as Mohism, Legalism, and the School of Yin and Yang may also be covered.

This course traces the main historical contexts in which democracy has emerged as an idea, practice, and set of institution. Main thinkers on democracy are read and discussed on the basis of primary sources. Their ideas are interpreted in the historical context of transforming practices and institutional change. Historical explanations and philosophical interpretations of democratization and de-democratization are analyzed in their interaction.

This course is an introductory survey of the major schools of Chinese Philosophy.  Students begin their exploration of Chinese thought with a reading of Confucius’ Analects where they focus on central concepts such as “filial piety”, “ritual propriety”, “rectification of names”, “mandate of heaven”, and “benevolence”.  Students also explore the two main Daoist classics, the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi, considering such concepts as “non-action”, “non-speaking”, “emptiness/absence” and theories of relativism, perspectivism and non-attachment. This course is also dedicated to introducing the four main schools of Chinese Buddhism; Chan, Huayen, T'ian Tai, and Mind-Only and their contrasting ideas of enlightenment, emptiness, truth, and co-dependent origination.

The purpose of this course is that the student can identify and understand the basic questions, positions and problems of metaphysics. Likewise, the aim is for the student to problematize metaphysical questions and approaches, integrating the relevance of this area of ​​study to their systematic understanding of philosophy.