Philosophy

This course examines basic philosophical and theoretical problems about law in constitutional democracies—its origins, its nature, its grounds for legitimacy, and its scope and force. The course introduces theories of law from the natural rights tradition, social contract theory, legal positivism, and legal realism. It concludes by examining theories of law influenced by interpretive theories (hermeneutics), by various schools of critical theory, including critical race theory and feminist theory, and by scholars working in law and society. The course examines several influential theorists and philosophers from the Western legal tradition, although it pays some attention to contemporary Korean legal theorists and philosophers. Students read important works by Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, H.L.A. Hart, John Rawls, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Hannah Arendt, Brian Tamahana, Jurgen Habermas, Jeremy Waldron, Roberto Unger, Mari Matsuda, Derrick Bell, and Mark Tushnet. 

This course analyzes and discusses core concepts of the philosophy of sociality by focusing on contributions from classical and contemporary phenomenology and philosophy of mind. Topics include empathy, collective intentionality, varieties of groups, varieties of being together, online sociality, and social (in)visibility.

This course is part of the LM degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course addresses the main issues concerning cognitive science, both from a historical-theoretical point of view, and as regards the intertwining and connections with other disciplines connected to it or that are partially part of it. In particular, the issue of the gestation and birth of cognitive science, the status of cognitive science, and the evolution of cognitive science in its phases is discussed. With regard to the latter, problems concerning the classical artificial intelligence, the connectionist artificial intelligence, the developments of robotics and more contemporary approaches to artificial intelligence are addressed: all these developments are treated from the point of view of cognitive science evolution, closely related to artificial intelligence, and with specific attention to the philosophical and epistemological aspects of the discipline. The connection between cognitive science and psychology, neuroscience, and linguistics, as well as the contemporary debate on the status of cognitive science, its methodologies, its ontologies, and its scientific nature are also treated from an epistemological point of view. Within a constant philosophical framework of reference, the course is divided into four parts of equivalent length: the background and birth of cognitive science; classical cognitive science (and related disciplines); the new cognitive science (and related disciplines); and the relationship with other disciplines and the debate on the status of cognitive science.

The course deals with multiple ontological models of the human person, developed in different traditions (Western, Indian, Chinese, and Japanese) and at different times. This course offers a survey of philosophical reflection on what it is to be human, based on primary philosophical texts from different philosophical traditions brought in dialogue with each other. It is philosophical anthropology, or theoretical philosophy, focusing on the human condition. Students become familiar with different ways of interpreting and answering the philosophical question "what is a human being?"