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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
09W: 11 10W: 2 This course examines the philosophical assumptions of both the natural and the social sciences. Topics discussed include the distinction between science and nonscience, the nature and types of scientific explanation, the structure and function of scientific laws and theories, the problems and paradoxes of confirmation and disconfirmation, the role of mathematics and models of science, the basis for probability and induction, and the relationship between science and values. Prerequisite: Philosophy 1 or 2, or selected courses in the sciences, or permission of the instructor. Dist: TMV. Crocker.
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3.00 Credits
Not offered in the period from 08F through 10S An examination of some philosophical problems associated with religion. Discussion will focus on such topics as the following: arguments concerning the existence and nature of God, the meaning of religious language, the rationality of religious belief, the relation between religion and science and religion and morality. Prerequisite: Philosophy 1 or 2, or selected courses in religion, or permission of the instructor. Dist: TMV.
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3.00 Credits
08F: 2 A study of philosophical issues in the foundations of mathematics. What is mathematics about What, if anything, makes the propositions of mathematics true What is the nature of the "objects" studied in mathematics (numbers, functions, groups, etc.) Do they exist independently of the mind Is there really an infinite, and if so, what is it What is the nature of mathematical knowledge How is that knowledge even possible for us Those are the kinds of questions that will occupy us in this class. Readings will be selected from classic and contemporary sources on such topics as the concept of number, the theory of sets, the nature of proof and truth in mathematics, the relationship between our grasp of higher mathematics and our grasp of simple counting, and the many disputes between "realism" and "anti-realism" about mathematPrerequisite: Philosophy 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, or 9, or permission of the instructor. Any prior class in mathematics would be helpful, but no background in mathematics beyond an understanding of the most elementary concepts will be presupposed. Dist: TMV. Levey.
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1.00 Credits
Thesis Research in Physiology
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2.00 Credits
Thesis Research in Physiology
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3.00 Credits
Original laboratory research leading to the preparation of a thesis of publishable quality, which must be defended before an examining committee consisting of five members, including at least two from other departments. The staff.
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3.00 Credits
08F, 09F: 11 An introduction to informal logic with special attention to the analysis of actual arguments as they arise in daily life as well as in legal, scientific, and moral reasoning. Along with the analysis and criticism of arguments, the course will also consider the methods for constructing arguments that are both logically correct and persuasive. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV. The staff.
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3.00 Credits
08F: 10 10W: 2A Questions considered in this course are: What is knowledge and How and to what extent is knowledge possible An investigation of such topics as skepticism and certainty, knowledge of the self, sense-perception and an external world, memory and the past, and thoughts and feelings of others. Prerequisite: Philosophy 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, or 9, or permission of the instructor. Dist: TMV. Roskies.
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3.00 Credits
09W, 10S: 10 This course will focus on one or more central topics in metaphysics, possibly including the question of God's existence, the possibility of free will, personal identity, the nature of actions and intentions, space and time, change, the infinite, universals, truth, necessity, abstract objects, and the nature of the self. This course may be taken more than once for credit with permission of the instructor. Prerequisite: Philosophy 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, or 9, or permission of the instructor. Dist: TMV. In 09W, Persons. Thomas. In 10S, Past, Future and Fate. Levey.
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3.00 Credits
09S: 2 An investigation of three branches of symbolic logic: first-order predicate logic with identity, sentential modal logic, and predicate modal logic. Topics to be covered may include Russell's theory of definite descriptions; the treatment of non-denoting terms in logics known as "free logics"; investigations of various modalities, involving pairs of concepts such as necessity and possibility, being obligatory and being permitted, and being known and being believed; Kripke-style "possible world" semantiPrerequisite: Philosophy 6, or Mathematics 39 or 69, or permission of the instructor. Dist: QDS. Moor.
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