Jason W. Waller

Odyssey of the West: The Pursuit of Wisdom and Understanding

IPHS 114Y

In the second semester, we focus on the themes of law and disorder, harmony and entropy, and modernity and its critics. Beginning with Machiavelli, Shakespeare and Hobbes, we investigate the desire to construct a unified vision through reason; then we examine the disruption or refinement of that vision in the works of such authors as Nietzsche, Darwin and Marx. Throughout the year, we explore the connections between the visual arts, literature and philosophy. In tutorial sessions, students concentrate on developing the craft of writing. IPHS 113Y-114Y will fulfill diversification in the Humanities Division. This course is open to first-year and sophomore students. Juniors and senior declared concentrators may petition the department to enroll.

Individual Study

LGLS 493

The Law & Society Program's approach to the individual study course (IS) option is to emphasize flexibility while maintaining the academic integrity of the program's curriculum. The specific details of an IS course plan are to be negotiated between and among the students, faculty members and the program chair. IS courses may be offered within the Law & Society Program upon the request of a qualified student, depending primarily upon faculty interest and availability to supervise the student applying to take such a course. While we expect that a few highly motivated students will broach the possibility of doing individual study, faculty will bring to bear their concept of how any individual study course is to be conducted during the course of the semester. We view this as an exceptional opportunity that we provide our students and, as such, we emphasize that this option is never to be expected as an ordinary course of events. Because we believe that such courses are likely to and should require more than the customary amount of work, student time, initiative and commitment, students must think seriously about whether they have sufficient time within their schedules to pursue such a rigorous undertaking. Faculty considering supervising such a course should consider whether the student's prior academic performance and reasons for wanting to do an individual study suggest that the student is adequately prepared and motivated to succeed in its pursuit. Thus, IS course approval should be seen as the exception rather than the rule. While we do not wish to dampen the tenor of our students' enthusiasm to investigate novel approaches or subjects that are not ordinarily part of our curriculum in any given academic year, we do reserve the right to decline requests for individual study.\n\nIndividual study courses take one of a few forms in the Law & Society Program. For the majority of the program's faculty, an individual study is a chance for both faculty development and, in some cases, a test run of a course that may turn into a permanent curricular offering intended for a larger body of students. On other occasions, the IS course will explore a topic of interest to both the faculty member and the student(s). For these models of an IS course, the faculty member ideally knows something about the topic to be explored, but s/he need not be an expert on the topic. Thus, the individual study can become an opportunity for both the student(s) and the faculty member to become more familiar with the literature, prevailing theories, and methods on the topic at issue. The student will customarily submit discussion papers prior to each meeting with the faculty member guiding the individual course of study. In some cases, this may obviate the need for a final paper at the end of the semester.\n\nFor a few of us, the IS is a type of mini-honors course wherein the faculty guides one or two students through a focused and narrow subset of questions and issues on a given topic within that faculty member's teaching and/or research expertise. At the end of the semester, a substantial paper of 30-40 pages is to be submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the course.\n\nWhatever form the IS course is to take, individual study is to be based primarily upon the concept of independent work to be performed by the student. The IS is not meant to be a mini-tutorial wherein the faculty is expected to lecture each week on the topic at issue. Each meeting between the faculty member and the student(s) is to be a discussion based upon the material that has been assigned for the time period in question, whether the course meets weekly or bi-weekly during the course of a semester. In some cases, the students will be responsible for taking the preliminary steps toward determining the course of study for the semester because s/he will do the necessary research to determine

Introduction to Philosophy

PHIL 100

The primary aim of this course is to acquaint the student with the spirit, methods and problems of philosophy. Students will explore the range of issues in which philosophical inquiry is possible and to which it is relevant. Major works of important philosophers, both ancient and modern, will be used to introduce topics in metaphysics, theory of knowledge, ethics and other traditional areas of philosophical concern. No prerequisite. Offered every semester.

Practical Issues in Ethics

PHIL 115

This course examines moral issues we encounter in our private, as well as public, lives from a philosophical point of view. We discuss various ethical approaches such as Kantianism, utilitarianism and value pluralism through analyzing issues such as abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, the moral status of nonhuman animals, the environment, climate change, war, world poverty, inequality and the ecology of rural life. There is a strong emphasis on discussion and we use diverse methods such as Brandeis Brief and moral heuristics. This course is suitable for first-year students. This counts toward the ethics requirement for the major. No prerequisite. Offered every year.

Philosophy of Law

PHIL 235

This course examines fundamental philosophical issues related to law. Some of the questions include: What kind of thing is a law? Is it possible to know with certainty what the law is in advance? Where does law get its authority from? What kind of authority does the legal system have? Can there be immoral laws? Can there be unenforced laws? Can there be contradictory laws in a single legal system? What is a legal right? Is objectivity in judging a case really possible? Is it desirable? Does law by its very nature favor politically powerful groups over weak ones? We will examine these and related questions by studying five influential traditions of legal philosophy (also know as Jurisprudence): Natural Law Theory, Legal Positivism, Legal Realism, Judicial Process Theory and Critical Legal Theory. This counts toward the ethics requirement for the major. No prerequisite.

ST: God and Modern Science

PHIL 291

ST: Legal Phil & Law of War

PHIL 291

ST: Phil of International Law

PHIL 291

Ethics Seminar

PHIL 400

This seminar examines important topics in normative ethics as well as meta-ethics; it emphasizes 20th-century philosophers. We discuss contemporary normative ethical theories such as ethical naturalism (Foot and Thompson), Neo-Kantianism (Korsgaard), agent-based virtue ethics (Zagzebski and Slote), utilitarianism (Smart and Singer) and critique of modern moral philosophy (Anscombe, MacIntyre, Taylor and Williams). We also discuss meta-ethical issues such as moral realism, relativism, the sources of normativity, the concept of virtue and the possibility of moral understanding. This counts toward the ethics requirement for the major. Prerequisite: philosophy major and junior standing or permission of the instructor. Offered in a three-year rotation with PHIL 405 and 410.

Metaphysics Seminar

PHIL 410

The content of this course varies but includes such topics as the nature and scope of reality, causality, space, time, existence, free will, necessity, and the relations of logic and language to the world. Traditional topics such as the problems of substance and of universals may be discussed. Much of the reading will be from contemporary sources. This counts toward the metaphysics requirement for the major. Prerequisite: junior standing and philosophy major or permission of instructor. Offered in a three-year rotation with PHIL 400 and PHIL 405.

Individual Study

PHIL 493

Individual studies are offered to those students who are highly motivated in a specific area of inquiry and who are judged responsible and capable enough to work independently. Such courses might be research oriented, but more usually are readings-oriented, allowing students to delve in greater depth into topics that interest them or which overlap or supplement other courses of the philosophy department. Students must seek permission of the instructor and department chair before enrolling. They are urged to do this in the semester prior to the one in which they hope to be enrolled. Individual study is at the discretion of the instructor, and schedules may limit such an addition. An individual study cannot duplicate a course or area being concurrently offered. Exceptions to this rule are at the discretion of the instructor and chair. Individual study is usually considered an advanced course. Required work should be viewed as on a par with a seminar or a 300- or 400-level course. The instructor and student(s) should establish and agree upon the extent and nature of the work expected. The work may take one of the following forms: several short papers, one long paper, one in-depth project, a lengthy general outline and annotated bibliography, public presentation(s), etc. An individual study can apply to the major or to the minor with permission of the department. Individual studies may be taken for either 0.25 or 0.50 credits. This decision must be agreed upon with the instructor. The student(s) and instructor will meet on a regular basis. The frequency of contact hours is to be determined by the instructor in consultation with the student. Because students must enroll for individual studies by the end of the seventh class day of each semester, they should begin discussion of the proposed individual study preferably the semester before, so that there is time to devise the proposal and seek departmental approval before the established deadline.\n