Fall 2024

Undergraduate courses

R1B  Reading and Composition Through Philosophy. Crockett. MW 5-6:30, Dwinelle 233.

2  Individual Morality and Social Justice. Frick. MWF 11-12, Lewis 100.

The course deals with fundamental ethical issues and is intended, at the same time, as an introduction to philosophy. It seeks to addresses questions concerning the self, our relations to others and our commitment to various human communities. It asks, thus: How can I lead a good life? Are there rules for my relations with others? How are we to settle questions of social living together?

3  The Nature of Mind. Campbell. MWF 9-10, Lewis 100.

5  Science and Human Understanding. Rubenstein. MWF 10-11, McCone 141.

12A  Introduction to Logic. Gómez Sánchez. TuTh 11-12:30, Physics 1.

This course is an introduction to first-order logic. You will learn how to put arguments from ordinary language into a formal language, how to ascertain validity using truth tables and first-order models, and how to construct derivations within a fitch-style system of natural deduction.

18  Confucius for Today. Shun. TuTh 6:30-8, Wheeler 222.

25A  Ancient Philosophy. MacFarlane. MWF 1-2, Lewis 100.

98BC-1  Berkeley Connect. Dolan. Tu 5-6, Social Sci 50.

98BC-2  Berkeley Connect. Dolan. Tu 6-7, Dwinelle 263.

100  Philosophical Methods. Dasgupta. W 4-6, Wheeler 102.

THIS COURSE IS RESTRICTED TO PHILOSOPHY MAJORS. It is intended to improve the student’s ability to read and write philosophy. Special emphasis will be placed on developing analytic skills. This semester we will first discuss questions about the ethics of AI and other future technologies, and then examine a number of philosophical texts on the foundations of ethical theory. There will be short written assignments each week, as well as a longer final paper, which will focus on the essays we are reading. In addition to two hours of lecture, students will meet in tutorials with a teaching assistant in order to discuss the reading, their weekly writing assignment, and the preparation for the final paper.

104  Ethical Theories. Kolodny. MWF 9-10, Wheeler 222.

The fundamental concepts and problems of morality examined through the study of classical and contemporary philosophical theories of ethics.

116  Special Topics in Political Philosophy: Equality and Identity. Munoz-Dardé. TuTh 12:30-2, Hearst Mining 310.

EQUALITY AND IDENTITY

This course will be focused on the political ideal of equality. We will pay special attention to

1. The relation between ideas of equality, priority and sufficiency, or needs;
2. The notion of equality of opportunity;
3. The relation between equality, responsibility and luck; and
4. Discrimination of given social groups or identities

As taught this semester, Phil 116 satisfies the ethics requirement for the philosophy major.

117AC  Philosophy of Race, Ethnicity and Citizenship. Crockett. MWF 2-3, Wheeler 222.

This course explores philosophical questions of race, ethnicity, and citizenship, with special attention to the experiences of African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans, and indigenous peoples of the United States. Topics include the meaning of “race,” “ethnicity,” and “citizenship,” border control and immigration, reparations for past wrongs, discrimination and affirmative action, civic obligation and group solidarity, and the right to vote.

125  Metaphysics. Gómez Sánchez. TuTh 2-3:30, Wheeler 102.

Metaphysics is concerned with very general questions about the objective nature/structure of reality. In this course we will tackle four foundational metaphysical questions, through the lens of contemporary analytic metaphysics: (i) what is it for something to be possible or impossible? (ii) do the natural laws of our world leave any room for free will and/or moral responsibility? (iii) what does it take for a person to persist from one time to another (e.g., from childhood to adulthood)? (iv) what is the nature of time?

136  Perception. Martin. TuTh 12:30-2, Wheeler 20.

The philosophy of perception is a microcosm of the metaphysics of mind. Its central problems - What is perception? What is the nature of perceptual consciousness? How can one fit an account of perceptual experience into a broader account of the nature of the mind and the world? - are problems at the heart of metaphysics. It is often justifiably said that the theory of perception (and especially vision) is the area of psychology and neuroscience that has made the greatest progress in recent years. Despite this progress, or perhaps because of it, philosophical problems about perception retain a great urgency, both for philosophy and for science.

142  Philosophical Logic. Mancosu. TuTh 9:30-11, Anthro & Art Practice 155.

The course aims at introducing students to the basic topics in philosophy of logic. Topics to be covered will be selected from among the following: theories of truth, logical consequence, modal notions (necessity/possibility) and possible world semantics, vagueness, quantification, existence and descriptions, first vs second-order logic, extensionality vs intentionality, realism and antirealism in logic.

Prerequisites (no exceptions!): Phil 12A (or equiv) and at least another course in philosophy.

148  Probability and Induction. Zhang. MWF 12-1, Wheeler 102.

The sun has risen every day in the past. Will it rise tomorrow? A gambler just lost ten bets in a roll. Should they be more confident that they will win the next one? How should we make predictions and generalizations based on data collected in the past? Probability theory is a powerful tool for studying such questions. This course is an introduction to the fundamental concepts of probability and inductive logic. We will examine their philosophical foundations and also apply the formal apparatus to philosophical problems such as the problem of induction and theory confirmation.

Recommend prerequisites: PHIL 12A (not required)

170  Descartes. Carriero. TuTh 11-12:30, Wheeler 222.

A close reading of Descartes’s Meditations. We’ll try to let Descartes’s own agenda come through by seeking a philosophically sensitive and historically informed interpretation that can be sustained across the entire six meditations, rather than treating the work as a collection of interesting arguments. No previous knowledge of Descartes presupposed.

171  Hobbes. Primus. TuTh 2-3:30, Lewis 9.

This course will focus on understanding the philosophical and political thought of Thomas Hobbes within the context of his larger intellectual enterprise. After studying Hobbes’s “Elements of Philosophy” [Elementa philosophiae] project, we will turn to Hobbes’s account of the human being and his science of politics as presented in his Elements of Law, De cive, and Leviathan.

189  Topics in Recent European Philosophy: Foucault. Sluga. TuTh 9:30-11, Wheeler 222.

Michel Foucault: A comprehensive examination of Foucault’s thought from The Order of Things of 1966 to his late writings from the 1980’s on politics and ethics.

Readings: Foucault, Discipline and Punish The History of Sexuality, vol. 1 A class reader (to be made available at Copy Central)

*As taught this semester, this course satisfies the 160-187 (but not the 160-178) requirement for the major.

198BC-1  Berkeley Connect. Lane. W 5-6, Dwinelle 263.

198BC-2  Berkeley Connect. Lane. W 6-7, Dwinelle 89.

Graduate seminars

200  First Year Graduate Seminar. Campbell/Ginsborg. Tu 2-4, Philosophy 302.

290-1  Graduate Seminar: AI Alignment from the Perspective of Formal Philosophy. Holliday/Zhang. M 2-4, Philosophy 234.

Discussion of topics in AI alignment from the perspective of decision theory, formal ethics, formal epistemology, and social choice theory.

290-2  Graduate Seminar: Recent Work on Blame and the Reactive Attitudes. Wallace. Tu 12-2, Philosophy 234.

In this seminar, we will look at some recent work on the topic of moral blame. We’ll try to figure out what it is, what functions it subserves, and what hazards it presents to constructive moral relations.

We’ll start with P.F. Strawson’s massively influential paper “Freedom and Resentment”, which brought the reactive attitudes into contemporary discussions of freedom and moral accountability, and which continues to be a significant touchstone for work on these topics. We’ll then turn to important recent contributions to the lively debate about moral blame, including primarily treatments that are broadly inspired by Strawson’s approach, as well as a few accounts that depart from it in various ways (for context). The seminar will end by discussing some work in progress by the instructor on the topic of reactive blame.

Some of the specific questions to be addressed include the following: What are the reactive attitudes? What contributions might they make to our practices of accountability and interpersonal blame? What are the functions of this way of responding to moral infractions, and what are its distinctive hazards? Is there a constructive role for reactive blame within the context of the unfolding relationship between wrongdoers and their victims? What scope is there for the normative assessment of reactive blame? How might reactive blame eventually be overcome—through forgiveness, or in other ways—given that its reasons would seem to persist over time?

Readings will include work by Lucy Allais, Agnes Callard, Miranda Fricker, Pamela Hieronymi, Berislav Marušić , T. M. Scanlon, Susan Wolf, and others.

290-3  Graduate Seminar: Relational v Representational. Martin. Tu 4-6, Philosophy 234.

The history of philosophy is a history of false dichotomies. The dichotomy between relationalists and representationalists is one such false dichotomy.’ Susanna Schellenberg (PPR 2020)

Recent discussions in the philosophy of perception have centred around a contrast between representational and relational approaches. But there has also been a strong current of dissatisfaction with this organization of the debate.

In this seminar we will look at some recent contributions and seek to find an overview of what organizes the options.

We’ll be looking at work by, among others, Susanna Schellenberg, Alex Byrne, Farid Masrour, John McDowell, and back at contributions by Gareth Evans, JM Hinton, and Jim Higginbotham.

There will also be guest presentations by Will Davies from Oxford and Alex Moran from Fribourg.

290-4  Graduate Seminar: Legitimacy and Authority. Viehoff. Th 2-4, Philosophy 234.

This seminar will focus on questions of legitimacy and authority. These questions, which have always been central to political philosophy, have recently received renewed attention by philosophers (and non-philosophers) who ask what political morality requires of us when our political institutions, and the decisions they make, are unjust. Topics we will cover include: the relation between (in)justice and legitimacy, and the possibility of legitimate injustice; the nature and justification of political authority; and the permissibility of resisting (peacefully or violently) unjust political decisions. We will discuss classic work by Joseph Raz, Tommie Shelby, and others, as well as unpublished work in progress by Jonathan Quong, Avia Pasternak, David Owens, and the instructor.

290-5  Graduate Seminar. Cohen/Munoz-Dardé. F 12-3, UCB Law 141.

This is a workshop for presenting and discussing work in progress in moral, political, and legal theory. The central aim is to provide an opportunity for students to engage with philosophers, political theorists, and legal scholars working on normative questions. Another aim is to bring together people from different disciplines who have strong normative interests or who speak to issues of potential interest to philosophers and political theorists.

This semester the workshop is co-taught by Joshua Cohen and Veronique Munoz-Darde.

The theme for the workshop is “Disagreement.” We will host scholars working in Philosophy (including logic, epistemology and political philosophy), Law, History, Political Science, Psychology, … to explore why people disagree in different domains, how those disagreements can be addressed intellectually, or navigated practically.

See: Workshop in Law, Philosophy, and Political Theory - Berkeley Law

And bCourse: Workshop in Law, Philosophy & Political Theory (Fall 2024)

Note: If you’d like to be added to the course contact Veronique. The introductory meeting for this course is on Friday 23 August.

375  Teaching Seminar. Kaiser. M 6-8, Philosophy 234.