Philosophy 290-4

Research in social psychology has exploded over the past 30 or so years, generating powerful new methods of measurement and a broad range of surprising and sometimes downright puzzling findings. But while philosophers have taken a keen interest in other areas within the “mind/brain sciences” (such as, e.g., perception, consciousness, language, reasoning, moral psychology, and action), social psychology has been largely neglected. This course will examine how recent findings in social psychology speak to perennial questions in mind, ethics, and political philosophy, including the nature of freedom, moral responsibility, self-knowledge, belief, desire, emotion, and prejudice. We will also take a critical look at the methods, presuppositions, and theories of contemporary social psychology “on its own terms,” i.e., considered apart from its relevance to traditional philosophical issues.