Philosophy
Not all courses are available to SSP students. For example, some courses are offered only for graduate credit. Note especially any listed prerequisites.
- PHIL S-4 Introduction to Philosophy
- PHIL S-140 Introduction to Deductive Logic
- PHIL S-167 Biomedical Ethics
PHIL S-4
Introduction to Philosophy (31849)
(Website) (Print version)
Andreas Teuber
(4 credits: UN, NC) T,Th 12:30-3 pm, Boylston Hall, Fong Auditorium. Eight-week session. Optional sections to be arranged. Tuition $2,275.
This course covers a number of central topics in philosophy through the writings of major Western philosophers as well as through the close study of several fundamental issues that have arisen in the development of the Western philosophical tradition. Readings are drawn from the writings of Plato, Aristotle, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Mill, and Nietzsche. Fundamental topics include arguments for the existence of God; the value of religious belief; faith and subjectivity; the problem of evil; the nature of human knowledge; causation and scientific explanation; perception and illusion; the nature of consciousness; minds, brains, and machines; personal identity and survival after death; freedom and determinism; proposed standards of right conduct; moral relativism; morality and self-interest; and the meaning of life.
PHIL S-140
Introduction to Deductive Logic (30200)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
Jonathan Westphal
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M-F 10-11 am, Emerson Hall, Room 108. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,275.
This course covers the concepts and principles of symbolic logic: valid and invalid arguments, logical relations of statements and their basis in structural features of those statements, the analysis of complex statements of ordinary discourse to uncover their structure, and the use of a symbolic language to display logical structure and to facilitate methods for assessing arguments. We analyze reasoning with truth-functions ("and," "or," "not," "if...then") and with quantifiers ("all," "some"). Throughout, both the theory underlying the norms of valid reasoning and applications to particular problems are investigated.
PHIL S-167
Biomedical Ethics (30201)
(Syllabus) (Print version)
Eli Hirsch
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) T,Th 3:30-6 pm, Emerson Hall, Room 101. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,275.
Students examine ethical issues that arise in a biomedical context, such as euthanasia, eugenics, reproductive control, lying to patients, and the right to healthcare. The relevance of ethical theory to such issues is considered.