| source Duke (X) |
level |
department Philosophy (X) |
All the topics of this course center on the concept of human nature. The
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This class focuses on questions that the sciences cannot yet answer and perhaps may never be able to answer, as well as questions about why the sciences can't yet answer the first set of questions. In particular we will consider and evaluate the two most influential arguments for the existence of God, and the most powerful argument against his existence. Then we will turn to the mind and the body,and try to figure out the relationship of thought, sensation and consciousness to the brain. If time permits, we will examine the question of whether there is free will.
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In this course we will attempt to improve our analytical skills by learning the
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An introduction to philosophy by examining some problems in the philosophy of mind. Mutual influences of the computer revolution and recent philosophy of mind. How to understand mental phenomena as part of the physical world, and in particular, how to understand the appearance of human action and freedom.
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Examination of concepts of obedience to law, conscience, guilt,
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This course is a survey of modern (i.e., 17th- and 18th-century) philosophy,
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This course is cross listed in the dept of Evolutionary Anthropology and Philosophy and is cotaught with Prof S. Churchill of that department. It focuses on the data and theory which together enable us to understand the trajectory of Homo sapiens from our species' first emergence to the period of recorded history. Special emphasis on archeological evidence, Darwin's theory of natural selection, recent theories in evolutionary psychology, sociobiology and gene/culture co-evolutionary theory, and controversies about whether socially significant human traits are hardwired and genetically determined or learned responses to individual human environments.
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A survey of prominent issues in contemporary metaphysics. Topics to be
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In what sense is morality objectively true or false? Is there more than one true morality? Why be moral? Is the reason to be moral a matter of reason, desire, or both? Major approaches to these questions through history and contemporary readings.
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This course aims to encourage students to reflect on the meaning of Âbeing moral within the context of the development of ethical thought in the West. What is happiness? What is good life? What does the life of a virtuous person consist of? These fundamental questions, posed by the ancients but persisting in their relevance, will be our starting point. After seeing ancients answers to these questions we will see how the questions of morality change over time due to the interaction between culture and ethical theory. In particular, we will look at how the ancient question of the good life gets replaced by the questions such as ÂHow should we live? and ÂOn what principles should we act? in the modern ethical theories. We will explore both the similarities and differences between the ancient and modern ethical theories covering a variety of great philosophers including Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, Mencius, Mozi, Hume, Kant, and Mill. We will also see briefly how contemporary empirical moral philosophers make use of sceintific findings by evaluating and revising these older theories.
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This course explores one of the most intriguing issues at the intersection of ethics and medicine: the ethics of using biomedical technologies, not just to cure or prevent diseases, but also to enhance normal human capacities.
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SEMINAR: Readings this term: Aristotle, Shakespeare, Dostoevsky,
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Are there distinctive ways of thinking about ethics and social justice that are associated with women and that have been neglected by mainstream philosophy? Does the category of Âwoman imply that whatever women have in common is more important or essential than class, race, and culture?
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Everyone interested in philosophy should read the Critique of Pure Reason at some point in their lives. We will begin with a bit of Leibniz and Hume to set the stage, and then read important sections of Kant's Critique. In the Critique, Kant completely reconfigures the discussion of modern philosophy and even establishes the framework for many twentieth-century debates. We will consider the most influential sections of the Critique of Pure Reason, and some aspects of Kant's ethical and theological thought, with an eye toward understanding the unity of Kant's system.
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Economic methodology tries to make sense of what economists do when they investigate the economy. It is closely related to the philosophy of science, which is concerned with how science produces knowledge, explanation, prediction, and understanding. In this course, which will be taught in a seminar format, we will study economic methodology and the philosophy of science with a focus on its applications to economics. We will start with some classic contributions  e.g., those of John Stuart Mill, John Neville Keynes, and Milton Friedman to economic methodology and those of Carl Hempel, Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, and Imré Lakatos to the philosophy of science with case studies of their applications to economic problems. We will also consider a variety of recent topics at the intersection of philosophy and economics, such as models, causality, reductionism, and realism.
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This course explores a number of issues at the intersection of philosophy, politics, and economics and serves as an introduction to the quantitative techniques used by these three academic disciplines. The course clarifies the similarities and differences among the philosophical, political, and economic approaches, and the limitations of each when considered individually.
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This course will provide a general introduction to cognitive neuroscience defined as the study of higher human brain functions using the methods and knowledge of modern neuroscience. The major issues considered will include perception, motor behavior, attention, memory, emotion, language and symbolic representation, executive functions, the evolution and development of cognitive functions, and finally a broader consideration of what it means to be human, including such issues as consciousness and artificial intelligence.
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This course aims to provide a synthesis of the disciplinary approaches taken towards normative questions in the separate disciplines of Philosophy, Politics and Economics. We approach this challenge by examining a range of substantive ethical questions, including: the role of self-interest in human motivations; how the future should count in policy decisions; the normative authority of individual preferences; markets in human organs.
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What does it mean to live authentically? What is it to be an individual? Is it possible to believe seriously in anything, or in anyone? What is the unique significance of the inevitability of one's own death? Why should one live at all?
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What does it mean to live authentically? What is it to be an individual? Is it possible to believe seriously in anything, or in anyone? What is the unique significance of the inevitability of one's own death? Why should one live at all?
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What does it mean to live authentically? What is it to be an individual? Is it possible to believe seriously in anything, or in anyone? What is the unique significance of the inevitability of one's own death? Why should one live at all?
Score: 8.683178 Details | Listing | Web page
What does it mean to live authentically? What is it to be an individual? Is it possible to believe seriously in anything, or in anyone? What is the unique significance of the inevitability of one's own death? Why should one live at all?
Score: 8.683178 Details | Listing | Web page
What does it mean to live authentically? What is it to be an individual? Is it possible to believe seriously in anything, or in anyone? What is the unique significance of the inevitability of one's own death? Why should one live at all?
Score: 8.683178 Details | Listing | Web page
What does it mean to live authentically? What is it to be an individual? Is it possible to believe seriously in anything, or in anyone? What is the unique significance of the inevitability of one's own death? Why should one live at all?
Score: 8.683178 Details | Listing | Web page
This course examines various problems of international ethics, discussing them first in the context of general ethical theory and then revisiting them in the specific context of various controversies concerning the conduct of clinical trials in developing countries. Problems include moral universalism and relativism; poverty relief and international aid; international health disparities; human rights; and exploitation.
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