We hear and read translations all the time: on television news, in radio interviews, in movie subtitles, in international bestsellers. But translations don’t shift texts transparently from one language to another. Rather, they revise, censor and rewrite original works, to challenge the past and to speak to new readers. We explore translation in a range of contexts by hearing lectures by experts in the history, theory and practice of translation. Knowledge of a foreign language useful but not required. Graded S/U only. Can be taken concurrently with FRN 295 for 4 credits.

Topics course: Humans have always sought to elevate the conditions of their existence. What differentiates enhancement’s strongest proponents, so-called transhumanists, from earlier thinkers like the ancient Greeks is their belief that crossing the divide from our plane of being to a higher one is possible, even inevitable, through humans’ technological ingenuity. Given their content and implications, scrutiny of transhumanists’ views is essential.

What does morality demand of us in the real world? How does ethical reflection inform our social, economic, and personal lives? Every informed citizen must ask these questions.

Among the most important and philosophically intriguing results in 20th-century logic are the limitative theorems such as Gödel’s incompleteness theorem and Tarski’s demonstration of the indefinability of truth in certain languages. A wide variety of approaches to resolving fundamental mathematical and semantical paradoxes have emerged in the wake of these results, as well as a variety of alternative logics including paraconsistent logics in which contradictions are tolerated.

Same as PHI 209. The course introduces you to the philosophical debates behind the psychology of the mind, focusing mostly on work from the 20th century onwards. We focus on the philosophical implications of major historical figures in psychology and their approach to Mind (James, Freud, Skinner). We read contemporary work on the problems of reductionism (Can we just talk about brains?), consciousness (Why do we have it, is it necessary? Could we be zombies or automata?) and the nature of a coherent self (Is there one? Do we construct it? Does it end with our bodies?).

Same as PSY 209. The course introduces you to the philosophical debates behind the psychology of the mind, focusing mostly on work from the 20th century onwards. We focus on the philosophical implications of major historical figures in psychology and their approach to Mind (James, Freud, Skinner). We read contemporary work on the problems of reductionism (can we just talk about brains?), consciousness (why do we have it, is it necessary? could we be zombies or automata?) and the nature of a coherent self (is there one? do we construct it? does it end with our bodies?).

Design is one of the most pervasive human activities. Its effects—intended or unintended—permeate our lives. Questions abound about the role of design and the significance of being able to exercise it and of being subject to it. For example: Are there particular pleasures, as well as special responsibilities, characteristic of designing? What is the nature of deprivation imposed upon people when they lack the opportunity or the knowledge to share in the design of their living or working conditions? How much control do designers actually have over the meaning and use of what they design?

Intensive practice in writing and discussing philosophy and in applying philosophical methods to key problems raised in essays written by members of the philosophy department. The spring semester course must be taken by the end of the student's sophomore year unless the department grants a deferral or the student declares the major itself during the spring of her sophomore year. Minors are encouraged but not required to take the class. Prerequisite: Two college courses in philosophy, one of which may be taken concurrently, or permission of the instructor.

A study of Western philosophy from Bacon through the 18th century, with emphasis on Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume and especially Kant. Maximum number of students per section 15.

A study of Western philosophy from Bacon through the 18th century, with emphasis on Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume and especially Kant. Maximum number of students per section 15.