An examination of the moral principles governing love and sex. Questions to be addressed include: Do we ever owe it to someone to love him or her? Do we owe different things to those we love? Do we owe it to a loved one to believe better of him than our evidence warrants? What is consent, and why is it morally significant? Is sex between consenting adults always permissible, and if not, why not? Are there good reasons for prohibiting prostitution and pornography? Everyone has opinions about these matters. The aim of the course is to subject those opinions to scrutiny.

Logic is the study of the principles of valid reasoning. This course provides an introduction to symbolic logic, which studies the principles of valid reasoning from an abstract point of view--paying attention to the form of valid arguments rather than their subject matter. We will cover the basic concepts and principles of symbolic logic: validity, logical truth, truth-functional and quantificational inference, formal languages and formal systems and deductive proof procedures.

This course discusses the ideas and arguments of major ancient Greek philosophers and introduces students to the history and continued relevance of the first centuries of western philosophy. Topics include the rise of cosmological speculation, the beginnings of philosophical ethics, Plato's moral theory and epistemology, Aristotle's philosophy of nature, metaphysics and ethics. The course also includes discusses how the canon of ancient philosophy was shaped and contains a dedicated unit focusing on women, slaves, and non-Greeks in ancient philosophy.

This course focusing primarily on the Confucian tradition. Roughly half of the course will be spent on classical Chinese Philosophy from Confucius through to Hanfeizi. The second half of the course will begin with a very brief look at Chinese Buddhism, and go on to discuss in detail the development of Song and Ming Dynasty Neo-Confucianism. Students will acquire a basic knowledge of standard philosophical tools (how to reconstruct an argument from a text, how to assess the validity and soundness of an argument). They will also gain a working knowledge of the ideas of some of China's greatest philosophical thinkers.

We shall study Aristotle's contributions in logic, natural philosophy, metaphysics, and ethics, with emphasis on the ongoing philosophical interest of some of his central insights. We shall compare some of Aristotle's views with those of some of his successors, Hellenistic and beyond.

A survey of major problems and developments in twentieth century metaethics, from G.E. Moore to the present.

This course will focus on the conditions for personal identity over time, with implications for the beginning and end of life. We will investigate what it is rational to care about in caring about survival or continued existence, and whether our account of what it is rational to care about should change if we discover either that (1) there is no human soul or (2) no self or subject behind our various conscious acts.

This course will cover the meta-theory of first-order logic and the basics of computability theory. We will discuss the soundness and completeness of first-order logic, compactness, the Lowenheim-Skolem theorem, and Gödel's incompleteness theorems. Further topics may include non-standard models of arithmetic and second-order logic. Along the way, we will discuss some of the philosophical problems that these mathematical results raise.

A study of themes and texts in German Idealism. We will read works by Holderlin, Fichte, and Hegel, and explore topics such as the conditions of knowledge, freedom and religion.

This course examines ethical tradeoffs that arise in environmental policy making. We begin by discussing various aspects of the environment that could give it value: abiotic features, non-sentient organisms, animals, species, biodiversity, ecosystems, existing humans, and future humans. The second half of the course explores how individuals and groups should go about protecting the most valuable aspects of the environment. Particular topics include: geoengineering, genetic engineering, family planning, carbon offsetting, global climate policy and inequality, endangered species, invasive species, land restoration, and space exploration.

This seminar will examine current controversies in feminist philosophy. Topics to be discussed will include: the sex/gender distinction and social construction; gender essentialism and anti-essentialism; trans theory; intersectionality and critical race theory; standpoint epistemology; epistemic injustice; feminism and liberalism; neoliberalism, global justice, and transnational feminism; feminist methodologies; the hazards and benefits of speaking for, with, and about others; pornography and sex work; sexism and misogyny.

The course deals with philosophy as practiced in Latin America from the Spanish Conquest until the contemporary period. Unifying themes are race, identity, and the relationship between European influences and the specific circumstances of Latin America. We will explore these themes by examining the following topics among others: the use of Aristotelian ideas in debates about the appropriate treatment of the indigenous populations of the Americas; and ways in which Latin American thinkers employed ideas of the French enlightenment, Comte's positivism and Marxist concepts to articulate programs for political and cultural change.

A study in metaethics, this course will consider what types of explanations are possible of ordinary evaluations and moral views. Students will look at historical and contemporary philosophical explanations and consider how plausible they are, what sort of evidence might be relevant to them, and what their normative implications might be.

An exploration of Aristotle's introduction to his political theory in Book I of his Politics, with special attention to his theories of wealth and slavery.

An examination of the central doctrines of Kant's "Critique of Judgment". Topics include reflective judgment and the systematicity of nature, judgments of beauty and of the sublime, Kant's theory of organisms, and the scope of teleological explanation.

This course will address central topics in the philosophy of action. We will read a mix of recent and classic papers.

This course surveys epistemological questions that are centered around living in a society with oppression, including: How does oppression interact with a person's epistemic standing when it comes to understanding oppression? Should we expect the oppressed to suffer from false consciousness? Or should we expect the oppressed to be especially well-placed to acquire knowledge about their oppression? Conversely, should we expect people in dominant social groups to be badly placed to acquire knowledge relating to oppression? How does oppression affect what counts as knowledge in a society? What 'alternative epistemologies' should we consider?

Selected topics from the recent literature in metaphysics.

Some topics in moral philosophy. A full syllabus will be available at least one week before the semester, by email from eharman@princeton.edu.

Over the past few decades, challenges have arisen to the orthodox theory of rational decision-making (sometimes known as Bayesian decision theory, or expected utility theory). These challenges include arguments to the effect that that some options might not be comparable, that some probabilities might not be sharp, that some outcomes might be infinitely valuable, and that decision-makers can have a variety of attitudes towards risk. We examine the standard theory, the challenges, and some alternative theories that have been proposed to respond to them.

An examination of select issues in contemporary epistemology.

Open to post-generals students actively working on their dissertations. The seminar aims at assisting students in the research and writing and at developing their teaching skills by improving their ability to present advanced material to less expert audiences. Students make presentations of work in progress, discuss each other's work, and share common pedagogical problems and solutions under the guidance of one or more faculty members. It meets for two hours each week throughout the academic year.