Emphasis will be placed on meta-ethical problems and the analysis of ethical concepts. Readings will be selected from such philosophers as Toulmin, Nowell-Smith, Baier, Hare, and Rawls. The works of major theorists such as Dewey, Croce, C. I. Lewis, Perry, and Stevenson, as well as recent articles in the field, will be analyzed. Issues centering around topics such as induction, description, concept formation and verification will be discussed in terms of the works of such philosophers as Hanson, Margenau, Hempel, Nagel, and Toulmin. Consideration of the works of such philosophers as Collingwood, Cassirer, Dewey, Whitehead, and Ortega y Gasset.
Emphasis is placed on the relevance of an analysis of culture for philosophical understanding.
Designed to be of interest to advanced students in the humanities. An analysis of some of the views which have achieved major importance in this field. Texts will be selected from such key works as Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Kant's Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone, Schleiermacher's On Religion, and Feuerbach's Essence of Christianity. An analysis of some of the major figures in American thought from the colonial period through the 20th century. Selections from the works of such philosophers as Edwards, Emerson, Royce, Peirce, Dewey, Santayana, and Cohen will be studied.