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Bulletin Archive

This archived information is dated to the 2008-09 academic year only and may no longer be current.

For currently applicable policies and information, see the current Stanford Bulletin.

Philosophy Introductory Courses

In this section:

PHIL 11N. Skepticism

PHIL 13N. Freedom of the Will and Moral Responsibility

PHIL 14N. Belief

PHIL 15N. Freedom, Community, and Morality

PHIL 19N. Practical Reasoning

PHIL 41Q. Truth

Up one level:

Stanford Introductory Seminars (IDS, ISF, ISS) Courses

PHIL 11N. Skepticism

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Historical and contemporary philosophical perspectives on the limits of human knowledge of a mind-independent world and causal laws of nature. The nature and possibility of a priori knowledge. GER:DB-Hum

3 units, Win (De Pierris, G)

PHIL 13N. Freedom of the Will and Moral Responsibility

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Historical and contemporary views on this central philosophical problem: in order to be morally responsible, do people have to have free will? If so, then would the premise that all events are causally determined make such freedom impossible?

3 units, Spr (Schapiro, T)

PHIL 14N. Belief

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Is there anything wrong with believing something without evidence? Is it possible? The nature and ethics of belief, and belief's relation to evidence and truth. How much control do believers have over their belief? GER:DB-Hum

3 units, Win (Lawlor, K)

PHIL 15N. Freedom, Community, and Morality

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Does the freedom of the individual conflict with the demands of human community and morality? Or, as some philosophers have maintained, does the freedom of the individual find its highest expression in a moral community of other human beings? Readings include Camus, Mill, Rousseau, and Kant. GER:DB-Hum, EC-EthicReas

3 units, Aut (Friedman, M)

PHIL 19N. Practical Reasoning

(F,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to freshmen. Practical reasoning aims. Structure of practical reasoning. Practical reasoning as means to ends that are taken as given. Practical reasoning about ends. Practical reasoning concerned with some sort of maximization of some value. Relation between practical reasoning and desire. Relation between practical reasoning and planning. Relation between different views about practical reasoning and different views about morality. Structure of practical reasoning affected by perceptions of subtle features of different situations.

3 units, Win (Bratman, M)

PHIL 41Q. Truth

(S,Sem) Stanford Introductory Seminar. Preference to sophomores. Central issues animating current work in the philosophy of truth. What is truth? What is it about a statement or judgment that makes it true rather than false? Are there any propositions that are neither true nor false? Could truth be relative to individuals or communities? Do people have different notions of truth for different enterprises such as mathematics and ethics? Might truth be a matter of degree? Sources include the instructor's book manuscript and other contemporary writers.

3 units, Aut (Burgess, A)

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