PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT

 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

2005 SUMMER SCHOOL

(More descriptions will be added soon.  Please check https://registration.boun.edu.tr/summer/ for the schedules.

PHIL 101.01 (Introduction to Philosophy)
Instructor: Karanfil Soyhun


PHIL 131.01 (Logic)
Instructor: Karanfil Soyhun


PHIL 484.01 (Selected Topics: Being)
Instructor: Christopher Colvin
Description:

In Being and Time, Heidegger quotes Plato and claims to "once again raise the question of Being."  The course will take its departure from Heidegger's question and contrast his response with traditional metaphysics (Plato & Aristotle) and with classical analytical metaphysics (Bradley, Stout, Bergmann, Butchvarov).  The course will cover a selection of topics in metaphysics such as substance and predicate, the metaphysics of presence and the Being of beings, fact and thing, relations and negation, being and thought, and the paradox of analysis.  A full packet of readings will be provided.  Reading selections will be from Plato's Sophist and Parmenides, from Aristotle's Physics and Metaphysics, from Heidegger's An Introduction to Metaphysics, from Bradley's Appearance and Reality, as well as selected articles from Stout, Bergman, Allaire, Butchvarov, and Rosen.  (Grading: There will be a midterm exam (30%), a paper (30%) and a final exam (40%). Details of test format and questions, as well as paper topics and due dates will be provided in class.)   For further info about the course check: de.geocities.com/kouphos.


PHIL 494.01 (Selected Topics: Philosophy of Cognitive Science)
Instructor: Güven Güzeldere
Description:

In this class, we will study the relations between minds, brains, and behavior as fundamental issues in the philosophical foundations of cognitive science.  In examining the nature and constitution of minds, we will distinguish cognition, consciousness, and emotions and investigate how these three components constitute a unified mental architecture, agency, and self.  One of the focal points of our study will be the role of embodiment for mental life.   The course will also involve issues in the foundations of cognitive ethology and artificial intelligence, and cover the question of the nature of mind in animals, particularly non-human primates, as well as the possibility of mind in robots.  In this context, we will look at philosophical issues such as the relation of language to mind, the problem of skepticism about "other minds", and the nature of subjectivity and self-awareness.  While readings will be primarily philosophical texts, we will often bring to bear knowledge from  related empirical fields,  including psychology, neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, and artificial intelligence.


PHIL 495.01 (Selected Topics: Bioethics)
Instructor: Douglas Oro
Description: click here


PHIL 497.01 (Selected Topics: Hegel and Marx)
Instructor: Sean Sayers
Description: click here