FA20 PHIL610

Proseminar (PHIL610): Reduction of the Normative and the Phenomenal
Nick Laskowski
Tuesdays  ·  7:00pm–9:45pm  ·  LA1–304

Participants in this course will receive an introduction to graduate study in philosophy. They will have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the norms and expectations of our MA program. They will also have the opportunity to develop skills necessary for succeeding in our MA program and beyond, including the skills of conducting philosophical research, writing abstracts and papers, participating in seminars and conferences, giving various kinds of talks, publishing, being a philosophy instructor, managing one’s time, and the like.

The course content lies at the intersection of metaethics and philosophy of mind. Debates about reducing ethical facts to natural facts parallel debates about reducing phenomenal facts to physical facts. Recently, metaethical reductivists have begun exploiting this parallel to offer novel defenses of their views. Participants in this course will explore the successes and shortcomings of these defenses, receiving an advanced introduction to contemporary issues in metaethics and philosophy of mind along the way.