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Course Info for PHIL - 285 - 01, Spring 2023
Class number: 2993 Title: 20th Cent Analytic Philosophy Department: Philosophy
Career: Undergraduate Component: Lecture Session: Regular
Instructor's Permission Required: No Grading Basis: Regular Units: 1.00
Enrollment limited to 29 Current enrollment: 6 Available seats: 23
Start date: Wednesday, January 25, 2023 End date: Friday, May 12, 2023 Mode of Instruction: In Person
Schedule: R: 1:30PM-4:10PM, LSC - 131 Instructor(s): Theurer, Kari
Prerequisite(s): None
Distribution Requirement: Meets Humanities Requirement
Course Description:
Early analytic philosophers were frustrated by philosophical disputes that they perceived as hopelessly obscure and unclear. They aimed to radically reshape philosophy by grounding it in science, logic, or ordinary language. We will aim to understand these attempts by thinking through the following questions. Are you ever justified in believing a philosophical claim that contradicts common sense? Is Sherlock Holmes "real"? Are numbers real? Where are they? What is truth? How should we evaluate claims - like those of math, logic, or ethics - that don't seem to depend on science for their truth? Are all philosophical disputes ultimately just linguistic disagreements? As we think through these questions, we will come to understand the driving forces that shaped analytic philosophy as we understand it today.