Honours Courses in Philosophy 2008 |
SEMESTER 2 HONOURS WORKSHOP Dr Robert Sinnerbrink
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HONOURS SEMINAR Free Speech Dr Sarah Sorial This subject examines current debates over the contested nature of free speech. It begins with an examination of ‘speech act theory’ and uses this to develop an account of the relation between speech and action, an account of what we mean by action, and assess the sorts of harm that can ensue as a consequence of words. It will examine the way in which speech act theory has been used in free speech debates, including pornography and hate speech, and how speech act theory can be used to argue for or against sedition laws. It concludes with an examination of the relation between speech, deliberative democracy and law.
Click here for the course outline. ********************************************************************* SEMESTER 1 PHIL354 Advanced Philosophy Seminar
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HONOURS WORKSHOP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HONOURS SEMINAR Indexicals and Demonstratives Dr Albert Atkin In this seminar we shall study this and that, or rather ‘this’ and ‘that’. More accurately, we shall examine philosophical accounts of indexicals and demonstratives -words whose meaning displays context-sensitivity. In particular, we shall focus mainly on words like ‘I’, ‘here’, ‘now’, ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘he’, ‘she’. The meanings of these words are, in a sense, unfixed and depend on shifting contextual factors, e.g. who says them, when, and where. The philosophical importance of these words derives from their use in key philosophical arguments and claims. For example, the cogency of Descartes’ Cogito, “I think therefore I am”, may depend crucially on how we understand ‘I’. Similarly, a proper understanding of ‘now’ may be crucial in understanding metaphysical debates about time. However, in this seminar, we shall not address these broader applications and will focus exclusively on accounts of the proper semantic analysis of indexical and demonstrative terms. In particular, we shall address work by Gottlob Frege, David Kaplan, Gareth Evans, John Perry, David Braun, and Howard Wettstein, amongst others.
Click here for the course outline. *********************************************************************
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