Autumn 2009 Course Descriptions
PLEASE NOTE: This document is subject to amendment. It is intended for descriptive and informational use only. DO NOT USE IT TO REGISTER FOR CLASSES. To register, please consult the University Time Schedules.
The Following "Special Courses" are for M. Div. students only:
629-60000-01/02 Special Course — Chicago Theological Seminary
629-63000-01/02 Special Course — Meadville Lombard Theol School
629-65000-01/02 Special Course — Catholic Theological Union
629-66000-01/02 Special Course — Lutheran Theological School
629-68000-01/02 Special Course — McCormick Theol. Seminary* An asterisk indicates that the course so designated may count toward the required “designated introductory courses” for M.A. students.
DVSC 30400 Introduction to the Study of Religion *
Robinson, James
M/W 1:30-2:50 S106
PQ: Supporting course required of all M.A./AMRS/M.DIV. students.
DVSC 42000 Divinity School: German Reading Exam
Staff; ARR
To be held on October 19 at 6:00 p.m.
PQ: Open only to Divinity School students.
DVSC 45100 Reading Course: Special Topic
Staff; ARR
PQ: Petition with bibliography signed by instructor; enter section from faculty list.
DVSC 49900 Exam Preparation
Staff; ARR
PQ: Open only to Ph.D. students in quarter of qualifying exams. Department Consent. Registration will be handled by the Dean of Students office. Petition signed by Advisor.
DVSC 50300 Research: Divinity
Staff; ARR
PQ: Petition signed by instructor; enter section from faculty list.
BIBL 30800 Introduction to the Hebrew Bible: Jewish Thought and Literature *
Stackert, Jeffrey
T/TH 10:30-11:50 S106
The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) is a complex anthology of disparate texts and reflects a diversity of religious, political, and historical perspectives from ancient Israel. Because this collection of texts continues to play an important role in modern religions, new meanings are often imposed upon it. In this course, we will attempt to read biblical texts apart from modern preconceptions about them. We will also contextualize their ideas and goals through comparison with similar texts that originate from ancient Mesopotamia, Syro-Palestine, and Egypt. Such comparisons will demonstrate that the Hebrew Bible is fully part of the cultural milieu of the Ancient Near East. To accomplish these goals, we will read a significant portion of the Hebrew Bible in English, along with representative selections from secondary literature. We will also spend some time thinking about the nature of biblical interpretation.
Discussion groups will meet on Fridays, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Ident. RLST 11004/JWSC 20004
BIBL 34000 Introduction to Biblical Hebrew 2
Thomas, Ben
M/W/F 8:00-8:50 S208
PQ: BIBL 33900
BIBL 35300 Intermediate Koine Greek 2
Howell, Justin
M/W/F 8:00-8:50 S201
PQ: BIBL 35100
BIBL 41000 Amos
Stackert, Jeffrey
TH 1:30-4:20 S200
This course will conduct a close reading of the book of Amos (in Hebrew)
PQ: BIBL 30800 or equivalent; good knowledge of biblical Hebrew.
BIBL 43200 Colloquium: Ancient Christianity
Mitchell, Margaret
W/F 4:00-5:50 S403
A critical reading of influential narratives-both ancient and modern-of "the rise of Christianity" in the first four centuries, in interaction with selected primary sources from antiquity illuminating crucial issues (e.g. demographics, conversion, persecution, martyrdom, asceticism, women's participation, ecclesiological and ritual structures, intellectual lineages), personalities (.e.g. Ignatius, Perpetua and Felicitas, Irenaeus, Antony, Eusebius, Constantine, Augustine) and events. On-going reflection on the nature of historiography itself.
Ident. HCHR 43200
BIBL 43700 Revelation and the Elizabeth Day McCormick Apocalypse
Klauck, Hans-Josef
Tu 1:00-3:50 Regenstein Library
For many Christian readers, Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, remains "a book with seven seals" (cv. Rev. 5:1). Others are inclined to take it in a most literal way and use it to unlock the secrets of history and the end times. A more sober perspective is established if we firmly place it within its generic (i.e. prophetic, apocalyptic and epistolary) tradition and take a closer look at the author and his addressees. The letters to the seven churches in Rev 2-3 are of central importance for this project. We will at the same time take a closer look at the Elizabeth Day McCormick Apocalypse, an illuminated Greek manuscript of Revelation and one of the show pieces of the Goodspeed Collection held in the Regenstein Library. In this respect our class will be part of the digitization process of this manuscript that is going on in the library.
PQ: No Greek necessary.
BIBL 51700 Seminar: Dio Chrysostom and the New Testament
Klauck, Hans-Josef
M 1:00-3:50 S403
The famous orator and stoic philosopher Dion of Prusa, who was called "Chrysostom" ("a gold mouth") because of his talent as a speaker long before John Chrysostom, may have lived from about 40 to 50 to 120 CE. He is therefore an important witness for the culture of the world, in which the New Testament writings took shape. We will concentrate first on Dio's 12th oration (i.e., the "Olympic Discourse"), which is perhaps the prime example of his art and which is important because of its philosophical and theological content; we will continue with a cursory reading of his 1st
oration (i.e., the "First Discourse on Kingship") and add other topics, as time allows.
PQ: Greek needed.
THEO 30200 History of Christian Thought II
Otten, Willemien
TH 9:00-11:50 S201
This second class in the History of Christian Thought sequence deals with the period from Late Antiquity until the end of the Early Middle Ages, stretching roughly from 450 through 1350. The following authors and themes will be analyzed and discussed: 1. The transition from Roman antiquity to the medieval period: Boethius and Cassiodorus. 2. The rise of asceticism in the West: the Rule of St. Benedict and Gregory the Great. 3. Connecting East and West: Dionysius the Areopagite and John Scottus Eriugena. 4. Monastic and Scholastic paragons: Anselm of Canterbury, Peter Abelard. 5. High-medieval monastic developments: Cistercians (Bernad of Clairvaux) and Victorines (Hugh and Richard of St. Victor) beguines (Hadewijch) and mendicants (Bonaventure). 6. Scholastic synthesis and spiritual alternatives: Thomas Aquinas, Marguerite Porete and Eckhart.
Ident. HCHR 30200
THEO 43102 Early Modern Catholicism
Schreiner, Susan
M/W 10:00-11:20 S201
This course examines the Catholic reformation as well as the thought of Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila and the Inquisition of Francisca de los Apostoles. The course adopts the perspective that this era laid the foundations of early modernity in terms of science, technology, the development of the modern state, and the impact of humanism.
Ident. HCHR 43102
THEO 45401 A Scandal for Gentiles and Jews: The Body of Christ and the Body of Scripture in Early Christianity
Otten, Willemien/Nirenberg David
TH 1:30-4:20 S208
This course will focus on the challenges that Christianity's belief in the incarnation posed for ancient readers of scripture, both Jewish and Gentile, in order to ask what the consequences of these challenges were for the development of Christian approaches to the Hebrew Bible, ranging from tendencies in early Christianity to relinquish the Old Testament to reading it hence forth exclusively through a Christological lens. Special attention will be given to dualist perspectives and their alternatives in late antiquity (Paul, Philo, Marcion, Ignatius, Justin, Augustine) but the course will also deal with modern echoes in Von Harnack, Barth and Bultmann.
Ident. HCHR 45401/HIST 66601/SCTH 45401
THEO 47202 Barth's Church Dogmatics
Hector, Kevin
M 3:00-5:50 S208
This course will carefully consider a handful of key sections of Barth’s Dogmatics, including his treatment of natural theology, the Trinity, election, anthropology, ecclesiology, and Christology.
THEO 47501 Pragmatism, Theology and the Philosophy of Religions
Hector, Kevin
W 3:00-5:50 S208
C.I. Lewis famously described pragmatism as “the doctrine that all problems are at bottom problems of conduct, that all judgments are, implicitly, judgments of value, and that, as there can be ultimately no valid distinction of theoretical and practical, so there can be no final separation of questions of truth of any kind from questions of the justifiable ends of action.” This course will examine a few key texts of post-WWII American pragmatism—understood, roughly, along the lines suggested by Lewis—so as to assess their implications for theology and the philosophy of religions.
Ident. DVPR 47501
THEO 50101 Theology and Technology: The Thought of Jacques Ellul
Schreiner, Susan
Th 3:00-5:50 S403
Who is Jacques Ellul? Although he is not in our current theological canon, Jacques Ellul was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. His most famous book, The Technological Society, changed significantly the way one analyzed contemporary culture. Influenced primarily by Marx, Luther, Kierkegaard, and Barth, Ellul was a sociologist and theologian. As a sociologist he taught the history of institutions at the University of Bordeaux. His work challenged every assumption about the evolution of technology or, as he would say, "technique." Many thinkers have called Ellul a prophet because his predictions and warnings have all to often become true. He was also a biblical theologian who stood in the prophetic tradition of theology. In both his sociological and theological works he was an unrelenting critic of our age, but one who held fast to what he called "the voice of Scripture."
In this course we will read all or parts of the following books: The Technological Society, The Political Illusion, Propaganda, Violence, The Meaning of the City, Hope in Time of Abandonment, Prayer and Modern Man, and The Ethics of Freedom.
Ident. HCHR 50101
DVPR 34801 18th/19th Century Philosophy of Religions
Brudney, Daniel
ARR ARR ARR
This course focuses on the 18th century philosophical challenge to rational religion, and on the most important 18th and 19th century responses to that challenge. Writers to be examined include Hume, Kant, Schleiermacher and Kierkegaard.
Ident. PHIL 24801/34801
DVPR 46200 Whitehead: Metaphysics and Ethics
Gamwell, Franklin
T/Th 1:30-2:50 S403
An introduction to Whitehead's metaphysical system, with special attention to its implications for philosophy of religion and philosophical ethics.
Ident. RETH 46200
DVRP 47501 Pragmatism, Theology and the Philosophy of Religions
Hector, Kevin
W 3:00-5:50 S208
C.I. Lewis famously described pragmatism as “the doctrine that all problems are at bottom problems of conduct, that all judgments are, implicitly, judgments of value, and that, as there can be ultimately no valid distinction of theoretical and practical, so there can be no final separation of questions of truth of any kind from questions of the justifiable ends of action.” This course will examine a few key texts of post-WWII American pragmatism—understood, roughly, along the lines suggested by Lewis—so as to assess their implications for theology and the philosophy of religions.
Ident. THEO 47501
DVPR 50009 Contemporary French Philosophy: The Final Foucault
Davidson, Arnold
Tue 1:30-4:20 ARR
A close study of Michel Foucault's final course at the College de France, Le courage de la verite. Starting from ancient philosophy, and especially the cynics, Foucault elaborates his conception of ethics and of philosophy more generally.
PQ: Reading knowledge of French
Ident. PHIL 50009
DVPR 51310 From Individuality to Selfhood
Descombes, Vincent
W 1:30-4:20 ARR
The intention of the course is to study and submit to criticism, through the close reading of classical texts, our common ideas about the individual and the self, i.e. the ideas prevailing in our culture. It will try to do that by bringing together two powerful intellectual traditions: the tradition of philosophy (Descartes, Locke, Kant, William James, Wittgenstein) and the tradition of historical sociology (Max Weber, Marcel Mauss, Louis Dumont).
Ident. SCTH 51310
CHRM 30500 Colloquium: Introduction to Ministry Studies
Lindner, Cynthia/Boyd, Kevin
W 3:00-4:20 S400
PQ: First year M.DIV. students only.
CHRM 35600 Arts of Ministry: Preaching
Lindner, Cynthia
F 9:00-11:50 S400
PQ: Second year M.DIV. students; others by permission of instructor
CHRM 40600 The Practice of Ministry I
Boyd, Kevin
F 1:30-3:30 S400
PQ: Second year M.DIV. students only.
AASR 41100 Introduction to Max Weber *
Riesebrodt, Martin
F 1:30-4:20 SS 302
The class offers an introduction to Weber's most important writings from all periods of his life. We focus on four major themes: 1. The early texts on the decline of the Roman Empire and the agrarian question in German, 2. The methodological writings, 3. The Economic Ethics of World Religions, 4. Major sections of Economy & Societym, and 5. Political writings.
Ident. SOCI 40110
AASR 50061 The Axial Age Debate
Joas, Hans
Tu 12:00-2:50 ARR
The debate about an "axial age", initiated by Karl Jaspers (1949), has recently become one of the most productive developments in comparative historical sociology. It can lead to new insights in the empirical study of the basic cognitive, religious, and political structures of several core civilizations. But it can also be interpreted as one of the most complex attempts of leading intellectuals of the 20th century and of our time to argue about the role of "transcendence" in existential and political matters. In an age of on-going secularization in Europe, a new awareness of the commonalities of the world religions, and conscious attempts to develop "de-transcendentalised" worldviews in philosophy and the "political religions" of the 20th century, the empirical questions take on a far-reaching importance. New light can thus be thrown on the writings of Max Weber, Eric Voegelin, Karl Jaspers, Shmuel Eisenstadt, and Robert Bellah, among others, and their relationship to religious faith.
Ident. SOCI 50061
AASR 50070 Seminar: Religion and Ritual
Riesebrodt, Martin
Tu 2:00-4:50 S200
The class reviews theories of ritual from classical to contemporary. Special attention is given to questions of the content and meanings of rituals as well as of performance and dramatization. By specializing in one specific ritual of his/her choice and writing the final paper on it, each student explores the possibilities and shortcomings of various theories.
PQ: Basic knowledge of theories of religion and of ritual.
Ident. SOCI 50070
ISLM 43300 Comparative Mystical Literature
Sells, Michael
Tu 2:30-5:20 MEM Library
PQ: Willingness to work in one of these languages: Arabic, Latin, Greek, French, German, Hebrew, Aramaic or Spanish.
Ident. RLIT 43600; CMLT 40200
ISLM 56300 Arabic Sufi Poetry
Sells, Michael
Th 2:30-5:20 MEM Sem Room
PQ: 2 years of Arabic or the equivalent.
Ident. RLIT 50300
HIJD 46100 Franz Rosenzweig's Star of Redemption-Part 1
Mendes-Flohr, Paul
W 3:00-5:50 S200
The course will be given in two quarters. The Autumn quarter will be devoted to Book One of Rosenzweig's principal work of philosophical theological, The Star of Redemption. Our reading of Book One will be supplemented by several shorter essays and works by Rosenzweig,e.g., "Atheistic Theology," the so-called "Urzelle," "The New Thinking," Understanding the Sick and Healthy, and selected correspondence.
HIJD 47600 Gershom Scholem: The Theologian and Social Critic
Mendes-Flohr, Paul
M 3:00-5:50 S400
With the ultimate objective of determining whether Scholem's scholarship on mysticism and antinomianism reflects a theological agenda, we will examine his diaries, memoirs, correspondence with Walter Benjamin, especially about how to read Kafka, Zionism, his poetry and occasional essays on theology.
HIJD 47900 Midrashic Traditions about Sinai and Revelation
Fishbane, Michael
W 9:00-11:50 S208
This course will serve as an introduction to Midrash, it genres and theology.
PQ: Hebrew component.
HIJD 49200 Reading Other People's Scriptures
Robinson, James/Pick, Lucy
TH 1:30-4:20 MEM Library
Ident. HCHR 49200
HIJD 49400 The Book of Job and the Problem of Evil
Fishbane, Michael
Tu 9:00-11:50 S200
Ident. JWSG 49400
HCHR 30200 History of Christian Thought II
Otten, Willemien
TH 9:00-11:50 S201
This second class in the History of Christian Thought sequence deals with the period from Late Antiquity until the end of the Early Middle Ages, stretching roughly from 450 to 1350. The following authors and themes will be analyzed and discussed: 1. The transition from Roman antiquity to the medieval period: Boethius and Cassiodorus. 2. The rise of asceticism in the West: the Rule of St. Benedict and Gregory the Great. 3. Connecting East and West: Dionysius the Areopagite and Joh Scottus Eriugena. 4. Monastic and Scholastic paragons: Anselm of Canterbury, Peter Abelard. 5. High-medieval monastic developments: Cistercians (Bernard of Clairvaux) and Victorines (Hugh and Richard of St. Victor), beguines (Hadewijch) and mendicants (Bonaventure). 6. Scholastic synthesis and spiritual alternatives: Thomas Aquinas, Marguerite Porete and Eckhart.
Ident. THEO 30200
HCHR 41302 Early Modern Catholicism
Schreiner, Susan
M/W 10:00-11:20 S201
This course examines the Catholic reformation as well as the thought of Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila and the Inquisition of Francisca de los Apostoles. The course adopts the perspective that this era laid the foundations of early modernity in terms of science, technology, the development of the modern state, and the impact of humanism.
Ident. THEO 41302
HCHR 42901 Christianity and Slavery in America, 1619-1865 *
Evans, Curtis
T/TH 9:00-10:20 S400
This course examines the history of Christian thought and practice in respect to slavery in the United States. Particular attention is paid to Christian missions to slaves, debates over abolition, the defense of slavery, and the practice and evolution of slave religion.
HCHR 43200 Colloquium: Ancient Christianity
Mitchell, Margaret
W/F 4:00-5:50 S403
A critical reading of influential narratives-both ancient and modern-of "the rise of Christianity" in the first four centuries, in interaction with selected primary sources from antiquity illuminating crucial issues (e.g. demographics, conversion, persecution, martyrdom, asceticism, women's participation, ecclesiological and ritual structures, intellectual lineages), personalities (e.g., Ignatius, Perpetua and Felicitas, Irenaeus, Antony, Eusebius, Constantine, Augustine) and events. On-going reflection on the nature of historiography itself.
Ident. BIBL 43200
HCHR 43600 Religion in 20th Century America *
Evans, Curtis
T/Th 1:30-2:50 S201
This class is a general history of religion in America, especially developments from the 1920s to the late 20th century. Special emphasis is placed on immigration, religious diversity, and the changing social and public dimensions of religion in America. We alternate between major secondary books and crucial primary texts.
HCHR 45401 A Scandal for Gentiles and Jews: The Body of Christ and the Body of Scripture in Early Christianity
Otten, Willemien/ Nirenberg David
Th 1:30-4:20 S208
This course will focus on the challenges that Christianity's belief in the incarnation posed for ancient readers of scripture, both Jewish and Gentile, in order to ask what the consequences of these challenges were for the development of Christian approaches to the Hebrew Bible, ranging from tendencies in early Christianity to relinquish the Old Testament to reading it henceforth exclusively through a Christological lens. Special attention will be given to dualist perspectives and their alternatives in late antiquity (Paul, Philo, Marcion, Ignatius, Justin Augustine) but the course will also deal with modern echoes in Von Harnack, Barth and Bultmann.
Ident. THEO 45401/HIST 66601/SCTH
HCHR 49200 Reading Other People's Scriptures
Pick, Lucy/Robinson, James
TH 1:30-4:20 MEM Library
Ident. HIJD 49200
HCHR 50101 Theology and Technology: The Thought of Jacques Ellul
Schreiner, Susan
Th 3:00-5:50 S403
Who is Jacques Ellul? Although he is not in our current theological canon, Jacques Ellul was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. His most famous book, The Technological Society, changed significantly the way one analyzed contemporary culture. Influenced primarily by Marx, Luther, Kierkegaard, and Barth, Ellul was a sociologist and theologian. As a sociologist he taught the history of institutions at the University of Bordeaux. His work challenged every assumption about the evolution of technology or, as he would say, "technique." Many thinkers have called Ellul a prophet because his predictions and warnings have all to often become true. He was also a biblical theologian who stood in the prophetic tradition of theology. In both his sociological and theological works he was an unrelenting critic of our age, but one who held fast to what he called "the voice of Scripture."
In this course we will read all or parts of the following books: The Technological Society, The Political Illusion, Propaganda, Violence, The Meaning of the City, Hope in Time of Abandonment, Prayer and Modern Man, and The Ethics of Freedom.
Ident. THEO 50101
HCHR 53501 Religious Thought in the Later Middle Ages
Fulton, Rachel
T/TH 1:30-2:50 ARR
Derided for centuries as a period of decline, the later Middle Ages are now generally recognized as a period of exceptional flowering in the religious thought and practice of the Christian West. This course seeks to introduce students to some of the great textual works of the period while at the same time situating them within the social, intellectual, practical and liturgical concerns of their day. Larger issues to be addressed include the relationship between mysticism, theology and devotion; the role of women, laypeople and the deviotio moderna in the development of new devotional ideals; and the tensions between aesthetics, visions, cult and scripture as sources of inspiration and authority. Readings will include works from the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries and (in translation) from both Latin and the vernaculars.
Ident. HIST 53501
HREL 33800 Orality and Textuality
Lincoln, Bruce
M/W 9:00-10:20 S200
Ident. CLAS 38309; ANTH 35010
HREL 44501 The Idea of Religion in Bali *
Fox, Richard
Th 3:00-5:50 S400
Over the course of the last 400 years the religion of Bali has been variously described as ‘heathen', ‘Hindoo', "Hindu-Buddhist', ‘Tantric', ‘Saivait', ‘animistic', ‘syncretistic' and now, perhaps most recently, ‘spiritual' and ‘ecologically correct'. To conclude that Balinese religiosity can be described unproblematically as any one of these things is to ignore the history of the practices in question. This course examines that history from the vantage point of the contemporary scene, where state ideology inflects readings of classical texts, tourists are an essential component of cremation processions and cellular phones play an important role in the successful completion of temple ceremonies. Although focusing on ethnographic and historical materials pertaining to Bali, seminar discussion will be structured around a broader set of theoretical arguments addressing issues of religion, history and tradition in the contemporary world.
HREL 45500 Religions of/and Empire
Lincoln, Bruce
M/W 1:30-2:50 S208
Ident. CLAS 38209/ANTH 42415
HREL 50700 Contemporary Theory for the Study of Religion
Fox, Richard
T/Th 10:30-11:50 S400
This course addresses the central theoretical issues and developments informing contemporary scholarship in the History of Religions. Priority will be given to students enrolled in the History of Religions doctoral program and those planning to apply.
RLIT 30000 Introduction to Religion and Literature *
Rosengarten, Richard
W/F 10:00-11:20 S106
Ident. ENGL 30100
RLIT 35809 Jacques Derrida Early Writings
Luedemann, Susanne
W 1:30-4:20 WB 206
Deconstruction can be conceived as both a philosophical project and a practice of reading. As a philosophical project, deconstruction inscribes itself in the tradition of the critique of metaphysics, from Nietzsche via Heidegger and Adorno to poststructuralism. As a practice of reading (and, consequently, of writing), deconstruction performs the movement of a decentering and a displacement of traditional concepts which is to challenge classical figures of identity, being, sense and others. Both the philosophical project and the practice of reading belong together: According to Derrida, ‘to be an heir’ means to assume responsibility for one’s own reading of the texts of the metaphysical tradition; ‘Reading’ means to follow a significant trace which has to be produced by the act of reading itself.
In this course, we will examine the exposition of the project and the practice of deconstruction in Derrida’s early books: “Of Grammatology”, “Writing and Difference”, and “Margins of Philosophy”. We will not only deal with important concepts such as ‘writing’, ‘trace’ and ‘différance’, but also with the political and ethical commitment underlying Derrida’s attack on logocentrism.
Reading and discussion will be in English. Students in French or Comparative Literature, who are required to read the original French texts, are welcome to do so. Written coursework will be accepted in English, French, and German.
Ident. GRMN 35809
RLIT 42900 Milton
Kahn, Victoria
TH 9:00-11:50 ARR
This course offers an introduction to the poetry and prose of John Milton, with a focus on the major poems, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes. We will also read some of Milton’s controversial prose, including Areopagitica and The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates. The seminar will take up the following questions, among others: What was the influence of Milton’s heretical theological and political views on his poetry? How do Milton’s major poems reflect on Reformation problems of agency and autonomy? What is Milton’s place in the history of poetic making, including theories of the sublime? Can Milton be considered a poet of the post-theological age? Is Milton a defender of religiously motivated violence or a critic of it? Why read Milton today?
Ident. ENGL 67502
RLIT 43600 Comparative Mystical Literature
Sells, Michael
Tu 1:30-4:20 MEM Library
PQ: Willingness to work in one of these languages: Arabic, Latin, Greek, French, German, Hebrew, Aramaic or Spanish
Ident. ISLM 43300
RLIT 50300 Arabic Sufi Poetry
Sells, Michael
Th 1:30-4:20 MEM Seminar Room
PQ: 2 years of Arabic or the equivalent
Ident. ISLM 56300
RETH 33500 Introduction to Ethical Theories *
Gamwell, Franklin
T/Th 9:00-10:20 S208
An introduction to major alternatives in Western philosophical ethics and especially to the ethical theories of Aristotle, Aquinas, and Kant.
RETH 46200 Whitehead: Metaphysics and Ethics
Gamwell, Franklin
Tu/Th 1:30-2:50 S403
An introduction to Whitehead's metaphysical system, with special attention to its implications for philosophy of religion and philosophical ethics.
Ident.DVPR 46200
RETH 51001 Rawls on Justice
Nussbaum, Martha
Tu 3:00-5:40 S208
This course will study John Rawls' two great works of political philosophy. A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism, trying to understand their argument as well as possible. We will also read other related writings of Rawls and some of the best critical literature. In the latter third of the course we will examine critiques of Rawls from several points of view, including the capabilities approach of Nussbaum and Sen.
PQ: This course is open by permission of the instructor, and those who wish to attend should email Prof. Nussbaum by September 20, giving her an account of prior preparation in philosophy. In general, an undergraduate philosophy major or the equivalent preparation is a necessary (though not sufficient) condition, and in some cases applicants will be asked to provide a philosophy paper to assess their preparation.
Ident. LAWS 51001/PLSC 51001/PHIL 50309
RETH 51301 Law-Philosophy Seminar
Nussbaum, Martha
M 4:00-6:00 ARR
This is a seminar/workshop most of whose participants are faculty from various area institutions. It admits approximately ten students by permission of the instructors. Its aim is to study, each year, a topic that arises in both philosophy and the law and to ask how bringing the two fields together may yield mutual illumination. There are 12 meetings throughout the year. Half of the sessions are led by local faculty, half by visiting speakers. The leader assigns readings for the session (which may be by that person, by other contemporaries, or by major historical figures). Students write a 20-25 page seminar paper at the end of the year. The theme for 2009-10 will be Utilitarianism and the Law.
PQ: students are admitted by permission of the instructor. They should submit a c.v. and a statement (reason or interest in the course, relevant background in law and/or philosophy) by September 20 to Prof. Nussbaum by email.
Ident. LAWS 61502/PHIL 51200/PLSC 51301
