Huzeyfe Demirtas

Course Description:

This course addresses a range of questions surrounding environmental ethics. We will begin by examining some of the major ethical theories about moral rightness and wrongness. What makes an action morally right or wrong? What considerations do we need to take into account in making moral decisions? We will then address various ethical questions regarding climate change. Does climate change generate moral obligations for individuals or only for governments? If it generates moral obligations for individuals, how demanding are these obligations? After that, we will discuss questions regarding (non-human) animals. Do we have moral duties towards animals? Do animals morally count less than humans or are they morally equal to us? Is it wrong to consume animal products? We will finish the course by addressing moral questions about non-animal objects in nature such as trees and rivers. Do we have moral duties to them? If yes, what further moral implications follow?

Course Description:

After a brief review of basic concepts like validity and soundness, the course covers truth tables and proofs in both statement logic and predicate logic.

Goals:

(1) To improve reasoning skills by practicing within a formal structure. (2) To develop a fuller appreciation of the meanings of English sentences by analyzing their formal structure and tracing their logical consequences. (3) To improve skills in written and oral communication by accomplishing the first two tasks.

Course Description:

Is it up to you take this course? Or is it determined beforehand? Or could both of those be true together? Would the absence of prior determination help, or would that just turn your actions into chance events? This course explores the concept of free will, asking: what is it, can we have any, and why should we care?

Goals:

After taking this course, the students will be able to:

… explain and intelligently discuss the major theories of free will.
… formulate and defend their own views on free will.
… better appreciate subtle distinctions and arguments.
… read, write, and converse at a higher level.

Course Description:

What does it mean to live a meaningful life? Is a meaningful life a happy life? Can the answers to these questions help us reconcile to all that is wrong with the world? These questions become especially interesting now that we’re going through challenging times where quarantine, anxiety, and limited mobility and sociality are among the defining features of our lives. In this course, we will examine some of the influential philosophical perspectives on the meaning of life and happiness. The course will also aim to improve your critical thinking and writing skills.

Course Description:

This course covers some of the central topics that concern us as human beings. We will be interested in these topics not only for possible answers. Our journey will be at least as significant, if not actually more, for the genuine questions we will raise along the way. Our journey will also help you develop reasoning and argumentative skills, and learn how to write reasonably and clearly. We will discuss these questions:

• What is knowledge and how do we obtain it?
• What sort of cognitive biases do we have? Are we blind to the obvious?
• What is it that makes us what we are?
• What is the meaning of life? What, if anything, matters?
• Is morality objective? Why be moral?
• Is death bad for us? Can we cheat death?

Course Description:

The primary goal is to help you develop reasoning and argumentative skills. You will learn how to write reasonably and clearly. The secondary goal is to introduce you to the main topics in philosophy. We will discuss these philosophical issues:

• What is knowledge and how do we obtain it?
• Do we have free will? Are we morally responsible for our actions?
• Is there a God?
• What is a mind?
• What is it that makes you what you are?

Course Description:

This course is an introduction to major theories about moral rightness and wrongness, about virtue and vice, and about value and disvalue. We examine historically influential theories in the Western philosophical tradition that continue to be of contemporary interest, such as utilitarian, Kantian, and Aristotelian theories. Along the way, we discuss the relationship between morality and self-interest, as well as some disputed moral issues, such as our duties to non-human animals, the obligations of the affluent towards the poor, the ethics of abortion, hate speech and free speech. We use both historical and contemporary readings.

Goals:

To enable students to (a) gain a basic understanding of major moral theories, and of their merits; (b) gain a firm understanding of core ethical concepts and distinctions; (c) gain a facility for independently grappling with ethical issues in an articulate and informed manner; and (d) gain improved critical reading and analytical writing skills.