This course studies Homer's Iliad, the single most important text of the Greek literary canon. The aim is to acquire fluency in Homeric Greek; to become familiar with the distinctive form and main themes of the Iliad; to gain a good grasp of Homeric scholarship; to place the Iliad within the wider context of early Greek poetry and Mediterranean storytelling more broadly; and to trace the more important stages of the poem's ancient reception.

Logic is the study of the principles of valid reasoning. This course provides an introduction to symbolic logic, which studies the principles of valid reasoning from an abstract point of view--paying attention to the form of valid arguments rather than their subject matter. We will cover the basic concepts and principles of symbolic logic: validity, logical truth, truth-functional and quantificational inference, formal languages and formal systems, axiomatic and deductive proof procedures.

An introduction to central questions of philosophy. Topics include: The rationality of religious belief, our knowledge of the external world, freedom of the will and the identity of persons over time.

This course discusses the ideas and arguments of major ancient Greek and Roman philosophers and thereby introduces students to the history and continued relevance of the ancient period of western philosophy. Topics include the rise of cosmological speculation, the beginnings of philosophical ethics, Plato's moral theory and epistemology, Aristotle's philosophy of nature, metaphysics and ethics. The course ends with a survey of philosophical activity in the Hellenistic and late ancient periods.

The choice of a kind of life involves both fundamental commitments and day-to-day decisions. This course is interested in zooming out and zooming in: how should we adopt commitments, and how do we realize them in ordinary life? What is the purpose of life, and how can you fulfill it? Should you live by an overall narrative, or is your life just the sum of what you actually do? Are commitments chosen or given to you? Are the decisions we think of as high stakes important at all? When should you relinquish what you thought were your deepest commitments? What should you do when commitments clash?

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the central arguments of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant's principal theoretical work.

If we have any clear and distinct knowledge, then it's knowledge about mathematical facts. This knowledge is about abstract entities, and yet it plays a crucial role in our scientific endeavors. How is mathematical knowledge at all possible? What is it about the practice of mathematics that enables it to produce such apparently certain knowledge? We investigate the development of mathematical thought, focusing in particular on the early 20th century debates about the foundations of mathematics. We also consider issues emerging from the practice of mathematics.

Topics covered will be the mind-body problem, personal identity, the possibility of life after death, the self, the will and the ground of moral status.

An introduction to non-classical formal logics, including intuitionistic logic and modal logic.

In this course, we critically examine some of the core issues in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language and ethics that are elaborated by Buddhist philosophers. The course analyzes core texts of Buddhist philosophy supported by secondary literature. Once we gain an understanding of the views expounded by Buddhist philosophers, we will subject their doctrines to rational scrutiny. The course will also incorporate guided meditations from a range of different Buddhist practices and give you the choice of experimenting and reflecting on your experience as part of your assessment.

We read central passages of Plato's Republic, and students present their work on selected parts of the text. Topics expected to be covered include: Art and poetry, education, belief and knowledge, the myth of Er, Glaucon's division of goods.

In this seminar we consider the use of observation and experiment together with reason in early-modern natural philosophy. Possible topics include Bacon's method and actual experimental practice, the conflict between Descartes and Pascal over the vacuum, Galileo's appeal to experience in his theory of motion and his defense of Copernicanism, the conflict between Galileo and Descartes over gravitation and free fall, Boyle, Hobbes and Royal Society experimentation, Cavendish against Hooke and microscopes, the empirical debate in the Royal Society about witches and ghosts, Newton's arguments for universal gravitation, etc.

100 years or so ago conventionalist views of necessity were coming into fashion, and welcome for providing what seemed a plausible account of the sources both of modality and of our knowledge of. By 50 years or so ago intensive critique and considerably diminished the popularity of such views, which eventually went into eclipse. In recent decades several writers have produced revived, revised versions. The first half of the seminar is devoted to the classic papers from the 1920s-1970s, many of which are now no longer read as widely as they perhaps ought to be. The second half is devoted to more recent developments.

This seminar puts Kant's critique of metaphysics in dialogue with the rationalist philosophy that preceded and provoked it. We read some key texts by pre-Kantian metaphysicians, as well as the pre-critial Kant, and then look at Kant's anti-metaphyiscal arguments in the Critique of Pure Reason (1781). This is a joint course between Princeton and Rutgers, and is co-taught by Professor Martin Lin of Rutgers Philosophy. Seminars are held at Princeton and Rutgers in an alternating fashion.

A selective exploration of non-classical logics and their philosophical motivations.

This course investigates philosophical issues concerning fear, anxiety, and their cognitive and social regulation in interdisciplinary dialogue with Buddhist philosophy and emotion science.

A critical survey of central topics in 21st century analytic epistemology.

Open to post-generals students actively working on their dissertations. The seminar aims at assisting students in the research and writing and at developing their teaching skills by improving their ability to present advanced material to less expert audiences. Students make presentations of work in progress, discuss each other's work, and share common pedagogical problems and solutions under the guidance of one or more faculty members. It meets for two hours each week throughout the academic year.

A systematic study of the salient features of legal systems, standards of legal reasoning, and the relation between law and morals.