Course Catalogue 2026-2027

Until recently, it was customary to regard Kant as the thinker who gave definitive form to the notion of aesthetic judgment and who succeeded in explaining why aesthetic experience is something essentially distinct from other kinds of experience. The postmodern rejection of the practice of aesthetic theory, however, has done much to undermine Kant's position vis-a-vis the arts. This course aims to re-examine Kant's aesthetic theory from the vantage point of the art theoretical literature that preceded it. In an effort to better understand Kant's contribution to the history of thought about art, it will seek to contextualize such "Kantian" themes as judgment, taste, genius, beauty, sublimity and purposiveness. It will also consider to what degree our understanding of Kant has been shaped by later modernist assumptions about the character of his contribution.

The linguistic turn and the interpretive turn in twentieth-century philosophy play a role in many cultural controversies and academic debates. This seminar examines representative texts from three schools of thought: German philosophical hermeneutics (Hans-Georg Gadamer), French poststructural feminism (Julia Kristeva), and Anglo-American analytical philosophy of language (John Searle).

Defined by Plato as lovers of truth, philosophers have long debated what truth is. Recently they have disagreed about how important truth is. This seminar examines prominent theories of truth since 1900, as proposed by such thinkers as Pierce, Heidegger, Davidson, Putnam, and Habermas. Feminist, deflationist, and postmodernist critiques of truth theory will be considered and an alternative proposed.

How does pragmatism's central tenet that the meaning and worth of ideas lies in their practical consequences comport with religious forms of life and the understandings of morality they fund? Does pragmatism's suspicion regarding traditional "supernaturalist" theologies leave any space to think alternatively about God and the human relationsip with God? What role do pragmatists see for religion in a democratic society, if any?  In addressing these questions, this seminar will focus on the work of John Dewey, Richard Rorty, and Jeffrey Stout.

How does pragmatism's central tenet that the meaning and worth of ideas lies in their practical consequences comport with religious forms of life and the understandings of morality they fund? Does pragmatism's suspicion regarding traditional "supernaturalist" theologies leave any space to think alternatively about God and the human relationsip with God?  What role do pragmatists see for religion in a democratic society, if any?  In addressing these questions, this seminar will focus on the work of John Dewey, Richard Rorty, and Jefferey  Stout.

How does pragmatism's central tenet that the meaning and worth of ideas lies in their practical consequences comport with religious forms of life and the understandings of morality they fund? Does pragmatism's suspicion regarding traditional "supernaturalist" theologies leave any space to think alternatively about God and the human relationsip with God? What role do pragmatists see for religion in a democratic society, if any? In addressing these questions, this seminar will focus on the work of John Dewey, Richard Rorty, and Jeffrey Stout.

How does pragmatism's central tenet that the meaning and worth of ideas lies in their practical consequences comport with religious forms of life and the understandings of morality they fund? Does pragmatism's suspicion regarding traditional "supernaturalist" theologies leave any space to think alternatively about God and the human relationsip with God?  What role do pragmatists see for religion in a democratic society, if any?  In addressing these questions, this seminar will focus on the work of John Dewey, Richard Rorty, and Jefferey  Stout.

How does pragmatism's central tenet that the meaning and worth of ideas lies in their practical consequences comport with religious forms of life and the understandings of morality they fund? Does pragmatism's suspicion regarding traditional "supernaturalist" theologies leave any space to think alternatively about God and the human relationsip with God? What role do pragmatists see for religion in a democratic society, if any?  In addressing these questions, this seminar will focus on the work of John Dewey, Richard Rorty, and Jeffrey Stout.

While maintaining a stance of "methodical atheism,"

This course will explore the uneasy relationship between deconstruction and politics. We will begin the course by familiarizing ourselves with Jacques Derrida's deconstuctive method, and continue by reading his work on issues of justice, law, cosmopolitanism, ethics, and the right to philosophy. The rest of the course will be spent engaging with various contemporaries of Derrida for whom his work in deconstruction and political philosophy has been important: Drucilla Cornell, Giorgio Agamben, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari.

Readers of Paul's letters have long noted the diversity of the Christian communities to which he writes and the different approaches he takes towards their problems and questions. This course will study Paul's letters from the point of his role as a pastor and theologian. Paul's theology does not develop out of a philosophical or theological "system" but from the everyday encounters with the problems of the communities and people of different historical and social context whom he meets while preaching the gospel.

Everyone participates in the arts and culture, but who can say why? This course asks why the arts are important and addresses issues that face contemporary creators and interpreters of culture. Our aim is to develop imaginative, faith-oriented participation in the arts and culture. We will consider such topics as artistic freedom and social responsibility; communication through the arts and culture; the impact of globalization on cultural communities; the ethics of mass entertainment; the aesthetic quality of urban environments; and the role of arts in worship and interreligious dialogue. In addition to class sessions, we will attend various events in the city. Lecture, discussion, class presentations, attendance of public events, paper writing. Class participation: 20% / Seminar presentations: 30% / Research project: 50%.