Courses

What I'm teaching NOW:
Fall 2019: The Philosophy of Art and Aesthetics COURSE SYLLABUS

Upper Division Classes

Aesthetics & the Philosophy of Art

This course presents an introduction to the philosophy of art and aesthetics, a consideration of the many ways which art communicates and expresses: via artists’ creative processes, the object-events created (or "artworks"), and the audience’s ways of experiencing, interpreting, and evaluating art. In the course of this survey, a variety of problem-areas related to art may be considered: for example, what is a work of art? What is taste or beauty and who determines and justifies those standards? How is meaning conveyed by works of art and what methods of interpretation best reveal meaning? What is an aesthetic experience and why is it special? What are the social, political, and philosophical roles of art products and art criticism in contemporary society? Our attempts to grapple with these theories and problems will utilize as much actual art as possible through multimedia technology and, hopefully, field trips to local art sites.
Last offered: Fall 2019; COURSE SYLLABUS

John Dewey (PHIL 4900)

John Dewey (1859-1952) was one of the most important of the American philosophers of the twentieth century. A leading American Pragmatist (the first genuinely American school of philosophical thought), Dewey extended the application of his form of pragmatism (instrumentalism) beyond the boundaries of academic philosophy—into public affairs, politics, art, religion, and of course, education. Dewey’s influence included and transcended academia. As historian Henry Steele Commager wrote of Dewey, “It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that for a generation [of Americans] no major issue was clarified until Dewey had spoken.”
While Dewey published more than forty books and hundreds of articles over his long career, this course look closely at his masterwork, Experience and Nature (1927). This is arguably Dewey’s most comprehensive and difficult work as it attempts to lay out a comprehensive account of human experience with metaphysical detail. Along the way, we will find Dewey helping to explain such fundamental aspects as the nature of existence, consciousness, communication, moral value, knowledge, and aesthetic experience. Our goal is to see what is unique and coherent in Dewey’s philosophical vision by grasping a reasonably detailed outline of this historically significant masterpiece.
Last offered: Fall 2012; COURSE SYLLABUS

Pragmatism:
Classical American Philosophy

Perhaps the three most important questions for our nation of immigrants have been: Who are we? What do we believe? Should we accept the views of our forefathers? In addressing these questions, American philosophers have both accepted and rejected their intellectual heritage.
In their most critical moments, American philosophers argue that philosophy must reassert itself as an active, constructive, and ethical force in human life. Doing this means shaking and breaking many traditional philosophical distinctions including those between: mind and body, fact and value, appearance and reality, self and society, probability and certainty, and language and world.
This course will survey the classic philosophical themes developed and sustained by prominent 19th and 20th century philosophers, with a focus upon American Pragmatism. We'll begin right away with a little background (Descartes, Emerson) then move into classical American Pragmatism (including Charles Peirce, William James, John Dewey) before looking at how pragmatism is both harmonious with and applicable to Native American and Feminist areas. We’ll finish the course by looking closely at prominent 20th century neopragmatist, Richard Rorty.
Last offered: Spring 2016; COURSE SYLLABUS

Spring 2019:

The Philosophy of
Media and Technology

In his poem The Rock, I T.S. Eliot asks, “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” As we are constantly reminded, we live in an ever-accelerating “Information Age,” an era of rapidly shifting images and voluminous data. Students and teachers alike feel overwhelmed by the changes surrounding them, and would like to better understand what these changes mean.
Because philosophers have traditionally been concerned with the nature of wisdom and knowledge, they are particularly suited to assess the possible impact that current changes in the technological environment might have upon rationality, ethics, and democracy. For example, are these changes affecting our basic capacity to reason? Could floods of “data smog” and our compulsion to “multi-task” erode our ability to recognize wisdom and produce knowledge? More to the point, if ethical action rests upon justification, and justification depends upon certain forms of language then what does our age’s shift toward repaid visual imagery portend for judgments of right and wrong? And what might be the effect upon democracy—which requires from its citizens such traditional abilities as rational discussion and debate?
To pursue these answers, this course will present philosophical accounts of visual literacy and criticism, the relations of those changes to human experience and out conceptions of living a meaningful life.
Previously offered: Spring 2013; COURSE SYLLABUS

Lower Division Classes

Philosophy 1012: Relationship of the Individual to the World

One reason philosophy fascinates people is that it investigates everyday life in ways that are deeper and more systematic than most other disciplines. Philosophy often changes the way you look at something, forever and asks questions which, on their face, seem too big to ask: What makes life meaningful? Can human reasoning prove the existence of a supreme being? How is knowledge possible? Could reality simply be made up of ideas?
This class will ask such questions and review various proposals to answering them. Figures to be discussed include Plato, Anselm, Descartes, Berkeley, De Beauvoir, and others. The class will be run seminar-style, with an emphasis on discussion and close-reading of texts.
Recent offering: 2015 (COURSE SYLLABUS)

Philosophy 1020: Introduction to Ethical Reasoning

All who live in this world must choose what to do. Yet to live in the world we must live with people. When we make choices involving people we are engaged in ethical reasoning.
Ethical debates arise from those situations where there is disagreement about: 1) how we should treat others and 2) the reasons (or arguments) for treating them in one-way rather than another. This course will examine specific ethical theories as well as more concrete issues such as abortion, drug use, consumerism, and the moral standing of animals. Our goal will be to gain a better understanding by reading, thinking, and talking carefully and critically.
Recent offering, 2013 (COURSE SYLLABUS)

Philosophy 1111: Know Thyself: Philosophy and the Question of Life's Meaning

Does life have meaning? This deceptively simple question will provide our entry point into philosophy. We will read and discuss a number of writers, from Plato to the present, who, in considering the relationship of the individual to the world also raise the question of the meaning of life.
Discussions will tackle issues regarding character and the good life, death and suicide, advertising and consumerism, and the impact religion and science can have on meaningfulness.
The course will have four main sections: (a) Living Meaningfully without God(s), (b) Suffering, Absurdity, and God, (c) Pleasure vs. Happiness, and (d) The Meaningful life as the Examined Life: Socrates as Exemplar.
Recent offering: 2012; (COURSE SYLLABUS)

Courses Taught at University of Colorado Denver
2018
18 FALL PHIL 1012-002 INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY: THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE WORLD
18 FALL on sabbatical
2017
17 FALL - PHIL 4101/5101-001 PRAGMATISM: CLASSICAL AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY
17 SPR - PHIL 4220/5220/HUM 5220 -- AESTHETICS/PHILOSOPHY OF ART
2016
16 FALL - PHIL 1012 INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY: THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE WORLD
16 SPRING - PHIL 4101/5101-001 PRAGMATISM: CLASSICAL AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY
2015
15 FALL - PHIL 1012-002 INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY: THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE WORLD
15 SPRING - PHIL 1020 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICAL REASONING
2014
14 FALL - PHIL 4220/5220-001 Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art
14 SPRING - PHIL 4101/5101-001 -PRAGMATISM: CLASSICAL AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY
2013
13 FALL - PHIL 1020-001 --- INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND SOCIETY
13 SPR ---- PHIL-4920/5920-001 ---- PHILOSOPHY OF MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY
2012
12 Fall PHIL 1111: Freshman First Year Seminar
12 Fall PHIL 4900/5900: Dewey
12 SPR - PHIL 1020 --- INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND SOCIETY
MAYMESTER 12 SPR - PHIL 4220/5220 AESTHETICS/PHILOSOPHY OF ART
2011
11 Fall ---- PHIL-1012-004 ---- INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY: RELATIONSHIP OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE WORLD
11 Fall ---- PHIL-4101/5101-001 ---- PRAGMATISM: CLASSICAL AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY
11 SPR - PHIL 1020-007 --- INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND SOCIETY
11 SPR - PHIL 4220/5220/HUM 5220 -- AESTHETICS/PHILOSOPHY OF ART
2009-10
10 SPR ---- PHIL-1020-005 ---- INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND SOCIETY
10 SPR ---- PHIL-1020-007 ---- INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND SOCIETY
10 SPR ---- PHIL-4920-001 ---- PHILOSOPHY OF MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY
09 FALL ---- PHIL-4220-001 ---- AESTHETICS/PHILOSOPHY OF ART
2008-09
09 SPR ---- PHIL-1020-005/006 (two sections) ---- INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND SOCIETY
09 SPR ---- PHIL-4101-001 ---- PRAGMATISM: CLASSICAL AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY
08 FALL ---- PHIL-1012-002 ---- INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY: RELATIONSHIP OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE WORLD
08 FALL ---- PHIL-4740-001 ---- EMPIRICISM
2007-08
08 SPR ---- PHIL-1020-001 ---- INTRO TO ETHICS & SOCIETY
08 SPR ---- PHIL-4812-001 ---- ST: PHILOSOPHY OF ART
07 FALL ---- PHIL-1012-002 ---- INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY: RELATIONSHIP OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE WORLD
07 FALL ---- PHIL-4101-001 ---- PRAGMATISM: CLASSICAL AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY
2006-07
07 SUM ---- PHIL-1020-001 ---- INTRO TO ETHICS & SOCIETY
07 SPR ---- PHIL-1020-001 ---- INTRO TO ETHICS & SOCIET
06 FALL ---- PHIL-1012-002 ---- INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY: RELATIONSHIP OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE WORLD
06 FALL ---- PHIL-4812-001 ---- SP TPCS: PHILOSOPHY OF MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY
2005-06
06 SPR ---- PHIL-1020-001 ---- INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND SOCIETY
06 SPR ---- PHIL-1020-005 ---- INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND SOCIETY
06 SPR ---- PHIL-4812-001 ---- ST: DEWEY
05 FALL ---- PHIL-1012-002 ---- INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY: RELATIONSHIP OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE WORLD
05 FALL ---- PHIL-4740-001 ---- EMPIRICISM
2004-05
05 SPR ---- PHIL-1020-001 ---- INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND SOCIETY
05 SPR ---- PHIL-4102-001 ---- ST: AMERICAN ETHICS
04 FALL ---- PHIL-1012-003 ---- INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY: RELATIONSHIP OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE WORLD
04 FALL ---- PHIL-4812-001 ---- ST: PHILOSOPHY OF MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY
2003-04
04 SUM ---- PHIL-1020-002 ---- INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND SOCIETY
04 SPR ---- PHIL-2441-001 ---- LOGIC AND LANGUAGE: GT
04 SPR ---- PHIL-3360-001 ---- EPISTEMOLOGY
04 SPR ---- PHIL-4101-001 ---- PRAGMATISM: CLASSICAL AMERICAN PHILOSOPHY
03 FALL ---- PHIL-1012-003 ---- INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY: RELATIONSHIP OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE WORLD
03 FALL ---- PHIL-4740-001 ---- EMPIRICISM

Past Courses, prior to UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER, selected
Upper Division:
American Philosophy
Ancient Philosophy
Pragmatism and Existentialism
Philosophy of Media and Technology
Academic and Professional Ethics (graduate level)
Animal Rights, Animal Wrongs: The Morality, Politics, and Aesthetics of Meat
Medical Ethics
Business Ethics
Environmental Ethics
Lower Division
The Meaning of Life
Contemporary Moral Issues
Contemporary Moral Issues (Phl 220)
Humanities 101 (Homer to Dante)
Humanities 102 (Machiavelli to King)