Philosophy of The Human Sciences

PHIL 6390/ HUMA 6390
University of Texas at Dallas

Topics in Philosophy: Philosophy of the Human Sciences

Fall 2024

Instructor: Dr. Jonathan Tsou

Course Description: This graduate seminar examines special topics in philosophy of human/ social sciences (e.g., sociology, economics, history, psychology, biology, medicine, psychiatry). The instructor and graduate students will choose topics to study based on a possible list of topics (e.g., individualism vs. holism, the looping effects of human kinds, mechanisms in the biological and human sciences). Students are expected to regularly present on the reading materials and to propose topics for the course. Evaluation will be based on classroom participation and performance on writing assignments.

Course Texts:

• PDFs provided by instructor

Course Evaluation:

Attendance / Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50%        

Writing Assignment 1 (week 8) . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .10%

Writing Assignment 2 (week 12) . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10%

Final Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30%

Writing assignments are 4-6 pages (double spaced, times new roman 12 font) short commentaries on one of the topics of the course. Your commentary should identify a point of conflict in the literature and argue for a position. Alternatively, your commentary can focus on explaining and evaluating a position in the literature. The final paper is on a topic of your choice. By or before week 7, you should propose the topic of your final paper (15-20 pages); include a list of at least 4-5 readings that you will engage in the paper.

Possible Topics

Below is a non-exhaustive list of suggested topics. Unless noted otherwise, topics can be covered in 1 class session. Students may choose among the topics listed below, or they may propose their own topic (3-4 readings per class). Students may choose to focus a class session on an important philosopher (e.g., Ian Hacking, John Searle, Sally Haslanger, Margaret Gilbert, Muhammed Ali Khalidi, Ron Mallon, Asta, etc.)

Foundations of Social Science/ Sociology: Comte, Durkheim, and Weber (2 classes)

•  Comte, Auguste, 1835/2000, “Relation of Sociology to the Other Departments of Positive Philosophy.” Course in Positive Philosophy vol. 2, book 6, chapter 4

•  Guillin, Vincent, 2016, “Comte and the Positivist Vision.” Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Social Science (eds. L. McIntyre and A. Rosenberg)

•  Turner, Jonathan H., Beeghley, Leonard, and Powers, Charles H. 2011, “The Sociology of Auguste Comte.” The Emergence of Sociological Theory

• Brenner, Anastasios, 2021, “How did Philosophy of Science Come about? From Comte’s positive philosophy to Abel Rey’s Absolute Positivism.” HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science

• Durkheim, Emile, 1895/ 1982, “What is a Social Fact?” Rules of Sociological Method

• Turner, Stephen P., 1983, “Durkheim as a Methodologist, Part I: Realism, Teleology, and Action.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences

• Schmaus, Warren, 2016, “Durkheim on the Methods of Scientific Sociology.” Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Social Science (eds. L. McIntyre and A. Rosenberg)

• Greenwood, John G., 2003, “Social Facts, Social Groups, and Social Explanations.” Nous

• Weber, Max 1922/1994, “'Objectivity' in Social Science and Social Policy.” Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science (eds. M. Martin and L. McIntyre)

• Oakes, Guy, 1977, “The Verstehen Thesis and Foundations of Max Weber’s Methodology.” History and Theory

• Fay, Brian, 2016, “Verstehen and the Reaction against Positivism.” Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Social Science (eds. L. McIntyre and A. Rosenberg)

• Khalifa, Kareem, 2019, “Is Verstehen Scientific Understanding?” Philosophy of the Social Sciences

Methodology in the Social Sciences: Individualism vs. Holism  

• Watkins, John, 1957/1999 “Methodological Individualism and Social Tendencies.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science

• Popper, Karl, 1957, “The Logic of the Social Sciences.” The Philosophy of the Social Sciences (eds. Martin Hollis and Steve Smith)

• Ylikoski, Petri, 2016, “Methodological Individualism.” Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Social Science (eds. L. McIntyre and A. Rosenberg)

• Zahle, Julie, and Kincaid, John, 2019, “Why be a Methodological Individualist?” Synthese

• Zahle, Julie, 2021, “Limits to Levels in the Methodological Individualism-Holism Debate.” Synthese

Unity/ Disunity of Science

• Oppenheim, Paul and Hilary Putnam, 1958, “The Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis.” Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 2 (ed. Herbert Feigl)

• Fodor, Jerry, 1974, “Special Sciences, or the Disunity of Science as a Working Hypothesis”, Synthese

• Dupré, John, 1995, “The Disorder of Things: Metaphysical Foundations of the Disunity of Science.” Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association

• Shapiro, Lawrence A., 2005, “Can Psychology be a Unified Science?” Philosophy of Science

Natural Kinds, Human Kinds, and Looping Effects (2 classes)

• Hacking, Ian, 1995, “The Looping Effects of Human Kinds.” Causal Cognition: A Multidisciplinary Debate

• Hacking, Ian, 1999, “Madness: Biological or Constructed?” The Social Construction of What?

• Cooper, Rachel, 2004, “Why Hacking is Wrong about Human Kinds.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science

• Khalidi, Muhammad Ali, 2013, “Interactive Kinds.” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science

• Tekin, Serife. 2014. “The Missing Self in Hacking’s Looping Effects.” The Classification of Psychology (eds. Jacqueline Sullivan and Harold Kincaid)

• Tsou, Jonathan Y., 2025, “Hacking on Looping Effects and Kinds of People”

Objects of Social Science Research: The Reflexivity of Human Subjects

• Giddens, Anthony, 1993, “Reflexivity and Reflexive Research: The Personal and Political in Social Research.” Sociological Review

• Gergen,. Kenneth J., 2001, “The Reflexive Turn: Reflections on the Reflexive Turn in Psychology” Theory & Psychology

• Johnson, Michael B., 2004, “Reflexivity and the Construction of Research Findings: An Exploration of the Researcher's Role.” Qualitative Inquiry

• McLeod, Michael B., 2005, “Reflexivity and Self-Reflexivity in Social Research: A Reconsideration.” International Journal of Social Research Methodology

Objects of Social Science Research: Reactivity (2 classes)

• Marchionni, Caterina, Julie Zahle, and Marian Godman, 2024, “Reactivity in the Human Sciences.” European Journal for Philosophy of Science

• Jimenez-Buedo, Maria, 2021, “Reactivity in Social Science Experiments: What it is and How is it Different (and Worse) than Placebo Effects.” European Journal for Philosophy of Science

• Runhardt, Rosa W., 2023, “Legitimate Reactivity in Measuring Social Phenomena: Race and the Census.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences

• Runhardt, Rosa W., 2021, “Reactivity in Measuring Depression.” European Journal for Philosophy of Science.” European Journal for Philosophy of Science

• Feest, Uljana, 2022, “Data Quality, Experimental Artifacts, and the Reactivity of the Psychological Subject Matter.” European Journal for Philosophy of Science

• Zahle, Julie, 2023, “Reactivity and Good Data in Qualitative Data Collection.” European Journal for Philosophy of Science

Functional Human Kinds

• Hacking, Ian. 1991. “A Tradition of Natural Kinds.” Philosophical Studies

• Boyd, Richard. 1991. “Realism, Anti-Foundationalism and the Enthusiasm for Natural Kinds.” Philosophical Studies

• Millikan, Ruth G. 1999. “Historical Kinds and the ‘Special Sciences.’” Philosophical Studies

• Boyd, Richard. 1999. “Kinds, Complexity, and Multiple Realization: Comments on Millikan’s ‘Historical Kinds and the Special Sciences.’ Philosophical Studies

• Tsou, Jonathan Y., 2020, “Social Construction, HPC Kinds, and the Projectability of Human Categories.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences

Social Construction: The Construction of Human Categories

• Hacking, Ian, 1999, “Why Ask What?” The Social Construction of What?

• Mallon, Ron, 2007, “A Field Guide to Social Construction.” Philosophy Compass

• Asta, 2013, “The Social Construction of Human Categories.” Hypatia

• Haslanger, Sally, 2012, “Gender and Race: (What) Are They? (What) Do We Want Them to be?" Resisting Reality

Social Ontology: Foundations

• Searle, John, 2006, “Social Ontology: Some Basic Principles.” Anthropological Theory

• Thomasson, Amie, 2003, “Foundations for a Social Ontology,” Protosociology

• Epstein, Brian, 2016, “Social Ontology.” Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Social Science (eds. L. McIntyre and A. Rosenberg)

• Baker, Lynne Rudder, 2019, “Just What is Social Ontology?” Journal of Social Ontology

Social Ontology: Social Kinds (2 classes)

• Searle, John, 1995, “The Building Blocks of Social Reality” The Construction of Social Reality (ch. 1)

• Haslanger, Sally, 2012, “Social Construction: Myth and Reality”, Resisting Reality

• Khalidi, Muhammad Ali, 2013, “Kinds in the Biological and Social Sciences.” Natural Kinds and Human Kinds

• Khalidi, Muhammad Ali, 2015, “Three Types of Social Kinds.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

• Mason, Rebecca, 2016, “The Metaphysics of Social Kinds.” Philosophy Compass

• Asta, 2017, “Social Kinds.” Routledge Handbook of Collective Intentionality

Social Ontology: Collective Intentionality

• Tollefson, Deborah, 2001, “Collective Intentionality and the Social Sciences.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences

• Tomasello, Michael, and Hannes Rakoczy, 2003, “What Makes Human Cognition Unique? From Individual to Shared to Collective Intentionality.” Mind & Language

• Meijers, Anthony W. M., 2003, “Can Collective Intentionality be Individualized?” American Journal of Economics and Sociology

• Kern, Andrea, and Henrike Moll, 2017, “The Transformative Character of Collective Intentionality and the Uniqueness of the Human.” Philosophical Psychology

Philosophy of History: Narrative Explanation (2 classes)

• Hempel, Carl, 1942, “The Function of General Laws in History.” Journal of Philosophy

• Dray, William 1954, “Explanatory Narrative in History” Philosophical Quarterly

• Kern, Andrea, and Henrike Moll, 2017, “The Transformative Character of Collective Intentionality and the Uniqueness of the Human.” Philosophical Psychology

• Mink, Louis O, 1966, “The Autonomy of Historical Understanding.” History and Theory

• Danto, Arthur, 1985, “Historical Explanation: The Problem of Laws and The Role of Narratives.” Chaps. 10-11 in Narration and Knowledge

• Roth, Paul A., 1988, “Narrative Explanations: The Case of History.” History and Theory

Philosophy of Economics: Foundations

• Hausman, Daniel A., 1989, “Economic Methodology in a Nutshell” Journal of Economic Perspectives

• Mill, John Stuart, 1844/ 2012, “On the Definition and Method of Political Economy.” The Philosophy of Economics (ed. Daniel A. Hausman)

• Weber, Max, 1904/ 2012, “Objectivity and Understanding in Economics.” The Philosophy of Economics (ed. Daniel A. Hausman)

• Marx, Karl, 1844/ 2012, “Selected Texts on Economics, History, and Social Science.” The Philosophy of Economics (ed. Daniel A. Hausman)

Philosophy of Economics: Testability and Prediction

• Friedman, Milton, 1966, “The Methodology of Positive Economics.” Essays in Positive Economics

• Simon, Herbert A. , 1963, “Testability and Approximation.” The Philosophy of Economics (ed. Daniel A. Hausman)

• Hausman, Daniel A. , 1992, “Why Look Under the Hood?” The Philosophy of Economics (ed. Daniel A. Hausman)

• Hands, D. Wade, 2010, “Popper and Lakatos on Economic Methodology.” The Philosophy of Economics (ed. Daniel A. Hausman)

Philosophy of Economics: Happiness Research

• Alexandrova, Anna, 2005, “Subjective Well-Being and Kahneman’s ‘Objective Happiness’.” Journal of Happiness Studies

• Barrota, Pierluigi, 2008, “Why Economists Should be Unhappy with the Economics of Happiness,” Economics and Philosophy

• Anger, Erik, 2013, “Is it Possible to Measure Happiness? The Argument from Measurability.” European Journal for Philosophy of Science

•  Stutzer, Alois, and Frey, Bruno S., 2012, “Recent Developments in the Economics of Happiness: A Selective Overview,” Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Discussion Paper

Philosophy of Psychology: Foundations

• Feigl, Herbert, 1959, “Philosophical Embarrassments of Psychology.” American Psychologist

• Danziger, Kurt, 1990, “The Quest for the Golden Age: Psychology's Myth of Progress.” History of Psychology

• Hatfield, Gary, 1994. “Philosophy of Psychology as Philosophy of Science.” Philosophy of Science

• Hatfield, 2002, “Psychology, Philosophy, and Cognitive Science: Reflections on the History and Philosophy of Experimental Psychology.” Mind & Language

Philosophy of Psychology: Cross-Cultural Psychology

• Kagitcibasi, Cigdem, and J. W. Berry, 1989, “Cross-Cultural Psychology: Current Research and Trends.” Annual Reviews of Psychology

• Triandis, Harry C., 1999, “Cross Cultural Psychology.” Asian Journal of Social Psychology

• Keller, Heidi, and Patricia M. Greenfield, 2000, “History and Future of Development in Cross-Cultural Psychology.” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

• Ratner, Carl, and Lumei Hui, 2000, “Theoretical and Methodological Problems in Cross-Cultural Psychology.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour

• Washington, Natalia, 2016, “Culturally unbound: Cross-cultural cognitive diversity and the

science of psychopathology.” Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology

Philosophy of Psychology: Jung on Collective Consciousness

• Jung, Carl, 1936, “The Concept of the Collective Unconscious.” Reprinted in The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious 

• Jones, Rya, 2013, “Jung’s 'Psychology with the Psyche' and the Behavioral Sciences.” Behavioral Sciences

• Mills, Jon, 2019, “The Myth of the Collective Consciousness.” Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences

Philosophy of Psychology: Reductionism vs. Holism

• Bechtel, William, 1994, “Reductionism, Holism, and the Psychology of Science.” Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology

• Sawyer, R. Keith, 2002, “Emergence in Psychology: Lessons from the History of Non-Reductionist Science.” Human Development

• Bickle, John, 2003, “The Emergence of Higher-Order Cognitive Processes: A Challenge to Reductionism.” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

• Barendregt, Marko, and J. F. Hans van Rappard, 2004, “Reductionism Revisited: On the Role of Reduction in Psychology.” Theory & Psychology

Philosophy of Psychology: Operationalism

• Buss, David, 1969, “The Operational Definition of Psychological Concepts.” Psychological Review

• Wilson, E. B., 1990, “Critiques of Operationalism and Their Implications for Psychological Research.” Theory & Psychology

• Feest, Uljana (2005) “Operationism in Psychology: What the Debate is About, What the Debate Should be About,” Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences

• Green, Christopher D. (1992) “Of Immortal Mythological Beasts: Operationalism in Psychology,” Theory & Psychology

Philosophy of Psychology: Revolutions and Paradigm Change

• Buss, Allan R. (1978) “The Structure of Psychological Revolutions,” History of the Behavioral Sciences

• Flanagan, Owen J., 1981, “Psychology, Progress, and the Problem of Reflexivity: A Study in the Epistemological Foundations of Psychology,” Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences

• Leahey, Thomas H., 1992, “The Mythical Revolutions of American Psychology,” American Psychologist

Philosophy of Cognitive Science: The Mind and AI

• Putnam, Hilary, 1967/1975, “The Nature of Mental States.” Mind, Language and Reality

• Fodor, Jerry, 1981, “First Approximations.” The Language of Thought

• Dennett, Daniel C., 1981/1997, “True Believers: The Intentional Strategy and Why it Works.” Mind Design II (ed. John Haugeland) 

• Searle, John, 1990, “Is the Brain a Digital Computer?” Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association

Philosophy of Cognitive Science: Embodied Cognition

• Noe, Alva, 2006, “Precis of Action in Perception.” Psyche

• Chemero, Anthony, 2001, “Dynamical Explanation and Mental Representations,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 

• Chemero, Anthony, 2009, “Embodied Cognition and Radical Embodied Cognition.” Radical Embodied Cognitive Science

• Foglia, Lucia, and Robert A. Wilson, 2013, “Embodied Cognition.” Wires Cognitive Science  

Philosophy of Cognitive Science: Neuroscience

• Churchland, Paul, 1984, “Eliminative Materialism.” Matter and Consciousness 

• Churchland, Paul, 1981, “Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes.” Journal of Philosophy

• Bickle, John, 2001,  “Understanding Neural Complexity: A Role for Reduction.” Minds and Machines

• Bechtel, William, and Jennifer Mundale, 1999, “Multiple Realizability Revisited: Linking Cognitive with Neural States.” Philosophy of Science

• Chirimuuta, Mazviita, 2014, “Minimal Models and Canonical Neural Computations: The Distinctness of Computational Explanation in Neuroscience.” Synthese 

Philosophy of Medicine: Reductionism vs. Holism

• Andersen, Hanne, 2001, “The History of Reductionism versus Holistic Approaches to Scientific Research.” Endeavor

• Lloyd, Elisabeth A., 2002, “Reductionism in Medicine: Social Aspects of Health.” Promises of Reductionism in the Biomedical Sciences

• Schaffner, Kenneth F., 2002, “Reductionism, Complexity and Molecular Medicine: Genetic Chips and the ‘Globalization’ of the Genome.” Promises of Reductionism in the Biomedical Sciences

• Beresford, Mark J., 2010, “Medical Reductionism: Lessons from the Great Philosophers.” QJM

Philosophy of Medicine: Epidemiology

• Broadbent, Alex, 2009, “Causation and Models of Disease in Epidemiology.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Science

• Kaplan, Jonathan Michael, and Sean A. Valles, 2021, “Reflecting on What Philosophy of Epidemiology is and Does, as the Field Comes into its Own.” Synthese

• Valles, Sean A., 2021,  “A Pluralistic and Socially Responsible Philosophy of Epidemiology Field Should Actively Engage with Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities.” Synthese

Philosophy of Medicine: Medical Nihilism (2 classes)

• Stegenga, Jacob, 2018, “Medical Nihilism” Medical Nihilism

• Gillies, Donald, 2019, “Review of Medical Nihlism.” Metascience

• Fuller, Jonathan, 2020, “What is the Right Dose?” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Science

• Solomon, Miriam, 2020, “After Medical Nihilism” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Science

• Healy, David, 2020, “Is Operationalism the Answer to Nihilism?” Studies in History and Philosophy of the Biological and Biomedical Science

• Gabriel, Joseph M. , 2020, “Historical Scholarship and the Question of Effectiveness.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Science

• Stegenga, Jacob, 2020, “Reply to Critics.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Science

• Devanesan, Arjun, 2020, “Medical Nihilism: The Limits of a Decontextualized Critique of Medicine.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Science

• Upshur, Ross, and Maya Goldenberg, 2020, “Countering Medical Nihilism by Reconnecting Facts and Values.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science

Philosophy of Medicine: Placebo Effects

• Kienle, Gunver S., and Helmut Kiene, 1997, “The Powerful Placebo Effect: Fact or Fiction?” Journal of Clinical Epidemiology

• Miller, Franklin G., Luana Colloca, and Ted J. Kapchuk, 2009, “The Placebo Effect: Illness and Interpersonal Healing.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

• Blease, Charlotte, 2018, “Consensus in Placebo Studies: Lessons from the Philosophy of Science.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

• Chiffi, Daniele, and Renzo Zanotti, 2017, “Knowledge and Belief in Placebo Effect.” Journal of Medicine and Philosophy

• Friesen, Phoebe, 2020, “Towards an Account of the Placebo Effect: Critical Evaluation Alongside Current Evidence.” Biology & Philosophy

Philosophy of Psychiatry: Placebo Effects

• Weimer, Katja, Luana Colloca, and Paul Enck, 2015, “Placebo Effects in Psychiatry: Mediators and Moderators.” Lancet Psychiatry

• Kirsch, Irving, 2014, “Antidepressants and the Placebo Effect.” Zeitschrift für Psychologie

• Blease, Charlotte, and Kirsch, Irving, 2016, “The Placebo Effect and Psychotherapy: Implications for Theory, Research, and Practice.” Psychology of Consciousness\

Philosophy of Psychiatry: Philosophy of Psychoanalysis

• Grunbaum, Adolf. 1979. "Is Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory Pseudo-Scientific by Karl Popper's Criterion of

Demarcation?" American Philosophical Quarterly

• Flax, Jane 1981 "Psychoanalysis and the Philosophy of Science: Critique or Resistance?" Journal of Philosophy

• Laor, Nathaniel 1985. "Psychoanalysis as Science: The Inductivist's Stance Revisited"

• Buzzoni, Marco 2001 "The Operationalistic and Hermeneutics Stance of Psychoanalysis" Journal for General Philosophy of Science

Philosophy of Psychiatry: Definitions of Mental Disorder

• Boorse, Christopher 1976 "What a Theory of Mental Health Should Be." Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior

• Wakefield, Jerome 1992 “The Concept of Mental Disorder: On the Boundary between Biological Facts and Social Values.” American Psychologist

• Gert, Bernard, and Culver, Charles M. 2004 "Defining Mental Disorder". Philosophy of Psychiatry: A Companion (ed. Jennifer Radden)

• Tsou, Jonathan Y. 2021. "Defining Mental Disorder" Philosophy of Psychiatry

• Cooper, Rachel 2020. "The Concept of Mental Disorder Revisited: Robustly Value-Laden Despite Change." Aristotelian Society Supplement

Philosophy of Psychiatry: Natural Kinds

• Zachar, Peter, 2001, “Psychiatric Disorders are not Natural Kinds.” Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology

• Haslam, Nick, 2002, “Kinds of Kinds: A Conceptual Taxonomy of Psychiatric Categories.” Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology

• Tsou, Jonathan Y., 2016, “Natural Kinds, Psychiatric Classification, and the History of the DSM.” History of Psychiatry

•  Tekin, Serife, 2016, “Are Mental Disorders Natural Kinds? : A Plea for a New Approach to Intervention in Psychiatry.” Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology

• Tsou, Jonathan Y., 2022, “Biological Essentialism, Projectable Human Kinds, and Psychiatric Classification.” Philosophy of Science

Philosophy of Psychiatry: Psychiatric Classification Beyond the DSM

• Tabb, Kathryn,  2016, “Psychiatric Progress and the Assumption of Diagnostic Discrimination.” Philosophy of Science

• Tsou, Jonathan Y., 2021, “Psychiatric Classification and the Pursuit of of Diagnostic Validity.” Philosophy of Psychiatry

• Solomon, Miriam, 2022,  “On Validators for Psychiatric Categories.” Philosophy of Medicine 

Philosophy of Anthropology: Foundations

• Geertz, Clifford , 1977/1994, “Thick Description: Towards an Interpretative Theory of Culture.” Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science (eds. Michael Martin and Lee C. McIntyre)

• Roth, Paul. 1989. “Anthropology Without Tears.” Current Anthropology

• Risjord, Mark. 2007. “Scientific Change as Political Action: Franz Boas and the Anthropology of Race.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences

Philosophy of Anthropology: Cultural Relativism (2 classes)

• Boas, Franz, 1911, “Racial Prejudice.” The Mind of Primitive Man

• Risjord, Mark, 2007, “Scientific Change as Political Action: Franz Boas and the Anthropology of Race.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences 

• Benedict, Ruth, 1934, “The Individual and the Pattern of Culture.” Patterns of Culture 

• Geertz. Clifford, 1984, “Anti Anti-Relativism.” American Anthropologist 

• Donelly, Jack, 1984, “Cultural Relativism and Universal Human Rights.” Human Rights Quarterly 

• Spiro, Melford E., 1986, “Cultural Relativism and the Future of Anthropology.” Cultural Anthropology

Philosophy of Anthropology: Archaeology

• Salmon, Merrilee H., 1990, “On the Possibility of Lawful Explanation in Archaeology.” Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science (eds. Michael Martin and Lee C. McIntyre)

• Salmon, Merrilee H (1993). “Philosophy of Archaeology: Current Issues.” Journal of Archaeological Research

• Wylie, Alison, 1989, “Archaeological Cables and Tacking: The Implications of Practice for Berstein’s ‘Options beyond Objectivism and Relativism’.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences

• Wylie, Alison, 1994, “Evidential Constraints, Pragmatic Objectivism in Archaeology” Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science (eds. Michael Martin and Lee C. McIntyre)

Philosophy of Political Science: Foundations

• Verbeek, Bruno, and McIntyre, Lee, 2017, “Why is there No Philosophy of Political Science?” Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Social Science (eds. L. McIntyre and A. Rosenberg)

• Pozzoni, Gianluca, 2021, “What, If Anything, is Philosophy of Political Science?”  Philosophy of the Social Sciences

• Merriam, Charles E., 1993,  “Recent Advances in Political Methodology.” Discipline and History (eds. J. Farr and R. Seidelman)

• Lowi, Theodore J., 1992,  “The State in Political Science: How We Become What We Study.” American Political Science Review 

• Elster, Jon, 1982, “The Case for Methodological Individualism.” Theory & Society

Philosophy of Biology: Human Nature

• Maynard Smith, John, 1984, “Science and Myth.” Natural History

• Hull, David, 1986, “On Human Nature” PSA 1986

• Fox Keller, Eveln, “Gender and Science: Origin, History, and Politics,” Osiris

• Stein, Edward, 1998, “Essentialism and Constructionism about Sexual Orientation”, The Philosophy of Biology (eds. David Hull and Michael Ruse)

• Dupre, John, 2015, “Pluralism and Process in Understanding Human Nature”, Rivista di Filosofia Neo-Scolastica

Philosophy of Biology: The Human Genome Project

• Kitcher, Philip, 1995, “Who’s Afraid of the Human Genome Project?”, PSA 1994

• Paul, Diane B., 1994, “Is the Human Genetics Disguised Eugenics?”, Genes, Humans, and Self-Knowledge

• Lloyd, Elisabeth A., 1994, “Normality and Variation: The Human Genome Project and the Ideal Human Type”, Are Genes Us?

• Rosenberg, Alexander, 1996, “The Human Genome Project: Research Tactics and Economic Strategies,” Social Philosophy and Policy

Philosophy of Biology: Evolutionary Psychology and its Critics.

• Cosmides, Leda and Tooby, John, 2013, “Evolutionary Psychology: New Perspectives on Cognition and Motivation” Annual Reviews of Psychology

• Griffiths, Paul E., 1996, “The Historical Turn in the Study of Adaptation”. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science

• Gould, Stephen J., and Lewontin, Richard, 1979, “The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

• Lloyd, Elisabeth, 1999, “Evolutionary Psychology: The Burdens of Proof”.” Biology & Philosophy

Philosophy of Biology: Evolutionary Ethics and Altruism

• Darwin, Charles, 1871, “On the Development of the Intellectual and Moral Faculties During Primeval and Civilized Times.” Descent of Man (ch. 5)

• Richards, Robert J., 1986. “A Defense of Evolutionary Ethics.” Biology & Philosophy

• Campbell, Richmond, 1996. “Can Biology Make Ethics Objective?” Biology & Philosophy

• Tsou, Jonathan Y., 2025, “Philosophical Naturalism and Empirical Approaches to Philosophy.” The Cambridge Handbook of Analytic Philosophy (ed. Marcus Rossberg)

Philosophy of Biology: Mechanisms

• Machamer, Peter K., Lindley Darden, and Carl F. Craver, 2000, “Thinking about Mechanisms”, Philosophy of Science, 67:1–25.

• Glennan, Stewart, 2002, “Rethinking Mechanistic Explanation”, Philosophy of Science, 69: S342–S353

• Bechtel, Willian and Adele Abrahamsen, 2005, “Explanation: A Mechanistic Alternative”, Studies in History and Philosophy of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 36: 421–441.

• Craver, Carl F. 2006, “When Mechanistic Models Explain”, Synthese, 153: 355–376.

Transformative Experience

• Paul, L. A. 2015, “What You Can’t Expect When You’re Expecting”, Res Philosophica, 92(2): 149–170.

• Paul, L. A. 2015, “Precis of Transformative Experience”

• Barnes, Elizabeth, 2015, “What You Can Expect When You Don’t Want to be Expecting.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

• Campbell, John, 2015, “L. A. Paul’s Transformative Experience.”

• Reuters, Kevin, and Messerli, 2018, “Transformative Decisions.” Journal of Philosophy

Foucault’s History of Madness

• Foucault, Michel, 1972. History of Madness, Jean Khalfa (ed.), Jonathan Murphy and Jean Khalfa (trans.), New York: Routledge, 2006.

• Gutting, Gary, 2006. “Foucault and the History of Madness.” Cambridge Companion to Foucault.

Philosophy of AI Systems

• Cummins, Robert, and Pollock, John (eds.) (1991). Philosophy and AI. MIT Press.

Course Schedule

Classes meet on Thursdays, 4:00-6:45 pm, in JO 4.112

Week 1        Aug 22        Introduction to the course/ Comte

Week 2        Aug 29        Durkheim/ Weber

Week 3        Sep 5           Individualism vs. Holism

Week 4        Sep 12         TBA

Week 5        Sep 19         TBA

Week 6        Sep 26         TBA

Week 7        Oct 3           TBA

Week 8        Oct 10         TBA, Writing Assignment 1 Due

Week 9        Oct 17         TBA

Week 10      Oct 24         TBA

Week 11      Oct 31         TBA

Week 12      Nov 7          TBA, Writing Assignment 2 Due

Week 13      Nov 14        No class – instructor away

Week 14      Nov 21        No class – Thanksgiving

Week 15      Nov 28        TBA

Week 16      Dec 5           Optional Class

Exam week Dec 14         ** Final Paper Due, Thurs, Dec 12, 2024 **

Letter Grade         Range        

A                             90-100

A-                            86-89

B+                           82-85

B                             78-81

B-                            74-77

C+                           70-73

C                             62-69

F                              0-61

Academic Integrity and Dishonesty

The value of this course depends on each student doing his or her own work. Academic dishonesty undermines individual learning and is unfair to the other students in class. Academic dishonesty in any form—including plagiarism, collusion, cheating, and misrepresentation—will not be tolerated and will lead to failure in the course and being reported to the Dead of Students. For information on academic dishonesty, see UTD’s Academic Integrity and Academic Dishonesty pages. Students are expected to abide by UTD’s Student Code of Conduct and the Comet Creed: “As a Comet, I pledge honesty, integrity, and service in all that I do.”

Class Attendance and Participation

Students are expected to attend class regularly and be prepared to discuss the course materials. Students who fail to participate in class regularly are inviting scholastic difficulty. A portion of the grade for this course is directly tied to your attendance and participation. It also includes engaging in group or other activities during class that solicit your feedback on materials covered in the lectures.

Classroom Conduct

During class, please turn off your phones, and do not send text messages, surf the internet, or check email. During classroom discussions, please be courteous and respectful towards your peers and instructor.

Disability

It is the policy and practice of UTD to make reasonable accommodations for students with properly documented disabilities. However, written notification from the Office of Student Accessibility (OSA) is required. If you are eligible to receive an accommodation and would like to request it for this course, please discuss it with me and allow one week advance notice. Students who have questions about receiving accommodations, or those who have, or think they may have, a disability (mobility, sensory, health, psychological, learning, etc.) are invited to contact OSA for a confidential discussion. OSA is located in the Student Administration Building, AD 2.224. They can be reached by phone at 972-883-2098, or by email at studentaccess@utdallas.edu. 

Academic Support Resources

If you require academic support, please see the University’s Student Services and Support and Student Success Center pages.

Please note: The descriptions and timelines contained in this syllabus are subject to change at the discretion of the Professor.