Ph.D.

Comprehensive Exam

Information and Reading List

Dept. of Philosophy
Marquette University
 Marquette Philosophy Department

General Information about the Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination

The Purpose of the Examination: To ascertain whether and to what

extent the student (1) has mastered the various areas of the history of
philosophy and its problems and (2) has developed a scholarly and
integrated stance on some of the main problems in philosophy.

General Structure of the Examination: The exam will consist of five

parts, four of which are to be written and the remaining one oral.

a. Written: A three-hour examination on each part according to the

following schedule:
1. Problems in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy: five questions
in each area (total of ten questions); four questions must be answered,
including at least one from each problem area.
2. Problems in Modern and Contemporary Philosophy: Three
areas: Modern Philosophy; 19th and 20th Century Continental Phi-
losophy; and 19th and 20th Century Anglo-American Philosophy.
Four questions in Modern Philosophy; Three questions in 19th and
20th Century Continenal Philosophy; Three questions in 19th and
20th Century Anglo-American Philosophy (total of ten questions).
Four questions must be answered, including at least one from each
area.
3. Systematic Problems: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Philosophy
of Science, Philosophy of Language, and Logic: five questions in
metaphysics, four questions in epistemology, and three in philosophy of
science/philosophy of langauge/logic (total of twelve questions). Four
questions must be answered, including at least one from metaphysics
and at least one from epistemology.
4. Systematic Problems: Ethics, Social and Political philosophy,
Aesthetics: Five questions in ethics, four in social and political philoso-
phy, and three in aesthetics (total of twelve questions); four questions
are to be answered, including at least two from ethics and one from
either of the remaining areas.
b. Oral: A 50-75 minute examination before a three-person Examining
Committee. This is part V of the Comprehensive Exam. The other
four parts are written. It will be graded in the same manner as the
Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam 

four written parts, that is, as a single independent component of the

Comprehensive Exam.

At the time a candidate signs up for the Ph.D. comprehensive exami-
nation, the candidate must consult with the Director of the Graduate
Program to receive approval by the Director for his or her choice of
area(s) for the oral part [part V] of the exam. The committee for the
oral examination will ordinarily be the committee which graded the
written part which is within the area of specialization chosen by the
candidate for the oral. For example, if a candidate chooses Ancient
Philosophy as his or her area to be examined on the oral, then the
Problems in Ancient and Medieval Committee [part 1] will conduct
the oral examination. The Graduate Director may appoint a separate
committee for the oral if the Director believes none of the four com-
mittees in place for the written exam is appropriate to question the
candidate for the oral given the candidate's approved area(s) of choice.
Questions will be restricted to the chosen area(s). During the actual
exam it will be the responsibility of the committee chair to determine
the appropriateness of questions.

c. The Examining Committees for parts I and II will construct their

respective part of the written examination from the Ph.D. Reading
list in the history of philosophy. Note that the history of philosophy
reading list is required, the systematic reading list is recommended.
d. Additional Regulations and Guidelines
The examinee must have completed 80% of his/her course work and
must have fulfilled both language requirements before attempting
the Comprehensive Examination. All Ph.D. students should take the
Comprehensive Exam no later than the end of the semester following
the completion of their course work and foreign languages.

The Comprehensive Examination will be offered twice a year, usually

in September and March. Students who wish to take the exam must
notify the Philosophy Department at least one month before the date
of the initial part of the exam. Each committee for all five parts will
consist of three persons.
 Marquette Philosophy Department

The written parts of the examination must be completed within a

twelve-day period. Parts I and II will be taken the first week. Parts III
and IV will be taken the second week. The time, date, and room for
parts I-IV will be posted at least 28 days before the date for part I.
Ordinarily, there will be at least a five-day interval between the first
two parts of the exam and parts three and four. The fifth (oral) part
must be taken no later than 14 days following completion of part
four. The results of the oral (part five) will be given to the examinee
following its completion.

The examinee must pass all parts to pass the Comprehensive Exami-
nation. A mean grade of BC [2.50 on a 4.0 GPA scale] is the passing
grade for each part. No more than one grade on each part may be
below a BC.

If two parts or fewer are failed, those parts only are required to be
retaken, and may be retaken only once. If three, four or five parts are
failed, then the whole exam must be retaken and may be retaken only
once. The candidate may retake the exam at the next scheduled time
it is offered. However, the second attempt must occur within one
calendar year after the first attempt has occurred. A second failure of
a part or parts constitutes a second failure of the whole exam. If this
is the case, the person ordinarily will not be allowed to continue in
the program.
DGS’s unofficial note: All questions on Parts 1 and 2 should be
answerable on the basis of the readings for those sections (although
it certainly may be both possible and appropriate to bring in other
readings with which you are familiar). Accordingly, these readings are
required. The readings for Parts 3 and 4 are recommended readings.
Basically, you should be familiar with key issues and philosophical
strategies for dealing with these issues. You should be able to outline
alternative arguments, show their merits and demerits, and to take and
defend a philosophical position of your own. The reading list is meant
to be an aid in preparing for this, but the readings are not required.
You may well find the background you need elsewhere.
Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam 

Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam Reading List

Part I: Ancient & Medieval

A. Required Selections in Ancient Philosophy

Pre-Socratics: G.S. Kirk and J.E. Raven, The Presocratic Philosophers: the
chapters, “Heraclitus of Ephesus” and “Parmenides of Elea.”
Plato (recommended edition: The Collected Dialogues of Plato. Edited by
Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns, New York : Pantheon Books,
c1961): Euthyphro, Phaedo, Parmenides (to 135B), Crito, Republic, 1-7,
Sophist, Meno, Theatetus, Timaeus (to 56A).
Aristotle (recommended edition: The Complete Works of Aristotle : The Re-
vised Oxford Translation. Edited by Jonathan Barnes, Princeton, N.J.
: Princeton University Press, c1984): Categories 1-5; Posterior Analytics
1.1-10, 13; 2.1-2,19; Physics 1.1, 1.7-9; 2.1-3. 3, 3.6; 4.11; 5.1; 8.1-6,
10; De Anima 1.1; 2.1-7,11-12; 3.1-10; Metaphysics 1.1-3.1; 4.1-3, 5.7,
12; 6.1; 7.1-8.6, 9.8; 12.1, 6-10; Nicomachean Ethics 1-2.7; 3.1-5; 6-7.5;
8.1-3; 10.4-9; Politics 1.1-2.5; 7.1-3
Plotinus: Enneads IV.8 and V.1-2 (recommended edition: the A. H. Arm-
strong translation in the Loeb Classical Library, Harvard U.P., vols.
IV-V
Stoics: Hellenistic Philosophy: Introductory Readings; translated, with introduc-
tion andnotes, by Brad Inwood and L.P. Gerson, 2nd ed., pp. 132-155;
175-191, 197-206

B. Required Selections in Medieval Philosophy*

Augustine: (1) On Free Will 2 (recommended edition: On Free Choice of the Will;
trans. Anna S. Benjamin and L.H. Hackstaff, New York: Macmillan Publishing
Co., c1985; (2) Confessions 6-12 (recommended: The Confessions of St. Augustine,
trans. John K. Ryan, New York: Doubleday, 1960 and the translation by Maria
Boulding, in John E. Rotelle (ed.), The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation
For the 21st Century, Brooklyn, N.Y. : New City Press, c1990-, vol.1); (3) City
of God 19 (recommended edition: Concerning the City of God Against the
Pagans; trans. Henry Bettenson; Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England:
 Marquette Philosophy Department

Penguin Books, 1984.

Anselm: Proslogion 1-4. (A recommended edition is St. Anselm’s Proslogion With
a Reply On Behalf of the Fool by Gaunilo; trans. M. J.Charlesworth.)
Avicenna: (1) The Healing, Metaphysics 1.6-7; 6.1-2 (Hyman & Walsh,
pp.241-255); (2) “On the Rational Soul.” In: Dimitri Gutas, Avicenna
and the Aristotelian Tradition. Introduction to Reading Avicenna’s Philosophi-
cal Works, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1988, pp. 72-87. (3) Michael E. Marmura,
“Avicenna’s ‘Flying Man’ in Context,” The Monist, 69 (1986) pp. 383-
395.
Averroes: The Decisive Treatise; Selections from A Treatise Concerning the
Substance of the Celestial Sphere (De substania orbis) and from the Long
Commentary on the De Anima. All three pieces in Hyman & Walsh pp.
297-334; Al-Farabi: “Intentions of Aristotle’s Metaphysics.” In: Dimitri
Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition. Introduction to Reading
Avicenna’s Philosophical Works, Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1988, pp. 240-242.
Al-Ghazali: Selections from Deliverance from Error, Hyman & Walsh pp.
267-283.
Maimonides: Guide of the Perplexed, I,chaps. 52-60 (trans. Shlomo Pines).
Thomas Aquinas: (1) Summa theologiae 1.1-16, 19, 25, 44-46, 75-87,
104-105;1-2.1-20, 58-60, 90-97. (A recommended edition is Summa
theologica; translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province,
Westminster, Md. : Christian Classics, 1981, c1948). 2); On Being and
Essence. (A recommended edition is On Being and Essence; translated by
Armand Maurer, 2nd rev. ed, Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval
Studies, 1968)
Duns Scotus: Selections from The Oxford Commentary on the Four Books of
the Sentences, Hyman & Walsh, pp. 602-646.
William of Ockham: All the selections assembled in Hyman & Walsh, pp.
653- 700.
*”Hyman & Walsh” refers to Arthur Hyman & James J. Walsh, Philosophy
in the Middle Ages. The Christian, Islamic,and Jewish Traditions, 2nd edi-
tion, Hackett.

Recommended Secondary Literature: Ancient and Medieval

Guthrie, W. K. C., A History of Greek Philosophy. Cambridge, University
Press,1962-1981.
Long, A. A., Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics. 2nd ed. Berke-
ley: University of CaliforniaPress, 1986.
Wallis, R.T. Neoplatonism. 2nd ed. London: Duckworth; Indianapolis, Ind.:
Hackett, 1995.
Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam 

Maurer, Armand. Medieval Philosophy. 2nd ed., Toronto: Pontifical Institute

of Mediaeval Studies, 1982.
S. Nasr & O. Leaman (eds.), History of Islamic Philosophy. London-New
York: Routledge, 1996.
Gilson, Etienne. The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas. 5th ed..
rev., New York: Random House, 1956.
Adams, Marilyn McCord.William Ockham. Notre Dame, Ind.: University
of Notre Dame Press, 1987.
Wolter, Allan Bernard, The Philosophical Theology of John Duns Scotus. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 1990.

Part II: Modern and 19th & 20th Century Philosophy

A. Required Selections in Modern Philosophy

Descartes: Meditations (recommended edition: trans. John Cottingham,
either in The Philosophical Writings of Descartes or in Meditations on First
Philosophy with Selections from the Objections and Replies. Also dependable
is the translation by Donald A. Cress in Hackett).
Hobbes: Leviathan I and II.
Leibniz: Monadology (recommended translation in: Philosophical Essays, trans.
Ariew & Barber in Hackett.)
Spinoza: Ethics I and II (recommended edition: Ethics, Treatise on the
Emendation of the Intellect, and Selected Letters, trans. Samuel Shirley, in
Hackett.)
Locke: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Hackett abridged edi-
tion by K. Winkler)
Berkeley: Principles of Human Knowledge, including the Introduction.
Hume: Treatise of Human Nature, Introduction and Book I.
Kant: (1) Critique of Pure Reason, (through the Transcendental Dialectic) (rec-
ommended edition: trans. Paul Guyer & Allen W. Wood; the translations
by N. Kemp Smith and by W. Pluhar are also acceptable); (2) Foundations
of the Metaphysics of Morals, Preface, I - III. (Trans. Lewis White Beck)
Hegel: Phenomenology: Preface, Introduction, Sense-Certainty, Lordship
and Bondage, The Unhappy Consciousness, and Absolute Knowledge.
(A recommended translation with commentary (without the Preface)
is: Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit: Selections, translated and annotated
by Howard P. Kainz. A recommended translation with commentary of
the preface is found in W. Kaufmann, Hegel: Reinterpretation, Texts, and
Commentary. A recommended translation of the whole work is the one
by J.B. Baillie,
 Marquette Philosophy Department

The Phenomenology of Mind. An online version, in a translation by A.V.

Miller, is also available.
Mill: Utilitarianism; On Liberty, chaps 1, 2, 4.

B. Required Selections in 19th and 20th Century Continental

Nietzsche: Genealogy of Morals (recommended: trans. W. Kaufmann &
Hollingdale)
Kierkegaard: Fear and Trembling (all available translations are acceptable).
Husserl: Cartesian Meditations (trans. D. Cairns)
Habermas: Postmetaphysical Thinking: Philosophical Essays, trans. William
M. Hohengarten, sections 1, 3, 6.
Heidegger: Being and Time, sections 1-4, 18, 25-27, 29, 31-34, 38, 40, 44, 50-
53, 57, 60, 62. (In the translation either of Macquarrie or Stambaugh)
Merleau-Ponty: The Phenomenology of Perception, (trans. Colin Smith),
Preface, and Part II, sections 1, 3, 4.
Sartre: Being and Nothingness (trans. Hazel E. Barnes): Part I, chap. 1, pp.3-
29; Part III, chap. 1, sect. IV, pp. 252-271; Part IV, chap. 1, sec. I, pp.
433-444, 476-481. (The page numbers correspond to the hard-bound
edition in the Philosophical Library)
Foucault: The Order of Things, Preface, chapters 1 (“Las Meninas”), 2 (“The
Prose of the World”), and 10 (“The Human Sciences”).
Levinas: (1) Totality and Infinity. An Essay On Exteriority, (trans. A. Lingis):
section 1A4 (“Metaphysics Precedes Ontology”), and IIIB (“Infinity
and the Face”); (2) Otherwise Than Being, (trans. A. Lingis): chap.IV
(“Substitution”)

C. Required Selections in 19th and 20th Century Anglo-Ameri-

can
Peirce: (1) “The Fixation of Belief ”; (2) “How to Make Our Ideas Clear”
Both In: Ch. S.Peirce, Collected Papers, Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP,
1960, vol 5
James: Pragmatism
Dewey: (1) “The Need for a Recovery of Philosophy,” in The Middle Works,
1899-1924, v. 10; (2) “The Pattern of Inquiry,” in Logic: The Theory
of Inquiry (Also in The Later Works,1925-1953, vol. 12.) (Both essays
are also found in On Experience, Nature, and Freedom, in the Library of
Liberal Arts)
Ayer: Language, Truth, and Logic (2nd ed.). (Introduction, Chapters 1 and
2)
Frege: “On Sense and Reference.” In: Translations From the Philosophical
Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam 

Writings of Gottlob Frege, ed. by Peter Geach and Max Black, Oxford,
Eng.: Blackwell, 1980
Moore: “A Defense of Common Sense,” in Philosophical Papers, New York:
Macmillan, 1959.
Russell: The Problems of Philosophy.
Wittgenstein: Philosophical Investigations, paragraphs 1-315. (trans. G.E.M.
Anscombe)
Quine: (1) “Two Dogmas of Empiricism.” In: From a Logical Point of View;
(2) Word and Object, Chap. 2

Recommended Secondary Literature: Modern

Cambridge Companions (one for each philosopher on the list); Descartes,
Hobbes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Locke, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Mill
F. C. Copleston, A History of Philosophy, vols. 4, 5, 6, 7(1)

Recommended Secondary Literature: 19th and 20th Century

Continental
Cambridge Companions for Marx, Nietzsche, Husserl, Habermas, Heidegger,
Sartre, Foucault, Kierkegaard.
F.C. Copleston, A History of Philosophy, Vol. 7 (2) (Kierkegaard,
Nietzsche).
Vincent Descombes, Modern French Philosophy (Merleau-Ponty, Foucault,
Derrida).
Hubert Dreyfus, Being-in-the World: A Commentary on Heidegger’s Being
and Time.

Recommended Secondary Literature: 19th and 20th Century

Anglo-American
Cambridge Companions for Wittgenstein, William James
John Smith, The Spirit of American Philosophy (Peirce, James, Dewey)
John Passmore, A Hundred Years of Philosophy (Russell, Moore, Ayer, Austin,
Wittgenstein)

Suggested Reading Lists for Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination,

Parts III & IV
Part III: Systematic Problems: Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Phi-
losophy of Science; Philosophy of Language, and Logic
(Please Note: All readings for Parts III and IV are suggested, not required.)
10 Marquette Philosophy Department

A. Metaphysics
Richard Taylor, Metaphysics (4th ed.)
Martin Heidegger, An Introduction to Metaphysics (trans. Fried and Polt)
Michael Loux, Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction
Jaegwon Kim, Philosophy of Mind
Louis Pojman, ed., Philosophy of Religion. An Anthology, sections 1-5
Robert Sokolowski, The God of Faith and Reason; Foundations of Christian
Theology
B. Epistemology
Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge
(trans. Bennington & Massumi )
Keith Lehrer, Theory of Knowledge
Paul Moser, and Arnold Vander Nat, eds., Human Knowledge: Classic and
Contemporary Approaches
Louis Marie Regis, Epistemology (trans. Imelda Choquette Byrne in Christian
Wisdom Series [MacMillan])
Articles on memory, introspection, perception, and induction: 1. Memory: entry
in Encyclopedia of Philosophy (P. Edwards, ed.); 2. Introspection: Sidney
Shoemaker, A First-person Access, in Philosophical Perspectives, vol. 4, 1990
(Online Journal; download and print from MARQCAT); 3. Perception:
entry in Encyclopedia of Philosophy (P. Edwards, ed.); 4. Induction: entry
in Encyclopedia of Philosophy (P. Edwards, ed.)

C. Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Language, and Logic

Karel Lambert and Gordon Brittan, Introduction to the Philosophy of Science,
4th ed.
Robert Hollinger, A. David Kline, E. D. Klemke (Eds), Introductory Readings
in the Philosophy of Science (3rd ed.)
A. P. Martinich, ed., The Philosophy of Language, 3rd ed.
Karl-Otto Apel, Selected Essays, (ed. by E. Mendieta), vol. I, essays 1-5
R.I.G. Hughes, A Philosophical Companion to First Order Logic
Ernest Nagel and James R. Newman, Gödel’s Proof
Any good standard logic text of the sort used in Phil 001 such as Hurley,
Logic; Kelly, Art of Reasoning; or Copi, Introduction to Logic.

Part IV. Systematic Problems: Ethics, Political

Philosophy, and Aesthetics

A. Ethics
Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, 2nd edition
Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam 11

J.J.C. Smart and Bernard Williams, Utilitarianism. For and Against

Alan Donagan, The Theory of Morality.
John Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights, Part II
Joseph P. DeMarco and Richard M. Fox, eds., New Directions in Ethics. The
Challenge of Applied Ethics.
Peter Singer, ed., A Companion to Ethics
Anthony J. Lisska, Aquinas’s Theory of Natural Law. An Analytic Reconstruc-
tion
B. Political Philosophy
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, part I (complete) and sec. 82
Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia, chapters 1-7
Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference, chapters 1, 5, 6
Michael Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice
Alan Gewirth, “The Basis and Content of Human Rights,” in Human Rights:
Essays on Justification and Applications
Ronald Dworkin, “Taking Rights Seriously,” in Taking Rights Seriously
Charles W. Mills, Blackness Visible: Essays on Philosophy and Race, chapters 2
(“Alternative Epistemologies”) and 3 (“’But What Are You Really?’”)
Nancy Tuana and Rosemarie Tong, eds., Feminism and Philosophy: Essential
Readings in Theory, Reinterpretation, and Application, chapters 1, 2, 5,
and 9
Thomas Gilby, Between Community and Society. A Philosophy and Theology
of the State

Philosophy of Law
(Following traditional practice, questions in this area may appear either
in the section IV.A on Ethics or IV.B on Political Philosophy)

Andrew Altman, Arguing About Law: An Introduction to Legal Philosophy

R.A. Duff and David Garland, A Reader on Punishment (Oxford Readings
in Socio-Legal Studies)
John Arthur and William Shaw, Readings in the Philosophy of Law, 2nd
Edition
Anthony J. Lisska, Aquinas’s Theory of Natural Law. An Analytic Reconstruc-
tion

C. Aesthetics
Stephen David Ross, ed., Art and Its Significance, third edition
Susan L. Feagin and Patrick Maynard, eds., Aesthetics
Umberto Eco, The Aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas (trans. Hugh Bredin)

12 Marquette Philosophy Department

Supplement: A List of Typical Topics

For Part III:

A. Metaphysics: free will, determinism, fatalism; universals and par-
ticulars; God: nature and existence of; causation, first cause, teleology,
chance; substance, essence, matter; problem of evil; existence of the
external world; the mind/body problem, the soul, immortality; human
nature, personhood, personal identity, freedom; identity of physical
objects, qualitites; space, time, infinity; realism, anti-realism, ideal-
ism, materialism, empiricism; nature of the mental; Being vs. beings;
History of Being, oblivion of Being; Being and becoming; appearance
and reality; being and thinking; Being and the ought

B. Epistemology: analysis of knowledge; truth, theories of (corre-

spondence theory, etc.); foundationalism, coherentism, reliabilism;
phenomenalism; scepticism; theory of abstraction; social epistemology;
memory; testimony; belief; epistemic justification; a priori knowledge;
introspection; perception; induction (Hume’s problem and the “new
riddle”); naturalized epistemology
C. Philosophy of Science: explanation and prediction; confirmation;
the science/non-science distinction; the observational/theoretical dis-
tinction; scientific realism vs. scientific anti-realism; the nature and
structure of scientific theories; theoretical reduction; relativism and
paradigms; induction; inference to the best explanation; objectivity,
values and theory change; science, teleology, and functionalism; the
relation of science to metaphysics (e.g., the void, atomism, etc.)
D. Philosophy of Language: meaning; intention; convention; refer-
ence; speech acts/performatives; proper names; propositional attitudes;
private language; fictional discourse; metaphor; intensionality/exten-
sionality; demonstratives and indexicals; analyticity
E. Logic and Philosophy of Logic: the laws of contradiction, the ex-
cluded middle, and identity; logical paradoxes; the viability of modal
and deviant logics; logic and ontology; existential import; Russell’s
theory of types; Russell’s theory of descriptions; Gödel’s theorems;
logical truth; the justifiability of deduction; the nature of proof;
mathematics, logic, and set theory: their relations
Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam 13

For Part IV:

A. Ethics: psychological and rational egoism; realism and relativism;
deontology; consequentialism; utilitarianism; natural law theory; virtue
theory; issues in business ethics; bioethics; nuclear deterrence theory;
abortion; euthanasia; affirmative action; the principle of double effect
and various applications of  it; environmental ethics; sexual ethics;
the ethics of war and peace; methods of justification in ethics, e.g.,
coherentism and foundationalism.
B. Political Philosophy: social contract theory; anarchism; con-
servatism; socialism; libertarianism; liberalism; communitarianism,
Marxism; feminism; multiculturalism; theories of political obliga-
tion; autonomy; democracy; distributive justice; liberty; equality;
property; power; theories of rights; welfare; the state; efficiency;
totalitarianism; secession and nationalism; federalism; republicanism.
C. Philosophy of Law (Following traditional practice, topics in this
area may appear either in the section IV.A on Ethics or IV.B on Political
Philosophy): theories of law e.g., natural law theory, legal positivism,
law as integrity, critical legal studies, critical race theory, formalism,
legal realism, the economic approach to law, feminist jurisprudence;
philosophical issues in criminal law, e.g., theories of punishment:
retributivism, deterrence theory, rehabilitation; criminal liability;
philosophical issues in civil law: e.g., torts, property; philosophical
issues in constitutional law, e.g., liberty and its limits: speech and
privacy; race, equality, and the constitution.
D. Aesthetics: definition of a work of art; nature and evaluative im-
port of forgery; censorship; metaphor; the logic of fictional discourse;
ontology of fictional characters, objects, etc., definition of literature;
the role of the author’s/artist’s intentions in interpretation/evaluation;
validity in interpretation; the ontology of art; feminism and art; multi-
culturalism and art; general canons of aesthetic evaluation; the nature
of beauty; the aesthetics of nature; definition of aesthetic experience;
the nature of aesthetic properties; aesthetic relativism; the relation
of aesthetic judgment to moral judgment; cognitive and affective
theories of aesthetic value; the justification of aesthetic interests; the
relation of art to the aesthetic; the nature of pictorial representation.