Welcome to Aaron Lambert's homepage

For Graham School Participants:

Autumn 2006: Contemporary Philosophy of Mind: A Short Introduction

"Are you interested in finding out about what contemporary philosophers of mind are saying about the mind-body problem? Would you like to read primary texts by some of the most influential philosophers working in this field today, in a non-technical and low-key discussion seminar? Would you like to tackle the long-standing problem of figuring out how consciousness is related to the physical world? Then this course may be for you. Each week we will take two influential texts (journal articles or book chapters) that are relatively recently published and which present opposing views on a key theme, and work slowly and carefully through the arguments. The course assumes no prior familiarity with the philosophy of mind, and can serve as a foundation course for more advanced studies, or stand on its own as an introduction."

Winter 2007:  Philosophy of Science: The Limits of Science: Understanding our World

"Are there limits to scientific understanding, or knowledge? Are there some questions that science cannot answer, and which require a different methodology and approach, questions concerning the nature of human endeavors and human affairs, and our place in the natural order? Is there a fundamental difference between the natural sciences and the human or social sciences? In a time when science and technology are coming to increasingly dominate our lives, and when scientific answers to every kind of question are bandied about with ever more authority in the media, it is becoming increasingly important to ask: Where does the rule of science begin, and end? This course will help provide some philosophical tools to answer this question."

Spring 2007:  Kant and Teleology: Intelligent Design vs. Natural Selection

"How or why was the universe created? How did intelligent life arise? One popular answer is that the 'Big Bang' theory and neo-Darwinian evolution imply the world arose by chance and we are nothing but complex law-governed mechanisms with no intrinsic purpose.  Another is that the complexity, intelligence and beauty of the world imply the existence of a creator God, or final cause.  Which is right? This course will critically assess both answers, drawing on philosophical texts ranging from ancient Greece to the present day, with a major focus on Immanuel Kant, whose naturalistic solution avoids God but, interestingly, requires both mechanistic and final causation."