Adam S. Cherensky ’93, “Believe me Alone! James Willfully Cries: Hume or Me!”
[for a paper on a comparison of William James' "The Will to Believe" and Hume]

Holly Hodgson ’96, “U Kant Touch This -M.C. Humer”
[for a paper on Kant's response to Hume]

Amy Cheng ’95, “Noumena, Schmounena, I’ll Take Phenomena”
[for a paper on Kant]

Abby Ramsden ’98, “I Kant Smile Without Hume: Variations on a tune by Barry Prolegomanilow”
[for a paper on Kant and Hume]

Kim Zelnick ’00, “Cogito Eggo Sum: I think I am a Waffle”
[for a paper on Descartes]

[Click here for the Williams Record report]

I argued for the hamentashen side, and despite giving a completely valid logical proof of the superiority of hamentashen, our side lost. Never overestimate the value of logic. Unwilling to surrender to injustice, I hereby offer the proof in an electronic version of print, in the hope that slowly, slowly, the truth will be understood and people convinced.

All that needs to be established, of course, is the first premise. Fortunately, my student Chuck Hagenbuch has done that in the eponymously named “Chuck Hagenbuch’s Winter Study project on logical puzzles”. The link to that site is on my Faculty Homepage. Go there, and work your way through to Grelling’s Paradox.

If you don’t understand the proof above, you are welcome to take Philosophy 103.

MWF 11:00 to 11:50 a.m. Griffin 7

David L. Smith, English and Steven B. Gerrard, Philosophy

BLINDING KNOWLEDGE: THE HUMANITIES RECONSIDERED

To know the truth, our tradition teaches, is the basis for freedom; and freedom is intrinsically a good, desirable thing. The benefits of knowledge seem obvious, yet the religious, philosophical, and political traditions of the West have been deeply preoccupied with its costs. The light of truth may blind the eyes.

This course will examine how the problem of knowledge has been addressed in some of the great works in the Western tradition. In particular, we will trace how the metaphors of light/darkness and master/slave have been used in philosophical and literary works concerned with knowledge, morality, and power. Beginning with the Bible and various mythological narratives, we will continue with Sophocles, Plato, Descartes, Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Hume, Hegel, Shelley, Melville, Twain, Nietzsche, Freud, Du Bois, and Ellison. In addition we will explore films, works of art and music. For example, we will investigate the relationship between master and slave in Hegel’s Phenomenology, Shakespeare’s Tempest, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. We will then compare those works with Boris Karloff’s film version of Frankenstein. We will also study two works of the contemporary artists Tony Oursler: one at MASS MoCA and the other at the Williams College Museum of Art.

This course is an introduction to some of the crucial themes, techniques, methods, and attitudes of the humanities, and will provide a basis from which students can pursue the humanities at Williams.

David L. Smith

Offices: Dean of the Faculty’s Office, 3rd floor, Hopkins Hall and Stetson F-10

Office Phone: 597-4351

Office Hours: Mondays, 9-10 a.m. in Hopkins Hall, and by appointment

e-mail: David.L.Smith@williams.edu or dlsmith@williams.edu

Steven B. Gerrard

Office: President’s office, 3rd floor Hopkins Hall

Office Phone: 597-4252

Office Hours: Mondays, 9:15-10:30, and by appointment

e-mail: Steven.B.Gerrard@williams.edu or sgerrard@williams.edu

Teaching Assistant: Anselm T. McClain

Phone: x2607

Dorm: Chadbourne 8

e-mail: 02atm@williams.edu

Readings: The following books should be purchased at Water Street Books:

Sophocles, Sophocles I: Three Tragedies

Descartes, Selected Philosophical Writings

Dostoevsky, Notes from the Underground

Shakespeare, The Tempest

Shelley, Frankenstein

Melville, Billy Budd and Other Tales

Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

Twain, Life on the Mississippi

Ellison, The Invisible Man

A packet of readings should be purchased in Stetson B4 (the same level as the upper parking lot). The contents of the packet are:

Bible, Genesis 1-4
Edith Hamilton, Mythology, selections
Plato, the “Meno”
Plato, the “Republic”, selections from Books IV and VII
Montaigne, “Of Cannibals”, selections
Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, selections
W. E. B. Du Bois, “Of the Coming of John”
Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols, selections
Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams and other selections from The Freud Reader

Two copies of the Labeltalk series, published by the Williams College Museum of Art, are on reserve in Sawyer Library.

Films: We will see five films in this class: Gospel at Colonus, Forbidden Planet, Frankenstein, Blade Runner, and Dr. Strangelove. The films will all be shown in the evening (the schedule is below). Popcorn will be provided. We recognize that sometimes people have other evening commitments, and all the films will also be available on reserve in Sawyer Library.

Class Listserver: Everyone should be enrolled in the class listserver: LIGHT-L. When you send an e-mail message to LIGHT-L it will be received by everyone in the class.

Assignments: There will be an assignment due each week, with the exception of Week Eleven (Thanksgiving). No late assignments can be accepted.

SCHEDULE

Overture: “Let there be light”

9/10 Introduction

Week One

9/13 Bible, Genesis 1-4 [in the packet]

Edith Hamilton, Mythology, selections [in the packet]

Plato, the “Meno” [in the packet]

9/15 “Meno”, continued

Plato, the “Republic”, selections [in the packet]

9/17 Plato, continued

A. Dark Places and the Natural Light of Reason

Week Two

9/20 No Class. Yom Kippur

9/21 Tuesday evening, 8:00, Gospel at Colonus

9/22 Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus [in Sophocles I]

9/24 Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy

Descartes, Discourse on the Method (for background reading)

Week Three

9/27 Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, continued

9/29 Field trip to MASS MoCA to see Optics by Tony Oursler

10/1 Descartes, Optics [in Selected Philosophical Writings]

Week Four

10/4 Introjection: Tony Oursler mid-career survey, 1976-1999

4:00 p.m. Discussion with Tony Oursler at the Williams College Museum of Art

10/6 Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground

10/8 Dostoevsky, continued

Week Five

10/11 Dostoevsky, continued

Mastery & Bondage

10/13 Hegel, selections from The Phenomenology of Spirit [in the packet]

10/15 Hegel, continued [Guest lecture by Mark Taylor (tentative)]

Week Six

10/18 No class Reading Period

10/20 Shakespeare, The Tempest

Montaigne, “Of Cannibals” [in the packet]

8:00 p.m.: Forbidden Planet

10/22 Shakespeare, continued…

Forbidden Planet

Week Seven

10/25 Shakespeare, continued

Forbidden Planet

10/27 Melville “Benito Cereno” [in Billy Budd and Other Tales]

10/29 Melville, continued

Du Bois “Of the Coming of John” [in the packet]

Week Eight

11/1 Melville and Du Bois, continued

11/3 Shelley, Frankenstein

11/4 Thursday evening, 8:00: Frankenstein

11/5 Shelley, continued

Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein

Guest Lecture by Shawn Rosenheim

Week Nine

11/8 Shelley and Frankenstein, continued

C. Knowledge, Desire and Limits

11/10 Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

11/11 Thursday evening, 8:00: Blade Runner

11/12 Hume, continued; Blade Runner

Week Ten

11/15 Hume and Blade Runner, continued

11/17 Twain, Life on the Mississippi, Chapters I- XXI (pp. 29-166)

11/19 Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams and other selections [in the packet]

(Guest Lecture: Susan Engel)

Week Eleven

11/22 Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols, selections [in the packet]

Freud, continued

11/23 Tuesday evening, 8:00: Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and

Love the Bomb

11/24 Freud, Nietzsche and Dr. Strangelove, continued

11/26 No class Thanksgiving Holiday

Week Twelve

11/29 Ellison, Invisible Man

12/1 Ellison, continued

12/3 Ellison, continued

Week Thirteen

12/6 Ellison, continued

12/8 Last Day of Class: Enlightened Darkness?

Back to Steve Gerrard’s home page.

address: Philosophy Department
Bucknell University
Lewisburg, PA 17837

occupation: assistant professor

Email address: rzuckert@bucknell.edu

In some ways, not much has changed for me with respect to philosophy since my first year at Williams: I read Kant then (in Laszlo Versenyi’s intro to philosophy class), got hooked, and haven’t let go since. After Williams, I did a second B.A. (in philosophy and German) at Oxford, on a scholarship from Williams. (A wonderful experience. It was helpful, in the end, for graduate school in that I was forced there to become acquainted with the core of analytic philosophy, and learned German. But the opportunity to live in Oxford for two years outweighs any such practical or professional advantages.) Currently, I am just finishing a Phd at University of Chicago in the philosophy department and in the Committee on Social Thought; my dissertation was on Kant’s third critique (I wrote my senior thesis at Williams on the first and second critiques). And, especially given the job market, I am very fortunate now to have a tenure-track job at Bucknell University (where I have, so far at least, taugh

I recommend Chicago to anyone who wants to go on to graduate school in German philosophy (Kant and after), and would be happy to answer questions about Chicago from anyone who is interested in applying there.

address: PO Box 669
Williamstown, MA 01267

occupation: CEO and co-founder of Geekcorps, a nonprofit dedicated to international digital divide issues.

Email address: ethan@geekcorps.org

I haven’t chosen to pursue philosophy on a graduate level – in fact, I was led astray from grad school (in the arts) years ago and haven’t looked back. I got seduced into the wild world of the Internet and have largely thought of my philosophy education only when folks ask me if I’ve got a degree in computer science, and I laugh and tell them I’m a recovering philosopher.

On further reflection, I think my experiences with philosophy at Williams have had at least two identifiable effects on my professional life. Most of my work in the Internet field has been under the heading of “Research and Development” (which I headed for tripod.com). The chief problem in R&D is problem identification. I figured out, at some point, that most of the interesting problems in software R&D are problems that interested me as a philosophy student: How come language is so easy for children to learn and so hard to teach to computers? What do we mean by “consciousness” anyway, and how important is it really? What would it mean for a piece of software to be intelligent? To be alive? I’m not convinced that Wittgenstein’s especially useful when you’re writing algorithms to group text by subject matter, but it interests and excites me that I’ve gotten to work on problems that intersect with the problems that fascinated me as an undergraduate.

Second, I’m not sure anyone that who majors in philosophy doesn’t have a massive overabundance of self-confidence. It requires a certain amount of hubris to decide that at 18, 20, 22, you have something meaningful to add to a debate about the nature of language, thought, existence, morality or God. This tendency to think big isn’t a bad thing, though, as you move on in life. My current project, Geekcorps, is a ludicriously big idea – essentially, we’re trying to build a digital-age Peace Corps and bridge the digital divide, worldwide. I don’t think it would be nearly as interesting an idea or project if it were smaller – wiring one town or one country, for instance. I think the reassurance we all got from studying philosophy at Williams – that it’s allowable and worthwhile to think really, really big – is an important and lasting factor in my thought and action.

address: 3201 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Apt. 101
Washington, DC 20016

occupation: Program Assistant, public policy think tank

Email address: rwiygul@wso.williams.edu

Email address: Aretoussa@yahoo.com

address: 8 Cottage Street 3rd Floor New Haven, CT 06511

occupation: Physician (currently 1st year resident in Medicine-Pediatrics program at Yale New Haven Hospital) Email address: daniel.weiswasser@umassmed.edu

I was a software consultant for two years in Boston following graduation from Williams. I then pursued post-bac pre-med coursework at Harvard while doing research in Reproductive Endocrinology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

I began medical school at UMass in 1996 and just started a four-year residency in the combined speciality of Medicine-Pediatrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

I enjoyed my time in philosophy at Williams, and, although I haven’t pursued my studies in philosophy academically, I like to think that many aspects of my philosophy training, especially in the areas of metaphysics and ethics, have played a strong role in my approach to medicine.

I have to admit that it is somewhat saddening that the only remaining person in the philosophy department with whom I studied is Prof. White. I had excellent experiences with Prof. White but Profs. Weissbord and Clayton also had strong impacts on me. Their scandalous departures remain sore spots (and not just for me, I’d imagine).

Please feel free to contact me at any time.

Dan Weiswasser ’92

daniel.weiswasser@umassmed.edu

occupation: Professor of Philosophy

Email address: michael.weber@yale.edu

address: 2119 Hearst Ave, #5
Berkeley, CA 94709

occupation: Law Student

Email address: rmvrudhu@home.com

I graduated in 1990, and then worked in a law firm for a year in Oakland, California. I then taught English as a Foreign Language in Bratislava, in the former Czechoslovakia. I returned to California, and went back to the same law firm for another year.

In 1993, I entered the University of Chicago’s MA-PhD program in English.
I received my Master’s Degree in 1994, and wrote my thesis on Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Ada under the direction of William Veeder.

I then began the long, sometimes painful journey of getting a doctorate! My subfields of specialization (the fields which I was tested in for my oral exams) were “Colonial/Postcolonial/Diasporic Subjectivity” (major list w/Homi Bhabha), “Modernism” (minor list w/Robert von Hallberg), and “Postmodernism” (minor list w/W.J.T. Mitchell). I should say that having a philosophy background, especially in continental philsophy and post-structuralist theory, helped me immensely while at Chicago. Literature programs in general want to produce theoretically sophisticated critics; often students in English departments have not studied “theory” to the extent that a philosophy student can. If some of you reading this do contemplate a similar path, having a philosophy background is extremely helpful. (I had to pick up a few literature courses at Berkeley before Chicago would let me in, but I never felt that I was at a disadvantage as compared to my peers from English departments).

I think that postcolonial theory in its various forms is dominating a number of academic conversations in literature (my view of course may be skewed). This theory is firmly based in a continental tradition extending back to Hegel and continuing up through Marx, Heidegger, Foucault, Derrida, Barthes, etc. I don’t know that many undergraduate literature departments provide the kind of exposure to these texts that a Philosophy department can (and which Williams did, at least when I was there).

After my oral exams, I wrote a novel entitled Samsara, which was published this year by a small press out of Chicago. This piece has a direct relationship to my undergraduate honors thesis at Williams, which is a (far too ambitious!!) intertextual exploration of deconstruction and Buddhist philosophy. The link: I did a lot of research on tantrism, which provided the historical background for at least part of my novel. The novel in general looks at life in the South Asian diaspora.

I began working for Prof. Bhabha as his research assistant in 1996, and began to formulate my dissertation topic. My dissertation was completed in December of 1999. The title is “The Bengali Babu: Ideology, Stereotype and the Quest for Authenticity in Colonial South Asian Literature.” My committe was comprised of my director, Prof. Bhabha, Dipesh Chakrabarty and Saree Makdisi. All this means that my academic specialty now is South Asian colonial and postcolonial literature and history. The link to Williams is again pretty clear to me, since I first came across “post-sructuralist” theories in the Philosophy and Religion departments, and also began my explorations of Indian philosophy, which developed into a keen interest in the re/production of colonial and postcolonial subjectivities.

Somewhere in the midst of all this academic research, I decided to go to law school. (I had the usual complaints about academia: low pay, no security, didn’t want to move off to God-knows-where.) I entered Boalt Hall School of Law at Berkeley in the Fall of 1999. This meant that for my first semester I was running home after my Torts or Property class or whatever and feverishly revising my dissertation to meet my final orals examination deadline. I don’t recommend this!!

I’m in my second year of law school. I plan to practice as a corporate attorney, and I am especially interested in venture financing, and high tech mergers and acquisitions. I plan to interview for positions both in the Bay Area and in New York City. As far as thhe applicability of a Philosophy degree to law school: the usual comments hold true. It does help with critical thinking and writing skills. I should say, though, that law school is not a terribly intellectual place, so that may be a little disappointing after a few years of philosophical reflection at Williams. It does, however, provide a world of readily apparent useful knowledge. (So does academic work, I think, but you have to do some explaining before it becomes obvious how.)

Rajiv