Philosophy

Session I  (June 3 - June 28)

PHIL 243 - Teleporters and Time Travel:  The Metaphysics Behind Science Fiction

Eugene Marshall, Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Characters on Star Trek use teleporters for instantaneous travel; Doctor Who and friends regularly travel through time and alter history; and many science fiction stories ask whether robots or even people could be free and moral beings even if they are caused to act as they do, whether by their programming or other antecedent causes. These recurring issues in science fiction are in fact philosophical; more exactly, they are questions of metaphysics, the study of the foundations of reality. In this course, we'll look at some of these pressing philosophical issues. We'll consider these stories as thought experiments with which we can test and explore various theories about the foundations of reality. We'll investigate a variety of philosophical theories on issues of identity, necessity, possible worlds, causation, freedom, and time travel. We'll also consider the role and nature of these thought experiments themselves: what role should they play in our theorizing?

Meeting times: M,W,Th  9:00 - Noon

Location: FND 319

Credit: 1.0 unit (4 sem. hrs.)

Tuition: $2,300

Registration Fee: $50 (non-refundable)