committee
Thomas Christiano (head of major committee), David Schmidtz
Shaun Nichols (head of minor committee), Mark Timmons
I had the freedom to choose
the major and minor areas, as well as my exam committee.
how the exams were conducted
NB: Exam format and
exam schedule have since changed (including the institution of standardized
reading lists), so this does not accurately reflect the department's
current policies.
There were three
exams: two written, followed by one oral. (total of ~10 hrs of exams.)
Questions were not given ahead of time.
At the major written exam, I had to answer four questions in four hours. (ended
up with 4700 words total.)
At the minor written exam, I had to answer three questions in three hours. (ended
up with 4100 words total.)
At the subsequent oral exam (which was to last between two and four hours),
with all four committee members present, I mainly had to defend my written
answers
(although
anything
on my
reading
list
was
fair game).
1st written exam (minor) was held on May 2, 2007
2nd
written exam (major) was held on May 7, 2007
The oral exam was held on May 16, 2007
reading list for major area: contemporary political philosophy
I. Classical Liberalism
Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State
and Utopia
G.A. Cohen, "Robert Nozick and Wilt Chamberlain: How Patterns
Preserve Liberty"
Friedrich Hayek, Constitution of Liberty
II. Political Liberalism
John Rawls, Political Liberalism
Joseph Raz, The Morality of Freedom
III. Contractarianism
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice
Gregory Kavka, Hobbesian Moral and Political Theory
David Gauthier, Morals by Agreement
IV. Egalitarianism
Ronald Dworkin, Sovereign Virtue: The Theory and Practice of Equality
G.A. Cohen, "On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice," Ethics 99
(1989): 906-944.
Amartya Sen, "Equality of What?"
V. Desert
David Miller, Principles of Social Justice
David Schmidtz, "How to Deserve," Political Theory, Vol.
30, No. 6 (Dec., 2002), pp. 774-799
VI. Utilitarianism
Robert Goodin, Utilitarianism as a Public Philosophy
VI. Communitarianism
Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice
Michael Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits
of Justice
VII. Postmodernism
Iris Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference
reading list for minor area: cognitive science
I. Moral Judgment
Sentimental Rules, Shaun Nichols
"The Emotional Dog and Its Rational Tail," Jonathan Haidt
"How (and where) does moral judgment work?" Joshua Green and J. Haidt
"An fMRI Investigation of Emotional Engagement in Moral Judgment," Joshua
Greene
II. Inference, Reasoning, and Judgment
"Simple Heuristics that Make us Smart," Gigerenzer
and Todd
"Judgmental Heuristics and Knowledge Structures" in Human
Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgement,
Nisbett and Ross
"Framing Moral Intuitions," Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
"Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases," Tversky & Kahneman
III. Developmental Psychology
"Understanding of Social Rules" (development
of social cognition), J. Smetana
IV. Mindreading/ Simulation
"Folk Psychology as Simulation," Robert
Gordon
"Interpretation Psychologized," Alvin Goldman
V. Empathy
"Empathy, Minds, and Morals," Alvin Goldman
The Altruism Question, Dan Batson
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