Philosophy and Science of Human Nature

Professor Gendler begins with brief introductory remarks about the course’s methodology, explaining the approach that wa... Read more

After introducing Plato's Republic, Professor Gendler turns to the discussion of Glaucon's challenge in Book II. Glaucon... Read more

Professor Gendler explains the interdisciplinary nature of the course: work from philosophy, psychology, behavioral econ... Read more

Professor Gendler explores some aspects of the question of what sorts of non-rational persuasion are legitimate for a go... Read more

In this concluding lecture, Professor Gendler charts four paths through the course. The first path traces how the course... Read more

Professor Gendler begins by recapping the topic of state legitimacy and then offers a way of understanding the disagreem... Read more

Robert Nozick’s Anarchy, State, and Utopia is presented as a counterpoint to Rawls’ A Theory of Justice. In contrast to ... Read more

The discussion of Kant from last lecture continues with a statement and explication of his first formulation of the cate... Read more

The discussion of the legitimacy of government is continued with an introduction to a major 20th century work of politic... Read more

Two game theoretical problems--the Prisoner’s Dilemma and the Problem of the Commons--are explored in detail. Both colle... Read more