Issues in Bioethics In this course, we will look at when medicine departs from its usual purpose of prolonging life and treating disease/injury, as well as how to distribute medical resources needed for that purpose. First, when should medicine be used not to avoid death, but to bring it about? We will discuss abortion and euthanasia. Second, when should medicine be used to change our physical condition, in non-disease/injury contexts? We will discuss the nature of disability and the permissibility of human enhancement. Finally, we will look at how we should distribute medical resources in a variety of contexts, including triage, vaccine distribution and the anti-vax movement, Third World clinical trials, and blood donations, as well as how structural inequalities hamper just resource distribution.

Social Metaphysics Social metaphysics focuses on the nature of social kinds and phenomena, including race, gender, sexual orientation, groups, teams, organizations, institutions, virtual artifacts, games, social relationships, governments, nations, and cultures. In this seminar we will focus on the ways such kinds are constructed via social norms and conventions, whether social kinds have essential properties, and what mental states are needed to sustain them. We will also consider how social kinds structure relations of power as well as our lived experiences, and the relations of dependence between social kinds and material artifacts. Students will be introduced to different methodological approaches to these issues, including methodological individualism, holism, conceptual engineering, and descriptive meta-ontology.

Knowledge and Reality This course will introduce students to central issues in epistemology (the philosophical study of knowledge) and metaphysics (the philosophical study of reality). We will examine philosophical answers to some of the following questions: What is knowledge? How do we know what we know? How does knowledge differ from mere opinion? Does reality exist independently of our minds? When is it rational to believe something? What is the nature of time, causality, and possibility? Are our actions freely chosen or determined by natural forces? Do abstract entities-such as numbers and universals-exist?

Environmental Ethics In this course we will explore a variety of moral questions that arise in connection to the environment and our relationship to it. Questions may include: What are our moral obligations to the environment? What is the moral status of non-human animals, and how should we take their welfare into account? Do we have a duty to be vegetarian/vegan? What should we do about climate change? How should we respond to climate change deniers? What role should technology play in combating climate change? Is biodiversity intrinsically or only instrumentally valuable?; What duties do we have to future generations? The primary goal of this course is to engage in an overview of philosophically and ethically significant questions about the environment and our relation to it.

Introduction to Modern Logic Logic is concerned with good reasoning; as such, it stands at the core of the liberal arts. In this course we will develop our reasoning skills by identifying and analyzing arguments found in philosophical, legal, and other texts, and also by formulating our own arguments. We will use the formal techniques of modern propositional and predicate logic to codify and test various reasoning strategies and specific arguments. No prior knowledge of logic, formal mathematics, or computer science is presupposed in this course, which does not count towards the PHL distribution requirement but instead towards the deductive reasoning requirement.

Philosophy of Technology n this course we will explore a number of philosophically and ethically significant questions about the nature of technology and how it interacts with, improves, harms, and ultimately structures our individual lives and society, generally. The answers to the questions pursued in this course lie somewhere between two common attitudes towards technology: an unbridled optimism that technology will improve our lives and a romanticized Ludditism that desires a return to pre-technological human society. While there is much to appreciate and much to criticize about modern technology, both appreciation and criticism need to be tempered with critical and rational reflection. Specific topics include ethics of artificial intelligence, ethical design, genetic engineering and human nature, technologizing cognition, technology in politics, technology creep.

Tim Juvshik

Reviews and ratings for Tim Juvshik at Middlebury College.Tim Juvshik teaches Issues in Bioethics, Social Metaphysics, Knowledge and Reality and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Tim Juvshik good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

Fairly easy course, especially for those who excel in math. Professor explains things clearly, and is always available to help. Juvshik is an entertaining, engaging professor. At times, however, the class moved a little too slowly -- especially in the first half of the semester.

Wasn't really hard until the last two weeks. Juvshik paces pretty well as there's a decent amount of solving problems in class. He does show a clear preference for students, and there are some different treatments. He also often shows up with a resting b face and he happens to not like you it's gonna be tough. 

This course was interesting and the readings and papers weren't demanding. However, Juvshik is pretty harsh on his students, which isn't the best. Overall, discussions were very interesting and the main points for discussion were listed on the board during every class, which kept the class on track and structured. 