Syllabus (Version 1)

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Conference Time and Location
Tue, Thu 10:30-11:50
Capehart Room (Winch Hall, East Entrance)

Topics

This course serves as an introduction to some of the most significant problems in epistemology, the philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and ethics. Questions we will consider include: What does it mean for us to possess knowledge or reasonable beliefs? Are we capable of knowing many, or even any, of the things we take ourselves to know? What are the defining features of mentality? How are our minds related to our material bodies and brains? Are digital computers in principle capable of thought? Is freedom in action, freedom in choice, or morally responsible conduct possible in a deterministic world, or even in a world governed by the type of indeterminacies posited by contemporary quantum mechanics? What does morality demand of us, and do we have any reason to act as morality demands? Are moral claims systematically false, are they true only relative to some background framework or culture, or do they posses some form of robust objectivity? What constitutes the continued existence of a person over time? Is it in principle possible for us to survive the death of our material bodies?

Required Books

All of the following sources are, or soon will be, available at the Reed Bookstore. If you purchase copies of Descartes and Kant elsewhere, be sure to acquire the editions published by Cambridge University Press, edited by Cottingham and Gregor respectively.

Course Requirements

• Regular attendance and participation. Please bring assigned readings to class.

• Four papers.

• A three-hour take-home final exam. Study questions will be distributed ahead of time.

• 10 course-related emails: On ten occasions during the semester, you should send me an email concerning some of the readings assigned for the upcoming class. Emails should be brief (i.e., between six sentences and two mid-sized paragraphs) and are due by 9AM on the day of the relevant class. Emails will be evaluated on the basis of completeness (did you send ten over the course of the semester?) and the extent to which they involve serious engagement with the assigned readings and the philosophical problems they raise. Emails will not be graded for correctness. Above all, don’t be scared to ask “stupid” questions. Surprisingly often, questions of this sort are probing and insightful. If you are confused about something, this is probably true of many of your classmates. There is also a genuine possibility that the text in question is itself confused or opaque. I will not respond to your emails individually, but will try to address them in class. Note: The subject line for your 10 course-related emails should contain 'Phil 200' and nothing else.

• A philosophy journal: Prior to ten class sessions, you should write up notes that outline central material from some of the assigned texts. You are also encouraged to include questions about the readings, as well as broader questions focused on the underlying philosophical issues. At some point after the relevant class session, you should write a brief commentary on your notes. In your commentary, you can refine, revise, or expand your initial notes, and address some of the questions they raise. With appropriate citation, your commentary can quote or paraphrase material from handouts distributed in class. You should feel no pressure to agree with the material in these handouts. If your intellectual conscience dictates, you are strenuously encouraged to outline your disagreements with this material. Your notes and associated commentary for a given class session should be 1-2 single-spaced pages in length. You can submit your philosophy journal in installments, or as a complete document. I would prefer to receive typed copies of your journals, though I will gladly accept legible, handwritten versions. As long as your journal entries are accessible to a reader, they need not be in fully formed expository prose. Outline format is fine. Though I will not comment on your journal entries, I would be happy to discuss them in person. The criteria used to assess your course-related emails will also be used to evaluate your philosophy journal. Note: It is permissible for entries in your philosophy journal to overlap with your course-related emails.

• I will be compiling a glossary of philosophical terms for our course website. Though you are not required to do so, I would be grateful if you would send email listing any confusing philosophical terminology that you encounter in the assigned readings or in class sessions.

Grading Policy

Paper 1 (1 page): 5%

Paper 2 (1 page): 5%

Paper 3 (5-7 pages): 30%

Paper 4 (5-7 pages): 30%

Final exam: 15%

Conference participation, course-related emails, and philosophy journal: 15%

• Note: You must complete all four papers and the final exam to receive credit for this course.

Lateness Policy

So that you don’t have to worry about groveling for extensions that you genuinely deserve, I provide all of you with a quota of five extension days, which can be distributed among your four papers and your philosophy journal. Each 24-hour period after a deadline, including weekends, counts as one extension day. There is no need to ask for an extension. In handing in your work, simply note the number of extension days you have taken. Be responsible with your quota. If you have used it up, there will be a penalty for each day that an assignment is late, and this penalty will only be waved under highly extenuating circumstances (e.g., appendicitis). Note: As a matter of official college policy, no work can be submitted after Thursday, December 15th.

Course Outline, Readings, and Assignments

Most of the assigned readings can be found in the Course Reader. Be warned, however, that they are not always assigned in the order in which they are sequenced in the Reader. A few readings are not yet available, and will be distributed later in the term. These items are flagged with the symbol ‘[#]’.

EPISTEMOLOGY

The Problem of Induction

9/1 (Thu): Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section IV only; Russell, “On Induction.”

9/6 (Tue): Pascal, “The Wager.” Salmon, “Pragmatic Justification” [#].

9/8 (Thu): Strawson, “The ‘Justification’ of Induction;” Stroud, “The Negative Phase;” Goodman, “The New Riddle of Induction.”

Topics for Paper 1 to be distributed.

The Problem of the External World

9/13 (Tue): Descartes, Meditations, Meditation 1 only; Stroud, “The Problem of the External World.”

9/15 (Thu): Russell, “The Existence of Matter;” Gettier, “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?”

9/16 (Fri): Paper 1 due.

9/20 (Tue): Nozick, “Knowledge and Skepticism.”

Topics for Paper 2 to be distributed.

PHILOSOPHY OF MIND

The Mind-Body Problem

9/22 (Thu): Descartes, Meditations, Meditations 2 and 6 only; Smart, “Sensations and Brain Processes.”

9/27 (Tue): Armstrong, “The Nature of Mind;” Lewis, “Mad Pain and Martian Pain” [#].

9/29 (Thu): Jackson, “Epiphenomenal Qualia;” Kripke, “Identity and Necessity” [#].

9/30 (Fri): Paper 2 due.

10/4 (Tue): Kripke, “Identity and Necessity” (read again) [#]

Computational Cognitive Science

10/6 (Thu): Searle, “Minds, Brains, and Programs;” Haugeland, “Syntax, Semantics, Physics;” Block, “Searle’s Arguments Against Cognitive Science.”

First set of topics for Paper 3 to be distributed.

METAPHYSICS

Free Will, Determinism, and Moral Responsibility

10/11 (Tue): Van Inwagen, “The Incompatibility of Free Will and Determinism;” Ayer, “Freedom and Necessity;” Chisholm, “Human Freedom and the Self,” Section 3 only.

10/13 (Thu): Frankfurt, “Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility;” Frankfurt, “Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person;” Pereboom, “Determinism al Dente,” Sections 1-2 only.

10/25 (Tue): Chisholm, “Human Freedom and the Self;” O’Connor, “Agent Causation;” “Determinism al Dente,” Sections 3 only.

10/27 (Thu): Strawson, “Freedom and Resentment;” “Determinism al Dente.” Introduction and Sections 4-8 only.

Second set of topics for Paper 3 to be distributed.

ETHICS

Utilitarianism and Consequentialism

11/1 (Tue): Smart, “An Outline of a System of Utilitarian Ethics” in Utilitarianism: For and Against, Sections 2-4, 6-7, 9-10 only.

11/3 (Thu): Williams, “A Critique of Utilitarianism” in Utilitarianism: For and Against, Sections 2-5 only; Foot, “Utilitarianism and the Virtues;” Scheffler, “Agent-Centered Restrictions, Rationality, and the Virtues.”

11/7 (Mon): Paper 3 due.

Moral Motivation

11/8 (Tue): Korsgaard, Introduction to Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, pp. vii-xv; Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Section I only.

11/10 (Thu): Hume, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Sections I-II, Appendices I-II; Nagel, “Moral Luck.”

Deontology

11/15 (Tue): Korsgaard, Introduction to Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, pp. xv-xxv; Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Section II only.

Moral Realism, Moral Relativism, and Moral Eliminativism

11/17 (Thu): Mackie, “The Subjectivity of Values;” Harman, “Ethics and Observation;” Sturgeon, “Moral Explanations.”

Topics for Paper 4 to be distributed.

METAPHYSICS (again)

Personal Identity

11/22 (Tue): Locke, “Of Identity and Diversity;” Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality, Nights 1 and 2 only.

11/29 (Tue): Williams, “The Self and the Future;” Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality, Night 3 only.

12/1 (Thu): Parfit, “Personal Identity.”

12/2 (Fri) Paper 4 due.

12/6 (Tue): Parfit, “Personal Identity” (read again).

Study Questions for the Final Exam to be distributed.

12/12 (Mon): Philosophy Journals, or their final installments, due.