Topic. This seminar will be organized around some of the most important arguments from the history of philosophy. For each argument, we will devote one seminar to discussing a proponent of the argument, and one or more subsequent seminars to discussing the work of a critic of the argument.
    In the first half of the course, our way into these arguments will be through a reading of Descartes' Meditations. We will begin by discussing Descartes' claim that (almost) all of what we think we know can be called into doubt; we will spend a few weeks discussing skepticism about various sorts of beliefs. We will then turn to a discussion of Descartes' arguments for the existence of God, which will be followed by a discussion of the central arguments for and against God's existence. Finally, we will discuss Descartes' argument that the mind is distinct from the body, and will close the first half of the semester by discussing the nature of persons.
   In the second half of the course, we will turn our attention to human action. We will begin by discussing free willl --- whether we have it, and whether it is compatible with either or both of determinism and divine foreknowledge of our actions. We will then turn to ethics. We will discuss the reality of moral facts and the connection between morality and the existence of God before closing the semester by discussing some issues in applied ethics, possibly including third world poverty and affirmative action.
   A principal aim of the course will be to teach students to recognize and produce good arguments. We will spend a bit of time at the beginning of the course, and occasionally throughout, discussing what good arguments are, and why they might be worth pursuing.    

Texts. Students will be required to purchase Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy and Peter van Inwagen's Metaphysics. Other readings will be made available in PDF form via links from the syllabus.

Assignments. There will be four written assignments. The first will be a short 1-2 page assignment worth 10% of the grade; the next three will each be 5-7 pages in length, and worth 25% of the grade. Late papers will be penalized 3 points/day, including weekends. The remaining 15% of the grade will be given on the basis of class attendance and participation. In all of their assignments, students are responsible for compliance with the University’s honor code, information about which is available at http://www.nd.edu/~hnrcode/. You should also review the philosophy department guidelines regarding plagiarism.