Syllabus
(for a general course description, click here)

Date

Topic

Reading
orange=optional
Handouts & assignments
Tuesday, January 15 Introduction to the course none  
Thursday, January 17 What are paradoxes? none An introduction to paradoxes
Some examples of solved paradoxes
Paradoxes of space & time

Tuesday, January 22
Zeno's paradoxes of motion & the possibility of infinite tasks

Sainsbury, Paradoxes ch. 1
Russell, "The problem of infinity considered historically"

Zeno's paradoxes
Thursday, January 24 McTaggart's proof of the unreality of time

McTaggart, "Time" (from The Nature of Existence)
van Inwagen, "Temporality"

McTaggart's proof
Tuesday, January 29 Time travel and the paradoxes of special relativity

Einstein, Relativity: The Special & General Theory (excerpt)
Lewis, "Paradoxes of time travel"
Horwich, "Time travel"
Arntzenius & Maudlin, "Time travel and modern physics"

Special relativity & associated paradoxes
Paradoxes of time travel
Thursday, January 31 Class cancelled

Tuesday, February 5

Paradoxes of quantum mechanics Albert, "Superposition"
Feynman, "Quantum behavior"
Maudlin, "Distillling metaphysics from quantum physics"
Superposition & the paradoxes of quantum mechanics

Thursday, February 7

The doomsday argument & living in a computer simulation

Leslie, The End of the World (excerpt)
Greenberg, "Apocalypse not just now"
Bostrom, "Are you living in a computer simulation?"

The end of the world and life in a computer simulation
Metaphysical paradoxes
Tuesday, February 12 Material objects: composition & coincidence.

Sider, "Constitution"
van Inwagen, Material Beings (excerpt)

Puzzles of composition and coincidence
Thursday, February 14 Paradoxes of personal identity Parfit, "Divided minds and the nature of persons"
Nagel, "Brain bisection and the unity of consciousness"
Teletransportation, split brains, and personal identity
Tuesday, February 19 Free will, determinism, indeterminism Sider, "Free will and determinism" Is free will possible?
Theological paradoxes
Thursday, February 21

The problem of evil and the problem of heaven & hell

Mackie, "Evil and omnpotence"
Plantinga, "The free will defense"
Sider, "Hell and vagueness"

The problem of evil
Heaven, hell, and vagueness
Tuesday, February 26

Midterm exam: covers paradoxes of space and time & metaphysical paradoxes
Midterm study guide
Comments on midterm exams

Thursday, February 28
Paradoxes of omniscience & omnipotence

Aquinas, "The power of God" (Summa Ia q25)
Frankfurt, "The logic of omnipotence"

The paradox of the stone
March 4 & 6: spring break
Tuesday, March 11 Free will and divine foreknowledge; fatalism

van Inwagen, "Fatalism"
Edwards, Freedom of the Will (excerpt)
Zagzebski, "Foreknowledge and free will"
Warfield, "Free will and divine foreknowledge are compatible"

Foreknowledge and fatalism
Paradoxes about what we ought to do
Tuesday, March 18 Newcomb's problem Sainsbury, Paradoxes, pp. 53-65 Dominance, expected utiliy, and Newcombe's problem
Thursday, March 20 Class cancelled
Tuesday, March 25 The prisoner's dilemma Sainsbury, Paradoxes, pp. 66-72 The prisoner's dilemma
Thursday, March 27
The two-envelope paradox, the St. Petersburg paradox, the paradox of heaven and hell, and the Cable Guy paradox

Clark, "The St. Petersburg Paradox"
Chalmers, "The St. Petersburg two-envelope paradox"

Arntzenius & McCarthy, "The two envelope paradox and infinite expectations"
Katz & Olin, "A Tale of Two Envelopes"
Hajek, "The cable guy paradox"

The two-envelope paradox
Paradoxes of belief and knowledge
Tuesday, April 1 Paradoxes of confirmation Sainsbury, Paradoxes, pp. 73-81 The paradox of the ravens
Tuesday, April 3 The new riddle of induction Goodman, "The new riddle of induction"
Sainsbury, Paradoxes, pp. 81-91
Grue
Tuesday, April 8 The surprise exam Sainsbury, Paradoxes, pp. 91-98 The surprise exam paradox
Thursday, April 10 Sleeping beauty

Elga, "Self-locating belief and the sleeping beauty problem"
Lewis, "Reply to Elga"
Dorr, "Sleeping beauty: in defense of Elga"
White, "The generalized sleeping beauty"

Sleeping beauty
Tuesday, April 15 The lottery paradox Hawthorne, Knowledge and Lotteries (excerpt) The lottery paradox
Logical paradoxes
Thursday, April 17
Tuesday, April 22
The sorites paradox Sainsbury, Paradoxes, ch. 2 The sorites paradox
"Is red" and "looks the same"
Solutions to the sorites paradox
Thursday, April 24
Tuesday, April 29
Russell's paradox & the liar Sainsbury, Paradoxes, ch. 5

The liar
Russell's paradox and other paradoxes of self-reference

Final paper due

Friday, May 9, 10:30 am, in normal classroom


Final exam: covers theological paradoxes, paradoxes of rational action, paradoxes of belief and knowledge, and logical paradoxes

Final exam study guide