Syllabus

Date

Topics

Reading
green=optional
Tuesday, August 26 Introduction to the course none
Thursday, August 28 What is a good argument? none
Minds, bodies, and persons
Tuesday, September 2 Imagination, possibility, and dualism

Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy (excerpt)
Jackson, "What Mary didn't know" (excerpt)
Nagel, "What is it like to be a bat?"
Plantinga, "Against materialism"

Thursday, September 4 Problems for dualism

van Inwagen, "Dualism and Physicalism"

Friday, September 5 First draft of 1 page mini-paper due (in discussion sections)
Tuesday, September 9 The psychological view of persons Perry, Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality (excerpt)
Locke, "Of identity and diversity"
Thursday, September 11 The psychological view & the dissolving self

Parfit, "Divided minds and the nature of persons"
Nagel, "Brain bisection and the unity of consciousness"

Tuesday, September 16 A materialist view of persons

Olsen, "The biological approach" (excerpt)
van Inwagen, "Dualism and materialism: Athens and Jerusalem?"

The existence of God
Thursday, September 18 Aquinas's 5 ways

Aquinas, "Whether God exists?"

Friday, September 19 Final draft of 1 page mini-paper due (in discussion sections)
Tuesday, September 23 The cosmological argument
(guest lecture: Josh Rasmussen)
Leibniz, "On the ultimate origination of things"
Taylor, "God" (from Metaphysics)
Thursday, September 25 The design argument

Hume, Dialogues on Natural Religion (excerpt)
Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker (excerpt)

Tuesday, September 30 Design & fine-tuning

Collins, "God, design, and fine-tuning"
Rees, Just Six Numbers (excerpt)

Thursday, October 2 The problem of evil

Mackie, "Evil and omnipotence"

Tuesday, October 7 The free will defense

van Inwagen, "The global argument from evil"
Swinburne, "Why God allows evil"

Thursday, October 9

Midterm exam (in class)
Common mistakes on the midterm

Tuesday, October 14 Free will and determinism Sider, "Free will and determinism"
Thursday, October 16 Free will and determinism, pt. ii

none

Friday, October 17 5-7 page paper (due in discussion section)
October 21 & 23: fall break
Tuesday, October 28 Free will and divine foreknowledge

Edwards, Freedom of the Will (shorter version)
Edwards, Freedom of the Will (longer version)
Aquinas, "Whether the knowledge of God is of future contingent things"

Knowledge
Thursday, October 30 Doubt, skepticism, and the problem of other minds Nagel, What Does It All Mean? (excerpt)
Tuesday, November 4 Skepticism, common sense, and knowledge Moore, "Proof of an external world" (excerpt)
Thursday, November 6 The problem of induction

Hume, "Sceptical doubts concerning the operations of the understanding"

Tuesday, November 11 Rationality and practical reasons Pascal, "The wager"
Ethics
Thursday, November 13 Do we always do what we want? Feinberg, "Psychological egoism"
Tuesday, November 18 Why be moral?

Plato, Republic II (excerpt)

Thursday, November 20 Skepticism about moral responsibility Nagel, "Moral luck"
Tuesday, November 25 The challenge of third world poverty

Singer, "Poverty, affluence, and morality"
McGinn, "Our duties to animals and the poor"

November 27: Thanksgiving
Tuesday, December 2 Consequentialism: varieties and challenges

Nozick, "The experience machine"
Williams, "A critique of utilitarianism" (excerpt)

Thursday, December 4 Kantian ethics Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (excerpt)
Friday, December 5 Second 5-7 page paper (due in discussion section)
Tuesday, December 9 Moralty and divine commands Plato, Euthyphro (excerpt)
Quinn, "God and morality"
Thursday, December 11 Concluding discussion none
Wednesday, December 17 Final exam, 10:30-12:30, in the usual class room