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 |