Introduction to Philosophy

Tuesday & Thursday, 12:30-1:20
141 DeBartolo
Professor Jeff Speaks // jspeaks@nd.edu // office hours in 100 Malloy Hall

topic
Philosophy is the attempt to answer, by argument, the deepest and most basic questions about the universe. Our focus in this class will be on five such questions:
  • Does God exist?
  • What am I?
  • Am I free?
  • What should I believe?
  • How should I live?
Your central aim in this class will not be to learn what other people have thought about these questions — though you will do that too. Your central aim in this class will be to develop your own views about the correct answers to these questions. You will be evaluated based upon your ability to defend those views. To do that, you will have to learn how to argue. So, one aim of the course will be to teach you the basic logic required to do that.

texts
All of the readings will be made available via links from the syllabus.

contact
You should feel free to get in touch with me or your assigned TA if you have any questions about the course material, or about how you're doing in the course, or if you just want to pursue some of the topics we're discussing further.

I have office hours in 100 Malloy on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and sometimes other days as well. You can book a time here. If none of those times work for you, just let me know. You can also always get in touch with me by email.

There are also six teaching assistants for the course, who will be leading discussion sections and grading written assignments. Their contact information and office hours are below:

Corey Dethier
email
office hours: 2-3 Tuesday &12:30-1:30 Wednesday in Malloy 118
 Geoffrey Hall
email
office hours: 3-4 Tuesday & Thursday in Malloy 118
Liz Jackson
email
office hours: 3:30-5 Wednesday in Malloy 200		 Ellen Lehet
email
office hours: Tuesday 10-11 & Wednesday 5-6 in Malloy 118
Ben Middleton
email
office hours: 5-6 Tuesday & Wednesday in Malloy 118		 Callie Phillips
email
office hours: 2-3:30 Thursday in Malloy 213

If you cannot make the office hours of your TA, you should feel free to contact him or her to make an appointment to meet at another time.
































Tuesday, August 23 What is philosophy? [pdf]
Thursday, August 25 God is the first cause [pdf] Aquinas, the second way
Tuesday, August 30 Why is there something rather than nothing? [pdf] Leibniz, "On the ultimate origination of things"
Thursday, September 1 & Tuesday, September 6 God, evolution, and design [pdf] Aquinas' 5th way
Paley, Natural Theology (excerpt)
Darwin, “Organs of extreme complication and perfection"
Rees, Just Six Numbers (excerpt)
Thursday, September 8 Are miracles evidence for God’s existence? [pdf] Hume, "Of miracles"
Tuesday, September 13 There is no God: the argument from evil [pdf] Mackie, "Evil and omnipotence"
Thursday, September 15 & Tuesday, September 20 The free will defense: a response to the argument from evil [pdf] van Inwagen, "The problem of evil"
HTML5 Icon Thursday, September 22 Free will vs. fate [pdf]
[rough draft of 1st paper due]		 Aristotle, De Interpretatione (selection)
Epictetus, Discourses (excerpt)
Chiang, "What's expected of us"
Tuesday, September 27 Free will vs. determinism [pdf] van Inwagen, “The powers of rational beings"
Thursday, September 29 Free will vs. neuroscience [pdf] Libet et. al., "Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activity" (excerpt)
Tuesday, October 4 I am an immaterial thing [pdf] Descartes, Meditations (excerpt)
Correspondence between Elisabeth and Descartes
Thursday, October 6 I am a material thing [pdf] van Inwagen, "Dualism and personal identity" (excerpt)
Jackson, "What Mary didn't know"
HTML5 Icon Tuesday, October 11 Midterm exam
HTML5 Icon Thursday, October 13 I am a psychological thing [pdf]
[final draft of 1st paper due]		 Locke, "Of identity and diversity" (excerpt)
Reid, "Of Mr. Locke's account of our personal identity"
Williams, "The self and the future" (excerpt)
Tuesday, October 25 Could I survive death? Should I want to? [pdf] Lucretius, De Rerum Natura (excerpt)
van Inwagen, "I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come"
Williams, "The Makropoulos case" (excerpt)








































Thursday, October 27 I should believe only what I can be certain of [pdf] Descartes, Meditation I
Moore, "Proof of an external world"
Tuesday, November 1 I should believe only what I have evidence for [pdf] Plantinga, "Is belief in God properly basic?"
Thursday, November 3 What should I believe when lots of people disagree with me? [pdf] Hume, "Of Miracles", pt. II (excerpt)
Plantinga, "A defense of religious exclusivism" (excerpt)
Tuesday, November 8 [class canceled]
Thursday, November 10 I should believe what would make me happy [pdf] Pascal, "The wager"








































HTML5 Icon Tuesday, November 15 & Thursday, November 17 Is morality real, and is it relative? [pdf]
[2nd paper due]		 Ayer, Language, Truth, and Logic (excerpt)
Benedict, "Anthropology and the abnormal" (excerpt)
Tuesday, November 22 I should do whatever I want (and that is all anyone ever does) [pdf] Plato, Republic II (excerpt)
Tuesday, November 29 & Thursday, December 1 I should do whatever brings about the most pleasure (or, at least, the most good) [pdf] Mill, Utilitarianism II (excerpt)
Nozick, "The experience machine"
Rawls, A Theory of Justice (excerpt)
Thomson, "Killing, letting die, and the trolley problem"
Tuesday, December 6 I should conform to the moral law [pdf] Kant, Groundwork (excerpt)
Thursday, December 8 I should give most of my possessions to the poor [pdf] Singer, "Famine, affluence, and morality"
HTML5 Icon Sunday, December 11 [3rd paper due]
HTML5 Icon Thursday, December 15, 10:30-12:30 Final exam















































































































In this class, you be graded on the basis of three short analytical papers, a midterm and non-cumulative final exam, and your participation and attendance in lecture and discussion sections. The dates on which the written assignments will be due are as follows:
  • October 11: Midterm exam (in class)
  • October 13: First paper due
  • November 15: Second paper due
  • December 11: Third paper due
  • December 15, 10:30-12:30: Final exam
Your grade in this class will be determined as follows:
  • The three short analytical papers are each worth 15% of your final grade.
  • The midterm and final exams are each worth 20% of your final grade.
  • Participation & attendance in lecture and discussion sections is worth 15% of your grade.

Every unexcused absence in a discussion section will affect your participation grade. Every unexcused absence beyond the first two will reduce your particpation grade by a full letter grade (10 points). The only excused absences are those excused due to university activities which the university takes to be sufficient reason to miss class or documented illness.

Each of the written assignments is required, in the sense that failure to complete one or more assignments is sufficient to fail the course. Late papers will be penalized three points per day, including weekends.

Notre Dame has no official way of indexing numerical grades to letter grades. This is the system that will be used in this course:

A 94+
A- 90-93
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-72
D 60-69
F 59-