We'll try to follow the following schedule as much as possible this semester. Any changes will be communicated in class and as an announcement on Moodle.
Week 1: Introduction
Topics:
--- What is philosophy and what is philosophical argumentation?
--- The aims and value of philosophy
Readings:
--- Plato's Meno
--- Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy, chapter XV: "The Value of Philosophy"
--- W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, chapter VI: "Of the Training of Black Men"
Prioritize reading the Meno for Tuesday; it only runs about 30 pages, but it was written in the fourth century B.C.E., and Socrates' predilection for definitions and geometry will take some time to work through. Russell and Du Bois will each enrich our discussion of the methods, aims, and value of philosophy arising from the Meno, and you should read both by Thursday.
Week 2: Epistemology
Topics:
--- What is knowledge?
--- Cartesian skepticism
--- Some responses to skepticism
Readings:
--- Rene Descartes, Meditations of First Philosophy, Meditations I - IV
--- Jonathan Vogel, "Cartesian Skepticism and Inference to the Best Explanation"
--- Edmund Gettier, "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?"
--- Linda Zagzebski, "The Inescapability of Gettier Problems"
Descartes provides the centerpiece reading this week. Please read the first and second meditations for Monday, and the third and fourth for Tuesday. (We'll discuss the fifth and sixth in week three, under the heading of metaphysics.)
Vogel articulates one response to Cartesian skepticism of the external world; please read it for Wednesday. We'll then return to the analysis of knowledge --- a topic we'll have already encountered in the Meno --- with a discussion of Gettier cases and their inescapability on Thursday.
Week 3: Metaphysics
Topics:
--- The mind-body problem
--- Reality and simulation
--- Social construction, with a quick foray into semantics
Readings:
--- René Descartes, Meditations of First Philosophy, Meditations V-VI
--- Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, selection of her correspondence with Descartes
--- David Chalmers, "Are We Living in a Virtual Reality?" (online talk)
--- Sally Haslanger, "'But Mom, Crop-Tops Are Cute!' Social Knowledge, Social Structure, and Ideology Critique"
On Monday we'll finish our reading of Descartes by considering his theory of the relation between mind and matter, and we'll consider some of the objections of one of his contemporaries, Princess Elisabeth. On Tuesday we'll consider the nature of reality, both physical and virtual, with a philosopher you can find on YouTube: David Chalmers. On Wednesday we'll talk social reality, jumping off from Sally Haslanger's article that helps us understand various answers to the question: are crop-tops cute?
The midterm exam will take place during normal class time on Thursday, at the end of week 3.
Weeks 4 and 5: Ethics
Topics:
--- The moral evaluation of action
--- Happiness, autonomy, and impartiality
--- Duty, virtue, and going above and beyond
--- The point and application of ethical theory
--- The place of morality in a human life
Week 4 Readings:
--- Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, chapters 1, 4, 5, and 14 (it's alright to skim chapter 5; please read the others closely)
--- recommended: John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, chapter 2, especially first ten paragraphs
--- Peter Singer, "Famine, Affluence, and Morality"
--- David Velleman, "A Brief Introduction to Kantian Ethics"
--- recommended: Immanuel Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, sections I and II
--- Judith Jarvis Thomson, "A Defense of Abortion"
Week 5 Readings:
--- Thomas Nagel, "Death"
--- Bernard Williams, "The Makropulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality"
--- Lisa Tessman, Burdened Virtues: Virtue Ethics for Liberatory Struggles, selection
--- Susan Wolf, "Moral Saints"
The final exam will take place in what is our regular classroom on Friday, June 21st, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:20 p.m.