PHL 301; unique #’s 38310–38365
Lectures: Monday, Wednesday 2–3 p.m. (FAC 21)
Instructor: David Sosa (WAG 221, 1–5284)
E-mail: david_sosa@mail.utexas.edu
Web page: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/philosophy/faculty/sosa/main.html
Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday 3–4 p.m.
Teaching Assistants: Blinn Combs, Warren von Eschenbach, Clancy Martin
Announcement: Due to the impossibility of
booking space in advance, a formal review for the final exam in PHL 301 (Spring
’01) will not be held. Blinn Combs will be available to answer questions
on Tuesday, May 8, from noon until 3pm in his office (WAG 410A). Clancy Martin
will be holding an informal review session at 4pm tomorrow (Tuesday May 8) on
the south steps of the Tower. Warren von Eschenbach will be holding a review
session from noon to 2pm on Tuesday, May 8, in Waggener 312 (or 212, as
available). All are welcome.
Description:
“Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions…but rather for the sake of the questions themselves; because these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible, enrich our intellectual imagination and diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation….” (Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy, 1912)
Investigation of some basic philosophical issues: freedom, identity, knowledge, minds, morality, religion, and science. The aim will be learning to read actively, to engage problems with sophistication, to reason creatively and with precision, and to write thoughtfully—ultimately, to appreciate philosophy.
Text:
John Perry and Michael Bratman (eds.), Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings, Oxford University Press (3rd edition, 1999).
Evaluation:
Two in-class one-hour exams and a final exam (each count 20% of final grade)
Three short (approximately 2 pages) writing assignments (each count 10%)
Participation in discussion sections will represent 10% of final grade.
Schedule:
Religion
Monday, 22 January
– Cosmological
Argument
“On the Study of Philosophy” (pp. 1–6)
Aquinas, from the Summa Theologica (pp. 47–49)
Wednesday, 24 January
– Teleological
Argument
Hume, from the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (pp. 57–64 and 69–73)
Monday, 29 January
– The
Problem of Evil
Hume, from the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (pp. 78 [middle of column 2]–88)
Russell, “Why I Am Not a Theist” (pp. 53–56)
Knowledge
Wednesday, 31 January – Cartesian Meditations of a Skeptical Kind
Descartes, from the Meditations on First Philosophy (pp. 116–118)
Monday, 5 February – Cogito Ergo Sum
Descartes, from the Meditations on First Philosophy (pp. 118–121 and 132 [from top of column 2]–133)
Wednesday, 7 February
– Descartes’s
Circle; and Do Our Ideas Represent the World?
Locke, “Some Further Considerations Concerning Our Simple Ideas” (pp. 140 [§7] –144)
Monday, 12 February – Think Again
Berkeley,
from the Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous (pp. 145–164)
Wednesday, 14 February
(Happy Valentine’s Day!) – To
Be is to Be Perceived
Berkeley, from the Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous (pp. 164–176)
First paper due in discussion sections – 16 February
First in-class exam – Monday, 19 February
Freedom
Wednesday, 21 February
– The
Case for Free Will
Campbell, “Has the Self 'Free Will'?” (pp. 417–426)
Monday, 26
February– Compatibilism
I
Hume, “Of Liberty and Necessity” (pp. 426–433)
Wednesday, 28 February – Compatibilism II
Hume, “Of Liberty and Necessity” (pp. 433–436)
Identity
Monday, 5 March – Identity
The Paradox of Identity (pp. 788–789)
Science
Wednesday, 7 March
– The
Problem of Induction I
Hume, from An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (pp. 190–199)
Monday, 19 March – The Problem of Induction II
Hume, from An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (pp. 199–216 [but skip §VI])
Wednesday, 21 March – The New Riddle of Induction
Goodman's New Riddle of Induction (p. 791)
Second paper due in discussion sections – 23 March
Second in-class exam – Monday, 26 March
Mind
Wednesday, 28 March
– Dualism
Ryle, “Descartes’ Myth” (pp. 316–323)
Monday, 2 April – Mind/Brain
Identity Theory
Armstrong, “The Nature of Mind” (pp. 324–331)
Wednesday, 4 April
– Functionalism
Turing, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” (pp. 355–368)
Monday, 9 April – A Problem with Physicalism
Nagel, “What Is It Like To Be a Bat?” (pp. 382–390)
Wednesday, 11 April – Qualia and The Knowledge Argument
Jackson, “What Mary Didn’t Know” (pp. 390–393)
Morality
Monday, 16 April– The Greatest Happiness for the Greatest Number
Bentham, “The Principle of Utility” (pp. 483–486)
Mill,
from Utilitarianism (pp. 486–495)
Wednesday, 18
April– Consequences
of Consequentalism
Singer, “Famine, Affluence and Morality” (pp. 521–528)
Monday, 23 April – Duty
Kant, from the Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals (pp. 529–537)
Wednesday, 25 April – More Duty
Kant, from the Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals (pp. 537–545)
Third paper due in discussion sections – 27 April
Monday, 30 April – Virtue
Aristotle, from the Nicomachean Ethics (pp. 564–573)
Wednesday, 2 May – More Virtue
Aristotle, from the Nicomachean Ethics (pp. 573–579)
Final exam – Wednesday, 9 May (9 a.m. to noon)