Problems of Knowledge and Valuation
PHL 610QA; unique #’s 39705, 39710, 39715, and 39720
Lectures: Tuesday, Thursday 9:30 – 11 a.m. (PAR 203)
Instructor: David Sosa (WAG 221, 471–5284)
E-mail: david_sosa@mail.utexas.edu
Web page: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/philosophy/faculty/sosa/main.html
Office Hours: Thursday, Friday 11 a.m. – noon
Teaching Assistant: Ariela Tubert (WAG 427, 475–9198)
Teaching Assistant E-mail: atubert@mail.utexas.edu
Teaching Assistant Office Hours: Wednesday 3 – 5 p.m.
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)
In this first semester of a yearlong investigation of basic philosophical issues, we will focus on problems in metaphysics and epistemology (broadly construed). Among our questions: How is it possible to know things? What do we know? What is there, really? What are persons like? What is the place of persons in the natural order? Our aims will include learning to read actively, to engage philosophical problems with sophistication, to reason creatively and with precision, and to write thoughtfully—ultimately, to appreciate philosophy.
Texts:
Plato, Theaetetus
Descartes, Meditations
Berkeley, Three
Dialogues between Hylas and Philonus
Hume, Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding
Kant, Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics
Russell, The Problems of Philosophy
Evaluation:
Two in-class exams (each counts 15% of final grade)
Midterm paper (25%)
Final exam (30%)
Participation in discussions (in section and in class), and completion of précis, will represent 15% of final grade.
[Précis are due in discussion section. For guidelines on writing précis, follow this link. http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~sousa/teach/GUIDE.SUM.html ]
Schedule:
Introduction to PHL610QA
no discussion sections
Descartes, Meditation 1
Russell, Chapter 2 (optional)
Descartes, Meditation 2
Descartes, Meditation 3
Descartes, Meditations 4-6
Berkeley, Dialogue I
Russell, Chapter 1 (optional)
Berkeley, Dialogue I
Berkeley, Dialogue II
Russell, Chapter 3 (optional)
Berkeley, Dialogue III
Russell, Chapters 4-5 (optional)
First in-class exam
Hume, §§ 1-3
no discussion sections
Hume, § 4
Russell, Chapter 6 (optional)
Hume, §§ 5-6 (especially §5)
Russell, Chapter 7 (optional)
Hume § 7
Hume § 8
Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper (optional)
Hume §§ 9-12
Kant, Introduction and Preamble
Russell, Chapter 8 (optional)
Kant, First Part
Kant, Second Part (through § 26)
Kant, Second Part
Kant, Third Part (through § 49)
Kant, Third Part
Kant, Solution and Appendix
Plato, Theaetetus (to 177c)
Russell, Chapter 11 (optional)
Plato, Theaetetus (to 151d)
Russell, Chapter 10 (optional)
Plato, Theaetetus (to 201c)
Russell, Chapter 12 (optional)
Plato, Theaetetus
Russell, Chapter 13 (optional)
Final exam (9 a.m. – noon)