Tentative Syllabus:
8/20 Introductory remarks
8/25 John Pollock, `A Brain in a Vat' (141-42)
Roderick Chisholm, `The Problem of the Criterion' (143-49)
8/27 Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy (149-58)
9/1 Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy (158-70)
9/3 Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy (170-82)
9/8 Descartes, continued
9/10 Hume, from Essay Concerning Human Understanding (238-52)
9/15 Hume, from Essay Concerning Human Understanding (252-62)
9/17 Transition to Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy of Mind
9/22 Anselm, `The Ontological Argument' (6-7)
Rowe, `The Ontological Argument' (8-18)
*NOTE: FIRST EXAM DUE
9/24 Aquinas, `The Five Ways' (18-19)
Clarke, `A...Formulation of the Cosmological Argument' (20)
Rowe, `The Cosmological Argument' (21-29)
9/29 Paley, `The Argument from Design' (30-35)
Hume, from Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (41-54)
10/1 Hume, from Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (54-74)
10/6 Churchland, `Behaviorism, Materialism and Functionalism' (318-33)
10/8 Jackson, `The Qualia Problem' (333-37)
Davidson, `Argument for Anomalous Monism' [handout]
*NOTE: SECOND EXAM DUE
10/13 Searle, `Minds, Brains, and Programs' (337-49)
10/15 Allen, `Star Witness' (356-72)
10/20 Perry, `A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality' (388-407)
10/22 Holbach, `The Illusion of Free Will' (416-21)
Ayer, `Freedom and Necessity' (430-35)
10/27 Campbell, `Has the Self Free-Will?' (441-51)
Chisholm, `Human Freedom and the Self' (452-59)
10/29 Wolf, `Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility' (474-84)
11/3 Feinberg, `Psychological Egoism' 493-505)
11/5 Transition to Moral Philosophy
11/10 Shafer-Landau, `Ethical Subjectivism' (513-25)
*NOTE: THIRD EXAM DUE
11/12 Rachels, `The Challenge of Cultural Relativism' (525-33)
Williams, `Relativism' [handout]
11/17 Rand, `The Ethics of Emergencies' (533-37)
Rachels, `Ethical Egoism' (537-44)
11/19 Hobbes, `Leviathan' (545-58)
11/24 Kant, `The Good Will and the Categorical Imperative' (558-70)
11/26 No class
12/1 Mill, `Utilitarianism' (577-90)
12/3 Singer, `Famine, Affluence, and Morality' (590-98)
O'Neill `Kantian Approaches to Some Famine Problems' (571-77)
12/8 Ross, `What Makes Right Acts Right?' (598-606)
Note: Last day of class
12/14 FOURTH EXAM DUE BY 5:00 PM IN THE PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT (3052 WESCOE)
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Course requirements:
(1) Four critical philosophical papers (3-4 standard pages in length) due on the dates indicated in the syllabus. Possible topics (at least two, from which a choice is to be made) will be provided two class periods in advance of each due date. Each paper will count for 20% of the course grade. Late papers will be accepted only in very special circumstances and will be subject to downgrading.
(2) Regular attendance, timely (and close) reading and rereading of reading assignments, and participation in discussion. Each student will take a turn presenting a brief, finished, incisive paper on - and leading the discussion of - a day's reading assignment. Attendance, preparation, and appropriate participation will determine the remaining 20% of the course grade.
Note: Students should be familiar with university policies concerning academic misconduct (cheating, plagiarism, disruption of class, etc.), as set out in University Senate Rules and Regulations, p.9, sections 5,6,7. Exams or papers, if involving academic misconduct, will be graded at 0 points on a 100-point scale.
Office hours (3050 Wescoe): Tuesdays, 2:00-3:30; Wednesdays, 2:00-3:30; Thursdays, 3:30-5:00; or by appointment. I can be reached by phone at 864-3976 (Philosophy Dept) or 842-1921 (home); or by e-mail at <jbricke@falcon.cc.ukans.edu>. Students are strongly encouraged to make use - timely use - of office hours to get help on preparation of assignments, suggestions for study techniques, and assistance with philosophical, or other academic, difficulties.