philosophy 101

introduction to philosophy

course description. this course is an introduction to some of the problems and methods of philosophy. we will explore the following questions: what are gods? do gods exist? what is intelligence? do non-human animals and machines have intelligence? what is the nature of consciousness, and how does it relate to the body? what is knowledge, and what can we know? what is time? what are we? do we have free will? what happens when we die? is death bad? is life meaninglessness and absurd? what should we do, or is there no right and wrong? is there morality without gods? although aspects of these questions can be informed by science, adequate answers require philosophical investigation. in this course you will learn how to approach such questions in a rigorous and uniquely philosophical manner.

announcements

cultural relativism here are some clips to get you thinking about cultural relativism
Posted Dec 3, 2012, 9:22 AM by Brian Rabern
paper 2 assigned the final paper---paper 2---has been assigned. its due 12/20. hmwk 5 was assigned before the break and hwwk 6 is coming shortly. then that's it.
Posted Nov 27, 2012, 9:44 AM by Brian Rabern
hmwk 4 assigned homework 4 has been assigned. the relevant readings are the following: locke, "of ideas of identity and diversity" and think, pp. 120-148.due 11/16: *homework 4*
Posted Nov 8, 2012, 7:32 AM by Brian Rabern
time travel to kill hitler could one go back in time and kill hitler? the scenario in the comic below makes perfect sense according to a lewisian understanding of time travel (see david lewis ...
Posted Oct 28, 2012, 7:53 PM by Brian Rabern
can machines think?
Posted Oct 13, 2012, 11:06 AM by Brian Rabern

Showing posts 1 - 5 of 11. View more »

course schedule

-- intro --

8/27 [lecture 1: introduction to the course] no reading.
8/29 [lecture 2: philosophical methodology] read: think pp. 1-14; feldman, "what is philosophy?".

-- gods --

9/5 [lecture 3: the ontological argument] read: think, pp. 149-159; anselm's proslogion; zagzebski, § 2.4.
9/10 [lecture 4: the cosmological argument] read: think, pp. 159-163; zagzebski, § 2.3; aquinas's summa; hume, pt. 2.
9/12 [lecture 5: the design argument] read: think, pp. 163-168; zagzebski, § 2.2; hume, pt. 3.

9/12: *homework 1 assigned* (due 9/21)

9/17 [lecture 6: why anything? why this?] read: parfit, "why anything? why this?".
9/19 [lecture 7: religious experience and god] read: james, varieties [lecs. XVI and XVII]; leary, "the religious experience".
9/24 [lecture 8: the problem of evil] read: think, 168-176; hume pt. 10-11 (options: russell, ``why i'm not a christian")
9/26 [lecture 9: divine evil] read: lewis, "divine evil".

9/28: *homework 2 assigned* (due 10/5)

-- knowledge --

10/1 [lecture 10: appearance and reality] read: think, pp. 15-19; descartes, ``meditations on first philosophy (1st meditation)"; russell, ``appearance and reality".
10/3 [lecture 11: i think therefore i am] read: think, pp. 19-48; ``meditations on first philosophy (2nd meditation)"
10/8 [lecture 12: life in the matrix] read: pryor, what's so bad about living in the matrix?
10/10 [lecture 13: the matrix as metaphysics] read: chalmers, the matrix as metaphysics

*paper 1 assigned* (due 10/31)
*homework 3 assigned* (due 10/19)

-- minds --

10/15 [lecture 14] cancelled [http://xkcd.com/329/]
10/17 [lecture 15: can machines think?] read: turing, "computing machinery and intelligence", hofstadter, "a coffeehouse conversation on the turing test"
10/22 [lecture 16: mind and body] read: think, pp. 49-52; descartes, ``meditations on first philosophy (2nd & 6th meditation)"
10/24 [lecture 17: the puzzle of consciousness] read: think, pp. 52-78; chalmers, ``the puzzle of conscious experience", smullyan, ``an unfortunate dualist"

{{ paper 1 due (10/31) }}

-- the self --

10/29 [lecture 18: the paradoxes of time travel] read: lewis, "the paradoxes of time travel"
10/31 [lecture 19]
11/5 [lecture 20: personal identity across time] dennett, "where am i?"
11/7 [lecture 21: persons, bodies, and memories] read: locke, "of ideas of identity and diversity"; think, pp. 120-148

*homework 4 assigned* (due 11/16)

11/12 [lecture 22: what is death?] feldman, "the enigma of death"; nagel, "death"
11/14 [lecture 23: what's bad about death?] feldman, "epicurus and the evil of death"

*homework 5 assigned* (due 11/30)

**thanksgiving break**

-- value --

*paper 2 assigned* (due 12/20)

11/26 [lecture 24: religion and value theory] read: dennett, "morality and religion"; exodus, chapters 20-24; hume, "of suicide"
11/28 [lecture 25: god's death and nihilism] read: nietzsche, [selections]; anthony, "good minus god"
12/3 [lecture 26: cultural relativism and morality] read: rachels, "the challenge of cultural relativism"
12/5 [lecture 27: against relativism] read: rachels, "the challenge of cultural relativism"

*homework 6 assigned* (due 12/12)

12/10 [lecture 28: the basic argument for vegetarianism] read: rachels, "the basic argument for vegetarianism; pollan, "the ethics of eating animals" (the omivore’s dilemma, chapter 17)
12/12 [lecture 29: vegetarianism and the ethics of animals]: norcross, "puppies, pigs, and people"; "dfw, "consider the lobster"

bonus reading: j.s. mill, utilitarianism; kant, groundwork for the metaphysics of morals

{{ paper 2 due (12/20) }}