Schedule and Materials

Below you'll find our course schedule along with links to the materials you'll need for each class session: readings to be completed before class as well as whatever resources you'll need to complete the day's classwork.

The schedule is subject to revision as the semester progresses, but I'll keep this version current.

Unit I: Argument analysis—the basics

Thurs. Sep. 6: What is an argument?

No readings for this session.

In-class resources:

• Vegetarianism Argument (A map for this argument)

Tues. Sep. 11: Introduction to argument mapping

Before class:

• Read Course Introduction
• Read Creating Argument Maps

In-class resources:

• Perception Argument (A map for this argument)
• Aging Argument (A map for this argument)

Thurs. Sep. 13: Basic vocabulary

Before class:

• Read Basic Vocabulary

In-class resources:

• Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? (A map for this argument)

Tues. Sep. 18: Reading for argument

Before class:

• Read Understanding and Representing Argument Structure (This is the reading for both Tues. Sep. 18 and Thurs. Sep. 20. If you don't finish it before Tuesday's class, that's not a problem. Just make sure to finish it before Thursday's class.)
• Read Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? (No need to spend a great deal of time on this. Just familiarize yourself with it so we don't have to spend time reading it in class.)

In-class resources:

• Argument map for Assignment 1: "There doesn't exist an all-good, all-powerful, all-knowing being"

Thurs. Sep. 20: Subarguments

Before class:

• Make sure you've finished reading Understanding and Representing Argument Structure
• Continue thinking about your argument map for Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?

Unit II: Argument Structure

Tues. Sep. 25: Unstated Assumptions

Before class:

• Read Interpreting Arguments to Create Maps

In-class resources:

• Argument map for "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?"
• Epicurus on Death (A map--actually, two maps--for this argument)

Thurs. Sep. 27: Interpretive charity

No readings for this session.

In-class resources:

• Epicurus on Death (A map--actually, two maps--for this argument)

Tues. Oct. 2: Evaluating arguments for deductive validity

Before class:

• Read Deductive and Non-Deductive Arguments: Vocabulary
• Read Types of Deductive Arguments

In-class resources:

• Argument map for Take-home unit test I: "Using contraceptives is immoral"

Thurs. Oct. 4: More on deductive validity

Before class:

• Read Evaluating Arguments for Validity

In-class resources:

• Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility (A map for this argument)

Tues. Oct. 9: Even more on deductive validity

Before class:

• Read Types of Non-Deductive Arguments

In-class resources:

• Newcomb's Problem (A map for this argument)
• Map for an analogous (?) argument

Thurs. Oct. 11: Evaluating arguments for inductive strength

Before class:

• Read Evaluating Arguments for Strength

In-class resources:

• Argument map for Newcomb's Problem one-boxing argument
• Argument map for Assignment 2: "Medical researchers should be pursuing enhancement technology"

Tues. Oct. 16: More on inductive strength

No readings for this session.

In-class resources:

• The Discovery of the Electron

Thurs. Oct. 18: Evaluating premises

No readings for this session.

In-class resources:

• Famine Relief and the Ideal Moral Code (A map for this argument)

Tues. Oct. 23: Mapping objections

Before class:

• Read Jennifer Lackey's The Irrationality of Natural Life Sentences

In-class resources:

• Famine Relief and the Ideal Moral Code (A map for this argument)

Unit III: Analyzing philosophical arguments

Thurs. Oct. 25: Introduction to the problem of induction

Before class:

• Read Bertrand Russell's On Induction

Tues. Oct. 30: Induction, continued

Before class:

• Read Wesley Salmon's Should We Attempt to Justify Induction? In particular, read section 2.2, which starts near the middle of p. 45. You can read the rest of the paper if you like, but it's not strictly necessary.

In-class resources:

• Lewis Carroll's What the Tortoise Said to Achilles
• Map for argument that we shouldn't rely on induction

Thurs. Nov. 1:

Class canceled.

Tues. Nov. 6: Induction, continued

Before class:

• Read Roger White's The Problem of the Problem of Induction. In particular, read from the top of p. 283 to the end of the paper. You can read the rest of the paper if you like, but it's not strictly necessary.
• Complete the argument map you started on Tues. Oct. 30. I'll ask you to submit it at the beginning of class. Details: What you are mapping is an excerpt of Wesley Salmon's Should We Attempt to Justify Induction? The excerpt runs from the beginning of section 2.2, in the middle of p. 45, through the last full paragraph of p. 46. You should map Black's argument as laid out by Salmon and then map Salmon's argument as an objection to one of Black's premises. (Here's my map for this argument.)

In-class resources:

• Argument map for Jennifer Lackey's "The Irrationality of Natural Life Sentences"
• Argument map for Wesley Salmon's "Should We Attempt to Justify Induction?" (pp. 45-46)

Thurs. Nov. 8: Induction, final session

Before class:

• If you haven't already, read Roger White's The Problem of the Problem of Induction. In particular, read from the top of p. 283 to the end of the paper.

In-class resources:

• Map for argument that we shouldn't rely on induction: White's interpretation

Tues. Nov. 13: Introduction to moral theories

Before class:

• Read Turning the Trolley: Bystander Cases (A map for this argument)

Thurs. Nov. 13: Moral theories, continued

No readings for this session.

Tues. Nov. 20: Moral theories, final session

No readings for this session.

In-class resources:

• Argument map for T. L. S. Sprigge's "Utilitarianism: An Argument Against and a Reply"
• Argument map for "Turning the Trolley: Bystander cases"

Tues. Nov. 13: Thanksgiving holiday

Unit IV: Writing philosophy

Tues. Nov. 27: Producing an argument via mapping

Before class:

• Read A Brief Guide to Writing the Philosophy Paper
• Read Mere Addition (A map for this argument)

Thurs. Nov. 29: Developing your argument

Tues. Dec. 4: Considering objections

In-class resources:

• Map for "Mere Addition"

Thurs. Dec. 6: Outlining

Reading Period

We won't meet as a class during reading period. Instead, you'll meet with me individually to discuss paper drafts.