MW 11:30 am - 12:50 pm RC 205
Textbook: Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy, Fourth Edition, edited by G. Lee Bowie, Meredith W. Michaels and Robert C. Solomon. Wadsworth, 2000
Office location: RC 330A
Office hours: TWR 4:00-530 PM
Office phone: (631) 244-3349
E-mail: perringc@dowling.edu (please put “PHL003” in the subject line of your email, and make sure your message contains your first and last names)
Home page: http://alien.dowling.edu/~cperring
We will also use some of the services available on Blackboard, at http://webclasses.dowling.edu
This course aims to introduce you to the philosophical discussion of knowledge and reality as addressed by both historically important and contemporary writers. We will focus on issues about our own nature, the nature of the world, and the status of our beliefs about the world and ourselves. You will learn how to read a philosophical text so to understand the claims and arguments of the author, and to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments. You will also learn to formulate and justify your own philosophical views. One of the main goals of this course is to improve your skills of thinking and arguing on topics for which there are no straightforward ways of discovering the truth, and ultimately these skills should be useful in your personal and professional life. You will be encouraged to continually consider how philosophical investigation could make a difference to how you live.
Work: there will be four in-class tests (non-cumulative) and you will write three papers (2, 3, and 4 pages long). I will expect you to do the reading for each class ahead of time (~5-10 pages) and you should come to each class with three questions about the reading. I will provide you with study questions for most of the assigned pieces of writing, and the tests will be closely tied to those study questions.
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4 Tests |
10% each = 40% |
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Papers (2, 3 and 4 pages) |
10%, 15%, 20% = 45% |
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Attendance |
5% (-1% for each class missed without excuse) |
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Reading questions or reflections |
5% |
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Class participation |
5% |
Reading questions or reflections: At the start of each class,
you should hand in one page with either some thoughts on the readings or
questions for me on what the authors are arguing. You should have at least one question or reflection about each
assigned piece of writing.
All papers should be submitted via Turnitin.com or sent to me by email as an attachment in MS Word or RTF. The Class ID is 59882, and the password is "philosophy." I will give you information about how to use Turnitin.com. Note that I view any form of academic dishonesty very seriously, and if I find that you have engaged in any form of plagiarism or cheating I will fail you in this course and report my action to the Dean of Students.
Resources:
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Peter Suber's Guide to
Philosophy on the Internet
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Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
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Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(only accessible from Dowling campus; search for individual philosophers)
·
Dowling
Philosophy Databases
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Date |
Topic |
Reading |
Work |
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W Jan 29 |
Introduction |
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M Feb 3 |
Chapter 2: How Do I Know Whether God Exists? |
Saint Augustine: Faith and Reason (pp. 54-5) (from On the Free Choice of the Will) Study Questions: · What hierarchy does Augustine present regarding existence, life, and understanding? Where do animals fall in this scale? Humans? Plants? · What, according to Augustine, is God? · How can reason "see" God? · Does this passage ever address faith, as such? How? Saint Anselm: The Ontological Argument (pp. 55-7) (from the Proslogium); Study Questions: · What, according to Anselm, is God? How does this compare with Augustine's conception of the divine? · How does Anselm "trick" the "fool" in his argument? Or does he? · Why does Anselm find the non-believer to be irrational? · Can God be conceived not to exist? Why/why not? · Does Anselm present a deductive or an inductive argument for the existence of God? · What IS Anselm's argument for God's existence? Saint Thomas Aquinas: Whether God Exists (pp. 57-9) (from the Summa Theologica) Study Questions: · What are Aquinas' "five ways"? What do they have in common? · What are the objections to the existence of God that Aquinas lists? How does he address these objections? · Does Aquinas present a deductive or an inductive argument for the existence of God? · What IS Aquinas' argument for God's existence? |
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W 5 |
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William Paley: The Teleological Argument (pp. 60-2) (from Chapter One of Natural Theology) (Notes on William Paley) Fyodor Dostoevsky: Rebellion (pp. 67-71); (from The Brothers Karamazov, Book 2, Chapter 4) Soren Kierkegaard: The Leap of Faith and the Limits of Reason (pp. 71-4) |
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M 10 |
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William James: The Will to Believe (pp. 74-9) (available online here) (Notes on William James) Study Questions: · What is the difference between a living and dead hypothesis? Why is deadness or liveness a relation to individual thinker rather than an intrinsic property of the hypothesis? · What is the difference between a forced and an avoidable choice? Why does most of scientific research prefer to avoid falsehood rather than risk error? · What does James consider to be the two essential parts of any religion? · What emotion does James think lies behind a skeptical attitude toward religion? · How does James think that religion transforms our experience of the universe? · What costs does James suggest come with taking a skeptical attitude toward religion? · Why does James think it is a mistake to suppose that rationality requires us to seek strong evidence for all our beliefs? · Is James suggesting that all rational people should adopt religious beliefs? · Does James say that we have any evidence for the existence of a God? |
Paper I topics given |
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W 12 |
Chapter 6: What Do I Know? |
Rene Descartes: Meditation (pp. 232-6); (Notes on Descartes) O.K. Bouwsma: Descartes’ Evil Genius (pp. 236-43) |
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M 17 |
President’s Day: No class |
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W 19 |
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Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking Glass (pp. 246-7); Jorge Luis Borges: The Circular Ruins (pp. 247-51); Bertrand Russell: Appearance and Reality (pp. 251-4) (Notes on Russell) |
Paper I due |
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M 24 |
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Lorraine Code: The Sex of the Knower (pp. 263-9) (Notes on Code) |
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W 26 |
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Test 1 (Test 1 preparation) |
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M Mar 3 |
Chapter 7: Does Language Make Me Think the Way I Do? |
Jonathan Swift: Getting Rid of Words (p. 274) · Do you think Swift is making a serious proposal in this passage, or does he have some other aim? · Swift talks about the advantages there would be to abolishing all words. What are they? Do you think these really are advantages? · Do you think it would be possible to convey one's meaning just using objects? Think of some ordinary ways you use language and consider how it might be possible to convey your meaning without the use of words. |
Paper II topics given |
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W 5 |
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Ludwig Wittgenstein: Meaning as Use (pp. 275-83) George Orwell: Newspeak (pp. 292-6); Study Questions: · What motivates the program of abolishing words in 1984? · How will Newspeak change the thoughts that people can have, if it works as planned? · What will the language be like by the year 2050, according to Syme? (Recommended reading, not required: Benjamin Whorf: "Language, Thought, and Reality" (pp. 283-292) |
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M 10 |
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Steven Pinker: The Language Instinct (pp. 296-307) Study Questions: · How in 1984 does George Orwell suggest that the government could control people's thought? · What examples does Pinker use to illustrate the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that "the foundational categories of reality are not "in" the world but are imposed by one's culture? · Pinker thinks that it is obvious that one's words do not always correspond exactly to one's words. What examples does he give? Do they make his point successfully? · Pinker says that it is obvious that animals such as dogs are conscious. What has this got to do with linguistic determinism? · What kind of evidence does Pinker propose to survey to examine the hypothesis that languages dramatically shape their speakers' ways of thinking? · What evidence does Pinker cite from Whorf concerning the Hopi concept of time, and how does he argue that Whorf's case is implausible? · Pinker discusses some laboratory experiments that suggest that language has an effect on our thought, but he argues that they do not provide an example of incommensurable world views. What is his reasoning? · Pinker discusses the fact that Chinese does not have subjunctive or counterfactual forms. He argues there is no good evidence that this limits the ways that Chinese speakers can think. What is the supposed evidence? · Pinker gives cases of humans who lack language but are able to think. How do these examples work? · Pinker argues people think in a language of thought that is different from any spoken language. He argues that this does not lead to a problem of requiring a homunculus in each thinker's head. What leads him to this conclusion? · Does Pinker provide any evidence that we think in mentalese? Friedrich Nietzsche: Communication and Consciousness (pp. 315-7) · Nietzsche argues that the development of language and the development of consciousness go hand in hand. What does this mean? · He argues that consciousness has developed only under the pressure of the need for communication. Why does he think we need consciousness for communication? · Nietzsche suggests that the growth of consciousness in Europeans becomes a danger. Consider why he might think this. |
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W 12 |
Chapter 5: How Is My Mind Connected to My Body? |
Rene Descartes: Mind as Distinct from Body (pp. 183-7); William Lycan: Robots and Minds (pp. 196-202) Study Questions: · What is Artificial Intelligence? · What limitations does Lycan emphasize in present-day computers? · Lycan distinguishes between empirical questions and philosophical and conceptual questions. What is the difference? · What kinds of questions about the capabilities of future computers does Lycan say are empirical, what kinds are philosophical? · What questions does Lycan ask about the humanoid Harry to see if he is a person? · How, according to Lycan, do we know whether other humans have consciousness? · How does Lycan define "human chauvanism"? · How does Lycan argue against chauvanism? · What is a thought experiment? · How does Lycan's thought experiment about Henrietta help his case? · What is Lycan's view about the moral and legal rights of Harry and Henrietta? · Why does Lycan think that his thought experiment may have implications for real life in the not-too-distant future? · How does Lycan define Soft Determinism? · How does Lycan argue that Harry is as free as humans? · What are the causes of unpredictable behavior in Harry? · What is a Gestalt phenomenon? · Why does Lycan think that the burden of proof is on those who would deny that computers could have consciousness? |
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M 17 |
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John R. Searle: The Myth of the Computer (pp 202-7); Study Questions: · What are our ordinary ways of explaining our behavior? For example, how would you explain to a friend why you are taking this course? · Imagine how a neurophysiological explanation of why you are taking this course would look. · What is the possible third way of explaining behavior, according to Searle? · What, according to Searle, are the three main claims of cognitive science? · What is the Turing test? · What’s the difference between Strong AI and Weak AI? · How does Searle argue that the specific biochemical powers of the brain are relevant to the mind? · What according to the “mind as program” view would it take for a computer to be thirsty, in Searle’s interpretation? · How important does Searle think should be the role of biology in the scientific understanding of the mind? · What is the difference between syntax and semantics? · According to Searle, does a computer understand semantics? · What is Searle’s example of the translation of Chinese, and what is it meant to prove? · How have defenders of the mind as program view replied to the “Chinese Room” example to try to defend their view? · What effect does Searle predict our increasing familiarity with computers will have on the our view of the “mind as program” view? [Francisco Varela, Evan Thompson, and Eleanor Rosch.: The Embodied Mind (pp. 218-25)] |
Paper II due |
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W 19 |
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There will be some general questions about the basic ideas put forward by George Orwell, Benjamin Whorf, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. The questions will not be based closely on the texts. You will also be asked short answer and multiple choice questions on 3 of the following: · Steven Pinker: The Language Instinct · Rene Descartes: Mind as Distinct from Body · William Lycan: Robots and Minds · John Searle: The Myth of the Computer |
Test 2 |
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M 24 |
Chapter 18: Am I Free to Choose What I Do? |
Sophocles: Antigone’s Fate (pp. 797-800); Aristotle: Voluntary and Involuntary Action (pp. 800-803); Baron d’Holbach: Are We Cogs in the Universe (pp. 803-804) |
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W 26 |
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Friedrich Nietzsche: Twilight of an Error (pp. 804-7); B.F. Skinner: Freedom and the Control of Men (pp. 817-22); Jean Paul Sartre: Freedom and Responsibility (pp. 814-817) |
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M 31 |
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Robert Kane: The Significance of Free Will (pp. 822-8) |
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W Apr 2 |
Chapter 8: Who Am I? |
John Locke: Of Identity and Diversity (pp. 343-8); David Hume: Of Personal Identity (pp. 348-52) |
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M 7 |
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Simone de Beauvoir: I Am a Woman (pp. 262-9) Charles W. Mills: “But What Are You Really?” (pp. 369-83) |
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W 9 |
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Test review (see Course Notes for material covered). |
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M 14 |
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For Test 3, I will ask you a combination of short answer, multiple choice and true/false questions on Baron d’Holbach: Are We Cogs in the Universe and three of the following · Jean Paul Sartre: Freedom and Responsibility (pp. 814-817) · Robert Kane: The Significance of Free Will (pp. 822-8) · John Locke: Of Identity and Diversity (pp. 343-8); · Charles W. Mills: “But What Are You Really?” (pp. 369-83) |
Test 3 |
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W 16 |
Chapter 3: What Does Science Tell Me About the World? |
Carl G. Hempel: The Deductive-Nomological Model of Science (pp. 90-98); Karl Popper: Science: Conjectures and Refutations (pp. 107-116) |
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Spring Recess |
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M 28 |
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Thomas Kuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (pp. 98-107) Evelyn Fox Keller: Feminism and Science (pp. 116-123) |
Paper III due |
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W 30 |
Chapter 4: Which Should I Believe: Darwin or Genesis? |
The Bible: Genesis (pp. 138-140); Charles Darwin: The Descent of Man (pp. 140-146); Duane T. Gish: Creationist Science and Education (pp. 146-57) |
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M May 5 |
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Philip Kitcher: Against Creationism (pp. 157-69) |
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W 7 |
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Isaac Asimov: Armies of the Night (pp. 169-177) |
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Final Exam Week |
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Test 4 |