Course Meeting Times
Seminars: 2 sessions / week; 3 hours / session
Prerequisites
Permission of the instructors.
Course Description
This course is for first-year graduate students. It is an intensive seminar on selected highlights of analytic philosophy from roughly 1960 to the present. The seminar is divided into five sections: Language, Metaphysics, Mind, Epistemology, and Moral/Political Philosophy. Philosophy being what it is, readings placed under one heading often occupy several. The “essential” philosophy written during this period is too voluminous to read in one semester; the selection we will read is somewhat arbitrary. The list of readings will probably change as the semester progresses.
Course Meetings
Each session will consist of a discussion of questions. Two students divvy up the questions between them and get the ball rolling with presentations, one before the break and one after. Please ensure that your presentation contains an attempt to answer the questions. Every presentation should be accompanied by a handout. Presenters lead the discussion. For every question Q and student S, S should contribute to the discussion of Q.
Assignments
Students will be responsible for writing two papers during the semester. An 8-page paper will be due during session 11. An approximately 15-page paper will be during the final class. Each paper must be on a topic from one of the five parts of the class. For further detail, see the Assignments section.
Grading Policy
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Class participation and presentations | 15% |
| Papers | 85% |
Readings
All readings can be found in the table in the Readings section. We will only be reading selections from the books listed. All are worth buying, however.
Calendar
[B] Session taught by Professor Byrne
[W] Session taught by Professor White
| SESS # | TOPICS |
|---|---|
Part I: Language | |
1 [B] | Kripke, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language |
2 [W] | Kripke, Naming and Necessity (I) |
3 [B] | Kripke, Naming and Necessity (II) |
4 [W] | Grice, “Meaning” and “Logic and Conversation” |
5 [B] | Lewis, “Languages and Language” |
Part II: Metaphysics | |
6 [B] | Lewis, On the Plurality of Worlds (I) |
7 [W] | Lewis, On the Plurality of Worlds (II) |
8 [W] | Williamson, “Necessary Existents” |
9 [W] | Williams, “The Self and the Future”; Lewis, “Survival and Identity” |
10 [B] | Graff, “Shifting Sands”; Williamson, Vagueness |
Part III: Mind | |
11 [B] |
Johnston, “The Obscure Object of Hallucination” Assignment: Paper 1 due |
12 [W] | Burge, “Individualism and the Mental” |
Part IV: Epistemology | |
13 [B] | Quine, “Epistemology Naturalized”; Stroud, The Significance of Philosophical Skepticism |
14 [W] | Gettier, “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?”; Nozick, Philosophical Explanations |
15 [B] | Lewis, “Elusive Knowledge”; DeRose, “Solving the Skeptical Problem” |
16 [W] | Briggs, “Distorted Reflection” |
17 [B] | Williamson, Knowledge and Its Limits |
Part V: Moral and Political Philosophy | |
18 [W] | Foot, “Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives” |
19 [B] | Thomson, “Killing, Letting Die, and the Trolley Problem” |
20 [W] | Gibbard, Wise Choices, Apt Feelings |
21 [B] | Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia; Rawls, A Theory of Justice |
22 [W] | Parfit, Reasons and Persons |
23 [B/W] |
Paper Presentations Assignment: Final paper due |