PHI 213: Introduction to Philosophy
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Course Information
Course Description:This course explores some of the most fundamental questions in philosophy. Questions such as: Does God exist? Can you know that you are not dreaming? What is knowledge? Is your mind material? What is consciousness? Are you the same person over time? Do human beings have free will? Is morality relative? What makes a wrong action wrong?
Syllabus and Textbooks:Click here for the class syllabus.
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Instructor Info:Name: Matt Leonard, PhD
Email: mattlynyrd@gmail.com Office: Business Building, Room 245 Office Hours: Tu/Th: 10:30-2:00; W: 2:15-3:15; add. hours by appt. Course Resources:Two Tips for Taking Philosophy Courses (by me)
Basic Logic and Truth Tables (by me) Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper (by Jim Pryor) Guidelines on Reading Philosophy (by Jim Pryor) Philosophical Terms and Methods (by Jim Pryor) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |
Reading Schedule
Philosophy of Religion
Does God Exist?
Sept. 3rd: Louise Anthony, “No Good Reason−Exploring the Problem of Evil.”
Eleonore Stump, “The Problem of Evil.”
[Crash Course in Baby Logic.]
Sept. 9th: Anselm, “The Ontological Argument” from Proslogion.
Aquinas, “The Five Ways” from Summa Theologica.
Lara Buchak, “Can it be Rational to Have Faith?”
Roger White, “The Argument from Cosmological Fine-Tuning.”
The Trial and Death of Socrates
Sept. 16th: Plato, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Apology.
Ethics
Is Morality Relative?
Sept. 23rd: Sharon Street, “Does Anything Really Matter or Did We Just Evolve to Think So?”
Philippa Foot, “Moral Relativism.”
What Makes a Wrong Action Wrong?
Sept. 30th: Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, selected readings.
John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism, selected readings.
Rosalind Hurtshouse, “Virtue Ethics.”
Elizabeth Harman, “Is it Reasonable to 'Rely on Intuitions' in Ethics?”
Applied Ethics
Is it Wrong to Not Give to the Poor?
Oct. 7th: Peter Singer, “Famine, Affluence, and Morality.”
Onora O’Neill, “The Moral Perplexities of Famine and World Hunger.”
Is Genetic Engineering Morally Permissible?
Oct. 7th (cont.): “What is CRISPR?”
Available here: https://www.livescience.com/58790-crispr-explained.html
Midterm Exam
Oct. 14th: Midterm Review and Midterm Examination.
Epistemology
Are you Dreaming Right Now? Are you Sure?
Oct. 21st: Rene Descartes, Meditations 1-3.
GE Moore, “Proof of an External World.”
What is Knowledge?
Oct. 28th: Edmund Gettier, “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?”
Linda Zagzebski, “The Inescapability of Gettier Problems.”
Timothy Williamson, “Knowledge and Belief.”
Philosophy of Mind
Do You Have a Soul?
Nov. 4th: Rene Descartes, Meditations 4-6.
Elizabeth of Bohemia, “Correspondence with Descartes.”
JJC Smart, “Sensations and Brain Processes.”
Hilary Putnam, “The Nature of Mental States.”
What is Consciousness?
Nov. 11th: Thomas Nagel, “What is it Like to be a Bat?”
David Chalmers, “The Hard Problem of Consciousness.”
Patricia Churchland, “Are Mental States Irreducible to Neurobiological States?”
Short Paper Due.
Metaphysics
Do Human Beings Have Free Will?
Nov. 18th: Peter van Inwagen, “The Incompatibility of Free Will and Determinism.”
Harry Frankfurt, “Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility.”
Susan Wolf, “Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility.”
Nomy Arpaly, “Why Moral Ignorance is No Excuse.”
Nov. 25th: Thanksgiving Break. No Classes.
What is a Person?
Dec. 2nd: John Locke, “Of Identity and Diversity.”
Richard Swineburne, “The Dualist Theory.”
Derek Parfit, “Personal Identity.”
What is Time?
Dec. 2nd (cont.): David Lewis, “The Paradoxes of Time Travel.”
Available Here: https://www.matt-leonard.org/uploads/4/6/7/7/46778315/pott.pdf
Boethius, "God and Time,"The Consolation of Philosophy (Book 5).