Professor: Megan Wallace
Office: King 120D
Office Hours: TR 12-1pm, and by appointment.
Email: mwallace@oberlin.edu
Course Webpage: http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/mwallace/Phil120F09.html
Where: King 337
When: MWF 3:30-4:20pm

Take a look around you. You probably believe that you are looking at a computer screen, or looking at a sheet of paper, reading these very words. Perhaps, you think, you are in a classroom, or in your room, or in a coffee shop, or out in the quad. Take a listen around you. You believe that you hear particular sounds--the hum of a hard drive, the ruffling of paper, the voices of people talking, etc.--and that these sounds alert you as to what's going on around you. Take a feel around you. You feel the hardness of your chair, or the prickly grass, or the coffee shop stool. You can use your sense of sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell to get information about the environment around you; you trust your senses to tell you what's going on and where you're at.

But now imagine that you get the following note in your inbox:

            To whom it may concern,

We are dreadfully sorry to inform you that your program is just about up. You had paid for the memories and life-experiences of a college student in the distant past, of someone who is attending Oberlin College in the year 2009. You had requested that we program particular virtual individuals as your 'friends', others as 'family', as well as certain desires and beliefs, including an inexplicable craving for burritos. We have complied with your wishes, as guaranteed by our contract, which you signed just two weeks ago when you came into our office. We will be sending you a copy of the contract in a day or two, so that you can keep the receipt with your records, as well as completing the program you have purchased. We hope that you have had a pleasant 'journey'. The program will be ending tonight at midnight, whereupon you will awake in our office, where you have been for two weeks, healthy and happy—but dreaming!—in the year 2889. Thank you for choosing Virtual Tours. We know you have a choice in your illusory vacations, and we appreciate that you have chosen us.

Sincerely,
Yura Dreemin
CEO, Virtual Tours

Can your eyes and ears and taste and touch can be trusted? Isn't it at least possible that someone could be feeding you all of your sensory information, making you believe that you are reading these words right now, but really you are in an armchair in some office, merely having the illusion of experiencing the things you think you are truly experiencing? Can we ever be certain of any of our beliefs? Do we know anything for certain? If so, what?

The first section of this course will center on Knowledge and Skepticism, and will address scenarios such as the one presented above. We will question whether we know anything for certain, and if so, what, or whether we know anything at all, to any degree of certainty (or uncertainty).

The second section of this course will center on God. Does God exits? Who is this ‘God’ fellow anyhow? And is he a fellow? Did the universe have to have a beginning? Did it have to be, period? If it did have a beginning, does this beginning have to be God? Does the universe have an intelligent designer? Does that designer have to be God? If there is a God, is he perfect? And if so, then why is there evil in the world? Are humans responsible for evil? Do humans even have free will? Do we freely choose to behave badly and go wild? Are you choosing to read this seemingly endless list of run-on questions? Can you choose to stop? (Careful: if you do indeed stop, this doesn’t prove that you did so freely).

The third section of the class will concentrate on Personal Identity and Identity Over Time. Are you the same person as the little baby that your parents took pictures of so many years ago? You think so, huh? Prove it. You are made of completely different material now than that diapered baby so many years back. You don’t even share a single molecule or cell with that thing. So why should we think that you are the same as that baby?

We’ll also discuss how two things can be in the same place at the same time, and how—contrary to what you think now—there are no tables or chairs. Or burritos. (Gasp!)

Required Texts

There are no required textbooks for this course. All of the readings will be on-line and can be found either on the course reading schedule here (also linked through the course webpage here) or on Blackboard. Linked readings will be in the following sorts of formats: html, doc, and pdf. Please make sure that you can access these types of files. Also, there will occasionally be readings that are linked through JSTOR; you will need to be on campus or working through the University's proxy server in order to access them. Please get in touch with me if you are having difficulty accessing any of the material.

If you would like to purchase any of the books or anthologies that I used in creating the course reading list, you will find them listed on the main course page here, under 'Sources.' You can order them on-line through ABE books, or your preferred on-line site or bookstore.

Course Requirements

(i) 3 Exam/Papers 

There will be 3 exam/papers due at the end of each section. An ‘Exam/Paper’ is an opportunity for you to show off how much you’ve learned in my class by either (i) taking an in-class exam, or (ii) writing a (4-6 page) paper. Exams will be short answer/long answer format. Review sheets will be posted at the same time as paper topics. You get to choose (if indeed you choose anything at all) whether to take an exam or write a paper at the end of each section. Write only papers. Take only the exams. Mix it up. Go nuts.

Due dates for the exams/papers can be found on the reading schedule here (and on Blackboard). Rough drafts for the papers, while not required, are strongly encouraged. I will only accept rough drafts in person, during office hours—not over email.

(ii) Participation

You know the drill. Read the assignments. Come to class. Ask questions. Object. Argue. Debate. Email me. Come to office hours. Stay up late writing (philosophically) provocative posts on the discussion forums. You should be doing all of these things in every class anyway. But you’ll want to do these things in this class because philosophy is so mind-blowingly awesome, you simply won’t be able to help yourself from going absolutely bananas over it.

But...just to ensure enthusiasm, participation is part of your grade.


Grades

Your final grade in this course will be broken down as follows*:

First Exam/Paper                   30%
Second Exam/Paper               30%
Third Exam/Paper                  30%
Participation                            10%


*Caveat: You must turn in all of the required assignments in order to pass the class.


Honor Code

It is expected that everyone in the class has read, understood, and obeys Oberlin College’s Honor Code.

Bottom line: Don’t cheat. Or else.

Disability

If you have specific disabilities that require accommodations, please let me know at the beginning of the semester. You will also need to contact Ms. Jane Boomer, coordinator for Services for Students with Disabilities, at Peters G-38A, x58464.