Course Reading Schdule (tentative!)
Section 1: God and Morality
Week 1
Jan 11: Introduction, Logic. Readings: A Little Bit of Logic
Jan 13: Logic (continued), The Ontological Argument. Readings: The Ontological
Argument
(handout), St
Anselm's Proslogium: Chapter II
and Chapter
III
Week 2
Jan 16: NO CLASSES!
Jan 18: The Ontological Argument (continued).
Jan 20: The Ontological Argument (continued). Note! My page on the Ontological
Argument was updated, so please take a
look at it again!
Week 3
Jan 23: The Cosmological Argument. Readings: The
Cosmological
Argument (handout), St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica
Jan 25: The Cosmological Argument (continued).
Jan 27: The Teleological Argument. Readings: The
Teleological Argument
(handout), David Hume's Dialogues
Concerning Natural Religion:
Part II
(pay particular attention to the fifth paragraph +).
Week 4
Jan 30: The Teleological Argument (continued), The Problem of Evil.
Readings: Dostoyevsky's "Rebellion" in The
Grand Inquisitor (which is a collection of chapters from
Dostoyevsky's book The
Brother's Karamozov).
Feb 1: The Problem of Evil (continued). Readings :The Problem of Evil
(handout), J.L.
Mackie's Evil and Omnipotence (you will need access to JSTOR for
this link, which you can get through any campus connection or through
UNC's proxy server).
Feb 3: God and Morality. Readings:Plato’s Euthyphro (in
The Trail and Death of Socrates,
trans. Grube), Plato's
Euthyprho (handout).
Week 5
Feb 6: God and Morality. Readings: Nietzsche's On
the
Genealogy of Morals, Essay 1, Nietzsche:
On the Genealogy of Morals (handout).
Feb 8: God and Morality (continued). Readings: Nietzsche's On
the
Genealogy of Morals, Essay 2.
Feb 10: God and Morality (continued). Readings: Nietzsche's On
the
Genealogy of Morals, Essay 3.
*Friday, Febuary 10:
First Paper Due!!!*
Section 2: Knowledge and
Skepticism
Week 6
Feb 13: Introduction to Skepticism. Readings: Descartes' Meditations
of First Philosophy (First and Second Med.), Descartes Meditations 1
& 2 (handout).
Feb 15: Skepticism (continued). Readings: "A Brain in a Vat," John
Pollock [To be handed out in class on Wednesday].
Feb 17: Skepticism (continued). Readings: Skepticism
(handout).
Week 7
Feb 20: The Problem of Induction. Hume's An Enquiry Concerning
Human Understanding Section
IV
Feb 22: The Problem of Induction (continued). Readings: Brian Skyrm's Choice and
Chance, ch. 2 [PDF].
Feb 24: The Problem of Induction (continued). Readings: Brian Skyrm's Choice and
Chance,
ch. 3 [PDF].
Week 8
Feb 27: Solutions to Skepticism. Readings: G. E. Moore (Coming soon! In
the meantime, you can read this summary of
Moore's arguments by Bill Lycan)
Mar 1: Solutions to Skepticism (continued). Readings: David Lewis, Elusive Knowledge (you will
need access to AJP on-line for this, which you can get through any
campus connection or through
UNC's proxy server).
Mar 3: Solutions to Skepticism (continued).
Week 9
Mar 6:.Direct Realism; Indirect Realism. Readings: John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,
Book II, Ch.
VIII & Book IV, Ch.
XI
Mar 8: Idealism. Readings: George Berkeley, Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous,
The First Dialogue; Theories of
Perception (handout).
Mar 10: No Class!!!
*Friday, March 10:
Second Paper Due!!!*
Week 10
Mar 13-17: NO CLASSES! SPRING BREAK!
Section 3: Personal Identity, The
Mind-Body Problem, and Identity Over Time
Week 11
Mar 20: Personal Identity. Readings: Perry's A Dialogue on
Personal Identity and
Immortality, First Night, Perry: Personal Identity
(handout).
Mar 22: Personal Identity (continued). Readings: Perry's A Dialogue on
Personal Identity, First Night.
Mar 24: Personal Identity (continued). Readings: Perry's A Dialogue on
Personal Identity, Second Night.
Week 12
Mar 27: Personal Identity (continued). Readings: Perry's A Dialogue on
Personal Identity, Third Night. Identity Over Time. Readings: The Ship of Theseus (handout).
Mar 29: The Mind-Body Problem, Dualism. Readings: Keith Campbell's Body and Mind, ch. 3
Mar 31: The Mind-Body Problem (continued), Dualism (continued).
Readings: Descartes' Meditations
Two and Six, Mind-Body Problem (handout).
Week 13
Apr 3: The Mind-Body Problem (continued), Behaviorism, Materialism,
Identity
Theory. Readings: Keith Campbell's Body
and Mind, ch. 4 and ch. 5.
Apr 5: The Mind-Body Problem (continued), Materialism (continued),
Functionalism. Readings: TBA
Apr 7: Personal Identity and the Mind-Body Problem. Readings: Daniel
Dennett's "Where Am
I?"
Week 14
Apr 10: TBA
Apr 12: Optional Exam: If you don't take the exam, write
the paper; if you don't write the paper, take the exam.
Apr 14: NO CLASSES!
*Friday, April 14: (Optional) Third
Paper Due!!!*
Section 4: Love
Week 15
Apr 17: Love. Readings: The Symposium,
Introduction and Phadedrus' Speech
Apr 19: Love (continued). Readings: The
Symposium, Pausinas' Speech
Apr 21: Love (continued). Readings: The
Symposium, Eryximachus' Speech
Week 16
Apr 24: Love (continued). Readings: The
Symposium, Arostophanes' Speech and Agathon's Speech
Apr 26: Love (continued). Readings: The
Symposium, Socrates' Speech, Diotema's, and the rest
Apr 28: Course wrap-up. No reading assignment.
*Monday, May 1, 8:00AM: FINAL!!!*
Page Last Updated: April 1, 2006