1 UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY PHILOSOPHY 110A, Introduction to Philosophy: Knowledge and Reality Lectures: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 9:30-10:20am (AL 124) Professor: Nicholas Ray (nmray@uwaterloo.ca) Office: HH 326 Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:30-3:00 (or by appointment) TA: Jim Jordan (wjjordan@uwaterloo.ca) Office: HH 361 Hours: Fridays, 2:00-3:00 (or by appointment) COURSE DESCRIPTION This course will be a historical and thematic examination of some of the most vexing and important metaphysics and epistemology questions in the Western philosophical tradition, from the ancient Greeks to the contemporary period. More broadly, the course is meant to be a general introduction to philosophy (including its methods, some of its canonical source material, and its key questions). We will be looking at topics including (though not limited to): our knowledge of the external world; the nature of our mathematical and scientific knowledge as well as the nature of inference; the role that systematic power imbalances play in the production of knowledge (and how women, racial minorities, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized groups may be better represented and accounted for); the nature of belief and truth; and what may count as viable sources of knowledge (especially the debate between rationalism and empiricism). Not only will the course be devoted to these topics, it will also be a tutorial of sorts for students who may be interested in pursuing philosophy as a major: what is philosophy, and how does one go about doing it? For the non-majors (or for those who don t yet know what they want to do), we will show the various ways that philosophical ideas are attached to other disciplines, and how philosophical modes of thinking and arguing (with a focus on clarity, criticism, and rigor) can be used to great effect in other disciplines. COURSE OBJECTIVES The course seeks to give students a comprehensive survey of the key philosophical questions that philosophers ask about knowledge and reality. To this end we will become acquainted with key epistemological and metaphysical concepts including their historical (and often contested) development in order to properly examine the topics and issues listed in the Description. While we focus largely on traditional philosophical tools such as conceptual analysis and argumentation we will also see how these questions have often been formulated relative to worries in other disciplines, including mathematics, the physical sciences, psychology, social and political thought, feminist and gender studies, etc. The course will place an emphasis on good writing and argumentation skills. Students will need to write two essays on key issues in the course, and complete a final exam. Because all course material will be expected knowledge, both for the writing assignments and final exam, it is very important that students keep up with the work and that they come to lecture regularly.
2 COURSE MATERIALS Text: Andrew Bailey and Robert Martin (eds.), First Philosophy II: Knowledge and Reality (Second Edition). Broadview Press (2011). (Available in the UW bookstore.) You may use other versions of the material we are covering, but it is your job to make sure that you are reading the correct parts, and to borrow a fellow student s text (if need be) to ensure that s the case. DO NOT ASK THE PROF OR THE TA TO DO THIS FOR YOU! Additional readings not from the text will be made available as links on this syllabus in the Reading Schedule section below. COURSE REQUIREMENTS & DUE DATES Length Due Date Value Critical Report 2 pages January 23 15% Essay #1 5 pages February 25 30% Essay #2 5 pages April 3 30% Exam N/A Set by Registrar* 25% *Students are required to leave the exam period open in their schedule. Only students with a documented medical illness, family emergency, or officially recognized exam conflict will be able to defer their examination. We will go over (in brief) the ins and outs of the reflection and question journals and the two essays in the first lecture, and in more detail as we go along for the term. You will be given plenty of warning, and lots of guidance, on how to complete the assignments for this class. All assignments are due at the beginning of lecture on the indicated due dates. Late submissions will be penalized 10% PER DAY (including weekends). Students submitting late work must send Prof. Ray an e-mail with the submission as an attachment (functioning as a time stamp ), and coordinate with him the submission of the paper copy of the essay. LEARN (COURSE WEBSITE) LEARN is the main mode of communication for this course after lecture and e-mail. Prof. Ray will be posting notes, announcements, any possible changes to the reading schedule, and grades via LEARN. Students may also use the Discussion Boards to ask questions about the readings or the assignments, and to coordinate study groups, etc. Because the LEARN site is so important, students are strongly encouraged to regularly access the site so as not to fall behind. READING SCHEDULE Week 1 (January 7): Introduction What are Metaphysics and Epistemology? First Philosophy, Chapter 1, What is Philosophy? Week 2 (January 14): Plato and Aristotle on the Sources of Knowledge Plato, Meno http://classics.mit.edu/plato/meno.html Aristotle, On the Soul (Book 1 Part 1; Book II Parts 1-3; Book III, Parts 3-8 and 12-13) http://classics.mit.edu/aristotle/soul.html
3 Week 3 (January 21): The Birth of Modern Philosophy Cartesian Rationalism Descartes, excerpt from Mediations on First Philosophy (24-54) Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia Correspondence with Descartes http://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/robert.tierney/phil1301-1/readings/unit-iii/princess-elizabethsobjection-to-descartes-dualism/view CRITICAL REPORT DUE, WEDNESDAY JANUARY 23 Week 4 (January 28): Empiricist Accounts of Knowledge Locke, excerpt from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (60-71) Berkeley, Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous ( First Dialogue, 77-97) Week 5 (February 4): Humean Sceptical Empiricism and its Philosophical Consequences Hume, Sections IV and V of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (178-192) Wolstonecraft, Chapters 6 and 9 of A Vindication of the Rights of Women Chapter 6 http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccernew2?id=wolvind.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=pub lic&part=7&division=div1 Chapter 9 http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccernew2?id=wolvind.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=pub lic&part=10&division=div1 Week 6 (February 11): Epistemology After Hume Kant and Logical Empiricism Kant, Introduction to Critique of Pure Reason (104-114) Ayer, The Elimination of Metaphysics from Language, Truth, and Logic http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0cdkqfjab&url =http%3a%2f%2fwww.fphil.uniba.sk%2ffileadmin%2fuser_upload%2feditors%2fkfdf%2fs ylabus%2fsabela%2ftexty%2fayer.pdf&ei=2ttpunkikuw90qgvnihwcq&usg=afqjcnh xbc6ohdjhbevyzd_pv8ukwqdczw&bvm=bv.1355534169,d.dmq READING WEEK (February 18): No readings or lectures Week 7 (February 25): Empiricist Solutions to the Problem of Induction Hempel, Scientific Inquiry: Invention and Test (208-212) Popper, Science: Conjectures and Refutations (217-237) ESSAY #1 DUE, MONDAY FEBRUARY 25 Week 8 (March 4): The New Riddle of Induction Goodman, The New Riddle of Induction (196-205) Week 9 (March 11): Our Knowledge of the External World (OR, Overcoming Hume again) Russell, Problems of Philosophy (Chapters I-III, 118-128) Moore, Proof of an External World (132-144)
4 Week 10 (March 18): Theories of Truth Russell, Problems of Philosophy (Chapter XII) http://www.ditext.com/russell/rus12.html Dancy, Coherence Theories, Chapter 8 from An Introduction to Contemporary Epistemology http://ebookbrowse.com/dancy-coherence-theories-pdf-d40985588 James, Lecture VI: Pragmatism s Conception of Truth from Pragmatism http://www.authorama.com/pragmatism-7.html (All three of these readings are available on 3 hour course reserve in the library. I know this is a lot of reading, but stick it out!) Week 11 (March 25): Problems for Traditional Epistemology and Metaphysics I Gettier, Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? (149-150) Code, Is the Sex of the Knower Epistemologically Significant? (152-168) NO CLASSES ON MARCH 29 (Good Friday) Week 12 (April 1): Problems for Traditional Epistemology and Metaphysics II Science Kuhn, Objectivity, Value Judgment, and Theory Choice (273-285) Longino, Can There Be a Feminist Science? (287-295) ESSAY #2 DUE, WEDNESDAY APRIL 3 Week 13 (April 8): Problems for Traditional Epistemology and Metaphysics III Relativism Rorty, Solidarity or Objectivity? (Available on course e-reserve via the library.) THE WRITING CENTRE There is a Writing Centre on campus that offers help to students who want to improve their writing skills: http://elpp.uwaterloo.ca/writingcentre.html NOTE FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES The Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD), located in Needles Hall, Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the OPD at the beginning of each academic term. CROSS-LISTED COURSE Please note that a cross-listed course will count in all respective averages no matter under which rubric it has been taken. For example, a PHIL/PSCI cross-list will count in a Philosophy major average, even if the course was taken under the Political Science rubric. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.
Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offences, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about rules for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 Student Discipline. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/policies/policy71.htm. Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/policies/policy70.htm. Appeals: A student may appeal the finding and/or penalty in a decision made under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than regarding a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline if a ground for an appeal can be established. Read Policy 72 - Student Appeals, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/policies/policy72.htm. Academic Integrity website (Arts): http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/arts/ugrad/academic_responsibility.html Academic Integrity Office (uwaterloo): http://uwaterloo.ca/academicintegrity/ 5