Knowledge and Reality Philosophy 340A (Section 003) - Fall, 2011 Instructor: Steven Savitt Time and Place: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30-11:00, BUCH B-210. Office: Buchanan E360 Telephone: 604-822-2511 email: savitt@mail.ubc.ca Web site: http://www.philosophy.ubc.ca/faculty/savitt/ Course Requirements: Classes will be conducted as a mixture of lecture and discussion. There will be periodic small specific written assignments (which count for 30% of the final mark), a mid-term (30%), and a final examination (40%). Readings that are not available online will be available in a course packet. We will also use the following texts: Metaphysics (Fourth Edition), by Richard Taylor (Prentice Hall, 1963, 1992). In addition to the assignments listed below, there are a number of articles and books listed as Further reading. These are not assigned readings. They are pointers to further literature, should you find a topic particularly interesting, and they are usually good first sources to check for ideas for a term paper, if you choose to write one. (You must arrange this with the instructor.) I shall also add a short list of reference sources that that may prove useful: The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward Zalta (http://plato.stanford.edu), The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. by Paul Edwards, The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, ed. by Robert Audi, One Hundred Years of Philosophy by John Passmore, Recent Philosophers by John Passmore, Meta-Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.ditext.com/encyc/frame.html (A combination of several philosophical dictionaries and encyclopedias that looks handy.) Dictionary.com and hyperdictionary.com are two good sites for general dictionaries. Page 1
ASSIGNMENTS 8 September Introductory Lecture Required Reading: There is no required reading, but students are strongly urged to read the document called A Little Deductive Logic that can be found on my web site. 13 and 15 September. No class. 20 Sept. What is Metaphysics? Required Reading. Metaphysics, Introduction and Chapter 1, plus Sir Arthur Eddington s. Introduction to The Nature of the Physical World (1928): http://www.histanalytic.org/eddingtonnature.pdf 22 Sept. Minds and Bodies (1) Required Reading: Metaphysics, chapter 2. 27 Sept. Minds and Bodies (2) Required Reading: Metaphysics, chapters 3-4. 29 Sept. Determinism, Basics Required Reading: Metaphysics, chapter 5. 4 October Determinism, Less Basic Required Reading. John Earman, chapter 1 of A Primer on Determinism (D. Reidel, 1986), pp. 4-22. (in course pack), http://books.google.com/books?vid=isbn9027722404 6 October A Defense of Compatibilism Required Reading: R. E. Hobart, Free Will as Involving Determination and Inconceivable Without It in Mind, New Series, Vol. 43, No. 169 (Jan., 1934): 1-27. (JSTOR) Further Reading: Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting by Daniel C. Dennett (The MIT Press, 1984) 11 October Fatalism Required Reading. Metaphysics, chapter 6. Further Reading: Taylor s Fatalism in The Philosophical Review Vol. 71, No. 1 (January, 1962): 56-66. [The paper is available from JSTOR. It was also chapter 6 in the first three Page 2
editions of Metaphysics.] Fate, Time, and Language: An Essay on Free Will by David Foster Wallace et al. (Columbia University Press, 2011). 13 October More on Fatalism (1) Required Reading: Logical Fatalisms, Chapter 1 of Puzzles for the Will by Jordan Howard Sobel (University of Toronto Press, 1998), pp. 3-28. 18 Oct. More on Fatalism (2) Required Reading: None. Continued discussion of Sobel on fatalism. 20 Oct. The Unreality of Time Required Reading: Metaphysics, chapters 7 8. The Unreality of Time by J. M. E. McTaggart in Mind, New Series, No. 68 (October, 1908). [JSTOR] 25 Oct. The Unreality of Passage Required Reading: The Myth of Passage by Donald C. Williams. Journal of Philosophy, 48 (1951): 457-72. [JSTOR] 27 Oct. Temporal Passage and Change Required Reading: Metaphysics, chapter 9. Prior, Arthur Changes in Events and Changes in Things in Papers on Time and Tense (new edition): 7-19. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1 November Mid-Term 3 November Time Travel Required Reading: The Paradoxes of Time Travel by David Lewis in his Collected Papers (Vol II): 67-80. [Originally published in American Philosophical Quarterly, 1976.] Further Reading: Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics, and Science Fiction by Paul J. Nahin (American Institute of Physics, 1993). 8 Nov. Hume on Necessary Connection Required Reading: The Idea of Necessary Connection, Section 7 of David Hume s An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding. There are many editions of this classic, but I suggest the free version available at www.earlymoderntexts.com, a very useful site to become acquainted with, if you intend to study more philosophy. Page 3
10 Nov. Taylor s Analysis of Causation Required Reading: Metaphysics, chapter 10 15 Nov. Causal Processes Required Reading: Causal Connections by Wesley Salmon. Chapter 5 of Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World (Princeton University Press, 1984). 17 Nov. Causation? Required Reading: Quantum Mysteries for Anyone by N. David Mermin in The Journal of Philosophy 78 (July, 1981): 397-408. [JSTOR] Further Reading: Spooky Actions at a Distance by N. David Mermin from Boojums all the Way Through (Cambridge University Press, 1990), pp. 110-176. 22 Nov. Some Theological Arguments Required Reading: Metaphysics, Chapter 11. 24 Nov. Ontological and Cosmological Arguments Required Reading: Arguments for the Existence of God I by C. D. Broad in Journal of Theological Studies 40: 16-30. [JSTOR] Further Reading: Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume (1776, many editions, including a complete on-line text at Project Gutenberg). Arguments for the Existence of God II by C. D. Broad in Journal of Theological Studies 40: 156-67. Jordan Howard Sobel s Logic and Theism: Arguments for and Against Beliefs in God (Cambridge University Press, 2004). 29 Nov. The Argument from Evil Required Reading. Evil and Omnipotence by J. L. Mackie in Mind, New Series, 64 (April, 1955): 200-212. (available from JSTOR) Further Reading: Chapter 12 of Jordan Howard Sobel s Logic and Theism: Arguments for and Against Beliefs in God (Cambridge University Press, 2004). 1 December The Meaning of Life. Review. Page 4
Required Reading. Metaphysics, chapter 13. Page 5