Schedule of Lecture Topics, Readings, and Dates for Papers and Examinations Note: if a reading is listed for a particular date, that's the date on which you must have the reading done! Week Topic, (Reading) Week #1 Aug. 22 (1) Introduction, (2) syllabus, (3-16) some historical, cultural and intellectual background concerning the early modern period (1620-1796) (List of philosophers) Aug. 24 Why study the history of modern philosophy? Background to the Meditations: (1) mechanism vs. teleology; (2) Geometry of Matter vs. Rich Phenomenal Life World; (3) the Mathesis Universalis; (4) the 'frameworks clash' in The Meditations; (5) short refresher on validity and soundness (No readings--Logic Handout; History handout) PART I: RATIONALISM Aug. 26 Meditation 1: The quest for certainty, methodological skepticism, and the critique of common sense. (READINGS: Meditation I; OBJREP.ZIP 63-67) Week #2 Aug. 29 Meditation 2: The cogito and the nature of the ego. (READINGS: Meditation II; OBJREP.ZIP 68-77; First Reading Summary Due/Group 1 Reading Report Due) Aug. 31 Med. 2 continued: the wax, Descartes' truth criterion and the role of rational intuition in applying it; Background for Meditation 3: Descartes' taxonomy of ideas, the distinction between objective and formal reality, and the grades of being. (READINGS: Meditation II continued; Handout #1—SAVE THE HANDOUTS!) Sep. 2 Meditation 3: Stepping through Descartes's proof for God's existence from the nature of ideas. (READINGS: Meditation III (OBJREP.ZIP 78-89; plus Handout #2 & 2Suppl) Week #3 Sep. 5 Labor Day (no class) Sep. 7 Meditation 3 continued: Criticism of Med. III proof, Other Proofs, the Cartesian Circle. (bring Handouts 2 & 2Suppl with you) Sep. 9 Meditation 4: Why God isn't a deceiver; how error is possible. (READINGS: Meditation IV; OBJREP.ZIP 90-94; Second Reading Summary Due; Group 2 Report Due) I have revised the schedule after this….there will be some repetition of the reading assignments from week #3 in week #4. This should be easy to follow, and for those who already did the reading, easy to accomplish!Week #4 Sep. 12 Meditation 3: Stepping through Descartes's proof for God's existence from the nature of ideas. Criticism of Med. III proof, Other Proofs, the Cartesian Circle. (READINGS: Meditation III (OBJREP.ZIP 78-89; plus Handout #2 & 2Suppl) Sep. 14 Meditation 4: Why God isn't a deceiver; how error is possible. (READINGS: Meditation IV; OBJREP.ZIP 90-94; Second Reading Summary Due; Group 2 Report Due) Sep. 16 Meditation 4 cont’d/Meditation 5: The nature of the external world, Descartes's Med. 5 "ontological" proof for God's existence, and the role of Med. 5 in preparing for Med. 6’s proof for the existence of an External World (EW). (READINGS: Meditation V; OBJREP.ZIP 95-106) Week #5 Sep. 19 Meditation 6: The existence of the external world and the mind-body problem. (READINGS: Meditation VI; OBJREP.ZIP 107-115; Third Reading [on Meditation VI] Summary; Group 3 Report Due) Sep. 21 Meditation 6 cont’d: wrapping up Descartes. Intro to Leibniz's world: The Monadology. (READINGS: Simon Sparks’ translation of Monadology, paragraphs 1 through 38; Handout #3) Sep. 23 More on Leibniz's world (no new readings) **First Paper Topics Available on Web/CU Learn.** Week #6 Sep. 26 Leibniz' most famous argument: The actual world is the best of all possible worlds! PLUS: You ain't nothing but a Pangloss: Critical analysis of Leibniz's argument. (READINGS: Simon Sparks’ translation of Monadology, paragraphs 39 through the end. Fourth Reading Summary; Group 4 Report Due; Handout #4) PART II: EMPIRICISM Sep. 28 Introduction to Locke. Locke against innate ideas. (READINGS: Locke’s Essay, Book I, Chapter II, §1-9, 12, 14-15, 17-19, 21-22, 24) Sep. 30 More on Locke against innate ideas; Locke on acquired ideas and mental powers. (READINGS: Locke’s Essay, Book II, Chapter I, §1-9 inclusive; Book II, Chapter II, §1-3, Chapter III, §1-2, Chapter IV, §1-6, Chapter V, intro; Chapter VI, §1-2) Week #7 Oct. 3 Locke on acquired complex and general ideas, and the process of abstraction. (READINGS: Locke’s Essay, Chapter IX, §8-12; Chapter X, §1-2, Chapter XI, §1, 4, 6, 8-11, 15, 17; Chapter XII,. §1-8; Chapter XXII, §1-5; Fifth Reading Summary; Group 5 Report Due) Oct. 5 Locke on acquired ideas and mental powers. (no new readings; Handout #5) Oct. 7 Locke on primary and secondary qualities and ideas of each: their origins and significance (READINGS: Locke’s Essay, Book II, Chapter VIII, §7-26) Week #8 Oct. 10 Locke on the source of the ordinary complex idea of an individual substance (e.g., ideas of particular bodies [that apple] or particular spirits [his mind]), and of the general, metaphysical concept of Substance (material or immaterial) (READINGS: Locke’s Essay, Chapter XXIII, §1-12, 14-20, 22-23, 25, 28, 30-37; Sixth Reading Summary; Group 6 Report Due) Oct. 12 Locke on consciousness and personal identity (READINGS: Locke’s Essay, Book II, Chapter I, §10-14, 19-20, 23-25; Chapter XXVII, §1-29. Oct. 14 Wrapping up Locke; Introduction to Hume's revisionary empiricism: "mental geography" and theory of ideas. (READINGS: Hume’s Enquiry, Author’s Advertisement, Section I) Week #9 Oct. 17 Hume’s theory of ideas and the principle of association (Enquiry, Sections II & III; Seventh Reading Summary; Group 7 Report Due)Oct. 19 Hume’s theory of judgment (two kinds: matters of fact and relations of ideas) and associated critique of the idea of a causal relationship (READINGS: Enquiry, Section IV, Parts I & II; Handout #6a) Oct. 21 Hume’s positive account of the idea of a causal relationship (his solution to the problem identified in Section IV); (READINGS: Enquiry, Section V, Parts I & II, Section VI) Week #10 Oct. 24 Hume's account of the origins of the idea of a necessary connection among perceptions and final resolution of the skeptical challenge to beliefs based on perception (i.e., matter of fact judgments) (READINGS: Enquiry,Section VII, Parts I & II. Eighth Reading Summary; Group 8 Report Due) **First Paper Due** Oct. 26 Critical analysis of Hume’s theory of causation. (no new readings) Oct. 28 Hume on the Problem of Induction (no new readings; Handout #6b) **Second Paper Topics Available On Web/CU Learn** Week #11 Oct. 31