PHIL 1020-001—INTRODUCTION TO WESTERN PHILOSOPHY: MODERN FALL, 2011; HELLEMS 177, 12:00 P.M.–12:50 P.M., M-W-F Jason Potter Phone: (303)402-9465 E-Mail: [email protected] Web Site: http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/potter/index.aspx (Please note: all handouts, along with lecture notes,,reading and lecture plan and this syllabus are available at this web site or on the CU Learn site.) Office Hours: 4:00-5:00 P.M. M-W-F; Hellems 15 (in the west basement of Hellems). Course Description An introductory survey of seminal European philosophical works of the 17th and 18th centuries, including writings by Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Hume, Berkeley, and Kant. This will take us from Rationalism, through Empiricism to Idealism, and then on to Kant's Transcendental Idealist cure for the shortcomings he found in each of these schools. Overall, we will concentrate on three central issues: the nature of reality; the nature of mind; and the nature of knowledge. This will lead us into various more specific topics, such as: appearance vs. reality; substance and attribute; the metaphysics of God; causality; self-consciousness, consciousness, and personal identity; the nature of mental representation (ideas); the mind-body problem; experience vs. reason; idealism vs. realism; and skepticism vs. certainty. Course Objectives There are many reasons to study early modern philosophy. At the very least, the philosophical works you will read in this course form key links in the chain of thought which led to the modern, western, scientific account of the world and its fundamentally secular approach to human life. While there are many high ambitions lurking, I do have a set of "least" ambitions for our time and efforts here: 1. That you learn to identify arguments, the chief tool of philosophical work. 2. That you learn to express your thoughts clearly. 3. That you make progress in the fine art of assessing, analyzing and criticizing arguments. 4. That you leave here knowing a) what, generally speaking, the thinkers from Descartes to Kant were trying to accomplish; b) some of the tools they invented for the task; and c) why otherwise normal people like myself would boldly claim we cannot understand the modern, specifically western world if we do not understand what Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Hume, Berkeley and Kant thought about the questions and problems we will study together in this course. Required Texts 1. Rene Descartes, Meditations, Objections and Replies, edited by Ariew and Cress 2. Gottlieb Leibniz, Monadology, translated by Simon Sparks (available on CU Learn) 3. John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Abridged/Edited with Introduction by Kenneth Winkler 4. David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Second Edition 5. George Berkeley, Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, edited by Robert M. Adams 6. Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason, abridged with Introduction by Eric Watkins, translated by Werner S. Pluhar. Reading assignments are available online through the Readings and Lectures page schedule on the website, along with daily lecture topics and assignment dates. Supplementary Packet (available on the website and on CU Learn), containing: (i) helpful hints for writing philosophy papers, (ii) a list of abbreviations used in grading papers, (iii) a model history-of-philosophy paper, and (iv) a very brief but amazingly informative survey of informal logic. Course Requirements & Percentage of Final Grade (1) Attendance/Class Participation1 10% 1Not everyone is amenable to public speaking and discussion, but unfortunately for those reticent to speak, philosophy is a discussion sport. If you can bring yourself to speak in class, you will find it easier to understand the issues and arguments, largely because we often do not know what we think until we try to say it or write it. It is also much more likely that I will detect and retain an awareness of your development as a student of philosophy, and as a thinking being, if you express yourself in speech. However, I will not consciously use class participation to decide a grade. Class attendance does count, and reaps an easy reward. Those who attend all but 2 classes or less get an automatic 100 for this 10% of the course. If you miss any classes beyond 2, this part of your overall grade begins to drop from 100 by 5 points for every classed missed until you reach an F grade for that 10%.(2) 10 Reading Summaries and 1 Group Reading Report2 20% (3) First Paper 25% (4) Second Paper 25% (5) Final (take-home) 20% Extremely Generous Rewrite Option: You may rewrite your first paper, using criticisms and suggestions on the graded paper as a guide, and then turn it in at the final exam date for the course; the grade you receive on the revised paper will replace the grade you originally received. Never assume that just because you make changes to the original paper, I will necessarily raise your grade. I may notice deficiencies I missed in the first reading. Therefore, if you choose to revise the paper, make a serious stab at those revisions recommended! Notes on Course Requirements: (1) The first paper will be on one of a list of assigned possible topics drawn from our readings in Descartes, Locke and Leibniz. The second paper will be on topics drawn from our readings in Hume, Berkeley and Kant. Paper topics will be available on the website well in advance of their due dates. All papers must be typed, whether on paper or in digital file format, and turned in by 5:00 p.m. on the due date either to my office, my mailbox in Hellems 169, or through paper’s assignment item on CU Learn. Late papers, other things being equal, are a Really Bad Thing. (2) Since a philosophical essay is not like other kinds of essays you may have written in college (or elsewhere), it is strongly recommended that before preparing your papers, you read very carefully the helpful hints for doing philosophy papers, the list of abbreviations used in grading papers, and the model history-of-philosophy paper (all to be found in the supplementary packet available at the Reserve Desk in Norlin). I do assume that you have already learned how to write essays in English. (3) The final exam will be a comprehensive, take-home, open-book exam covering the entire course. It will consist of 10 yes/no questions, 10 short-answer questions, and one long essay question (taken from