Introduction
to
Philosophy: Metaphysics
Course
Description
Phil
14 is an introductory survey of some of the chief problems in
metaphysics.
The course is topic-oriented rather than history-oriented. This
emphasis means
we will often consider problems independently of their historical
context. Hopefully,
what is lost by way of
historical grounding will be balanced by a gain in
interest in the
issues themselves. Due to time constraints, the course must also focus
on a limited subset of philosophical problems. We'll spend
most of
our time on what I consider the BIG problems of philosophical
metaphysics: God,
Time, the Mind-Body Problem, Free Will, and so on. Along with serving
as an
introduction to some philosophical puzzles, the course also hopes to
develop
and foster good argumentative skills and critical thinking on the part
of the
student. Combined with the fact that philosophical texts are frequently
difficult for beginning students, this makes the course relatively
challenging
for an introductory course. But for those with a speculative turn of
mind, it
should be fun.
Where/When/Who
Instructor:
Professor Craig
Callender,
8077 HSS. Office
hrs: Tues 2-3pm or by appointment.
TAs:
James Messina (jmessina@ucsd.edu)
and Tarun Menon, 8th floor HSS
Lecture
Times: 11-12:20 TuTh Center 216.
Reading Material
The
lecture is primarily intended to set the scene and provide the stimulus
for
your own studies. You should do at least the
required reading for every
topic as preparation for the class in which you will discuss the
material in
depth. I hope that you will be interested enough to follow up some of
the
recommended reading on at least some of the topics -- this will more
than repay
the effort. From time to time I will mention possible supplementary
readings
and other relevant material.
Most of the mandatory reading material is electronic. This method will save you a lot of money and also give you better readings. Go to reserves.ucsd.edu, plug in my name or the course number, and find the web site for the course readings. The readings are listed by author; just click on the right one and begin reading or printing. This can be done from campus or at home (follow the directions for off-campus access).
I have also ordered the very readable Riddles of Existence: A Guided Tour of Metaphysics, by Conee and Sider (CS). It's at the Bookstore for a reasonable price.
Requirements
You
are not expected to miss any classes. Since every
class will contain
some material not found in the readings, it is nearly impossible to do
well in
this course if one's attendance is anything short of regular. Attendance will be taken.
You
will be expected to write two essays of roughly 5 pages each. I will
set out
possible topics in a handout fairly early in the course. You may write
on other
topics related to the course, but you must get permission from me or
your TA.
There will also be midterm and final examinations.
Make-up Policy. There will be no make ups examinations except for illness or emergency, as documented by a suitable authority. Please look now at the dates of the midterm and final and make sure that you put them in your schedule. Late papers and homework will be accepted, but will be penalized a half of a letter grade per day late.
Plagarism. Plagarism is the stealing of an idea or actual text from another author. It is evil, especially in a class sometimes dealing with ethical issues. Plagarism and other forms of academic dishonesty will be immediately reported to the Academic Integrity Office. Term papers will be simultaneously submitted (electronically) to turnitin.com. A course number and code will be supplied in class.
Course webpage: http://philosophy.ucsd.edu/faculty/ccallender/index_files/Phil%20148/ENVR%20102%20winter.html
Grading
Your
final grade will be determined as follows:
|
30%
|
Midterm
examination.
|
|
35%
|
Final
examination.
|
|
15%
|
Essay 1
|
|
15%
|
Essay 2
|
|
5%
|
Attendance/Participation
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Tenative Syllabus
| Date | Topic and Readings | Misc/Additional Readings |
|
Jan
|
Introduction: Philosophical Arguments & God's Existence
|
|
|
Jan 10
|
Deductive Arguments for God's Existence: Cosmological & Ontological
Anselm, handout
Rowe, W. The Ontological Argument in Reason and Responsibility, edited by Joel Feinberg and Russ Shafer-Landau, Wadsworth.
CS: 78-84; 87-101 |
|
|
Jan 15
|
Inductive Arguments for God's Existence: Design and Anthropic
Paley, W. The
Argument From Design selection from Natural Theology in Joel Feinberg and Russ Shafer-Landau Reason and
Responsibility, 2002, 11th edition,
pp. 40-45.
Hume, D. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, parts 5 and 7. (Available free all over the internet, e.g. http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/humedial.pdf or http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/dnr.htm)
CS: 70-78 |
Sober, E. The
Design Argument (in W. Mann, ed., The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of
Religion)
|
|
Jan 17
|
The Problem of Evil
Mackie, J.L. Evil and Omnipotence Mind, vol. LXIV, 254, pp. 200-212.
Hick, John, Philosophy
of Religion, 3rd edition, 1983, pp. 40-49.
|
Derk
Pereboom's
"The
Problem of Evil," The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of
Religion, pdf)
|
|
Jan 22 |
Mind-Body
Problem
Descartes,
Rene, Meditation 6 in The Essential Descartes,
edited by Margaret Wilson, Mentor, 1969, pp. 208-223.
Taylor, R.
Except from Metaphysics; chapters 2 &3
|
|
|
Jan 24
|
Mind-Body
Problem
Churchland, P.
1988. Matter and Consciousness. MA: MIT Press, ch. 2, pp. 7-50.
|
|
|
Jan 29
|
The Mind-Body Problem: Can Computers Think?
P.M. Churchland and P.S. Churchland, Can Computers Think?
|
|
|
Jan 31
|
Causation: What Holds the Universe Together?
Hume, David. An
Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748, sections 5 and
7.
|
|
|
Feb 5
|
Causation: Do We See It?
Ducasse, C.J., On the Nature and Observability of the Causal Relation, Journal of Philosophy, 23, 1926, pp. 57-68.
Beebee, H. 2003. "Seeing Causation" Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 103 Issue 3 NOTE: ONLY PAGES 257-267
|
|
|
Feb 7
|
Causation and Laws: Humean and Non-Humean Views of the World
Beebee, H. The Non-Governing Conception of Laws of Nature
|
Paper 1 Due! Submit e-copy to turnitin.com by 11am. The class ID is 2173875 and the password 'introphil'. For help, go to
http://www.turnitin.com/static/videos/student_ppm.html
Sample midterm from a previous year
|
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Feb 12
|
Midterm
Bring blue books!
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Feb 14
|
Time: Is the World Four-Dimensional? Callender, C. excerpt from Introducing Time
Gamow, "The World of Four Dimesnions"
|
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|
Feb
|
Time: Does it Flow?
CS: 44-61
Dainton, Barry, except from Time and Space
|
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Feb 21
|
Time: Is Time Travel Possible
"Time Travel" entry at IEP: http://www.iep.utm.edu/t/timetrav.htm
|
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Feb 26
|
CS: 7-22
Dennett, Daniel. "The Origins of Selves," Cogito, 3, 163-73, Autumn 1989.
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Feb 28
|
Personal Identity and Time
Velleman, David. "And So it Goes" Amherst Lectures
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Mar 4
|
Fatalism
|
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Mar 6
|
Free Will
CS: 112-133 |
|
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Mar 11
|
Free Will
Ayer, A.J. Freedom and Necessity in his Philosophical Essays, 1954, pp. 271-84.
Chisholm, Roderick, Human Freedom and the Self chapter 2 of Free Will, edited by Gary Watson, 1982, Oxford U Press.7-29 . |
|
|
Mar 13 |
Strawson, Galen, The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility, Philosophical Studies 75, 5-24
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Resources
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is an excellent, peer-reviewed, free resource.
Have you not written a philosophy paper before? Go to "How to Write a Philosophy Paper That Doesn't Suck" for help.
Papers
The
paper ought to be typed,
double-spaced, and have normal font size and 1 inch margins. It should be less than 7
pages in
length and preferably around 5 pages, with a References section at the
end. The first
paper should be passed in on
February 8, at lecture, unless other arrangements are made. The second paper is due
March 8th.
(1)
Evaluation. The paper
should have a thesis or main point. The thesis should either concern
the proper
interpretation of one of the thinkers we have studied (e.g. what
exactly is
Churchland's "eliminative materialism" and how is it different from
the identity theory?), or the relation between two or more thinkers on
a
particular point (e.g. Mackie versus Hick on the problem of evil), or
an
evaluation of one or more of the arguments employed by our philosophers
(e.g.
does the Chinese Room argument successfully refute the possibility of
"strong AI"?). Most
likely, the paper will have to involve both interpretation and
evaluation to
some degree: one way of defending an interpretation of a philosopher's
argument
is to argue that it is less vulnerable to criticism than alternative
interpretations; conversely, criticisms of a philosopher's arguments
are of
little interest unless you show that your interpretation of the
argument you
are criticizing is plausible.
2)
Argument. Your paper needs
to be more than an autobiographical account of your experience in
reading the
material. You need to offer reasons for your position or against the
one you
are attacking. One very good strategy students often do not use enough
is to
think of possible objections to your view and respond to them. In
addition, if
you are criticizing someone else's work, it is a very good idea to
discuss how
you think the writer would defend his or her position against your
criticisms.
This helps to deepen your argument. Contrary to what some students
fear, it
also makes your argument more persuasive.
(3)
Clarity is vitally
important: you need to write carefully and organize your paper very
explicitly.
If necessary, you should ruthlessly sacrifice elegance of style in
favor of
glaringly obvious signposting.
(4)
Reading. It is important
that you attend carefully, accurately, and in detail to the reading.
The more
intensively you study a limited amount of material, the better the
paper is
likely to be. For
your paper you
are encouraged to go beyond the required reading for the relevant topic. A good place to find this
material is
in the 'Further Reading' section above.
Also, there are now a variety of excellent encyclopedias
of philosophy
available, and these can certainly be useful.