Courses:

Relativism, Reason, and Reality >> Content Detail



Study Materials



Readings

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Texts


You need to buy four books (none is expensive).

Amazon logo Perry, John. A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1978. ISBN: 0915144913.

Amazon logo Parfit, Derek. Reasons and Persons. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1984. ISBN: 0198246153.

Amazon logo Harman, Gilbert, and Judith Jarvis Thomson. Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivity. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996. ISBN: 0631192093.

Amazon logo Kuhn, Thomas. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 3rd ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1996. ISBN: 0226458075.

Some supplementary readings will be distributed in class and/or posted to the course site:

Pryor, James. "Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper."

———. "Philosophical Terms and Methods."

Holton, Richard. "How to Build an Argument, and How to Write an Essay."

Amazon logo Blackburn, Simon."The World." In Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy. Oxford, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 233- 264. ISBN: 0192100246.

Amazon logo Popper, Karl. "Selections from Logic of Scientific Discovery." Chaps. 9, 10, 11 in Popper Selections. Edited by David W. Miller. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985. ISBN: 0691020310.

Amazon logo Putnam, Hilary. "The 'Corroboration' of Theories." Scientific Revolutions. Edited by Ian Hacking. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 1981, pp. 60-79. ISBN: 019875051X.



Reading Assignments


There is a reading assignment for each class meeting. These are often relatively short, but they aren't easy; they are not introductions to philosophy but examples of it. If you have trouble understanding what the author says, please ask.


LEC #TOPICSREADINGS
Week 1
1Thinking Like a PhilosopherFor next week, read Perry right through, and Parfit, chap. 10
Week 2
2Staying One and the Same Thing Over Time
3Persistence for PersonsFor next week read Parfit, chap. 11
Week 3
4Remembering who you are
5Personal Identity as Psychological ContinuityFor next week read Parfit, chaps. 12-13
Week 4
6The Importance of Being Identical (?)
7Identity is Not what MattersFor next week, read Parfit, chap. 15
Week 5
8The Truth will Set you Free
9First DebateFor next week, read Harman and Thomson, chap. 6
Week 6
10Knowing Right from Wrong
11What's your Evidence?For next week, read Harman and Thomson, chap. 7
Week 7
12Not a Fact but a Feeling
13True for you, MaybeFor next week, read Harman and Thomson, chaps. 1-5
Week 8
14Lessons from Einstein on Ethics
15What are we Arguing about?For next week, read Harman and Thomson, chaps. 9 and 10
Week 9
16Insiders, Outsiders
17Second DebateFor next week, read Blackburn "The World", Popper selections, and Putnam, "The 'corroboration' of
theories"
Week 10
18Galileo, Descartes, Berkeley, Locke, Kant
19Hume, Popper, PutnamFor next week, read Kuhn, chaps. 1-5
Week 11
20Kuhn as Kant all Over AgainFor next week, read Kuhn, chaps. 6-13
Week 12
21Four Kinds of Incommensurability
22No Shared ReasonsFor next week, read chaps. 6-13 again, plus the Postscript
Week 13
23No Shared Meanings
24No Shared WorldFor next week, reread the Postscript
Week 14
25The Idea of Progress
26Third Debate

 








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