Grad Seminar Reading Schedule

AUG 30

Course Introduction

SEP 6

Readings on Method

• Jones, "Phenomenological Method"
• Nagel, "What is it Like to Be a Bat?" (recommended if you haven't read it.)
• Dennett, "What it is like to be a bat"
• Haug, "Introduction: Debates about methods: from linguistic philosophy to philosophical naturalism" and first four essays, p. 1-42.

• Haug, "Two Dimensions of methodological debates: methodological naturalism and the fate of armchair methods."
• Timothy Williamson, "What is naturalism?"
• Alex Rosenberg, "Why I am a naturalist"
• Timothy Williamson, "The Unclarity of Naturalism"
• Alex Rosenberg, "Can Naturalism Save the Humanities?"

Introduction to Philosophical Projects:

• Alfino. See my page for this: Alfino Projects. Focus on the first project for this class. Please read the conference paper referenced there and do some browsing on the topic.

SEP 13

Readings on Method

• Jeffrey Roland, "On naturalism in the Quinean tradition"
• Lynne Rudder Baker, "The first-person perspective and its relation to natural science"
• Daniel Dennett, "What is an Intuition Pump?"

• Let's leave room in the schedule for up to three of you to present on your projects. Check with me on your plan for doing that.

Project Work

• Annalee Ring, "The Power of Words and the Appearance of Lived Space in Navajo Culture"

SEP 20

Readings on Method

Let's continue our work on phenomenology, staying close to Husserl still.

• David Woodruff Smith, "Phenomenological Methods in Philosophy of Mind," 335-352.
• Matthew Ratcliffe, "Some Husserlian Reflections on the contents of experience," 353-378.

Writing & Style in Philosophy

• Pinker, The Sense of Style, Intro and Chapter 1

Project Work

• Ryan Thompson presenting on Paul Feyerabend, Against Method, 5-23

SEP 27

Project Work

• Tamara Alfie, presenting on Hallich, Oliver. "Can the Paradox of Forgiveness be Dissolved?"

Readings on Method

• Dennett, "Intuition Pumps," p. 29-38. (You should pick two of the tools to report on.)

Writing & Style in Philosophy

• Pinker, The Sense of Style, Chapter 2

OCT 4

Readings on Method This week we will use the naturalization of ethics as a test case for thinking about the effect of naturalism on traditional philosophical problems.

• Haidt, "Taste Buds of the Righteous Mind," Chapter 6 of The Righteous Mind
• Sapolsky, "Morality and Doing the Right Thing"
• Greene, "The Secret Joke of Kant's Soul" (on internet)
• Haidt, "The Emotional Dog and It's Rational Tail" (if you have time)

Project Work

OCT 11

• Ryan presenting on "verbal disputes," along with Chalmers, 2011 - "Verbal Disputes"
• background on Heidegger's project: Jones, "Heidegger"
• Exemplification of Heidegger's method: "The Question Concerning Technology"

OCT 18

Reading and Work on Method

Review major wiki pages on method

• Philosophical Methodology [1]
• Socratic Method [2]

OCT 27

• More from Quine: "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" and/or "Epistemology Naturalized"

NOV 8

• Post-phenomenology

NOV 22

t day pre

DEC 13

last week of semester