Proseminar Reading Schedule
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SEP 2 | Topic: Course Introduction
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SEP 9 | Topics:
Readings: Hadot, "Spiritual Exercises," and "Philosophy as a Way of Life;" Deleuze, "What is Philosophy?" Focus: With Hadot we're getting both a conception of philosophy and a thesis about the period of Hellenistic philosophy, so please track those topics. Track Hadot's notion of "spiritual exercises," with examples. "Philosophy as a Way of Life" should help us address Hadot's view about philosophy. Deleuze is a contemporary postmodern philosopher. Read about him a bit before trying to read the assigned reading. He's telling us something subtle, I think, about the nature of philosophy by identifying it with concepts. The contrast between them is so dramatic that we will have ample opportunity to develop our own definitions. Our work on Philosophical Methods and Research will focus on a review of argument theory. |
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SEP 16 | Topic:
Readings: Schick and Vaughn, "Science and Its Pretenders;" Giere, "Understanding and Evaluating Theoretical Hypotheses"; Barnes, Chs. 16 and 17, "Natural Science in the 16th and 17th Centuries" and "The Impact of the New Intellectual Order on Philosophy and Education"; Bryson, Chapter 1 from A Short History of Nearly Everything, "How to Build a Universe" p. 9-28. Focus: The goal of this set of reading is to give you a sophisticated mainstream model of science and it's difference from non-science. Schick and Vaughn and Giere provide this. In Schick and Vaughn, focus on what a scientific hypothesis is and how it is evaluated. Consider the "criteria of adequacy" at the end of that article. In Giere, follow the story about Watson and Crick, but pay particular attention to the model of science in figure 2.9. The Barnes reading is more of a cultural history of science. Note the role of scientific socieities, the relation between science and university, and of course, follow the substantive discoveries that make up the scientific revolution. Barnes does a good job of showing you the incredible range of discovery, but don't feel like you need to be able to answer questions about all of these developments. With Bryson, you get some contemporary popular science writing that may turn out to have a philosophical use. Enjoy it. Read Chapter 2 if you have time.
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SEP 23 | Topics:
Readings: Alfino, "Casual Sampler of Philosophical Openings"; Alfino, "Short Anthology of Non-academic Philosophy"; |
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SEP 30 | Topic:
Readings: Singer; "Rich and Poor;" Singer, from One World, Chapter 1 and 5, "A Changing World" and "One Community"; Jeffrey Sachs, "Can the Rich Afford to Help the Poor?" |
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OCT 7 | Topic:
Readings: Schick and Vaughn, "The Laboratory of the Mind;" Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Thought Experiments"; Thompson, Judith Jarvis, "A Defense of Abortion"; Glover, "What Sort of People Should There Be?"; Nick Bostrom and Transhumanism (browse online, especially The Transhumanist FAQ and report links) |
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OCT 14 | Topic:
Readings: Kenny, "Descartes to Kant"; Scruton, Ch 10: Kant I; |
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OCT 21 | Topic:
Readings: Pope John Paul II, "Fides et Ratio" (excerpts); Michael Tkacz, "Faith, Reason, and Science: The View from the Catholic Tradition;" Barrett, "Cognitive Science of Religion"; Sosis, "The Adaptive Value of Religion" Focus:You might want to start your preparation by browsing the problem of faith and reason in some reference sources. Also, read about Steven Jay Gould's NOMA hypothesis since Dr. Tkacz refers to it. Also, look up "fideism." Fides et Ratio is 60 pages long, but the style of writing should help you focus on the evidence for the Pope's argument. Our task will be to reconcile the views of faith and reason in the readings. The second group of readings introduces you to some contemporary work on religion from the social and natural sciences. This work is challenging to people with faith commmitments in various ways. |
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OCT 28 | Topic:
Readings: *:Scruton (optional, browse); *:Nagel, "What is It Like to Be a Bat?"; *:Dennett "What it is Like to Be a Bat" (file is Dennett-CSnessExplnd.pdf); Jones |
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NOV 4 | Topic: Philosophy of Law Readings: Fuller, "The Case of the Speluncean Explorers"; Fletcher, "Reflections on Felony Murder" Focus: text |
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NOV 11 | Topic: B. Methods Test Tonight! Readings: Dennett Chs 1-3; Papineau, "Physicalism" (podcast linked from wiki, "other docs/links") |
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NOV 18 | Buddhism and Personal Identity Readings: Siderits, Chapter Two "Early Buddhism: Basic Teachings"; Chapter Three, "Non-Self: Empty Persons"; Rauhut, Chapter 5, "The Problem of Personal Identity" |
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NOV 25 | Pre-Thanksgiving Class - Some student conferences |
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DEC 2 | Topic: Food and Philosophy Readings: Focus: The video documentary "Food, Inc." gives and efficient introduction to a now well developed critique of the American Food System. But we need multiple frames and perspectives to get to the philosophy. In the Tannahill reading, I'm especially interested in the discussion of food purity in relation to religion at the end of the chapter. Though the discover of beer and leavening is worth a moment of gratitude. Gratzer gives you a bit more contemporary history of vegetarianism and meatism as fads, among others. For me this brings out an ideological dimension in food culture, but also raises the question of why food is susceptible to such fads, even for Linus Pauling. Moss brings us contemporary journalism from the food industry (after a retelling of the cereal industry's history), showing the dynamics between critics, government, and industry, and popular opinion, especially in the 1970's "cereal wars". Finally, Pollan presents something close to a food philosophy in In Defense of Food. You have the first 30 pages or so to gather his argument. |
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DEC 9 | Final Symposium Readings: Rahut, Chatper 4, "Free Will" Focus: Come this final philosopher's symposium with a view about free will (use Rahut to introduce yourself to the basic positions) and a view about the nature of philosophy. How has your view of philosophy changed as you are moving into or through the major? Compare how you thought about philosophy before you started studying it much to now. |
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