Texts
You need to buy four books (none is expensive).
Perry, John. A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1978. ISBN: 0915144913.
Parfit, Derek. Reasons and Persons. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1984. ISBN: 0198246153.
Harman, Gilbert, and Judith Jarvis Thomson. Moral Relativism and Moral Objectivity. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1996. ISBN: 0631192093.
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."
Blackburn, Simon."The World." In Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy. Oxford, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 233- 264. ISBN: 0192100246.
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.
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.
Readings table.
| Week 1 |
| 1 |
Thinking Like a Philosopher |
For next week, read Perry right through, and Parfit, chap. 10 |
| Week 2 |
| 2 |
Staying One and the Same Thing Over Time |
|
| 3 |
Persistence for Persons |
For next week read Parfit, chap. 11 |
| Week 3 |
| 4 |
Remembering who you are |
|
| 5 |
Personal Identity as Psychological Continuity |
For next week read Parfit, chaps. 12-13 |
| Week 4 |
| 6 |
The Importance of Being Identical (?) |
|
| 7 |
Identity is Not what Matters |
For next week, read Parfit, chap. 15 |
| Week 5 |
| 8 |
The Truth will Set you Free |
|
| 9 |
First Debate |
For next week, read Harman and Thomson, chap. 6 |
| Week 6 |
| 10 |
Knowing Right from Wrong |
|
| 11 |
What's your Evidence? |
For next week, read Harman and Thomson, chap. 7 |
| Week 7 |
| 12 |
Not a Fact but a Feeling |
|
| 13 |
True for you, Maybe |
For next week, read Harman and Thomson, chaps. 1-5 |
| Week 8 |
| 14 |
Lessons from Einstein on Ethics |
|
| 15 |
What are we Arguing about? |
For next week, read Harman and Thomson, chaps. 9 and 10 |
| Week 9 |
| 16 |
Insiders, Outsiders |
|
| 17 |
Second Debate |
For next week, read Blackburn "The World", Popper selections, and Putnam, "The 'corroboration' of
theories" |
| Week 10 |
| 18 |
Galileo, Descartes, Berkeley, Locke, Kant |
|
| 19 |
Hume, Popper, Putnam |
For next week, read Kuhn, chaps. 1-5 |
| Week 11 |
| 20 |
Kuhn as Kant all Over Again |
For next week, read Kuhn, chaps. 6-13 |
| Week 12 |
| 21 |
Four Kinds of Incommensurability |
|
| 22 |
No Shared Reasons |
For next week, read chaps. 6-13 again, plus the Postscript |
| Week 13 |
| 23 |
No Shared Meanings |
|
| 24 |
No Shared World |
For next week, reread the Postscript |
| Week 14 |
| 25 |
The Idea of Progress |
|
| 26 |
Third Debate |
|