Syllabus

Class notes, handouts, links, etc.:
 

Topic:  Identity
M  August 20	None
W  August 22	Notes01 (What is Metaphysics?) Notes02 (Background Terminology and Distinctions)
F  August 24	Notes03 (Black, “The Identity of Indiscernibles”)
M  August 27	Notes04 (Kripke, “Identity and Necessity”) ***For more background information, you can check out these links to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's entries for 'Identity' and 'The Identity of Indiscernibles': http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity/ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-indiscernible/
W  August 29	Notes05 (Perry, “The Same F”)
F  August 31	Notes06 (Gibbard, “Contingent Identity”) ***Shorter Paper Assignment
Topic:  Existence
M  September 3	NO CLASS   LABOR DAY
W  September 5	Notes07 (Quine, “On What There Is”) ***Recommended reading:  I also recommend reading Quine's “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”.  This is not in our anthology, however.  You can find this article in Quine's From a Logical Point of View. It was originally published in The Philosophical Review, January 1951.  So, you can track it down on your own.  Or, you can email me and I can send you a PDF version.  Also, here's a link to my old notes on Quine's "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" ***This is probably in too much detail (and will be difficult to understand without actually doing the readings), but here are some of my old notes on Russell's Theory of Descriptions.  This territory is also covered some in next Wednesday's reading from Russell. http://comp.uark.edu/~efunkho/LangNotes06.pdf http://comp.uark.edu/~efunkho/LangNotes07.pdf
F  September 7	Notes08 (Carnap, “Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology”)
M  September 10	Notes09 (Yablo, “Does Ontology Rest on a Mistake?”) ***Amendment:  Read sections I-VII only. http://www.mit.edu/~yablo/om.pdf
W  September 12	Notes10 (Russell, “Existence and Description”)
F  September 14	None
Topic:  Modality
M September 17	Notes11 (Plantinga, “Modalities:  Basic Concepts and Distinctions”) ***Shorter Paper Due
W  September 19	Notes12 (Chisholm, “Identity through Possible Worlds”)
F  September 21	Notes13 (Lewis, “Counterparts or Double Lives?”)
M  September 24	None
W  September 26	Notes14 (Adams, “Primitive Thisness and Primitive Identity”)
F  September 28	None
Topic:  Persistence Through Time
M  October 1	Notes15 (Chisholm, “Identity through Time”)
W  October 3	Notes16 (Quine, “Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis”)
F  October 5	None ***Midterm Exam
M  October 8	Notes17 (Thomson, “Parthood and Identity across Time”)
W  October 10	Notes18 (Heller, “Temporal Parts of Four-Dimensional Objects”)
F  October 12	None
Topic:  Personal Identity
M  October 15	Notes19 (Chisholm, “The Persistence of Persons”) ***Midterm Due ***Here are some Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy links that will likely prove helpful: Temporal Parts Personal Identity
W  October 17	Notes20 (Shoemaker, “Persons and their Pasts”)
F  October 19	None
M  October 22	Notes21 (Williams, “The Self and the Future”)
W  October 24	Notes22 (Parfit, “Personal Identity”)
F  October 26	None
M  October 29	Notes23 (Johnston, “Human Beings”)
W  October 31	Notes24 (Swinburne, “Personal Identity:  The Dualist Theory”)
F  November 2	None ***Longer Paper Assignment
Topic:  Causation
M  November 5	Notes25 (Mackie, “Causes and Conditions”)
W  November 7	None
F  November 9	Notes26 (Davidson, “Causal Relations”)
M  November 12	Notes27 (Lewis, “Causation”)
W  November 14	Notes28 (Tooley, “The Nature of Causation:  A Singularist Account”) [Sections 1 and 2 only]
F  November 16	None
Topic:  Realism/ Anti-Realism
M  November 19	Notes29 (Putnam, “Pragmatic Realism”)
W  November 21	NO CLASS   THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
F  November 23	NO CLASS   THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
M  November 26	Notes30 (Sosa, “Putnam’s Pragmatic Realism”)
W  November 28	Notes31 (Alston, “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Real World”)
F  November 30	CLASS AND READING CANCELED ***Final Exam Questions
M  December 3	Review ***Longer Paper Due
M  December 10	Final Exam:  7:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. in regular classroom

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