HONORS INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
Fall 2005: Philosophy 109
Professor Ernesto V. Garcia, Syracuse University
Class Meetings: MW, 11-12:45 p.m.
E-mail addres: evgarc01@syr.edu
Office: 523 Hall of Languages, ext. 3-2519
Office hours: T, 1-3
This course provides an introductory survey of many of the most fundamental issues discussed in philosophy, including: (1) skepticism and the reality of the external world; (2) the existence of God; (3) free will and determinism; (4) the foundations of political theory, especially the nature of political freedom and rights; (5) the objectivity of morality; and (6) the meaning of life. Each topic includes readings from both historical as well as contemporary thinkers.
Required texts
Rene Descartes, Meditations (Hackett)
Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus (Vintage)
Coursepack
WEEK 1: SKEPTICISM AND THE THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
T, 8/30
Introductory class: What is Philosophy?
Th, 9/1
Rene Descartes, Meditations 1-2, 4
WEEK 2: SKEPTICISM AND THE THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE II
T, 9/6
Hilary Putnam, “Brains in a Vat”
Th, 9/8
Donald Davidson, “On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme”
WEEK 3: ARGUMENTS FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
T, 9/13
Ontological Argument (Anselm, Guanilo Reply, Anselm Counterreply)
Teleological Argument (William Paley, David Hume)
Th, 9/15
Teleological Argument II (Richard Swinburne, “God, Regularity, and David Hume”)
Cosmological Argument (Samuel Clarke, David Hume, William Rowe, “Two Criticisms of the Cosmological Argument)
WEEK 4: ARGUMENT AGAINST THE EXISTENCE OF GOD – THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
T, 9/20
J.L. Mackie, “Evil and Omnipotence”
Th, 9/22
Alvin Plantinga, “The Free Will Defense”
WEEK 5: DOES BELIEF IN GOD NEED RATIONAL PROOF?
T, 9/27
Blaise Pascal, “The Wager”; W.K. Clifford, “The Ethics of Belief”; and William James, “The Will to Believe”
Th, 9/29
Alvin Plantinga, “Is Belief in God Properly Basic?”
WEEK 6: FREE WILL DEBATE
T, 10/4
Compatibilism: A.J. Ayer, “Freedom and Necessity”
Th, 10/6
Libertarianism: Roderick Chisholm, “Human Freedom and the Self”
WEEK 7: FREE WILL DEBATE II
T, 10/11
Compatibilism: Harry Frankfurt, “Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person”
Th, 10/13
NO CLASS
WEEK 8: FREE WILL DEBATE III
T, 10/18
Moral Responsibility: P.F. Strawson, “Freedom and Resentment”
Th, 10/20
MIDTERM
WEEK 9: FOUNDATIONS OF POLITICAL THEORY
T, 10/25
J.S. Mill, excerpt from On Liberty
Th, 10/27
Gerald Dworkin, “Paternalism”
WEEK 10: FOUNDATIONS OF POLITICAL THEORY II
T, 11/1
Isaiah Berlin, “Two Concepts of Liberty”
Th, 11/3
Joel Feinberg, “The Nature and Value of Rights”
WEEK 11: THE NATURE OF MORALITY
T, 11/8
G.E. Moore, excerpt from Principia Ethica
Th, 11/10
H.A. Prichard, “Does Moral Philosophy Rest on a Mistake?”
WEEK 12: THE NATURE OF MORALITY II
11/15
C.L. Stevenson, “On the Emotive Meaning of Ethical Terms”
11/17
Gilbert Harman, “Ethics and Observation” and J.L. Mackie, excerpt from Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong
WEEK 13: THE NATURE OF MORALITY III
T, 11/22
John McDowell, “Values and Secondary Qualities”
Th, 11/24
THANKSGIVING
WEEK 14: THE MEANING OF LIFE
11/29
Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Thomas Nagel, “The Absurd”
12/1
Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, pp. 1-31
Thomas Nagel, “The Absurd” (xerox handout)
WEEK 15: THE MEANING OF LIFE II
12/6
Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, pp. 31-65, 119-12
William James, "The Will to Believe"
12/8
Final exam review