Philosophy 456 Home Page

Philosophy 456
(Fall, 2009)

Instructor: Laurence BonJour
Office: Savery Hall M282
Office Hours: 2-3 T, 3:30-4:30 Th, and by appointment
e-mail: bonjour@u.washington.edu

Syllabus

Notes on Writing and Writing Mistakes
Abbreviations Used in Grading Papers

Additional assigned readings:

I.
R. M. Chisholm, “Identity through Time”
Peter Van Inwagen, “Temporal Parts and Identity across Time”
Mark Hinchliff, “The Puzzle of Change”

II.
R. M. Chisholm, “Identity through Possible Worlds”
David Lewis, from On the Plurality of Worlds
Alvin Plantinga, “Transworld Identity or Worldbound Individuals”

III.
David Lewis, “Causation” (including Postscript E)
D. M. Armstrong, “Going through the Open Door Again”

IV.
Peter Van Inwagen, “The Mystery of Metaphysical Freedom”; D. J. O’Connor, “The Agent as Cause”

V.
Isaac Newton, "Scholium on Absolute Space and Time"
James Van Cleve, “Incongruent Counterparts and Higher Dimensions”
J. M. E. McTaggart, from The Nature of Existence; C. D. Broad, from Examination of McTaggart’s Philosophy
J.J.C. Smart, "The Space-Time World"; Ian Hinckfuss, "Topis, Soris, Noris"; A. N. Prior, "Some Free Thinking about Time"
David Lewis, "The Paradoxes of Time Travel"

VI.
D. C. Williams, “The Elements of Being”
D. M. Armstrong, “Properties”
Dean Zimmerman, “Distinct Indiscernibles and the Bundle Theory”

Lecture outlines:

Introduction

I-A. Change of composition
I-B. Qualitative change
I-C. Substantial change

II-A. Possibility, possible worlds, and identity
II-B. Essentialism
II-C. The nature of possible worlds

III-A. Counterfactual conditionals
III-B. Problems about causation
III-C. The counterfactual account of event causation

IV-A. Free will and agent causation
IV-B. Events

V-A. Absolute vs. relational space (and time)
V-B. Zeno's Paradoxes
V-C. Time and Passage