Conor Mayo-Wilson

Phil 450: Epistemology

Course Mechanics

• Instructor: Conor Mayo-Wilson
• Email: conormw@uw.edu
• Office: Savery M399 and Virtual
• Office Hours: Mondays 3:30–5 and by appointment
• Course Websites: Course webpage and Canvas

Course Description

What is knowledge, and what do we know? Those are the two central questions of our course, and consequently, the course is divided into two parts. First, we will study reliabilist theories of knowledge, and we will compare and contrast those theories with mathematical criteria that are often used to assess the reliability of statistical methods in the sciences. Second, we then apply reliabilist theories to empirical and non-empirical knowledge respectively. That is, we first use reliabilist theories to assess what can be known via observation and experience, i.e., what can be known empirically. Then we investigate whether reliabilist theories can shed light on mathematical and moral knowledge, which are paradigmatic examples of a priori/non-empirical knowledge.

Course Goals

The course has three central goals. First, by the end of the term, students should be able to (a) summarize at least two different theories of propositional knowledge and (b) explain in what sense the theories capture the intuition that knowledge is incompatible with luck. Second, students should be able to apply those theories of knowledge to respond to various types of skeptical arguments, including versions of external world skepticism, inductive skepticism, and mathematical and/or moral skepticism. Finally, by the end of the course, students should be able construct rigorous arguments about knowledge, evidence, and justified belief, and to communicate those arguments precisely and succinctly in speech and in writing.

Course Requirements

Philosophical thinking is a skill, not unlike playing the piano, riding a bike, or dancing. Learning a new skill requires practice, and the best way to practice philosophical thinking is to write and engage in spirited (but polite) debates with other philosophers.

Thus, the main requirement for the course is that you engage with the assigned readings and then come to class prepared to work and learn with others. The second requirement is that you write two papers. More details on these assessments are below.

Reading Assignments

To ensure you are prepared for classroom discussion and activities, there are short reading assignments due each class, starting in the second week of the quarter. Although there are optional reading assignments during the first week (such assignments are available below in the schedule), no reading assignments are due during the first week of class. In other words, the first required reading assignment is due on the first day of class in the second week of the quarter. I recognize that it is very difficult for most students to be prepared for every class, and so your three lowest scores on these assignments are “dropped” at the end of the quarter; see below for more information about grading.

A typical reading assignment requires you to answer three to five short questions. Most of the questions require only one sentence to answer, and none require more than a paragraph. Please bring a typed, hard copy (i.e., on printed paper) of your answers to reading assignments with you to class. Further details/instructions about reading assignments are available on the course website.

Some students view frequent assignments/assessments as “busy work” or as an instructor’s attempt to gauge which students are working hardest. That is not my intention. Philosophy is hard. When faced with hard-to-understand texts, it is easy to become discouraged and to give up. One of my central duties, as an instructor, is to ensure that you do not give up when concepts and/or arguments are initially difficult to understand. The purpose of the nightly questions is threefold: (i) to encourage you to read the assigned texts closely and actively, (ii) to prepare you for class discussions in which we will clarify and build upon the readings, and (iii) to provide me with feedback about which concepts are most difficult for students to understand. Importantly, it is well known that students learn more from doing the assigned readings than from lecture and/or class discussion (Hartman 1961), and so you should not view classroom activities as a replacement for reading carefully.

Participation

I teach some courses (e.g., introductory logic) in which attending class is not always necessary; smart and hard-working students can learn the material on their own. This is not such a course. The assigned readings are extremely difficult, and without class discussion and lecture, you will likely learn very little. Further, to discuss the texts productively, you will need to bring the assigned readings to class. You can do so by bringing a book, printing copies of the scanned readings, and/or bringing a laptop or tablet so that you can refer to a digital copy. It is well-known that students who attend class perform significantly better than students who do not (Brocato 1989; Chen and Lin 2008).

Participating in class requires you to do at least two things. First, take handwritten notes. Leave space on your reading assignments so that you can expand upon and/or correct the answers that you wrote at home. Many students believe they take “better” notes when they type. All existing empirical evidence suggests otherwise: students who take handwritten notes learn more (Flanigan et al. 2024).

Second, lead discussion at least once during the quarter, and be an active contributor in small group discussions every class. During most classes, I will break you into groups of four to five students and ask you to answer questions collectively about the reading. Small group discussions can be one of the most effective ways to develop your philosophical skills, but they are most effective only when everyone participates. Ask questions. Even if you agree with a classmate during discussion, challenge your classmate’s claims (politely) by saying things like, “I agree, but I wonder if we could strengthen our argument in any way.”

End-of-class writing

At the end of every class period, I will ask you one question about the material that has been covered that day, and I will give you fifteen minutes to write a short response to the question. You should write your response on the back of your reading assignment for the day, and so you will turn in your response (with your reading assignment) at the end of each class.

Like the reading assignments, these end-of-class writing assignments serve three purposes: (i) to encourage you to be an active participant in class discussions, (ii) to provide me with feedback about which concepts are most difficult for students to understand, and (iii) to give you practice writing.

Papers

Although there are three paper topics and three paper deadlines for the course, students must complete only two papers for the course. All students will complete the first paper assignment. Half of the students will be assigned (at random) to complete the second paper assignment (on inductive knowledge); the other half will be required to complete the third paper assignment on mathematical or moral knowledge. If you are assigned to write a paper on inductive knowledge but would prefer to write about mathematical or ethical knowledge (or vice versa), you may swap/trade assignments with a student who has the other assignment. However, you are not permitted to decide unilaterally that you would prefer to complete a different paper assignment than the one to which you are assigned. Importantly, if you are assigned to write a paper on inductive knowledge (i.e., to respond to the second paper prompt) after all trading/swapping has finished, you must submit a paper by the second paper deadline. Papers on the second topic that are received on third deadline will be marked late, according to the policy described on the syllabus.

Why will different groups of students write different papers, and why are the deadlines different? Why are students not given a choice? In my experience, when students are given a choice between two paper deadlines, almost all students choose the later deadline, including students who want and initially plan to complete the assessment with the earlier deadline. I have crafted this policy to help students who want to complete the main assessments for the course earlier rather than later in the term.

Submitting Assignments

Hard/physical copies of all reading and end-of-class writing assignments will be submitted at the end of each class, in-person. All paper assignments should be submitted electronically via Canvas by midnight. Please do not email me your papers and/or assignments unless you already have tried to upload them via Canvas. When a class exceeds even a small number of students (e.g., ten), it is difficult for an instructor to organize and maintain a record of students’ work if it is submitted via email.

Grading

My grading philosophy

Assigning grades is an important, difficult, and unpleasant part of my job. Many instructors attempt to use grades to perform (at least) four functions: (i) to provide feedback to students about how much they have learned, (ii) to provide feedback to students about how well they are performing in relation to other students in the class, (iii) to give incentives to students to learn particular skills, (iv) to record students’ performance for future instructors, graduate schools, potential employers.

A moment’s reflection shows that grades cannot perform all four functions simultaneously. For example, if every student earns a perfect score on an exam, then by the first criterion, each student ought to receive an “A”. On the other hand, if every student earns a perfect score, then each student’s performance is “average” for the class. Similar reasoning shows the other criteria also conflict with one another.

For these reasons and others, I use grades only for the first and fourth purposes, namely, to provide you (and others) with feedback about how well you have learned the skills and facts taught in the course. Very roughly, a final grade of 3.7 or above indicates that your knowledge of the course material and your performance of the skills taught in the course are both excellent; a grade between 3.3 and 3.6 indicates they are very good; a grade between 2.7 and 3.2 indicates that you have acquired a general understanding of the material and skills, but you have missed some finer points; a grade lower than 2.7 indicates that your work contains some very serious errors and misunderstandings. I fail students only when their work contains very serious errors and misunderstandings throughout.

Rubrics and regrades

I use rubrics when assigning you grades on more substantial assignments (e.g., papers and presentations). Rubrics contain detailed descriptions of which skills you are performing well and which are in need of improvement. I encourage you to look at the rubrics before you write your papers so that you know exactly how you will be assessed. Even better, find a partner and grade each other’s paper using the provided rubrics. Doing so gives you experience evaluating philosophical work and will improve your own writing.

I do not regrade assignments, but I would be happy to clarify why you received the grade that you did.

Final grades

Your final grade (as a percentage) is a weighted average, which is calculated using the following weights:

• Reading assignments — 20%
• End-of-class questions — 10%
• Paper 1 (about 4–6 pages) — 30%
• Paper 2 (about 6–8 pages) — 35%
• Participation — 5%

Your final grade will be converted to a four point scale using the following equation: Four Point Scale = (Percentage / 10) − 5.5.

For example, if your final percentage is 90%, then your final grade will be 3.5 = 90/10 − 5.5.

Unless there is a compelling reason (e.g., you are hospitalized), I will not assign an “X” grade at the end of the quarter. See the late work policy on the syllabus.

Course Files

• Here you can download copies of the syllabus and reading schedule.
• All the remaining course files are available for download below.

Schedule