Syllabus

Course Description

Between the late sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries, political and scientific revolutions would stamp Europe with what we can now recognize as the hallmarks of modernity. Philosophers not only struggled to understand the changes taking place around them, they were also crucial actors in forming the new intellectual and social world. This course will survey the development of philosophy in the early modern period. We will study in some detail philosophical texts from both the so-called "rationalist" and "empiricist" traditions and conclude with an examination of Immanuel Kant's critique and synthesis of these traditions in his Critique of Pure Reason. While we shall focus on metaphysical and epistemological questions and their implications for scientific inquiry, we shall also touch upon questions of ethics, politics, and medicine. This course will have three goals: 1) to understand the texts themselves and their place within each philosopher's intellectual development; 2) to understand the interrelations of the texts and their place in the development of philosophy in this period; and 3) to glimpse the place of philosophy within the complex intellectual and social world of the time.

Participation: There are several basic skills involved in philosophy, including reading critically, writing argumentatively, listening carefully, and talking constructively about ideas. If you do not attend class and section regularly you will not be able to participate and develop some of these skills, especially listening and talking. Lack of participation may affect your final grade in a variety of ways. If you miss class you will have less time to prepare your assignments. You will be less prepared to write your papers and take the exams. It is in your interest both in terms of your grade and your education to participate regularly in class.

Essays: All students are required to write two 3-page papers on an assigned topic, one on Descartes, and the second on one of the empiricists (Locke, Berkeley, or Hume). The first essay will be due Monday, April 18^th. The second essay will be due on Friday, May 20^th. I will hand out each set of essay topics about two weeks before each paper is due. After the beginning of class on the due date the paper will be considered late and one half point (0.5) will be deducted from the grade (e.g., from 3.2 to 2.7) for each 24 hour period it is late after that time. However, please note that the paper can be turned in at any time prior to the deadline. Each paper will count for 25% of your final grade. Both papers together will be worth 50% of your final grade.

Mid-Term Exam: There will be an in-class, mid-term exam on Monday, May 2^nd in our classroom (Music 213). This will be a closed book exam. All material from the assigned readings as well as class lectures will be the subject of the exam. No make-up exams will be given except in documented cases of illness or death of a family member. Please bring a blue book. This exam will count for 25% of your final grade.

Final Exam: There will be a final exam on Monday, June 6^th, 2:30-4:20pm in Music 213. This will be a closed book exam. All material from the assigned readings as well as class lectures will be the subject of the exam, though it will be weighted toward the second half of the class. No make-up exams will be given except in documented cases of illness or death of a family member. Please bring a blue book. This exam will count for 25% of your final grade.

Nota Bene: (1) Cheating in any form (including plagiarism, of course) will result in automatic referal to the Dean’s office. You are assumed to understand the university rules concerning inappropriate academic conduct. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the instructor.

(2) In order to pass this course students are required to complete satisfactorily all four components of this course. For example, a student who completes the exams and paper but who does not participate in class will not pass the course. A student who participates, completes the exams, but who does not do one of the papers, will not pass the course, etc. Absolutely no exceptions will be made to the policy.

There is one text required for this course, an anthology of primary readings. It will be available in the University Bookstore.

Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources, edited by Roger Ariew and Eric Watkins, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1998.

Below you will find a tentative schedule of readings for all class sessions. It is your responsibility to have read at least the assigned reading before class. All page numbers refer to the text mentioned above.

Week 1 – Introduction

3/28 Introduction

3/29 Bacon, New Organon, and Galileo, The Assayer (4-11)

3/30 Descartes, Discourse on the Method, 1, 2, and 5 (12-21)

4/1 Descartes, Discourse on the Method, 1, 2, and 5 (12-21)

Week 2 – Descartes (Meditations I-III)

4/4 Descartes, Meditations, Preface, I (22-30). See also: Objections and Replies (57-63).

4/5 Descartes, Meditations, II (30-34). See also: Objections and Replies (63-66).

4/6 Descartes, Meditations, III (34-41). See also: Objections and Replies (66-70, 70-80).

4/8 Discussion of Meditations I-III (including Objections and Replies).

Week 3 – Descartes (Meditations III-VI)

4/11 Descartes, Meditations, IV (41-45)

4/12 Descartes, Meditations, V (45-48)

4/13 Descartes, Meditations, VI (48-55)

4/15 Discussion of Meditations IV-VI

Week 4 – Spinoza

4/18 Spinoza, Ethics, Book I, Propositions 1-14 & Appendix (129-134, 145-149).

[Descartes Paper Due]

4/19 Spinoza, Ethics, Book I, Propositions 15-24 (134-140)

4/20 Spinoza, Ethics, Book I, Propositions 25-36 (140-149)

4/22 Discussion of Spinoza

Week 5 – Leibniz

4/25 Leibniz, “A New System of Nature,” “Monadology” (229-243)

4/26 Leibniz, “Monadology”

4/27 Leibniz, “Discourse on Metaphysics” (§§8-9, §13); “Letters to Arnauld” (208-14)

4/29 Discussion of Leibniz

Week 6 – Locke

5/2 Mid-Term Exam

5/3 Locke, Essay, Book I, chapters 1-2; II, 1-14 (270-301)

5/4 Locke, Essay, Book II, chapters 21-23, 27 (301-329)

5/6 Locke, Essay, III, 3, 6; IV, 1-4, 10-11, 15-16 (329-373)

Week 7 – Berkeley & Hume

5/9 Berkeley, Principles of Human Knowledge, §§1-33 (462-477)

5/10 Berkeley, Principles of Human Knowledge, §§1-33 (462-477)

5/11 Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, §§I-III (491-499)

5/13 Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, §§IV-VII (506-522)

Week 8 – Hume

5/16 Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, §§VIII (522-532)

5/17 Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, §§X (522-532)

5/18 Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, §§XII (522-532)

5/20 Discussion of Hume [Empiricist Paper Due]

Week 9 – Kant

5/23 Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Prefaces, Introduction (634-647)

5/24 Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Transcendental Aesthetic (647-653)

5/25 Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Transcendental Deduction (658-672)

5/27 Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Analogies of Experience (683-697)

Week 10 – Kant

5/30 Memorial Day (NO CLASS)

5/31 Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Refutation of Idealism (697-698)

6/1 Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Third Antimony of Pure Reason (713-715)

6/3 Discussion of Kant

FINAL EXAM: Monday, June 6^th, 2:30-4:20pm (Music 213).