Introduction to Philosophy

Philosophy 101
Brighouse: Johnson 302,brighous@oxy.edu,2588
Office Hours: Tuesday 9:30-10:00, Wednesday 9:30-10:30, Thursday 11:30-12:30,
Friday 10-10:30 and by appt.

Philosophers are interested in many questions. A few of the most fundamental are
the following: What are the fundamental entities that make up the world and what is their
nature? What constitutes knowledge? What can we know and how can we know it? What
is truth? These questions are quite general, but more specific questions arise in various
areas once we think about these general questions. For example: Does God exist? How
can we know about God? What is justice? Which political system is a just system? What
is a morally good action? Are minds physical or non-physical? What is the nature of
time? What is beauty? Is beauty subjective? Are we free agents or are all our actions
determined?
Philosophical questions tend to be fundamental in the sense that answers to them
are presupposed by other disciplines: For example, in a science class you may do a lab to
test a hypothesis, say, about the rate of fall of an object in a vacuum. This whole process
presupposes that this kind of experiment is a good one for attaining or starting to
attaining knowledge. The soundness of this scientific approach then hinges on the
philosophical questions of what constitutes knowledge and how knowledge is arrived at.
In a politics class one learns about different political systems or about public or foreign
policy. One can learn about simply what these systems or policies are (something that
presupposes that we can have knowledge- a philosophical issue), but one will also be
interested in whether one system is better than another or whether one policy is better
justified than another. When thinking about this fundamental ethical philosophical
questions come into play: Is one system or policy more just than another? Why? Does the
concept of a just system, i.e. the concept of justice, make sense? When doing philosophy
it is these questions that we explicitly address.
Philosophers offer answers to these questions, and give arguments supporting
their answers. They also look carefully at the arguments and answers other philosophers
have given to these questions to judge the soundness of those arguments and answers.
The tool of the philosopher is critical analysis, and it is our critical analysis skills that we
will be developing over the course of the semester. In this class we will look at some of
the answers that have been given to some of these questions and some others and we will
pay close attention to the arguments offered for these answers. We will learn how to
critically analyze these arguments.

Assignments and grading:

Two short papers: Paper 1 due Feb 7th, Paper 2 due April 1st each worth 20%
One midterm: March 4th worth 15%
One final 20%
One group project/presentation during the last two weeks of classes worth 20%
Participation, quizzes and attendance will contribute 5% towards your grade
For the group presentation you will have to pick a philosophical topic, explain some of
the philosophical issues and questions that arise in the context of that topic, illustrate
some answers to these questions and discuss some of the problems with arguments for
those answers. You will need to approve your topic and reading list with me before you
work on the project. You will give a group presentation to the class, and will give me a
write up of your work (one write up per group). Your individual grade for the
presentation will be the grade of the group. Each individual in the group will submit a
one page discussion of his or her own input to the group’s project and his or her
assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the project. This discussion will contribute
to the grade for the project.

Resources A great resource for the class is the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy that
can be found at: http://plato.stanford.edu

Topics

What is the nature of the external world?

Introduction- Bertrand Russell’s Problems of philosophy

Chapter 1 http://www.ditext.com/russell/russell.html

Descartes rationalism From: Descartes’Meditations on First Philosophy

Meditation 1
http://www.wright.edu/cola/descartes/meditation1.html

Meditation 2
http://www.wright.edu/cola/descartes/meditation2.html

Meditation 3
http://www.wright.edu/cola/descartes/meditation3.html

Meditation 4
http://www.wright.edu/cola/descartes/meditation4.html

Berkeley’s idealism
Berkeley: Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonus

Dialogue One
http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~dwilkins/Berkeley/Hylas/1734/FstHP.html

Dialogue Two
http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~dwilkins/Berkeley/Hylas/1734/SndHP.html

Dialogue Three
http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~dwilkins/Berkeley/Hylas/1734/TrdHP.html
The mind body problem

Descartes’ Dualism
Meditation 2 again
http://www.wright.edu/cola/descartes/meditation2.html
Meditation 6
http://www.wright.edu/cola/descartes/meditation6.html

Behaviourism
Re-introducing “The Concept of Mind” Dennett
http://ejap.louisiana.edu/EJAP/2002/Dennett.html
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry: Behaviourism
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism/

Identity Theory
Sensations and Brain Processes, J.J.C. Smart
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-8108%28195904%2968%3A2%3C141%3ASABP%3E2.0.CO
%3B2-S

Functionalism
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry: Functionalism
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/functionalism/

Freewill and Determinism

“Causation itself, determinism and their compatibility with Freedom”, Thomas

Hobbes
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/dfwVariousHobbes.htm

The Pretty Freedom of Thomas Hobbes that goes with Necessity,

Bishop Bramhall
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/dfwIncompatBramhall.htm

“When is the Will Free?” Peter van Inwagen

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1520-8583%281989%293%3C399%3AWITWF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-
Y

“I could not have done otherwise- So What?” Daniel Dennett

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022362X%28198410%2981%3A10%3C553%3AICNHDO
%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D
 “Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person”, Harry Frankfurt
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-362X%2819710114%2968%3A1%3C5%3AFOTWAT%3E2.0.CO
%3B2-G

Personal Identity

“Where am I?” Daniel Dennett

http://www.newbanner.com/SecHumSCM/WhereAmI.html

Selections from the Stanford Encyclopedia entry on Personal Identity:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-personal/#1

“Personal Identity” Derek Parfit

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-8108%28197101%2980%3A1%3C3%3API%3E2.0.CO
%3B2-R

The nature of space and time

Newton’s Principia
Scholium on absolute space and time:
http://www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/NewtonScholium.htm

Leibniz’s third letter and Clark’s reply, Leibniz-Clark Correspondence

http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/leibclar.pdf

“The paradoxes of Time Travel” David Lewis (online reserve)

Moral realism/moral relativism

Chapter’s one and two of James Rachels The elements of Moral Philosophy
Online reserve

Utilitarianism
Chapter two of J.S. Mill’s Utilitarianism http://www.utilitarianism.com/mill2.htm

Kant’s Moral Theory

Preface and Chapter One of Kant’s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals
http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/pdf/kantgw.pdf

Moral issues
Abortion: “A defense of Abortion” Judith Jarvis Thomson
http://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/Phil160,Fall02/thomson.htm
“Killing and Letting Die” James Rachels
http://www.bradpriddy.com/rachels/killing.pdf

“Do animals have moral standing?” James Rachels

http://www.bradpriddy.com/rachels/MoralStanding.pdf

Cloning
A report from "California Cloning: A Dialogue on State Regulation" Held at
Santa Clara University, October 12, 2001
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/cloning.html
Power point presentation by James Rachels:
http://www.bradpriddy.com/rachels/JboLectures.htm