Course syllabus

PHIL 100: Mind, Knowledge, and Reality

Second Semester 2017

Course coordinator:

Prof. John Bishop, Arts 1, Room 431 3737599, ext. 87611 jc.bishop@auckland.ac.nz
Office Hours:  TBA

Lecturers:

Assoc. Prof. Robert Wicks (on Plato and Descartes) [Weeks 1-4]
Humanities Building, Room 439, 373-7599, ext. 88449 r.wicks@auckland.ac.nz
Office Hours:  Wednesdays 10-12 (weeks 1-4); Mondays 10-12 (weeks 5-12)

Prof. John Bishop (on Hume’s Epistemology and Philosophy of Religion) [Weeks 5-8]

Mr Vladimir Krstić (on Pascal’s Wager, Philosophy of Mind and Personal Identity) [Weeks 9-12],
Humanities Building, Room 441, 373-7599, ext. 74141
v.krstic@auckland.ac.nz
Office Hours:  Mondays and Wednesdays 1-2 pm, 206-303

Tutors:

Mr. Vladimir Krstić  (see above)

Mr. Tom Yates,Humanities Building, Room 305, 373-7599, ext. 85277
tyat698@aucklanduni.ac.nz
Office hours: Wednesdays 1-2pm; Thursdays 3-4pm

Class Reps:

Daniel Hong  
hhon669@aucklanduni.ac.nz

Annikki Lehtola  
aleh468@aucklanduni.ac.nz

Tuaakana Philosophy Mentor:

Nathan Rew  
nrew454@aucklanduni.ac.nz

Timetable:

Lectures: Mondays and Wednesdays, 12 noon – 1 p.m., Library B15

Lectorials (Large Group Tutorials):

Thursdays: 10:00am-11:00am       303-101 (Sci Maths & Physics, Room 101)
Thursdays: 12:00 noon-1:00pm     201N-370 (Human Sciences – North, Room 370)
Thursdays:  4:00pm-5:00pm          109-B10   (General Library, Room B10) 

Textbook:

There is no set textbook for this course. The basic required readings for each section of the course are available through the course webpage on CANVAS under the heading 'Reading Lists'

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES:

This course deals with fundamental philosophical problems and puzzles about the nature of the world and human beings. Examples include philosophical questions about the existence of God, the relationship between physical reality and mental life and the nature of identity and the self. The theory of knowledge studies philosophical problems concerning the sources, limits and justification of human knowledge and understanding (particularly, as distinct from mere opinion or belief). The course will introduce students to a selection of such topics and to some of the important philosophical discussions and debates to which they have given rise.

The course is divided into three parts (1) Plato and Descartes, (2) Hume’s Epistemology and Philosophy of Religion, (3) selected problems in metaphysics and epistemology. The first part of the course (4 weeks), taught by Robert Wicks, will discuss Plato’s metaphysical theory of timeless forms, his theory of knowledge as justified true belief, Descartes’s quest for certainty though his “method of doubt,” and the distinction between mind and body. The second part (4 weeks), taught by John Bishop, will discuss Hume’s empiricist theory of knowledge and its application to the question of God’s existence. For the third part of the course (4 weeks), taught by Vladimir Krstić, we have chosen for this Semester to consider (a) Pascal’s Wager, (b) physicalist theories of the mind and (c) the problem of personal identity.

At the end of the course you should have an appreciation of the representative theories and arguments presented by philosophers who have addressed these matters. You should be able to explain these theories and arguments in your own words and in a way that shows good familiarity with the prescribed readings.

TEACHING FORMAT AND EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENTS:

The course is taught through lectures and lectorials (large group tutorials). There are two one-hour lectures per week. Lectorials are one hour per week, starting in the second week of the semester. Students are expected to attend lectures and lectorials and doing so is usually crucial for mastering the course materials.

You are welcome to consult your lecturer about any questions you may have about course material or organisation. Lecturers will announce office hours each week during which they are available for consultation without appointment. You may also request an appointment for another time should you need to do so by sending an email message to the lecturer concerned.

 

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1: Plato (429-347 B.C.E.)

Mon. Jul. 24, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm

Topic: Introduction to the course, and course administration (coursework essays, exam, etc.)

Wed. Jul. 26, 12:00 noon -1:00pm

Topic: Background to Plato: From Mythology to Philosophy

Readings: “Plato – Background and Overview” (in "files" section of website)

Week 2: Plato (429-347 B.C.E.)

Mon. Jul. 31, 12:00 noon -1:00 pm

Topic: Socrates’ Search for Definitions and Essences

Readings: “Meno,” trans. Benjamin Jowett [1871] (online) at either:

       (a) http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/meno.html

       (b) http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1643/1643-h/1643-h.htm

Wed. Aug. 2, 12:00 noon -1:00 pm

Topic: The Theory of the Forms and the Nature of Knowledge

Readings:  “Republic” (Book VI, 508-511e; Book VII, 514-520d) [divided line analogy and the allegory of the cave] From: The Collected Dialogues of Plato, ed. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961), pp. 743-752.

Recommended: “Plato on Knowledge in the Theatetus,” in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online): https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-theaetetus/

 

Week 3: René Descartes (1596-1650)

Mon. Aug. 7, 12:00 noon-1:00pm Wed. Aug. 9, 12:00 noon-1:00pm

Topic for Week: Descartes’s Quest for Knowledge: The Method of Doubt, the Dream Argument, the Cogito (“I think”)

Readings for Week: Descartes, Meditations I-III [from The Philosophical Works of Descartes, trans. Elizabeth S. Haldane] Recommended: “Descartes’s Epistemology,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online): https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-epistemology/

 

Week 4: René Descartes (1596-1650)

Mon. Aug. 14, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm Wed. Aug. 16, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm

Topic for Week: Mind-Body Dualism, The Existence of God, and the External World 

Readings for Week:   Meditations IV-VI

Recommended: “Descartes and the Pineal Gland,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (online): http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pineal-gland/

 

Week 5: David Hume (1711-1776) on Human Understanding

Mon. Aug. 21, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm Wed. Aug. 23, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm

Topic for Week: Ideas and Impressions: an empiricist theory of knowledge; the challenge of scepticism and its resolution

Reading for Week:   David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Parts II-V, VII (ii) and XII (iii) from Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals, reprinted from the 1777 edition with Introduction and Analytical Index by L.A.Selby-Bigge, 3^rd edition, with text revised and noted by P.H.Nidditch (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1975).

 

Week 6: Hume’s epistemology – an application to belief in miracles

Mon. Aug. 28, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm Wed. Aug. 30, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm

Topic for Week: ‘Of Miracles’ 

Reading for Week: David Hume, ‘Of Miracles’, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Part X. 

 

Mid-Semester Break: Monday 4 September - Saturday 16 September, 2017

 

Week 7: Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

Mon. Sept. 18, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm Wed. Sept. 20, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm

Topic for Week: The ‘Design’ Argument, and its Critique

Reading for Week:   David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Parts II, IV-VII. from Dialogues and Natural History of Religion, edited with an introduction and notes by J.C.A.Gaskin, Oxford University Press, 1993, reissued 2008.

 

Week 8. Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

Mon. Sept. 25, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm Wed. Sept. 27, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm

Topic for Week: The argument from evil

Reading for Week:   David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Part X.

 

Week 9:

Mon. Oct. 2, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm

Topic: Pascal’s Wager

Primary reading: Blaise Pascal, “Faith as a Rational wager” in Louis P Pojman (ed.), Introduction to philosophy: classical and contemporary readings, 3^rd edn (Oxford University Press, 2004)

Secondary reading: Eliott Sober, “Pascal and Irrationality” in his Core Questions in Philosophy, 6^th edn (Pearson Education, 2013); Stephen D. Hales, “Pascal’s Wager” in his This is Philosophy: An Introduction (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013); Nicholas Everitt, “Prudential Arguments” in The Non-Existence of God (Routledge, 2004), 191-198.

Wed. Oct. 4, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm

Topic: Introduction to Philosophy of Mind: Physicalism vs Dualism

Reading: Alan Turing, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” Mind 59 (No.236) (1950), 433-460. (May be read in advance for this introductory lecture: this famous paper will be discussed further next week.)

 

Week 10

Mon. Oct. 9, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm Wed. Oct 11. 27, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm

Topic for Week: Theories of the Mind; An argument in favour of Dualism

Reading for Week: Jackson Frank, “What Mary Didn't Know,” The Journal of Philosophy 83, 5 (1986), 291–295;

 

Week 11:

Mon. Oct. 16, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm

Topic: An Argument in Favour of Eliminative Materialism

Reading: Churchland, Paul M., “Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes,” The Journal of Philosophy 78, 2 (1981) 67-90;

Wed. Oct. 18, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm

Topic: Personal identity: How do I know that you are still you?

Primary reading: John Locke, “Of Identity and Diversity,” in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Batoche Books, 2000, online edition), Book II, Chapter 27, especially Section 9 ff; Noonan, Harold W., Personal Identity, 2^nd edn (Routledge, 2003), Chapter 1, Sections 1.1 – 1.8.

Secondary reading: Noonan, Personal Identity, Chapter 2

 

Week 12:

Mon. Oct. 23, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm Wed. Oct. 25, 12:00 noon-1:00 pm

Topic for Week: Should I care about the continuity of my body or of my memories?

Reading for Week: Williams, Bernard, “The Self and the Future,” Philosophical Review 59 (1970) 75–91.

 

ASSESSMENT

Your assessment will consist of:

(1) Coursework: (40% of final mark) The coursework consists of two essays, each of 1,000 words. Each essay is worth 20%.  

(2) Final Examination: (60% of final mark) The exam will be a 2-hour essay-style exam, requiring answers on three questions – one from Section A (on topics from Robert Wicks’s lectures), one from Section B (from John Bishop’s lectures), and one from Section C (from Vladimir Krstić’s lectures).

 

ESSAY TOPICS, DUE DATES and SUBMISSION PROCEDURE

Essay Submissions:

Please submit an electronic copy of your essay via Canvas (this checks for plagiarism and unacknowledged copying), and in addition, a hard copy with a personalised cover sheet to the Arts Assignment Centre (located in the Social Sciences Building [HSB])

Essay One

Due date: 3 p.m., Monday, 21 August

Write a 1,000 word essay on the following question:

Plato’s philosophical outlook is based on the idea that whatever is absolutely true is that which is unchanging. If the ordinary world in which we live – the world in space and time, with all of its stars and galaxies – is always changing because time is always moving on, then this changing ordinary world, as infinite and amazing as it is, cannot consequently be a place where absolute truth resides. Describe and critically discuss Plato’s reasons for locating truth and ultimate reality on a dimension which is outside of space and time.

[Please note:  This is not a research assignment where readings outside of the class materials (by "class materials" we are speaking of the class lectures, handouts, and assigned readings) are required, although it is fine to look at other sources.  If these latter are consulted, any standard style of referencing, e.g., the Chicago Style, will be acceptable.]

 

Essay Two

Due date: 3 p.m., Monday, 2 October

Consider the following famous passage from David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Part X:

And is it possible, Cleanthes, said Philo, that after all these reflections, and infinitely more, which might be suggested, you can still persevere in your Anthropomorphism, and assert the moral attributes of the Deity, his justice, benevolence, mercy, and rectitude, to be of the same nature with these virtues in human creatures? His power we allow is infinite: whatever he wills is executed: but neither man nor any other animal is happy: therefore he does not will their happiness. His wisdom is infinite: He is never mistaken in choosing the means to any end: But the course of Nature tends not to human or animal felicity: therefore it is not established for that purpose. Through the whole compass of human knowledge, there are no inferences more certain and infallible than these. In what respect, then, do his benevolence and mercy resemble the benevolence and mercy of men?

Epicurus’s old questions are yet unanswered. Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? whence then is evil?

(i) This passage presents a version of ‘the Argument from Evil’. State in your own words what is the conclusion of the argument which Hume’s character Philo is stating here?  (at most 150 words)

(ii) Next, explain how you would express, in your own words, the argument that Philo is suggesting as a good reason to believe that this conclusion is true. (at most 200 words)

(iii) Finally, give your own criticism of this argument. Does the argument succeed in rationally supporting its conclusion? Is there an objection which might be made to the argument? Could a good reply be given to that objection? (650 words, or more if you have spare space after answering (i) and (ii): total word count should not exceed 1,000 words.)

 

Requests for extensions and late essay penalties:

If your essay is submitted late due to illness or other significant personal circumstances, there will be no penalty if either (a) you attach a supporting medical certificate or letter from the Student Counselling Service to the hard copy of your essay when you submit it, or (b) you have obtained permission for an extension from Robert Wicks (for Essay One) or John Bishop (for Essay Two). Otherwise, late essays will suffer a penalty of minus 5% on the awarded grade for each week that the essay is delayed up to three weeks. No essays will be accepted beyond three weeks after the due date unless there are exceptional circumstances, and an extension has been granted.