Philosophy 427: Intuitions and Philosophy

Russell Marcus, Instructor. Email me.

Hamilton College, Fall 2009

Syllabus pdf version

Go to Schedule: Part I, Part II, Part III

Meeting Times and Place:

• Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1pm - 2:15pm
• Library 209

Course Description and Overview:

We know a lot. We know that we exist, that we and others have conscious sensations, that seven and five are twelve, and that torturing innocent people is wrong. In part, we know these claims because we construct theories of knowledge, mind, mathematics, and ethics. But any theory must be checked against some data. Among these data are our intuitions: the way the world seems to us. Intuitions and Philosophy will explore the role of intuitions in our reasoning in epistemology, philosophy of mind, moral philosophy, metaphysics, and other areas. We will consider arguments in favor of using intuitions in philosophy, as well as research on the fallibility of ordinary reasoning. We will also examine some recent experimental results which call into question traditional philosophical methods and conclusions.

Texts:

• Martin Cohen. Wittgenstein’s Beetle and Other Classic Thought Experiments. Blackwell, 2005.
• Michael DePaul and William Ramsey. Rethinking Intuition: The Psychology of Intuition and Its Role in Philosophical Inquiry. Rowman and Littlefield, 1998.
• Joshua Knobe and Shaun Nichols. Experimental Philosophy. Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Additional readings, available on reserve, and on the course website.
  

Assignments and Grading

Your responsibilities for this course include the following, with their contributions to your grade calculation in parentheses:

1. All the primary readings listed below, including seminar papers.
2. Twenty article prècises (10%)
3. Two seminar papers/presentations (2-4 pages; 5-10 minutes) (30%; 15% each)
4. Term paper (8-12 pages) (30%)
5. Final exam (30%)

Article prècises are 100- to 150- word summaries, or distillations, of some portion of an assigned reading. In preparing for most classes, you should write one prècis before class. You may choose to write about an entire article, or to focus on a small portion of the article. If there is more than one reading, you may choose one reading on which to focus. You need not complete prècises for the two classes in which you are presenting a seminar paper. In lieu of up to five prècises, you can write a list of 6-8 detailed questions on the reading.

I will collect twenty of your prècises at the end of the term, on December 10, unless you display a need for me to collect them earlier. You will mainly be graded on the completion of twenty prècises, rather than their quality. I expect that the prècises will be useful to you in preparing both for classes and for the final exam.

Classes will generally run as discussions of a 750- to 1500-word seminar paper. Seminar papers should assimilate the assigned readings and summarize the main arguments. Critical discussion is encouraged, and need not be fully developed. You are instigating class discussion, focusing our thoughts on the central theses, and raising questions. It is good practice to end a seminar paper with a few questions you believe will be useful for the class to discuss.

Each seminar paper is due at noon by email to all seminar participants the day before the class in which it will be discussed (i.e. Monday or Wednesday). This deadline is necessary for all participants in the seminar to be able to read the paper and prepare comments and questions for class. Classes will begin with a short (five-to-ten minute) required presentation of the main ideas of your paper, at which time you may discuss any particular difficulties in the material, or topics that you were unable to cover in the paper. Your presentation may extend for a longer time. Your grade for the seminar paper will depend on both the paper and your presentation of it.

Your term papers will be completed in three stages. A one-paragraph abstract of you paper is due on Tuesday, October 13. A full draft of your term paper is due on Tuesday, November 10. The final draft is due on Thursday, December 3. See the Paper Assignment handout for various options for paper topics. I will be happy to meet with you to discuss your topic, in advance. Also, see the second of Two Additional Activities, below. Failure to hand in a draft, or handing in an insufficient draft, will reduce your final paper grade by two steps (e.g. from B+ to B-).

The final exam will be on Tuesday, December 15, 2009, from 9am to noon. Preparatory questions will be posted on the course website.

Both the Writing Center and the Oral Communications Center have an astoundingly wonderful set of resources to help you write and speak more effectively.

The Hamilton College Honor Code will be enforced.

Schedule

The readings listed come from three different places:

DePaul and Ramsey, marked on the schedule as ‘DR’
Knobe and Nichols, marked on the schedule as ‘EP’
Handouts, available on the website or on ereserve

Full bibliographic references for each of the entries below is available in the course bibliography.

Part I: Theoretical Framework

Part II: Intuitions In Philosophy

Part III: How To Do Philosophy?

Final Exam: Tuesday December 15, 9am to noon.