Syllabus
Course Description and Overview:
The modern era in western philosophy spans the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Spurred mainly by advances in science, but also by criticisms of Church dogma, philosophers attempted to accommodate new learning with a broad view of human abilities, and to construct systematic understandings of the world. This course mainly surveys, chronologically, the work of seven philosophers of the modern era: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. In combination with Philosophy 201: History of Ancient Western Philosophy, this course will provide students a broad background in the history of western philosophy, preparing you for both advanced work in the history of philosophy and contemporary study of a wide range of topics including epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, and metaphysics.
Required:
Roger Ariew and Eric Watkins. Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources, 2nd edition. Hackett, 2009.
Various supplementary handouts, available in class and on the course website.
Recommended:
Norman Melchert. The Great Conversation, Volume II: Descartes
through Derrida and Quine. Oxford, 2007.
Jeffrey Tlumak. Classical Modern Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction. Routledge, 2006.
Other recommended sources are listed in the Course Bibliography.
Your responsibilities this course include the following, with their contributions to your grade calculation in parentheses:
Attendance and participation
Readings
Presentation (10%)
Two papers (20%, 25%)
Midterm and Final Exams (20%, 25%)
Attendance: While there is no direct reward or penalty for attendance, I expect students to come to class prepared to discuss the assigned reading.
Readings: As this course is a broad survey, there is a lot of assigned reading. I have divided the
readings into three categories: primary, secondary, and tertiary readings.
You are responsible for completing all primary readings, which cover all the central topics in the
course. Exams will be based on the primary readings.
The secondary readings, consisting mainly of further primary sources, will be useful in
illuminating the primary readings. I will sometimes refer to the secondary readings in class. You are
responsible for the secondary readings assigned for your presentation topic, and you should try to
complete as many of the secondary readings as possible.
The tertiary readings are from the secondary sources (Melchert and Tlumak), and are optional.
To assist you with the readings, and to help prepare you for the midterm and final examinations, I
will distribute reading guides, lists of questions, for all of the primary readings.
Presentation: Each student is required to make one in-class presentation, lasting approximately ten to fifteen minutes. I will distribute more specific guidelines for your presentation, as well as a sign-up sheet, in class. I welcome, indeed encourage, you to use your presentation topic as the theme for your second paper.
Papers: Each student will write two short papers. The first paper, 4-6 pages on any theme from the Objections and Replies to Descartes’s Meditations, is due on February 9. The second paper, 5-8 pages on any topic in the material from Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, or Hume, is due on April 27. I will distribute more details about the each paper in class.
Exams: The midterm exam will be given in class on March 11. The comprehensive final exam will be given at the appointed exam time, Tuesday, May 11, 9am-noon. Both exams will be based on questions from the Reading Guides, though the final exam will also include a short essay topic.
The Hamilton College Honor Code will be strictly enforced
My office hours for the Spring 2010, term are 10:30am - noon, Monday through Friday. My office is in room 201 of 210 College Hill Road, which is at the northwest corner of CHR and Griffin Road.
Note: The readings listed in each row are to be completed before class.
Part I: Descartes
Date |
Topic |
Primary Readings |
Secondary Readings |
Tertiary Readings |
January 19 |
The Scientific Revolution |
|
David Rosenthal, “Philosophy and Its History” (Handout) |
Melchert, Chapter 12 |
January 21 |
Sense Experience, Method, and Doubt |
Discourse on Method,
Parts 1 and 2 (AW 25-33) |
Montaigne, Apology, §7 (AW 4-13) |
Melchert 319-327 |
January 26 |
The Cogito and Certainty |
Meditations Two and Three (AW 43-54) |
Bacon, from New Organon (AW 16-20) |
Melchert 327-332 |
January 28 |
The Cartesian World |
Meditations Four through
Six (AW 54-68) |
Readings on the Ontological Argument
(handout) |
Melchert 332-336 |
February 2 |
Descartes and His Critics |
Descartes, “Arguments... Arranged in Geometrical Fashion” (AW 72-75) |
Leibniz, Letters (AW 99-105) |
Melchert 356-359 |
Part II: Spinoza
Date |
Topic |
Primary Readings |
Secondary readings |
Tertiary Readings |
Presentations |
February 4 |
Materialism |
Hobbes, from Leviathan (AW 114-136) |
|
Melchert, 361-371 | Todd |
February 9 Paper 1 is due |
Substance |
from Ethics, Part I (AW 144-164) |
Letters to Oldenburg and to Meyer (AW 137-143) |
Melchert 438 |
RJ |
February 11 |
Knowledge and Freedom |
from Ethics, Parts II and V (AW 164-195) |
|
Tlumak 88-95; 100-102 | Philippe Evan |
Part III: Leibniz
Date |
Topic |
Primary Readings |
Secondary Readings |
Tertiary Readings |
Presentations |
February 16 |
Monads and Theodicy |
The Monadology (AW 275-283) |
Malebranche,
from The Search After Truth (AW 200-223) |
Tlumak 133-141 |
David |
February 18 |
The Complete- World View of Substance |
Discourse on Metaphysics §1-§22 (AW 224-240) |
Letters
to Arnauld (AW 248-264) |
Melchert 440 |
Haley |
February 23 |
Freedom and Harmony |
Discourse on Metaphysics §23-§37 (AW 240-247) |
“A New System of Nature” (AW 269-274) |
Tlumak 133-138; 159-163 |
Nick |
February 25 |
Space and Time |
Newton, Selections (AW 284-293) |
|
Tlumak 164-171 |
Alex L. |
Part IV: Locke
Date |
Topic |
Primary Readings |
Secondary Readings |
Tertiary Readings |
Presentations |
March 2 |
Against Innate Ideas |
Essay Book I, Chapters I-II (AW 316-322) |
Boyle, “Of the Excellency...” AW (308-315) |
Melchert 372-381 |
Archie |
March 4 |
The Primary/ Secondary Distinction and Identity |
Essay, Book II, Chapters I-VIII (AW 322-337); Book II, Chapter XXVII (AW 367-377) |
Essay, Book II, Chapters IX-XXIII (AW 337-367) |
Tlumak 110-122 |
Andrew |
March 9 |
Abstract Ideas |
Essay, Book III; Book IV, Chapters I-IV (AW 377-405) |
Leibniz, Preface to the New
Essays (AW 422-433) |
Tlumak 122-128 |
Denise |
March 11: Midterm Exam
Spring Break
Part V: Berkeley
Date |
Topic |
Primary Readings |
Secondary Readings |
Tertiary Readings |
Presentations |
March 30 |
Arguments for Idealism |
Principles, §1-33 (AW 447-453) |
On Motion (AW 504-508) |
Melchert 385-395 |
Saad |
April 1 |
The Self and God; |
Principles, Introduction (AW 438-446) |
Principles §34-84 (Handout) |
Tlumak, Chapter 5 |
John
|
April 6 |
Mathematics and Science; Persistence and Intersubjectivity |
Principles, §101-156 (Handout) |
Three Dialogues, Dialogue 3 (AW 484-503) |
|
Ben |
Part VI: Hume
Date |
Topic |
Primary Readings |
Secondary Readings |
Tertiary Readings |
Presentations |
April 8 |
Impressions, Ideas, Facts, Relations |
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, I-IV (AW 533-548) |
Bayle, “Pyrrho” (AW 512-516) |
Melchert 397-409 |
Claire |
April 13 |
Induction; |
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, V-IX (AW 548-576) |
|
Tlumak, 199-205 |
Gabe |
April 15 |
Compatibilism; |
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, X-XII (AW 576-600) |
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, VIII-IX (AW 564-576) |
Tlumak, 208-221 |
Mike T. |
April 20 |
Skepticism; |
A Treatise of Human Nature, Book I, Part 4, Section 6 (AW 525-532) |
Reid, Selections (AW 641-653) |
Melchert 409-415; 423-425 |
Kristen |
Part VII: Kant
Date |
Topic |
Primary Readings |
Secondary Readings |
April 22 |
The Synthetic A Priori |
Critique of Pure Reason, Prefaces and Introduction (AW 717-729) |
Melchert 426-447 |
April 27 |
Transcendental Aesthetic |
Critique of Pure Reason (AW 729-737) |
Tlumak, 254-257; 300-303 |
April 29 |
Transcendental Deduction |
Critique of Pure Reason (AW 737-756) |
Tlumak, 258-268; 303-312 |
May 4 |
Refutation of Idealism; First Antinomy |
Critique of Pure Reason (AW 781-783; 792-794) |
Tlumak, 268-277; 312-320 |
May 6 |
Second and Third Antinomies; Ontological Argument |
Critique of Pure Reason (AW 794-804; 819-823) |
Melchert 447-450 |
Final Exam: May 11, 9am-noon