Syllabus

Class Notes

Handouts

Readings

Links

Timeline

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Texts

Assignments

Office Hours

Schedule

Descartes

Hobbes and Spinoza

Leibniz

Locke

Berkeley

Hume

Thematic Panels

Kant

pdf syllabus

 

 

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 eight philosophers of the modern era: Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. Among the recurring topics to be discussed are the nature of mind, free will, space and time, the self, and scientific reasoning. 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.

 

 

Texts

Required

Roger Ariew and Eric Watkins. Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources, 2nd edition. Hackett, 2009.
Various supplementary readings, available here.

Recommended

Norman Melchert. The Great Conversation, Volume II: Descartes through Derrida and Quine, 6th ed. Oxford, 2010. (The full text, including both volume 1 and volume 2, is only marginally more expensive.)
Jeffrey Tlumak. Classical Modern Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction. Routledge, 2006
.

Class notes are here.

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Assignments and Grading:

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

                          Attendance and Participation
                          Readings
                          Panel Presentation (10%)
                          Two papers (20%, 25%)

                          Midterm and Final Exams (20%, 25%)

             Attendance: While there is no direct reward or penalty to your grade for attendance, I expect students to come to class prepared to discuss the assigned reading. I prepare carefully for classes and I expect you to be there in body and mind, asking questions and thinking.

             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. To assist you with the readings and to help prepare you for the midterm and final examinations, I will post reading guides, lists of questions, for all of 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 should try to complete as many of the secondary readings as you reasonably can.

The tertiary readings are mainly from the secondary sources (Melchert and Tlumak) and are optional.

             Panel Presentation: Each student is required to participate in one in-class panel presentation. Panels will be organized around specific themes. I will distribute more specific guidelines, as well as a sign-up sheet, in class. I welcome, indeed encourage, you to use your presentation topic as a 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 Thursday, February 12. The second paper, 5-8 pages on any topic in the material from Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, or Hume, is due on Thursday, April 30. I will distribute more details about the each paper in class.

            Exams: The midterm exam will be given in class on Thursday, March 12, just before spring break. The final exam will be given at the appointed exam time, Thursday, May 14, at 2pm. Both exams will be based on questions from the Reading Guides, though the final exam may also include a short essay topic.

            On Grades: Grades on assignments will be posted on Blackboard, along with a running total, which I call your grade calculation. Your grade calculation is a guide for me to use in assigning you a final grade. There are no rules binding how I translate your grade calculation into a letter grade. The Hamilton College key for converting letter grades into percentages is not a tool for calculating your final grade. I welcome discussion of the purposes and methods of grading, as well as my own grading policies.

             The Hamilton College Honor Code will be strictly enforced

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Office Hours

             My office hours for the Spring 2015, term are 10:30am - noon, Tuesdays and Thursdays. I may be available to meet at other times by appointment. My office is 202 College Hill Road, Room 210.

 


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Schedule:

              Note: The readings listed in each row are to be completed before class.

Part I: Descartes

 

Class Date Topic Primary Readings Secondary Readings Tertiary Readings
1 January 20 Early Modern Philosophy and the Scientific Revolution Rosenthal, "Philosophy and Its Teaching" Galileo, “Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany" Melchert, Chapter 12
2 January 22 Sense Experience, Method, and Doubt Discourse on Method, Parts 1 and 2 (AW 25-33)
Meditations on First Philosophy, through Meditation One (AW 35-42)
Montaigne, Apology, §7 (AW 4-13)

Melchert 319-327
Tlumak 1-22
3 January 27 The Cogito and Certainty Meditations Two and Three (AW 43-54) Bacon, from New Organon (AW 16-20)
Galileo, from The Assayer (AW 21-24)
Melchert 327-332


Tlumak 22-38
4 January 29 Freedom, Mathematics, Science Meditations Four through Five (AW 54-61)

Readings on the Ontological Argument Melchert 332-336
Tlumak 38-68
5 February 3 The External World and The Mind-Body Distinction Meditation Six (AW 61-68)
Discourse, Part 5 (AW 33-34)
Spinoza, from Descartes's Principles of Philosophy (AW 93-98)
6 February 5 Descartes and His Critics Descartes, "Arguments... Arranged in Geometrical Fashion" (AW 72-75)
Themes in the Objections and Replies
Leibniz, Letters (AW 99-105) Melchert 356-359

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Part II: Hobbes and Spinoza

Class Date Topic Primary Readings Secondary readings Tertiary Readings
7 February 10 Materialism Hobbes, from Leviathan (AW 114-136) Melchert, 361-371
8 February 12
Paper 1 is due
Monism, Parallelism Spinoza, Ethics, Part I (all, especially the appendix) and Part II (P1-P13), (AW 144-172) Letters to Oldenburg and to Meyer (AW 137-143)

Melchert 438
Tlumak 77-88
Singer, "The Spinoza of Market Street"
9 February 17 Knowledge and Freedom Spinoza, Ethics, Part II (P14-end) and Part V (AW 172-195) Tlumak 88-95; 100-102

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Part III: Leibniz

Class Date Topic Primary Readings Secondary Readings Tertiary Readings
10 February 19 Monads, Truth, Minds, and Bodies The Monadology (AW 275-283)
Discourse on Metaphysics §1-§25 (AW 224-240)
"A New System of Nature" (AW 269-274)
Malebranche, from The Search After Truth (AW 200-223)
Letters to Arnauld (AW 248-264)
Tlumak 133-141


Melchert 440
11 February 24 Theodicy, Necessity, and Freedom Discourse on Metaphysics §25-§37 (AW 240-247)
from Theodicy 405-417
"Primary Truths" (AW 265-268)
Tlumak 133-138; 159-163
12 February 26 Space and Time
Panel Presentation 1: Minds and Bodies I
Newton, Selections (AW 284-293)
Letters to Clarke (AW 294-303)
Tlumak 164-171

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Part IV: Locke

Class Date Topic Primary Readings Secondary Readings Tertiary Readings
13 March 3 Against Innate Ideas, For the Primary/ Secondary Distinction
Essay Book I, Chapters I-II (AW 316-322);
Book IV, Chapters I-II (AW 386-405)
Book II, Chapters I-IX (AW 322-339)
Boyle, "Of the Excellency..." AW (308-315)

Melchert 372-381
Tlumak 106-110
14 March 5 Identity and the Self
Panel Presentation 2: Arguments for God's Existence
Essay, Book II, Chapter XXVII (AW 367-377) Essay, Book II, Chapters IX-XXIII (AW 337-367) Tlumak 110-122
15 March 10 Abstract Ideas Essay, Book III (AW 377-386) Leibniz, Preface to the New Essays (AW 422-433)
Essay Book IV, Chapters X-XVI (AW 405-421)
Tlumak 122-128

March 12: Midterm Exam

Spring Break

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Part V: Berkeley 

Class Date Topic Primary Readings Secondary Readings Tertiary Readings
17 March 31 Three Arguments for Idealism Principles, §1-33 (AW 447-453)
Three Dialogues, Dialogue 1 (AW 454-474)
Melchert 385-395
18 April 2 Against Abstract Ideas
Panel Presentation 3: Innate Ideas and the Tabula Rasa
Principles, Introduction (AW 438-446)
Principles §86-100
Three Dialogues, Dialogue 2 (AW 475-484)
Principles §34-84 Tlumak, Chapter 5
19 April 7 Mathematics, Science, Skepticism and Atheism from On Motion (AW 504-508)
Principles, §101-156
Three Dialogues, Dialogue 3 (AW 484-503)

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Part VI: Hume

Class Date Topic Primary Readings Secondary Readings Tertiary Readings
20 April 9 Impressions, Ideas, Facts, Relations An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, I-IV (AW 533-548) Bayle, "Pyrrho" (AW 512-516) Melchert 397-409
Tlumak, 193-199
21 April 14 Causation and Induction An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, V-VII (AW 548-564) Tlumak, 199-205
22 April 16 The Self and Free Will from A Treatise of Human Nature Book I, Part 4, Section 6 (AW 525-532)
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, VIII-IX, XII (AW 564-576, 593-600)
Reid, Selections (AW 641-653)
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, X-XI (AW 576-593)
Melchert 409-415; 423-425 Tlumak, 208-221

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Part VII: Thematic Panels

Class Date Topics
23 April 21 Panel Presentations 4 5-6:
The Primary-Secondary Distinction and the Resemblance Hypothesis;
Minds and Bodies II;
Abstract Ideas and Uses of Language;
24 April 23 Panel Presentations 7 8-9:
Two Brands of Idealism;
The Existence of the External World;
Free Will and Determinism
25 April 28 Panel Presentations 10-11:
The Self;
Laws of Nature

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Part VIII: Kant

Class Date Topic Primary Readings Secondary Readings
26 April 30
Paper 2 is due
The Synthetic A Priori and Forms of Intuition Critique of Pure Reason, Prefaces, Introduction, and The Transcendental Aesthetic (AW 717-737) Melchert 426-447
Tlumak, 244-257; 291-303
27 May 5 Apperception, the Application of Concepts, and the Transcendental Deduction Critique of Pure Reason, from the Transcendental Analytic (AW 737-756) Tlumak, 258-268; 303-312
28 May 7 The Limits of Reason Critique of Pure Reason, The Antinomies, On the Ontological Argument (AW 792-800; 819-823) Melchert 447-450
Tlumak, 285-291; 320-330

Final Exam: Thursday, May 14, 2pm-5pm

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