SYLLABUS
History of Philosophy II
Phil A212, section 601 - Fall 2000
William Jamison
THEME: An introduction to the great thinkers of the 17th century scientific revolution, the Enlightenment, German Idealism, contemporary positivism and existentialism; a comparative examination of the cosmological, ethical, political and scientific ideas which shaped each of these periods.
Student Outcomes
Students completing this course should be able to identify, comprehend, analyze, and evaluate complex philosophical arguments in oral and written discourse. They should also be able to understand, analayze, interpret, and apply major works in the areas of the History of Philosophy, Ethics, and contemporary topics.
TEXTS:
Richard Popkin, editor, The Philosophy of the 16th and 17th Centuries (Free Press)
Lewis White Beck, editor, 18th-Century Philosophy (Free Press)
Patrick Gardiner, editor, Nineteenth-Century Philosophy (Free Press)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Course grades are based on:
Exams
- 50% - nine essays showing an understanding of the materials covered in class
and the assigned readings in response to questions, each with a minimum of 300
words,
25%
of the grade will be based on a term project.
Response
to quiz questions posed in each lecture -25%.
CLASS: Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 02:30P – 03:45P Room ESB 206
OFFICE: See Current Schedule. UAA Room K 219.
Phone: 694-1023 (home), Philosophy Department Secretary 786-4455. The best way to get a message to me is via e-mail. Please feel free to call my home phone. My web page is located at http://wsjamison.uaa.alaska.edu/ and my e-mail address is wsjamison@UAA.ALASKA.EDU. All tests are take-home essays that can be turned in using e-mail, IBM floppy disk or typed on paper. This syllabus on my web site has links to other sources for many of the texts for the philosophers we will discuss. Some of the links include wonderful web pages on the various philosophers.
SCHEDULE and REQUIRED READING:
August 29: Topics covered: Introduction to the course, description of course requirements, purpose of doing philosophy, course readings as an “all you can eat buffet,” what the tests and quizzes will be like.
Ancient and Medieval Philosophy overview.
August 31: Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo, selections, in Popkin, pp. 46-68 Lecture 1 notes.
September 5: Labor Day Holiday (no classes)
September 7: Descartes, "Meditations on First Philosophy", in Popkin, pp. 121-187 Lecture 2 notes.
September 12: Hobbes, "Leviathan", in Popkin, pp. 188-217 Lecture 3 notes.
September 14: Descartes and Hobbes, Rationalism versus Empiricism Lecture 4 notes.
First take-home exam
given.
September 19: Spinoza, "Ethics", in Popkin, pp. 231-278 Lecture 5 notes.
First exam due.
September 21: Spinoza and Pantheism
September 26: Leibniz, "Theodicy", in Popkin, pp. 333-339 Lecture 6 notes.
September 28: Locke, "Essays Concerning Human Understanding", in Beck, pp. 23-61 Lecture 7 notes.
October 3: Berkeley, "Principles of Human Knowledge", in Beck, pp. 63-90
October 5: Hume, "Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding", pp. 93-131
October 10: Introduction to Kant
Second exam due
October 12: Kant, "Critique of Pure Reason", in Beck, pp. 242-302
October 17: Introduction to Hegel
October 19: Hegel, "Master and Servant", in Gardiner, pp. 43-51
October 24: Schopenhauer, "The Will as Thing in Itself", pp. 91-103
October 26: Feurbach, "The Essence of Religion", in Gardiner, pp. 239-250
October 31: Marx, "Critique of Hegel", "Alienated Labor", "Theses on Feuerbach", in Gardiner, pp. 261 –288
November 2: Kierkegaard, pp. 289 – 320
November 7: Introduction to Nietzsche
November 9: Nietzsche, "Prejudices of Philosophers", "Master-Morality-Slave Morality", "Bad Conscience", "Reason in Philosophy", in Gardiner, pp. 332-363
November 14: Sartre, "What is Existentialism?"
November 16: American Philosophy - Charles S. Peirce, William James
November 21: John Dewey
November 23: Thanksgiving Break (No Classes)
November 28: Ludwig Wittgenstein
November 30: Bertrand Russell, "The Philosophy of Logical Analysis"
December 5: Willard Van Orman Quine, Richard Rorty
December 7: Alasdair
MacIntyre, John Rawls
and Final given out.
December 14: (Note: class meets at 2:30P). Final Date - Final due. Summary of course, term paper due and end course discussions.
Tests: Three take home tests will be given with the requirement of answering a choice of three out of six essay questions. They must be typed and can be e-mailed, on disk, or printed.
Paper: A Term Paper is due prior to the last class meeting. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate an understanding of the basic ideas of a philosopher studied in the course that is selected by the student. It should be approximately 3,000 words long. It also can be e-mailed, on IBM disk, or printed.
Quizzes: Unannounced quizzes will be based on the readings.
N.B. If you want your last test mailed to you include an addressed and stamped envelope (2 stamps are usually necessary).
This syllabus may be adjusted at any time to meet the class or instructor’s requirements upon one week’s notice to students.