Overview

This course is an overview of Anglo-American and Anglo-Austrian philosophy in the late 19^th and 20^th centuries. After a brief overview of the background to the rise of contemporary philosophy, e.g., British absolute idealism and early American pragmatism, we will turn to an examination of the philosophy of logical atomism (in particular, to the early philosophy of Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein), logical positivism (Schlick, Neurath, Ayer, Carnap, etc.), ordinary language philosophy (Wittgenstein, Moore, Austin, and Ryle), and more recent work in analytical and post-analytical philosophy (Quine, Davidson, Putnam, Nagel, etc.). The course will focus on topics in the general areas of epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language, rather than on topics in moral philosophy, analytical metaethics, or political theory.

 The course is appropriate for philosophy majors and anyone with a serious interest in the history of ideas. In addition to a general background in the history of philosophy, some knowledge of symbolic logic would be beneficial.

Georgia O'Keefe (1887-1986)
Ladder to the Moon

Evaluation

 Final grade will be computed according to the following formula:

 Weekly Reading Questions - 25%
Midterm Examination - 25%
Term Paper - 25%
Final Examination  -  25%

 The term paper can be on a topic of one’s choosing, but the topic, research plan, bibliography, etc. must all be approved by the instructor in advance. Writing the paper will be done in stages and details will be forthcoming when the time is appropriate. I’ll provide lots and lots of additional information later. Papers will run approximately 3000 words.

 The midterm examination will be take-home. It will ‘go out’ on Monday, the 18^th of October and be due in class on Monday, the 25^th of October. It will consist of a series of short essays. The final examination will be of a similar nature, but will be proctored on the examination day at the end of the term (2 to 3:50 PM on Monday, December 13^th). It will be ‘open book.’

 The weekly reading questions will be assigned to the schedule below. Students will be responsible for submitting answers on the assigned due dates. These answers will be graded pass/fail – the idea is to get you thinking about the reading before we discuss it. Again, more details will be made available when the time is right. Eleven sets of reading questions are due. You will be graded on ten of them, meaning that you can miss turning one in. Isn’t that gracious of me?

Texts

(1)        Jordan Lindberg, Analytic Philosophy: Beginnings to the Present (Mayfield Publishing Company, 2000).

(2)        A.C. Grayling, Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 1996).

(3)        Joseph Salerno, On Frege (Wadsworth, 2001).

Schedule

 “AP” = Analytic Philosophy: Beginnings to the Present.
“R.Q.” = Reading Question Set.

1. Introduction, Course Mechanics, and Overview of the Class

Gottob Frege and the New Logic

2. Salerno, On Frege (Chapters 1-3) and Gottlob Frege, “On Sense and Meaning” (AP, #7)
3. Salerno, On Frege (Chapters 4-6)
4. Salerno, On Frege (Chapter 7) and an introduction to logicism; R.Q. #1 due.

Bertrand Russell and the Philosophy of Logical Atomism

5. Bertrand Russell, “Logic as the Essence of Philosophy” (AP, #9)
6. Bertrand Russell, “Descriptions” (AP, #8); R.Q. #2 due.
7. Bertrand Russell, “The Relation of Sense-Data to Physics” (AP, #10)

The Early Wittgenstein

8. A.C. Grayling, Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction (Chapter 1) and In-Class Video: Wittgenstein; R.Q. #3 due.
9. Grayling, Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction (Chapter 2) and Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (AP, #11, major propositions to two decimal places)
10. Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (AP, #11, 1 to 4.1213); R.Q. #4 due.
11. Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (AP, #11, 4.122 to 7)

Logical Positivism

12. Hans, Carnap, and Neurath, “The Scientific Conception of the World” (AP, #12); R.Q. #5 due.
13. A.J. Ayer, “The Elimination of Metaphysics” (AP, #13)
14. Schlick, “Positivism and Realism” (AP, #14), Otto Neurath, “Physicalism” (AP, #15), and his “Protocol Sentences” (AP, #16); Midterm Examination goes OUT.
15. Hempel, “Problems and Changes in the Empiricist Criterion of Meaning” (AP, #19)

The Later Wittgenstein

16. Grayling, Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction (Chapter 3) and Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (AP, #22, overview); Midterm Examination comes IN.
17. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (AP, #22, 1 to 133, selections)
18. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (AP, #22, 143 to 219, selections); R.Q. #6 due.
19. Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations (AP, #22, 243 to 309, selections)

Ordinary Language Philosophy

20. Gilbert Ryle, “Descartes’ Myth”; R.Q. #7 due.
21. J.L. Austin, “Sense and Sensibilia”
22. More on Ryle and Austin; R.Q. #8 due.

Recent Developments

23. Introduction to Recent Contemporary Philosophy
24. W.V. Quine “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” (AP, #26); R.Q. #9 due.
25. More on Quine’s “Two Dogmas”
26. W.V. Quine, “Ontological Relativity” (AP, #27); R.Q. #10 due.
27. Donald Davidson, “On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme” (AP, #28)
28. Thomas Nagel, “Subjective and Objective” (AP, #31); R.Q. #11 due.
29. Catherine Elgin, “The Relativity of Fact and the Objectivity of Value” (AP, #33)

Final Examination

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