PHILOSOPHY 302
MODERN PHILOSOPHY

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect
 has intended us to forgo their use." —Galileo

"Have courage to use your own understanding!"--that is the motto of
enlightenment.." --Immanuel Kant

    
    Galileo Galilei                Rene Descartes              John Locke                   George Berkeley               David Hume                Immanuel Kant
       1564-1642                      1596-1650                  1632-1704                      1685-1753                     1711-1776                    1724-1804

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John Wright's Office Hours are Thursdays 2-5 or by appointment
John Wright's homepage
Course Essay Due April 16

Readings and Assignments  
Week 1/ Jan.10: Read: Michael Matthews, The Scientific Background to Modern
                                   Philosophy, pp. 5-10, 12-13 (Aristotle on 'substance', 'nature'
                                   and 'cause'); and pp. 33-35 (on Copernicus) 
Week 2/ Jan 15: No class: Martin Luther King Day
              Jan 17:  Read: The Scientific Background, pp. 61-81(on Galileo's arguments
                                    against the Ptolemaic/Aristo:telian world view).
                                    Here are notes and questions to help you read the passage.
                           Short paper (1 1/2 -2 double space typed pages) to be handed in:
                          Explain 1) Galileo's general criticism of the methods of Aristotelian
                                        philosophers and; 2) his analysis of their logical error on
                                       pages 76-77. Use quotation marks and give a page reference
                                       whenever you use three or more consecutive words from the text.                  
Week 3/ Jan 22: 1) Reading Questions on Galileo on matter and the senses
                          2) Descartes on matter and the senses                             
                          3) Descartes on "substance"     
               Galileo on the Aristotelian fallacy and on the principle of inertia
               Galileo's general criticism of contemporary Aristotelian methods  .
               Jan 24: Quiz 1 on the materials studied so far
                          Descartes' first Meditation
Week 4/ Descartes' second Meditation: Write out answers to these Reading Questions
              Second two page paper to be handed in on Wednesday Jan 31
              Jan 31: Lecture on the Third Meditation
                           Notes on Descartes' Logic
Week 5/ Feb. 5:  Reading Questions on the Third Meditation
                           Summary of the fourth and fifth Meditations             
              Feb. 7: Sixth Meditation: Write out answers to these Reading Questions
Week 6/ Feb.12: Quiz 2 based on our study of Descartes
                           Reading Questions on the Epistle and Introduction to Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding
                          Lecture Notes
              Feb.14: Book I, of Locke's Essay, "Of Innate Notions": Reading Questions
Week 7/ Feb. 19: Book 4, Chapters 1-4: Reading Questions
                           Lecture Notes
              Feb. 21: Book 4, Chapters 5, 6, 9-13; Lecture Notes
                            Chapter 10: Reading questions
                            Third Paper due today
Week 8/ Feb. 26: Book 4, Chapters 14-18, 20-21: Reading Questions and Notes
              Feb. 28: Quiz 3 based on our study of Locke
Week of March 5: SPRING BREAK
Week 9/ March 12 and March 13: Reading questions on Berkeley's Principles of Human Knowledge,
                                                     Introduction and Part I, Sections 1-20
Week 10/ March 19: Read Principles of Human Knowledge, Sections 21-44: Reading Questions
                            Fourth Short Paper due today
               March 21 Read Principles of Human Knowledge, Sections 86-91
Week 11/ March 26: Quiz 4 Based on our study of Berkeley
                              Read David Hume, Introduction to A Treatise of Human Nature, pp. 3-7
                March 28: Treatise, Book 1, Part 1, pp. 9-28;
                                Read paragraphs 5-7 and 35 in Hume's Abstract...of A Treatise of Human Nature
                                       (see the link at the bottom of our webpage below)
Week 12 /April 2: Notes on the first principles of Hume's theory of mind
                            Relation of Hume's metaphysics to Berkeley's:
                            Read "Of Existence and External Existence", Book 1, Part 2, Section 6, pp.43-45
                April 4: Hume on Knowledge & Probability: Book 1, Pt. 3, Sect. 1, first 2 paragraphs, pp. 46-7
                            Hume's theory of Cause and Effect I: Read Book 1, Part 3, Sections 2 and 3, pp. 48-55
                            Lecture notes on the above readings
Week 13/April 9: Hume on Inductive Inference and on Belief: Read Book 1, Part 3, Section 6-7, pp. 59-69
               April 11: Quiz based on our study Hume to this point
                            "Of the Idea of Necessary Connexion", Book 1, Part 3, Section 14, pp. 96-111
                            "Of Liberty and Necessity", Book 2, Part 3, Sections 1-2, pp. 223-34
Week 14/ April 16: Course Essay is due today
                              Kant and Hume: Kant's Prolegomena to any Future Metaphysics
                                 Reading Questions on the Preface and Preamble 
      

 

 

                           

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Links
Philosophical Reference Sources: http://www.lib.cmich.edu/subjectguides/humanities/philosophy.htm

Books on Reserve for Phl  302

Complete text of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Berkeley's An Essay Towards a  New Theory of Vision: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Berkeley/vision.htm

Hume's Abstract...of A Treatise of Human Nature