Download Introduction to Philosophy module schedule 2016/17

INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY
The aim of this module is to introduce MA students with little or no academic background in
philosophy—‘conversion’ students—to some of the most central areas of the discipline. It covers
central questions and ideas in four core areas of philosophy: ethics, political philosophy, metaphysics
and epistemology. It also includes lessons in study skills and practice in philosophical writing.
Lectures: The lectures will be held on Mondays and Thursdays from 6-7pm in the Autumn Term.
The lecturers are Dr. Robert Northcott ([email protected]), Prof. Susan James
([email protected]), Dr. Anthony Price ([email protected]) and Dr. Stacie Friend
([email protected]). Dr. Friend is also the convenor of the module.
Seminars: The seminars will be held on Mondays and Thursdays from 7-8pm in the Autumn Term,
and will be led by the lecturers and tutors. There will be four seminars for each of the four core areas
covered on the module (epistemology, ethics, metaphysics and political philosophy), focused on
discussion of a set reading. The tutors are **.
Study Skills Sessions: There will be four study skills sessions during the term, on reading
philosophy, writing philosophy papers, writing an MA dissertation and preparing for the exam.
These sessions will take place on two Mondays and two Thursdays from 7-8pm (instead of
seminars), and will be led by the lecturers. The weeks for each session are listed in the schedule.
Readings: Every week there is a key reading that is the focus of the seminar discussion. One of the
purposes of the seminar is to help you to understand the reading, so do not worry if you have not
fully understood the reading in advance. Nevertheless, it is essential that you attempt the seminar
reading each week if you are to follow the lecture and to participate in the seminar discussion. In
addition, there is ‘additional reading’ listed that will deepen your understanding and help you to get
the most out of the module. These readings are optional for each week, but you are especially
advised to cover the additional reading for those topics on which you are planning to write.
Essays: For this module you are required to write four essays, corresponding to the four core areas. A
selection of questions for each essay is included in a separate document on Moodle. The essays
should be a minimum of around 800 words, but if you would like feedback on a longer essay, you
may write one or more of your essays up to around 1500 words. The purpose of these essays is to
gain practice in philosophical writing and to prepare for the exam, and for this reason they do not
form part of the final assessment for the module. Indeed, you will not be given marks for these
essays, although you will be given written feedback from tutors designed to help you to improve
your philosophical writing. The two essays on Epistemology and Ethics are due on Friday of
Reading Week, and the two essays on Political Philosophy and Metaphysics are due on the first
Friday following the end of term. For further information on essays see the MA Handbook.
Exam: The module is assessed by a three-hour written exam in the Summer Term.
Moodle: Electronic copies of course materials are available through Moodle, at
http://moodle.bbk.ac.uk. You need your ITS username and password to enter. Some items may need
to be accessed through the library website. For this you will need the same username and password
you use for Moodle.
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I. EPISTEMOLOGY
Mondays, Weeks 1-5
Lecturer: Robert Northcott ([email protected])
In these five weeks we’ll explore some central and famous issues in epistemology. The first reading
each week is the primary reading, the second the supplementary one. All readings will be available
either as pdf files on the course Moodle page, freely online as indicated, or via Birkbeck library’s ejournal access. Any reading without a specific citation may also be found in standard anthologies,
copies of which are available in Birkbeck library: Sven Bernecker and Fred Dretske (ed.)
Knowledge: Readings in Contemporary Epistemology; and Ernest Sosa et al (eds) Epistemology: An
Anthology.
Week 1: Scepticism
Rene Descartes, Meditation I-II, in his Meditations on First Philosophy
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/descartes/meditations/meditations.html
http://www.wright.edu/cola/descartes/meditation1.html
GE Moore, 1939, ‘Proof of an External World’, in his Philosophical Papers (Allen & Unwin, 1959).
Study Skills Session: How to Read Philosophy
• Jim Pryor, ‘On how to read a philosophy article’, available online at:
http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/reading.html.
Week 2: The definition of knowledge
Edmund Gettier, 1963, ‘Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?’ Analysis 23: 121-123.
Linda Zagzebski, 1994, ‘The Inescapability of Gettier Problems’, Philosophical Quarterly 44: 65-73.
Week 3: Agreeing to disagree
Jennifer Lackey, “What Should We Do When We Disagree?” Oxford Studies in Epistemology, ed.
John Hawthorne and Tamar Gendler (Oxford, 2008).
http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jal788/documents/WhatShouldWeDoWhenWeDisagree--OSE.pdf
Thomas Kelly, “The Epistemic Significance of Disagreement,” Oxford Studies in Epistemology, ed. John
Hawthorne and Tamar Gendler (Oxford, 2005). https://www.princeton.edu/~tkelly/esod.pdf
Week 4: Induction
Bertrand Russell, ‘On Induction’
Hans Reichenbach, ‘The Pragmatic Justification of Induction’
Week 5: Epistemology and science
WVO Quine, ‘Epistemology Naturalized’
Jaegwon Kim, ‘What is Naturalized Epistemology?’
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II. ETHICS
Thursdays, Weeks 1-5
Lecturer: Anthony Price ([email protected])
In the course of these five weeks we will explore together some central issues in ethics, which have
exercised moral philosophers since ancient times. Each week, the required reading will consist of an
excerpt from a classic philosopher (Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Mill), whilst supplementary
reading will include works by contemporary philosophers who either have been inspired by, or have
taken a critical approach to, the classic views. We start with perhaps the most pressing question of
all: why should we be moral? Sometimes doing the right thing is particularly hard, because it clashes
with our selfish interests. Why should we act against our interests and not against morality in such
cases? One answer, which goes back to Plato, is that being moral is a particularly significant way of
achieving harmony and wellbeing. This answer connects morality with issues of welfare and
happiness, which we then explore more fully in week 2. From questions of happiness we then move
on to questions of duty: what does it mean to act from duty; and is there something objectionable
about doing so? In week 4 we explore the idea of virtue, which has recently resurfaced in the works
of various moral philosophers inspired by Aristotle. Aside from being interesting in their own right,
the topics that we’ll investigate in weeks 1–4 will also serve to introduce four of the most important
theories in contemporary normative ethics: contractarianism, consequentialism, deontology, and
virtue ethics. In various ways, all of these theories assume that our moral judgments are, or should
be, based primarily on reason. In the final week of the course we round up by exploring this
assumption itself: Is it correct to assume that moral judgments are derived primarily from reason?
And what is the role of emotions and sentiments in moral deliberation?
Preliminary Reading:
• Russ Shafer-Landau (ed.), Ethical Theory: An Anthology, 2nd edn. (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell,
2013).
This collection contains a wide range of contributions to the topics discussed in this course,
including most of the set readings.
Week 1: Why be moral?
•
Plato, The Republic, Book II, 357a-367e (tr. Grube, rev. Reeve); reprinted in Russ Shafer-Landau
(ed.), Ethical Theory: An Anthology, 2nd edn. (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), pp. 132–7.
Supplementary Reading
• David Gauthier, ‘Why Contractarianism?’, in P. Vallentyne, ed., Contractarianism and Rational
Choice (Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 15–30; reprinted in Russ Shafer-Landau (ed.),
Ethical Theory: An Anthology, 2nd edn. (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), pp. 571–580.
 Anita Superson, ‘The Self-Interest Based Contractarian Response to the Why-Be-Moral Skeptic’,
Southern Journal of Philosophy 28 (1990), pp. 427–47.
Week 2: What is the value of acting for the sake of pleasure?
•
John Stuart Mill, ‘Hedonism’, excerpts from his Utilitarianism, reprinted in Russ Shafer-Landau
(ed.), Ethical Theory: An Anthology, 2nd edn. (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), pp. 258–63.
Study Skills Session: How to write a philosophy paper
• Jim Pryor, ‘Guidelines on writing a philosophy paper’, available online at:
http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/writing.html.
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Supplementary Reading
• Robert Nozick, ‘The Experience Machine’, in his Anarchy, State and Utopia (Basic Books,
1974), pp. 42–5; reprinted in Russ Shafer-Landau (ed.), Ethical Theory: An Anthology, 2nd edn.
(Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), pp. 264–5.
• Derek Parfit, ‘What Makes Someone’s Life Go Best’, in his Reasons and Persons (Oxford
University Press), pp. 493-502; excerpts reprinted in Russ Shafer-Landau (ed.), Ethical Theory:
An Anthology, 2nd edn. (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), pp. 294-8.
Week 3: What is the value of acting from a sense of duty?
•
Immanuel Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (various editions), Chapter 1;
excerpt reprinted in Russ Shafer-Landau (ed.), Ethical Theory: An Anthology, 2nd edn.
(Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), pp. 485–98 (tr. Gregor). [Also available online at:
www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/kant1785chapter1.pdf.]
Supplementary Reading
• Barbara Herman, ‘On the Value of Acting from the Motive of Duty’, Philosophical Review 90
(1981), pp. 359-382. [Available online at: www.jstor.org/stable/2184978.]
• Michael Stocker, ‘The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories’, Journal of Philosophy 73
(1976), pp. 453-466. [Available online at: www.jstor.org/stable/2025782.]
Week 4: What is the value of leading a virtuous life?
•
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, excerpts from Books I, II & X (tr. Irwin), reprinted in Russ
Shafer-Landau (ed.), Ethical Theory: An Anthology, 2nd edn. (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell,
2013), pp. 615–629.
Supplementary Reading
• Rosalind Hursthouse, ‘Normative Virtue Ethics’, in R. Crisp (ed.), How Should One Live?
(Oxford University Press: 1996), pp. 19–33; reprinted in Russ Shafer-Landau (ed.), Ethical
Theory: An Anthology, 2nd edn. (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), pp. 645–652.
• Simon Keller, ‘Virtue Ethics is Self-Effacing’, Australasian Journal of Philosophy 85, pp. 221–
32. [Available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00048400701343010.]
Week 5: Is morality based on reason?
•
David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature (various editions), ‘Of the Influencing Motives of the
Will’ (Book II, Part III, §3) and ‘Moral Distinctions not Derived from Reason’ (Book III, Part I,
§1); excerpts reprinted in Russ Shafer-Landau (ed.), Ethical Theory: An Anthology, 2nd edn.
(Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), pp. 7–15. [Also available online at:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4705.]
Supplementary Reading
• Gilbert Harman, The Nature of Morality (Oxford University Press, 1977), pp. 3-10; reprinted in
Russ Shafer-Landau (ed.), Ethical Theory: An Anthology, 2nd edn. (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell,
2013), pp. 31-4.
• Philippa Foot, ‘Does Moral Subjectivism Rest Upon a Mistake?’, Oxford Journal of Legal
Studies 15 (1995), 1-14; reprinted in her Moral Dilemmas (Oxford: Clarendon Press), 189-208.
[Also available online at http://www.jstor.org/stable/764577.]
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III. METAPHYSICS
Mondays, Weeks 6-10
Lecturer: Stacie Friend ([email protected])
In these five weeks we’ll explore some of the central metaphysical questions that have occupied
philosophers since ancient times. Each week we will consider a core problem, with our focus
primarily on modern and contemporary answers to the questions addressed. We start with questions
about causation. What does it mean for an event to be the cause of another? In week 2 we consider
the implications of causality for human agency: If all the events in the universe are connected by
deterministic cause-and-effect relations, is there any room left for freedom? In weeks 3 and 4 we
look more closely at the nature of ourselves. What makes you the particular person you are, and the
same person over time? Are you essentially mental, physical or both? How can we explain the
possibility of conscious experience in a physical world? We conclude with perhaps the most basic
question is: What is there? That is, what exists or is real? We focus on the debate over the nature of
properties, also called ‘universals’. Roses, balls and shirts may be red. It seems that they all share a
property, redness. Does this mean that there is something – the universal redness – over and above
the individual items that are red? If so, what sort of thing is it?
Preliminary/Background Reading:
 John Carroll and Ned Markosian, An Introduction to Metaphysics (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press 2010) – this textbook provides helpful introductions to the topics we address. It
should be available as an eBook, but the first chapter will be online.
Collection of Papers
 Jaegwon Kim, Daniel Korman and Ernest Sosa (eds.), Metaphysics: An Anthology, 2d edition
(Blackwell 2012)
 Tim Crane and Katalin Farkas (eds.), Metaphysics: A Guide and Anthology (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2004)
Week 6: Introduction/Causation
 Chapter 1 of John Carroll and Ned Markosian, An Introduction to Metaphysics and David Hume,
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section 4 (Part I) and Section 7; available online
in numerous places (the Hume will be the focus in seminar)
Supplementary Reading:
 G. E. M. Anscombe, ‘Causality and Determination’, in Kim, Korman and Sosa (eds.),
Metaphysics: An Anthology (and other collections)
 J. L. Mackie, ‘Causes and Conditions’, American Philosophical Quarterly 2 (1965): 245-264 –
quite technical but highly influential
 Bertrand Russell, ‘On the Notion of Cause’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 13 (1913):
1-26
Week 7: Free will
 Susan Wolf, ‘Asymmetrical Freedom’, Journal of Philosophy 77 (1980): 151-66

Supplementary Reading:
Peter van Inwagen, ‘The Incompatibility of Free Will and Determinism’, Philosophical Studies
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

27 (1975): 185-199 – technical, but the most influential argument for incompatibilism
Adina Roskies, ‘Neuroscientific Challenges to Free Will and Responsibility’, Trends in
Cognitive Science 10 (2006): 419-423 – a particularly readable discussion
Susan Wolf, ‘The Importance of Free Will’, Mind 90 (1981): 386-405
Robert Kane, ‘Libertarianism’, esp. sections 1-4, in Four Views on Free Will, by Fischer, Kane,
Pereboom and Vargas (Wiley-Blackwell 2007) – includes the introduction to the book with key
terms defined
Week 8: Personal identity
 Marya Schechtman, ‘Personal Identity and the Past’, Philosophy, Psychiatry and Psychology 12
(2005): 9-22




Supplementary Reading:
John Locke, ‘Of Identity and Diversity’, Book II, Chapter 27
Derek Parfit, ‘Personal Identity’, Philosophical Review 80 (1971): 3-27
Eric Olson, ‘Was I Ever a Fetus?’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 57 (1997): 95110
For a good discussion of various positions intuitively presented see John Perry, ‘A Dialogue on
Personal Identity and Immortality’, (Indianapolis: Hackett 1978); reprinted in John Perry and
Michael Bratman (eds.), Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings 3rd
Edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1999)
Study Skills Session: How to Prepare for a Written Exam in Philosophy
 Nigel Warburton, ‘Preparing for Philosophy Exams’, available online at:
http://virtualphilosopher.com/2006/10/preparing_for_p.html
Week 9: Mind and body
 Thomas Nagel, ‘What is It Like to Be a Bat?’ Philosophical Review 83 (1974): 435-450
Supplementary Reading:
 Patricia Smith Churchland, ‘The Hornswoggle Problem’, Journal of Consciousness Studies 3
(1996): 402-408
 Frank Jackson, ‘What Mary Didn’t Know’, Journal of Philosophy 83 (1986): 291-295
 William Lycan, ‘The Mind-Body Problem’, in Stich et al. (eds.), The Blackwell Guide to the
Philosophy of Mind (Wiley-Blackwell 2008) – preprint online – useful overview
Week 10: Universals
 Bertrand Russell, ‘The World of Universals’, Chapter 9 of Problems of Philosophy (1912);
reprinted in various collections and available online at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5827
Supplementary Reading:
David Armstrong, Universals: An Opinionated Introduction (Boulder, Colorado: Westview
Press 1989) – excerpt will be on Moodle
 Keith Campbell, ‘The Metaphysic of Abstract Particulars’, in Kim, Korman and Sosa (eds.),
Metaphysics: An Anthology; originally in Midwest Studies in Philosophy 6 (1981): 477-488

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IV. POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Thursdays, Weeks 6-10
Lecturer: Susan James ([email protected])
We often assume that our political life depends on, and is organised within, the state. But what is a
state, what is the basis of its authority, and how far does its authority extend? This module will
address these questions. Each class will be structured around the work of a historical author whose
ideas continue to exert a significant influence on contemporary philosophical debate.
Preliminary Reading
 David Miller, Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction
 Will Kymicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction
 Ian Hampsher Monk, History of Modern Political Thought: Major Political Thinkers from
Hobbes to Marx
Week 6: What is the State?

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan [many editions], Introduction and chs. 13-16.
Supplementary Reading:
 Quentin Skinner, ‘Hobbes and the Purely Artificial Person of the State’, Journal of Political
Philosophy Philosophy 7(1999). There’s a revised version of this paper in Skinner, Visions of
Politics vol. III (Cambridge University Press, 2002).
 Robert Nozick, Anarchy State and Utopia, ch. 2, pp. 10-25.
Study Skills Session: How to Write an MA Dissertation in Philosophy
 Jean Jacques Rousseau, Idea of the Method in the Composition of a Book in Rousseau: The
Discourses and Other Early Political Writings ed V. Gourevitch (Cambridge University Press,
1997), pp. 300-304.
Week 7: Consent as the Basis of the State

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, chs. 1-4, chs. 7-9.
Supplementary Reading:
Michael Davis, Michael, “Locke's Political Society: Some Problems of Terminology in Two
Treatises of Government”, Journal of Moral Philosophy 2014, vol. 11: 209–231.
Week 8: Political and Patriarchal Power


Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, chs. 19 and 20.
John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, ch. 6.
Supplementary Reading
Teresa Brennan and Carole Pateman, ‘Mere Auxiliaries to the Commonwealth: Women and the
Origins of Liberalism’, Political Studies vol. 27.2 (1979), 183-200.
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Week 9: The Exploitative State

Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto
Supplementary reading
Nancy Holmstrom, ‘Exploitation’, Canadian Journal of Philosophy 7.2 (1977), available through JStor.
Week 10: A Defence of the Liberal State

John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Ch. 1, sections 1-4, ch. 2, sections 10-12.
Supplementary reading:
Chantal Mouffe, ‘Political Philosophy without Politics’, Philosophy and Social Criticism, 13.2
(1987). Available through ‘philpapers’.
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