Philosophy 201: Introduction to Philosophy

MWF 10:30
HA 101
Jean-Paul Vessel jvessel@nmsu.edu
Fall 2009
J-P's Office: Breland 324
J-P's Office Hours: Tu 2:30-4:00 PM, and by appt.

Fred Hennrich fredjrii@nmsu.edu (Teaching Assistant)

Fred's Office Hour: F 1:30-2:30 PM on the Second Floor of Corbett

Victor Szczepanski acgs@nmsu.edu (Teaching Assistant)

Victor's Office Hour: W 1:30-2:30 PM on the Second Floor of Corbett

Do you know the Ancient Greek story of Oedipus?

This is the official PHIL 201 web site. Here you will find the syllabus, handouts, study guides, reading assignments, written homework assignments, news, and other relevant information. I'll try to keep this thing up to date, but no guarantees! Suggestions and comments are most welcome, whether you are a PHIL 201 student or a visitor. Please email jvessel@nmsu.edu

News and Assignments (The "Living" Course Schedule):

Mon., Nov. 9: Quiz 3 on Materialism, the Phaedo, and Descartes' Early Meditations will take place, so please bring your skinny green scantron (form # 882-E) and a couple of sharp pencils to class. Please prepare for the quiz by giving all of the handouts and assigned readings a very close and careful study. We'll continue to work towards the construction of a Cartesian argument against Typical Materialism motivated by Descartes' methodology of doubt.

Fri., Nov. 6: We'll dive into Descartes' First Meditation, investigating carefully his methodology of doubt. Quiz 3 on Materialism, the Phaedo, and Descartes' Early Meditations will take place on Monday, November 9, so please prepare for the quiz by mastering the material and bringing your skinny green scantron (form # 882-E) plus a couple of sharp pencils to class.

Wed., Nov. 4: First: a brief discussion of psychic phenomena. Then: Descartes ushers in the Modern Era of philosophy with his methodology of doubt. Quiz 3 on Materialism, the Phaedo, and Descartes' Early Meditations will most likely take place on Monday, November 9, so please prepare for the quiz by mastering the material and bringing your skinny green scantron (form # 882-E) plus a couple of sharp pencils to class. Here is my handout on Descartes' First Meditation. Wowsers! Check out that Deceptive God Argument. Here is the long-awaited handout on Platonic Arguments against Materialism.

Mon., Nov. 2: An argument against TM extracted from the final minutes of Socrates' life will be carefully investigated. Then we'll springboard to the Early Modern Era.

Fri., Oct. 30: An argument against TM extracted from the final minutes of Socrates' life will be carefully investigated. Then we'll springboard to the Early Modern Era. I strongly recommend that you give Descartes' First Meditation a very careful study: A mini-quiz dedicated to Descartes' First Meditation might occur near the beginning of class; an introduction to the dawn of the Modern Era in philosophy might occur near the end.

New Reading Assignment: The first and second of Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy. The first meditation occupies pages 13-17 in your little Descartes book. If you're the kind of rebel who refuses to purchase all of the required texts--and I know that some you are--then you might be interested in accessing Descartes' First Meditation through this.

Wed., Oct. 28: We'll continue groovin' to a Platonic rhythm, plunging ourselves into Plato's Phaedo. Investigation of some Platonic arguments against Materialist conceptions of the person will certainly take place. A mini-quiz dedicated to Descartes' First Meditation will likely occur on Friday.

Mon., Oct. 26: Enter Plato. Be sure to wrap your mind around this handout on Materialism. Investigation of some Platonic arguments against Materialist conceptions of the person will most likely take place.

Fri., Oct. 23: Arguments from Consciousness are coming your way. I'm hoping that my hero Plato will also make an appearance. Please bring a hard copy of this selection from David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature to class. Prepare for the Platonic mini-quiz.

Reading Assignments: Plato's Phaedo (49-62 in the Feldman anthology), and this selection from David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature.

Wed., Oct. 21: After surveying a few varieties of materialism, we'll submit Typical Materialism (TM) to a battery of objections. We'll attempt to explore the nature of consciousness. Please bring a hard copy of this selection from David Hume's Treatise of Human Nature to class--it could be worth a mini-quiz to you. Be prepared for the upcoming Platonic mini-quiz.

Mon., Oct. 19: After carefully formulating and motivating our first theory in the metaphysics of the person, we'll survey a few varieties of materialism (or physicalism). Be sure to study this new, preparatory handout: Philosophy of the Person Preliminaries. Philosophy of the Person Preliminaries

Fri., October 16: Last time we reviewed the exams and you participated in a little mini-quiz. Each person who turned in his or her exam at the end of class received full credit on the mini-quiz. I will no longer be hauling those exams around with me. If you ditched class on Tuesday, you're more than welcome to drop by my office to take a look at your exam and discuss it with me. I'll be more than happy to give you your score on the exam whenever I see you. And if you didn't ditch class on Tuesday, please feel free to drop by my office to talk about your exam, if you so wish. I'm more than happy to discuss your exam with you. Now we will turn to pure ontology and the philosophy of the person. Please read (in the least) pp. 135-141, 142-3, and 154 of Ultimate Questions. I'm not impressed with our author's discussion of physicalist conceptions of the person. So I will veer away from the text to some degree. If you do not attend class, take some notes there, study the documents on this website, and think about these arguments and theories--then it's unlikely that you'll do well on the upcoming quizzes and exams. Oh yeah: A Mini-Quiz on some feature of the new reading assignment will likely take place today, so be sure to give that short section on ontological dependence your complete attention.

Reading Assignments: Ultimate Questions: 137-141, 142-143, plus page 154. Please read this short assignment as carefully as possible. Try to understand everything that the author is trying to convey, but: I'm not attracted to the way our textbook author uses the term 'mind'. I will be defining the term 'mind' in the classical manner, in the spirit of Plato and Descartes. So, whenever our author uses the term 'mind' in this section of the text, please interpret it as 'mental life'. The deepest philosophical dispute in this section of the course concerns whether or not we have a non-physical mind (or soul), but all of us have a mental life (I hope!).

Wed., Oct. 14: We'll take on a couple of new philosophical problems: Ontological puzzles and the philosophy of the person. A mini-quiz related to the return of Exam 1 will likely take place.

Mon., Oct. 12: Exam 1 commences at 10:30 AM. Be sure to bring your skinny green scantron (form # 882-E) and a couple of sharp pencils to class. You should also bring a couple of good pens. I will not be accepting any answers to essay questions written in pencil.

Fri., Oct., 9: We'll complete our investigation of libertarianism before turning to a short review session. A mini-quiz dedicated to an in-class exercise requiring the extraction of an argument against libertarianism contained within Chisholm's "Human Freedom and the Self" will probably transpire. Note that Fred is holding office hours from 1:30 PM--2:30 PM on the Second Floor of Corbett. Drop on by and let Fred help prepare you for the exam.

Wed., Oct. 7: After returning briefly to indeterministic efforts in the free will disputes, we'll read this Selection from Aristotle's Physics in preparation for our examination of libertarianism. A mini-quiz dedicated to the perusal of Quiz 2 will take place. Exam 1 is tentatively scheduled for Monday, October 12 at 10:30 AM.

Final Reading Assignments Prior to Exam 1: Chisholm's "Human Freedom and the Self" (Feldman: 23-31) and Ultimate Questions: 106-111.

Mon., Oct. 5: Quiz 2 on logic and the free will disputes will take place, so please bring a skinny green scantron (form # 882-E) plus a couple of sharp pencils to class. After an exploration of the indeterministic response to the philosophical problem of freedom, we'll turn to an investigation of this Selection from Aristotle's Physics, so please bring a hard copy of it to class. I also recommend that you bring hard copies of these Chisholm-styled Libertarian Quotes. While you're at it, why don't you print out a hard copy of this Free Will & Determinism III handout.

Fri., Oct. 2: Ayer's preferred version of Soft Determinism. I've decided to postpone Quiz 2 until next time, so Quiz 2 on logic and the free will disputes will take place on Mon., Oct. 5. Please prepare for the quiz by mastering the material and bringing your skinny green scantron (form # 882-E) plus a couple of sharp pencils to class.

New Reading Assignments: Ultimate Questions: 96-99, 93-95.

Wed., Sept. 30: Enter Soft Determinism. Quiz 2 on logic and the Free Will disputes will likely take place on either Friday, Oct. 2 or Monday, Oct. 4. Please prepare for the quiz by mastering the material and bringing your skinny green scantron (form # 882-E) plus a couple of sharp pencils to class. Be sure to give these Step-by-Step Instructions on How to PEE a very close study. Also be sure to print out and then study this second handout on the philosophical problem of freedom: Free Will & Determinism II. Be able to PEE each and every argument we discuss in class.

Mon., Sept. 28: Upon completion of an investigation of the Argument from Moral Responsibility against HD, we'll turn our attention to A.J. Ayer's preferred view. Quiz 2 on logic and the Free Will disputes will likely take place on Friday, October 2. Please prepare for the quiz by mastering the material and bringing your skinny green scantron (form # 882-E) plus a couple of sharp pencils to class.

I'm guessing that some of you are getting a bit anxious about the upcoming Exam 1. You might want to start wrapping your mind around this Study Guide for Exam 1. If you hope to excel on the exam, you'll have to master the whole thing.

Fri., Sept. 25: We'll continue to submit Paul Ree's beloved Hard Determinism to theoretical attacks. Again: Please learn how to PEE. Learn to love to PEE! Be prepared to employ some aspect of the PEEing procedure upon the Argument from the Feeling of Freedom on Friday's (potential) mini-quiz.

Wed., Sept. 23: Paul Ree's beloved view--Hard Determinism--will be the principal subject of our investigations. Collective PEEing is bound to transpire. Please learn how to PEE. Learn to love to PEE! Please wrap your mind around this first handout on the philosophical problem of Free Will and Determinism. Understand the two central theoretical motivations for Ree's beloved view.

Sophia--the NMSU Philosophy Club--cordially invites you to hear Dr. William Michael Kallfelz present his paper, "Transformation Reduction “Precisified” through Structuralism", Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 4:30 in GU 100.

Mon., Sept. 21: We'll complete our discussion of causation before turning our attention to Hard Determinism (HD). What are the theoretical motivations for HD? Can you cook up some interesting arguments against HD? How might Paul Ree--a fervent hard determinist--respond to the more salient arguments against his beloved view? If you read the Ree article carefully, you'll see that he takes several of the central objections against his view head on. Check out this handout on Analyses of Causation.

The Gettier Contest is officially over. Congratulations to Christopher Cabreras for securing contest victory with an impressive prize winning submission! 20 juicy quiz points and some degree of straight up philosophical enlightenment is now his. Philosophical enlightenment is so tasty!

Fri., Sept. 18: A mini-quiz associated with A.J. Ayer's "Freedom and Necessity" and the official PHIL 201 definition of causation will likely take place this at the beginning of class. Having refuted David Hume's impressive and pioneering conceptions of causation, we'll turn our attention to some contemporary accounts before motivating Paul Ree's position in the free will disputes.

New Reading Assignments: "The Case for Hard Determinism" (U?: 89-93) and A.J. Ayer's "Freedom and Necessity" (Feldman: 17-22)

Sophia--the NMSU Philosophy Club--cordially invites you to attend our first meeting of the semester. Mark Walker will be presenting his "Playing Doctor: why the uninsured ought to be permitted to self-medicate," in room BC 106 (Business Complex) at New Mexico State University on Sept. 16 at 4:30 PM.

Wed., Sept. 16: We're jumping into the free will disputes, investigating various analyses of causation in attempts to wrap our minds around the Principle of Universal Causation. Please bring a hard copy of this handout on Causation Quotes to class. A mini-quiz dedicated to the official PHIL 201 definition of 'c causes e' may or may not take place.

Gettier Contest: In our dash through the subfields of philosophy, we briefly considered some of the central questions of epistemology: the philosophical study of the nature of knowledge. One of the central questions in epistemology is, of course, "What is knowledge?" The once popular claim that knowledge might best be analyzed as justified, true belief seems to stem originally from passages in the Meno and the Theaetetus, ancient Platonic dialogues. Such a conception reigned popularly for over 2,200 years before my teacher (and friend) Ed Gettier presented a couple of counterexamples to it in a short article published in the philosophical journal Analysis. 20 quiz points will be awarded to the first person who (i) states explicitly the Plato-inspired conception of knowledge and (ii) presents a clear explanation of precisely how Ed Gettier's counterexamples (some still believe them to be alleged counterexamples) are intended to undermine this traditional conception of knowledge. Submissions must be either emailed or delivered to me in typed form. Here's some help. One might explicitly state the ancient conception of knowledge in this way: Let 'S' be a variable ranging over persons and 'p' be a variable ranging over propositions. S knows that p iff (i) S believes that p is true; (ii) p is true, and (iii) S is justified in believing that p is true.

Fri., Sept. 11: I'm hopeful that we'll complete our discussion of the nature of philosophy before turning to some free will disputes. We might even tangle with some analyses of the concept of a cause.

Wed., Sept. 9: A mini-quiz dedicated to the Paul Ree piece will likely take at the beginning of class. We'll continue to grapple with the nature of philosophy itself. We might even begin wrapping our minds around our first serious philosophical puzzle. A note to my veterans (Michael, Brian, and Graden): Wednesday will be the last day of veterans' vacation. I look forward to seeing your shining smiles come Friday, Sept. 11--if not sooner!

Fri., Sept. 4: We'll submit various conceptions of philosophy (including Christian's) to serious scrutiny. A mini-quiz dedicated to some portion of the assigned Paul Ree article may or may not take place. If I were you, I'd study the Ree piece carefully. Does Paul Ree believe that we are ever morally responsible for any of our actions? If so, under which circumstances? If not, why?

Wed., Sept. 2: A mini-quiz dedicated to the review of Quiz 1 will take place. We'll submit various conceptions of philosophy (including Christian's) to serious scrutiny. A mini-quiz dedicated to some portion of the assigned Paul Ree article will likely take place. If I were you, I'd study the Ree piece carefully. Does Paul Ree believe that we are ever morally responsible for any of our actions? If so, under which circumstances? If not, why?

Fri., Aug. 28: Logic, then more logic, then more logic. It's possible that we'll also jump into an investigation of the nature of philosophy. What is philosophy? How is philosophy distinct from every other academic discipline? Quiz 1 on logic and the assigned readings in Ultimate Questions will take place on Monday, August 31. Be sure to bring your skinny green scantron (form # 882-E) and a couple of sharp pencils to class. We'll continue to explore the nature of philosophy.

Wed., Aug. 26: More logic, and then more logic. Mini-Quiz #1 will likely take place. Make sure to secure a firm grasp of all of the logic. You'll be required to utilize it throughout the semester, and then there's that Logic Quiz scheduled to take place sometime: Friday, probably. If I were you, I'd memorize the definition of the term 'valid'. (It's D1 on the Baby Logic handout.) Memorize the definition of the term 'sound' as well. Understand Ockham's Razor, know some logical forms, and understand not only the nature of conditionals but the procedure by which we will reject some of them in this class. Be sure to read the relevant assignments from Ultimate Questions. Please bring a hard copy of the Baby Logic handout to class.

More Early Reading Reading Assignments: James Christian's "What do You Mean by Philosophy???" (Feldman: ix-xi) and Paul Ree's "Determinism and the Illusion of Moral Responsibility" (Feldman: 3-16). Please bring assigned readings to class.

First Reading Assignments: A few selections from your text Ultimate Questions: (i) the sections on logical consistency, logical possibility, definitions, and counterexamples from p. 16-26, (ii) the bit on deductive logic from p. 32-38, and (iii) the short commentary on abductive argumentation, Ockham's Razor, and the Principle of Conservation from the very bottom of p. 40-42.

Please memorize the definition of 'validity' as stated in the Baby Logic handout. You will be quizzed and tested on this concept (perhaps even multiple times).

Mon., Aug. 24: Logic is on the way. You must master the logic to succeed in (or even pass) this course. Please bring a hard copy of the Baby Logic handout to class.

Welcome Students! Please get down to the NMSU Bookstore (second floor) and pick up copies of Ultimate Questions: Thinking About Philosophy by N. Ch. Rauhut, Meditations on First Philosophy by R. Descartes, and Introduction to Philosophy edited by Fred Feldman.

Please take a look at the Baby Logic handout below; in fact, please print out the handout and bring it to class. Try to get a grasp of the concepts of validity and soundness. Become familiar with the basic forms of valid inference. Give "A Note on Conditionals" a close read. Please bring a hard copy of the Baby Logic handout to class for at least the first two weeks.

Consider reading through Bruce Aune's "Punctuation and Syntax". (You should probably print out a copy of it.) Contained within the document are style constraints that must be adhered to if you hope to write in an acceptable, professional manner. It's long, dry, and not all that philosophical--but I know you can get through it.

Philosophy 201: Introduction to Philosophy

News and Assignments (The "Living" Course Schedule):

Handouts: