Contemporary Philosophy (Philosophy 390)			Fall 2009
 
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Instructor: Greg Frost-Arnold			Email: gfrost-arnold@hws.edu
Office Phone: 781.4509			
Office Hours: (Demarest 308/ Harris House) M&W 11:15-12:15, Th 1-2:30, & by appointment
 
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course traces the historical development of the analytic tradition in philosophy, the tradition that dominates the English-speaking philosophical community today.  We begin with the originators of analytic philosophy: Frege, Russell, and Moore.  We then study how their fundamental ideas were developed, extended, and critiqued by the next generation, including Carnap, Wittgenstein, Quine and others.  The course concludes with readings from one strand of 21st Century research in the analytic tradition, paying attention to how today’s philosophers are framed and influenced by their recent past.
	This year, our various readings are framed around the following set of questions: Can philosophy be scientific?  Should it be? If so, how?  Many thinkers in the analytic tradition aim to convert philosophy into a discipline that yields objective, scientific knowledge.  In the earlier part of the 20th Century, analytic philosophers believed that philosophy should become a branch of math.  More recently, an increasing number of philosophers began to think philosophy should become an empirical science—perhaps culminating in the rise of ‘experimental philosophy’ in the last few years.  We finish the semester with some of the leading representatives in the on-going debate over whether philosophy can or should be experimental.

COURSE GOALS: Students in this course will:
1. understand the central ideas of the founders of analytic philosophy,
2. evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these founders’ positions,
3. grasp and evaluate the current, growing program of ‘experimental philosophy’  
	
TEXTS:  There is only one required book in the bookstore, Logical Positivism, edited by A. J. Ayer.  But there are two more sources for required readings: writings that are freely available on the web, and items that will be posted to Blackboard.  You must print out these internet-based texts and bring them to class.
 
GRADING & ASSIGNMENTS: There will be three 5-6 page essays during the term, the first worth 20% of your final grade, the next two worth 25% each.  I will assign questions; but if you would like to write on something else you found interesting in the readings, please see me to discuss designing your own question.  
	There are also three short written assignments, designed to check your comprehension of certain technical material.  These three together are worth 5% of your grade.
The remainder of your grade comes from participation, which includes not only your comments and questions during class time, but also your contribution to the class group blog on Blackboard.  Each student must post (a) 10 original entries, and (b) 10 comments on other students’ threads, or on their own thread only if it is a direct reply to another student’s comment.  To count, starting posts must be between 100-250 words, and must be posted before the associated reading is due.  Comments must be at least 40 words, and can be made after class discussion on the associated reading.

CLASS POLICIES:  
Participation: You are allowed two unexcused absences.  After that, your final grade will suffer.  If you have a problem and must miss class, please inform me as soon as you can.  You must provide documentation (or other evidence) to be excused.  

Repeatedly engaging in activities that impair class function, such as talking to your neighbor, napping, or using your phone, will count against your final grade.  No laptops are allowed in class, unless you have a letter from CTL that says you need one.

A late paper will be penalized, one step (e.g. B+ to B) for each 24 hours it is late.

Cheating or plagiarism, in any form, absolutely will not be tolerated.  If this class is to succeed as a learning project for you and me, it must be based on respect and trust between us.  Anyone who abuses that trust will be punished to the extent that University policies allow; the usual penalty is failing the course. You are responsible for knowing HWS’s Principle of Academic Integrity (http://www.hws.edu/catalogue/policies.aspx).

If you have a documented disability, I will do everything I can to help you succeed in this class.  You need to contact the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) to get a letter stating you need special accommodations, and then you and I must meet to discuss how best to meet your needs.  More information can be found at http://www.hws.edu/studentlife/stuaffairs_disabilities.aspx.  The CTL phone number is x3351 or TTY x4412.	

Turn off your cell phones, please.

ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE		Contemporary Philosophy (Phil 390)
Assignment schedule subject to change
Written assignments, and their due dates, are all in bold.

Aug. 31: Logistics and Introduction 
Sept. 2: Russell, Our Knowledge of the External World (OKEW) Preface; Lecture I: first 4 paragraphs, and last 7 only 
[web: http://www.archive.org/details/ourknowledgeofex00russ]
Sept. 4: Introduction to (or reminder of) basic logical symbolism [handout & assignment]

Sept. 7: DUE: logical symbolism short assignment
G. E. Moore, Principia Ethica.  Chapter I: §§1-3 and 5-14. [web]
Sept. 9: Recommended: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Moral Non-Naturalism,” Sections 1-2 only [web: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-non-naturalism]
Sept. 11: Schlick, “What is the Aim of Ethics?” [Ayer]

Sept. 14: OKEW Lecture II: “Logic as the Essence of Philosophy”
Sept. 16:
Sept. 18: Carnap “The Old and the New Logic,” §§1-4 [Ayer]

Sept. 21: OKEW Lecture III: “On Our Knowledge of the External World”
Sept. 23 
Sept. 25: OKEW Lecture IV: “The World of Physics and the World of Sense,” selections 

Sept. 28: OKEW Lecture VII: “The Positive Theory of Infinity”
Sept. 30: OKEW Lecture VIII: “On the Notion of Cause, with Applications to Free-Will”
Oct. 2: Due: short assignment on number and infinity

Oct. 5: Russell, “On Denoting” 
[web: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_Denoting or 
http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Russell/denoting ]
Oct. 7: Recommended: Russell, Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy Ch.16 (Descriptions) 
Oct. 9: DUE: FIRST PAPER (on Russell)

Oct. 12 No class: Fall recess
Oct. 14: Due: short assignment on Russell’s theory of descriptions
Frege, “On Sense and Reference” 
[web: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_Sense_and_Reference  OR
http://mind.ucsd.edu/syllabi/00-01/phil235/a_readings/frege_S&R.html]
Oct. 16: Selections from the Frege Reader [BB]

Oct. 19: Wittgenstein, Tractatus, selections [web]
Oct. 21: Schlick, “The Turning Point in Philosophy” [Ayer]
Oct. 23: Hahn, “Logic, Mathematics, and Knowledge of Nature” [Ayer] (recommended: Carnap, “The Old and the New Logic,” §§5-7 [Ayer])
Family weekend

Oct. 26: Carnap, “The elimination of metaphysics through the logical analysis of language” [Ayer]
Oct. 28: 
Oct. 30: C. L. Stevenson, “The Emotive Meaning of Ethical Terms” [Ayer]

Nov. 2: Neurath, “Protocol Sentences” [Ayer]
Nov. 4: Wittgenstein, The Blue Book, pp.1-4 and 25-28 [BB]
Nov. 6: Carnap, Logical Syntax of Language: Forward, §§1, 2, 17 [BB]

Nov. 9: Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism,” §§IV and VI 
[web: http://www.ditext.com/quine/quine.html]
Nov 11: Carnap, “Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology” 
[web: http://www.ditext.com/carnap/carnap.html]
Nov 13: 

Nov 16: A. George, “On washing the fur without getting it wet” §§1-2 [BB]
Nov 18: PAPER DUE: 3PM 
S Nichols, “Folk Concepts and Intuitions: From Philosophy to Cognitive Science” 
[web: http://philpapers.org/rec/NICFCA] 
Nov 20: 

Nov 23: Joshua Greene, “From neural ‘is’ to moral ‘ought’: What are the moral implications of neuroscientific moral psychology?” [web:
http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~jgreene/GreeneWJH/Greene-NRN-Is-Ought-03.pdf ]
Nov 25: No class
Nov 27: No class

Nov 30: Knobe and Nichols, “An Experimental Philosophy Manifesto” [[SKIP 2.3]] [BB]
Dec 2: 
Dec 4: S. M. Liao, “A Defense of Intuitions” [web: 
http://www.smatthewliao.com/2008/05/02/a-defense-of-intuitions/]

Dec 7: 
Dec 9: Weinberg et al., “Are Philosophers Expert Intuiters?” §1 only [web: http://www.indiana.edu/~eel/papers.html]
Dec 11: K. A. Appiah, “Experimental Philosophy” and his NYT Magazine piece [web]

DEC 17: FINAL PAPER DUE (4PM)