I.
Getting started: looking at the historical/intellectual setting
|
| For this date |
Reading to do |
Things to do |
Submit deadline |
| Mon. 1/24 |
Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy--read
the entire collection of Meditations. |
Look at the big picture of what Descartes is
trying to do. Don't worry about whether his arguments are
satisfactory. Instead, look for what issues he is trying to deal with,
and what his final position looks like, overall. |
n/a |
| Wed. 1/26 |
Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human
Understanding, Section IV and Section V, Part 1. |
Again, don't worry about whether Hume is right.
Instead, look for what his position is regarding the rational basis for
understanding how the world works. Note that Descartes' arguments for
very different conclusions are ignored. Hume did not buy those
arguments. |
n/a |
| II.
Introducing Kant |
| For this date |
Reading to do |
Things to do |
Submit deadline |
| Mon. 1/31 |
Wood, Kant, Preface and Chapter 1 (read
quickly) |
Just get a sense of who Kant was and what he was
interested in. |
n/a |
| Kant, CPR (Critique of Pure Reason),
Preface to 2nd Ed., pp. Bvii - Bxxiii |
Don't expect to understand all of Kant's
language. If you don't get part of it, just keep going, and try to
figure out the next thing. Make detailed notes of all your questions
and bring them to class to turn in. |
Mon. 1/31 |
| Wed. 2/2 |
See the study guide found
here. |
You'll need the Acrobat Reader to read the
notes. If you don't already have it installed, you can download it
from lots of places, including the Adobe Web site. (Note that you were
supposed to hand in something last time. You can tell when you're
supposed to hand in something by looking at the far right column of this
page. If there is a date given, then that is your indication that you
should write something to turn in.) |
n/a |
| III.
The heart of the argument about how we can have a priori synthetic knowledge
of the objective world |
| Mon. 2/7 |
Kant, CPR, Abridged, pp 25 - 38.
(Equivalent to B 33 - B 58.) |
Study questions
here. |
Mon. 2/7 |
| Wood, 35-39 |
This reading may help with understanding the
Kant reading. |
|
| Wed. 2/9 |
Read the same material again, in the light of the
things discussed Monday in class. |
Here's a
study guide to use. Don't forget to look at Wood. He has some
useful things to say. |
n/a |
| Mon. 2/14 |
Wood, 39-45. Try reading this before
reading Kant, CPR, pp. B74-76, B89-B95 (i.e., pp. 39-45 in the
abridged text). |
Get started on writing Essay One.
Instructions and topic are found here.
Turn it in on paper or electronically by Friday, 2/18. (Can drop paper
essays at the PHI office. Send electronic copies as attachments to
e-mail.) |
Fri. 2/18 |
| Wed. 2/16 |
Reread the previous assignment in the light of
the class discussion. |
|
n/a |
| Go on to read pp. 46 - top of p 58 in the
abridged CPR. (B102 - B109 and B116 - B129) |
Make a note of anything Kant says about the
exact relationship between the categories and the logical forms of judgment.
Make sure you understand the list of categories. I think the category
of cause and effect is not the best translation. So, I'd substitute
"ground and consequent" for the category of "cause and effect". |
n/a |
| Mon. 2/21 |
Work on pp. 51-77 in the abridged CPR.
B116-169. |
See how much of this you can make sense of.
It's too much to read it all carefully, but work at it. Corresponding
comments in Wood, 46-57, may be helpful. Make notes on key issues you
want to talk about. |
n/a |
| Wed. 2/23 |
Reread and finish the above readings. |
Write up a couple of brief examples of
terrible things that would happen to your world if you refused to employ the
concepts of cause and effect to sort out your sensations, explaining why
these results came from the lack of causes and effects in your conception of
the world. |
Wed. 2/23 |
| Mon. 2/28 |
Machina, "Kant, Quine, and Human Experience" |
Access this article online via Milner's
subscription to an online collection called JSTOR. Instructions for
doing so are found here. |
n/a |
| Wed. 3/2 |
CPR, abridged, pp. 78-93. Or,
B175-B189 and B193-B207. |
Here, Kant first tells us how the categories
need to be modified in order to connect with time, and then finally gives us
one SAPP. |
n/a |
| Wed. 3/7 |
CPR, abridged, pp. 93-120. Or,
B207-B256. |
Can skip lightly through the first section,
"Anticipations of Perception". The rest is crucial. This is
Kant's reply to Hume, and his explanation of how believing the SAPP's makes
experience unified. |
n/a |
| First exam will cover up to this point in the
course. Here are
the questions for Exam 1. |
Mon. 3/28 |
| The class schedule for the rest
of the semester will be found on the "Schedule
2nd half" page. |
