121 Readings Schedule (JCCC)

The Nature and Purpose of Philosophy

For June 3:

  • Read from “The Problems of Philosophy” by Bertrand Russell (2-6)

 

For June 4:

  • Read from “The Republic” by Plato (57-61)
  • Week 1 Writing Assigned: The Nature of Philosophical Questions

 

Epistemology: Knowledge from the Senses

For June 8:

  • Week 1 Writing due
  • Read “Meditations on First Philosophy (Meditation I)” by Rene Descartes (81-85)

 

For June 9:

  • Read from “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” by John Locke (90-97)

 

For June 10:

  • Read from “The Problems of Philosophy” by Bertrand Russell (120-127)

 

For June 11:

  • Read from “The Importance of Philosophical Scepticism” by Barry Stroud
  • Writing 2 Assigned: Knowledge from the Senses

Epistemology: Learning from Experience

For June 15:

  • Week 2 Writing due
  • Read from “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding” by David Hume (108-112)

 

For June 16:

  • Read Goodman’s New Riddle of Induction

 

For June 17:

  • Read “Science as Falsification” by Karl Popper

 

For June 18:

  • Read “The Revenge of Historicism” by Robert Klee
  • For fun: see this video and pay attention to the reference to Kuhn’s work made by the speaker.
  • Writing 3 assigned: Induction and Science

Metaphysics: Identity and Change

For June 22:

  • Week 3 Writing due
  • Read Paradox of Identity

 

For June 23:

  • Read The Case of Old Bentley Number One

 

For June 24:

  • Read “A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality” by John Perry (First Night)

 

For June 25:

  • Read “A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality” by John Perry (Second Night)
  • Week 4 Writing Assigned: Object Identity

 

Metaphysics: Thought Experiments

For June 29:

  • Week 4 Writing due
  • Read “Where Am I?” by Daniel Dennett (read until “Hamlet” “dies”)

 

For June 30:

  • Read remainder of “Where Am I?” by Daniel Dennett

For July 1:

  • Read “To Beam or Not to Beam?” by Richard Hanley (to page 149)

 

For July 2:

  • Read “To Beam or Not to Beam?” by Richard Hanley (from page 149 to end)
  • Week 5 Writing assigned: Personal Identity

 

Value: Political Justice

For July 6:

  • Week 5 Writing due

 

For July 7:

  • Read “Dialog with Thrasymachus” from “The Republic” by Plato

For July 8:

  • Read from “Leviathan” by Thomas Hobbes
  • Watch Steven Pinker apply Hobbesian reasoning to explain empirical data. (HERE)

 

For July 9:

  • Read from “Second Treatise of Government” by John Locke
  • Week 6 Writing assigned: Social Contract Theory

Value: Distributive Justice

For July 13:

  • Week 6 Writing due
  • Read from “A Theory of Justice” by John Rawls (118-123 then 52-54)

 

For July 14:

  • Read from “Anarchy, State, and Utopia” by Robert Nozick (150-164)

 

For July 15:

  • Read “Inequality” by Larry Temkin

 

For July 16:

  • No Class Meeting
  • Week 7 Writing Assigned: Distributive Justice

Applied Philosophy: Justice, Food, and Famine

For July 20:

  • Read from “Development as Freedom” by Amartya Sen

 

For July 21:

  • Read from “Poor Economics” by Abhijit Bannerjee and Esther Duflo

 

For July 22:

  • Prepare questions for review

 

For July 23:

  • Final Exam
  • Week 7 writing due