PHIL 3022001—MODERN PHILOSOPHY                      DR. CANDICE SHELBY

M-W 10:00-11:15 a.m.                                                       OFFICE:  M108F

ROOM:  WC 257                                                                  PHONE: 556-3223

                                    email:  cshelby@carbon.cudenver.edu

 

SYLLABUS

 

This semester we will investigate the thought of the great minds that brought philosophy back to life after the rather intellectually dreary Middle Ages.  While the power of the church’s dogma and scholarly insistence on a very narrowly defined methodology during that period had largely stifled creativity and inspiration (you know how reluctant people are to innovate when the consequences are being burned alive…) by the end of the 16th century, the progress of science had become unstoppable.  With ineluctable progress in that area came questions of all kinds.  Some of the ones we will be concerned with are “what is the ultimate stuff of being?”, and “how is that stuff so put together that the world is as it is rather than some other way?”, and, even more fundamentally, “why is there something rather than nothing?”, and “can we even know the answers to such questions as these?”

 

The early modern period was one in which people cast about in all sorts of directions using all sorts of approaches to find answers to these admittedly difficult (impossible?) questions.  Our task will be to come to understand the motivations, strategies, and conceptual frameworks of a number of the most influential thinkers of this period.  Our approach to this task will be to read substantial portions of historically significant original works, dissect them into manageable chunks, and then peruse certain other texts addressing the same or similar issues, so that we can try to come to an understanding of what these guys were concerned about, what kinds of questions they had, and how they attempted to justify the way they came to answer them.  In some cases, we will even literally draw pictures of their arguments (sometimes that’s the only way to make sense of what these guys say).  I include this information so that you will know how very important it is that you attend class.  THESE GUYS ARE VERY TOUGH TO UNDERSTAND ON YOUR OWN, BUT VERY EASY TO MISUNDERSTAND. 

 

Grades will be determined by weekly short quizzes, intended to keep you up on your reading (constitutes 30% of the course grade--I will not give make-ups for absences, but will allow for two dropped grades), and two fun essay activities (two of them, 2-l/2 to 3 pages each, typed, double-spaced), written at home, in response to your favorites of the several questions I will pose at mid-semester and again at the course’s end (each constitutes 35% of the course grade).

 

 

 

 

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I hope that I can provide you with an entertaining, stimulating, and enjoyable semester.  The least I can do, however, is be responsible in helping you to master the material. 

Toward that end, I will make myself available to you as much as is reasonable.  In addition to class time, I can help you during my OFFICE HOURS, which this semester will be

 

MONDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS FROM 9 to 10 a.m., and from 1-3 p.m.

 

I am actually on campus much more than this, so you OF COURSE may call me at other times for appointments and/or phone chats, and I’ll answer email whenever I get it.

 

 

REQUIRED TEXT:

Modern Philosophy:  An Anthology of Primary Sources, ed. Roger Ariew and

Eric Watkins

 

COURSE SCHEDULE:

 

JAN 23                        INTRODUCTION (I’ll talk about Bacon—you can read him later)

 

JAN 28                        DESCARTES, Discourse, pp. 12-19 and Meditations, pp. 22-27

 

JAN 30                        DESCARTES, Meditations, pp. 27-34

 

FEB   4                        DESCARTES, Meditations, pp. 34-45                    

 

FEB   6                        DESCARTES, pp. 45-55

 

FEB  11                       SPINOZA, pp. 97-98 and The Ethics, pp. 129-134

 

FEB  13                       SPINOZA, The Ethics, pp. 134-140          

 

FEB  18                       SPINOZA, The Ethics, pp. 140-149

 

FEB  20                      SPINOZA, The Ethics, pp. 149-150, bottom 165, 169 and 173-180                 

 

FEB  25                      finish SPINOZA

 

FEB  27                      LEIBNIZ, pp. 181-183 and Discourse, pp. 184-189

 

 

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Schedule (cont):

MAR   4                     LEIBNIZ, Discourse, pp. 189-193                                 

 

MAR   6                     LEIBNIZ, Discourse, pp. 194 - 201

 

MAR  11                    LEIBNIZ, Discourse, pp. 202-207

 

MAR  13                     Newton/LEIBNIZ interplay, pp. 244-254

 

MAR  18                     Review DESCARTES, SPINOZA, LEIBNIZ

                                    HAND OUT FIRST FUN QUESTIONS

 

MAR 20                      LOCKE, pp. 259-261, and Essay, 270-276

 

MAR 25 & 27             SPRING BREAK—DO PEOPLE STILL SKI?

 

APR   1                        LOCKE, Essay, pp. 276-277 and 281-290

FIRST FUN ANSWERS DUE

 

APR    3                       LOCKE, Essay, pp. 293 (CH XII) -295 and 301-308

 

APR    8                       LOCKE, Essay, pp.310-319

                       

APR   10                      LOCKE, Essay, pp. 339-350

 

APR   15                      transition from LOCKE to BERKELEY (no new reading)           

 

APR   17                      BERKELEY, pp. 386-388 and Three Dialogues, pp. 413-420

 

APR   22                      BERKELEY, Three Dialogues, pp. 420-435

           

APR   24                      finish BERKELEY

 

APR   29                      HUME, pp. 483-485 and Inquiry, pp. 491-499

 

MAY   1                      HUME, Inquiry, pp. 499-509 

                       

MAY   6                      HUME, Inquiry, pp. 509-522

 

MAY   8                      REVIEW AND HAND OUT FINAL FUN QUESTIONS

                                               

MAY  15                     FINAL EXAMS DUE IN MY HANDS 10:00 AM

                                    NONE WILL BE ACCEPTED LATER