Syllabus: Schedule

Class Schedule:
Required Readings to be Read in Advance of Each Session

Introductory Topics
3/31
Introduction: Empiricism and Experience
4/2
I) How to do the History of Philosophy
II) The History of ‘Experience’: Jay, Songs of Experience, chapter 1, “The Trial of ‘Experience’”

Locke’s Representationalist-Empiricist Epistemology
4/7
I) Introduction (Essay, Epistle & I, i)
4/9
II) Refutation of Innate Ideas (Essay, I, ii and I, iv, §10-17, §22-25)
4/14
III) New Way of Ideas (Essay, II, i, §1-5, §24-51; II, ii, §1-3; II, iii, II, viii-xii, II, xxix-xxxiii; IV, I; IV, iv)
IV) (Optional) Communication and Classification (Essay, III, i-iii)

Locke’s Empiricist Moral and Political Philosophy
4/16
I) Empiricist Moral Philosophy (Essay, I, iii)
II) Free Will (Essay, II, xx-xxi)
4/21
III) Political Theory (Second Treatise of Government §1-21, §87-100, §119-131, §211-243)
[SHORT LOCKE ESSAY DUE ON 4/21]

Berkeley’s Idealist-Empiricist Epistemology
4/23
I) Against Abstract Ideas (Principles, Introduction)
4/28
II) Against Materialism (Principles, I, §1-33)
4/30
III) Defense and Consequences of Immaterialism (Principles, §34-100)
[SHORT BERKELEY ESSAY DUE ON 5/5]

Hume’s Skeptical-Naturalist-Empiricist Epistemology
5/5
I) Introduction (Enq HU §1 + “My Own Life”)
II) Origin and Association of Ideas (Enq HU §2-3)
5/7
III) Critique of Induction (Enq HU §4-6) and Concept of Causation (Enq HU §7)
5/12
IV) Passions, Sympathy, and Liberty (Enq HU §8 and THN II.1.1-2 & II.3.1-3)
V) Skepticism and Naturalism (Enq HU §12)

Hume’s Empiricist Moral Philosophy
5/14
I) Morality (Enq PM §1)
II) Utility (Enq PM §2 plus Appendix II)
III) Society (Enq PM §III-IV plus Appendix I)
5/19
IV) Sympathy and Sentiment (Enq PM §V, §IX plus skim §VI-VIII)

Hume’s Empiricist Theology, Aesthetics, and Economics
5/21
I) Religion (Enq HU §9-11)
II) Aesthetics (“Of the Standard of Taste”)
III) Economics (“On the Jealousy of Trade”)
[SHORT HUME ESSAY DUE ON 5/21]

19th c. Empiricism
5/26
Bentham, Introduction to Principles of Morals and Legislation, Chs. I & IV
Mill, Utilitarianism, Ch. III
[BRING PAPERS TO SEMINAR FOR PEER REVIEW THIS WEEK]

20th c. Empiricism
5/28
James, “A World of Pure Experience”
Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”

Contemporary Empiricism
6/2
Van Fraassen, The Empirical Stance, Chapter 2 selections
Hacking, Representing and Intervening, Chapter 9 selections + Historical Ontology, Chapter 3 selections
[RETURN PEER REVIEW RESPONSES TO SEMINAR THIS WEEK]

6/4
Makeup/Extra Session

6/8
[FINAL PAPER DUE ON 6/8]