Philosophy 2300:
Beginning Philosophy
Spring, 2019

Professor Joel Velasco
Office: 265G (Eng/phil building)
Office Hours: M, T, Th 12-1:00 or by appointment

TA Jordan Mascari - email jordan.mascari@ttu.edu
Office Phil 263, hours Wed, Fri 2:00-3:00

Class meets MWF, 9:00-9:50 (in Phil 164)
Honors class meets MWF 2:00-2:50 (in Phil 301)

All of the boilerplate information such as course policies and the grading scheme can be found on the syllabus. The readings for the course are below.

Syllabus

Required Books:

The Norton Introduction to Philosophy edited by Gideon Rosen et al. 2nd edition, 2018.

All class assignments and any other readings will be found on this website. You should check this website reguarly for updates and bring copies of the assigned readings to class. All readings should be done before the date they are listed here. Come to class on that day prepared to discuss them.

This is a tentative schedule/reading list:

Week 1 - Chapter 22 - Does Justice Require Equality?

Wed, 1/16
- Introduction
Fri, 1/18
- Introduction to Chapter 22 (pdfs are available on blackboard)
- Nussbaum, Political Equality
Extras
- Concepcion, How to read philosophy (the appendix especially)
- Krugman, The Economics of Soaking the Rich (from the NY Times)
- The Philosopher of Feelings (New Yorker profile of Martha Nussbaum)

Week 2 - Chapter 22 - Does Justice Require Equality?

Mon, 1/21
- MLK DAY - No class
Wed, 1/23
- Nozick, Distributive Justice, from Anarchy, State, and Utopia
Fri, 1/25
- Basic income in a just society (Boston Review May 15, 2017)
Extras:
- Is taxation theft? (by Michael Huemer)
- Is taxation theft? (by Philip Goff)
- Is taxation theft? - A bot to check your intuitions

Week 3 - Chapter 21 - What is the Value of Liberty?

Mon, 1/28
- Introduction to Chapter 21
- Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration
Wed, 1/30
- Mill, On Liberty
Fri, 2/1
- Devlin, Morals and the Criminal Law
Extras:
- The Taking: How the federal government abused its power to seize property for a border fence (Texas Tribune, Dec 17, 2017)

Week 4 - Chapter 20 - How can the State be Justified?

Mon, 2/4
- Homework 1 due (sample answers)
- No new reading
Wed, 2/6
- Introduction to Chapter 20
- Hobbes, from Leviathan
Fri, 2/8
- Lyons, The Utilitarian Justification of the State
Extras:

Week 5 - Is there a duty to follow the law?

Mon, 2/11
- Simmons, Rights Based Justifications for the State
Wed, 2/13
- Plato, Crito
Fri, 2/15
- King, Letter from Birmingham Jail
Extras:
- "A Call for Unity" (the statement by eight white Alabama clergymen that King is responding to)

Week 6 - Chapter 13 - Do we possess Free Will?

Mon, 2/18
- Homework 2 due
- Introduction to Chapter 13
Wed, 2/20
- Strawson, Free Will
Fri, 2/22
- Ayer, Freedom and Necessity
Extras:

Week 7 - Chapter 13 - Do we possess Free Will?

Mon, 2/25
- Chisolm, Human Freedom and the Self
Wed, 2/27
- Frankfurt, Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person
Fri, 3/1
- 9:00 class - review session
- 2:00 class canceled - Joel out of town
Extras:

Week 8 - Do we possess Free Will?

Mon, 3/4
- Homework 3 due
- Wolf, Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility
Wed, 3/6
- No new reading
Fri, 3/8
- In Class Exam 1 - bring a blue book (Study guide)
Extras:

Spring Break - March 9-16

Week 9 - What is Personal Identity

Mon, 3/18
- Introduction to Chapter 11
- Dennett, Where am I?
Wed, 3/20
- Swinburne, The Dualist Theory
Fri, 3/22
- Mitchell-Yellin, Fischer, The Near Death Experience Against Physicalism
Extras:
- Introduction to Chapter 7 (Is Mind Material?)
- Smart, Sensations and Brain Processes (Chapter 7)
- Daniel Dennett's Science of the Soul (New Yorker Magazine)
- van Lommel, Non-Local Consciousness (the paper Mitchell-Yellin and Fischer are responding to)
- Oliver Sacks, Seeing God in the Third Millennium (The Atlantic)

Week 10 - Chapter 8 - What is Consciousness?

Mon, 3/25
- Introduction to Chapter 8, What is Consciousness?
- Nagel, What is it like to be a bat?
Wed, 3/27
- Chalmers, The Hard Problem of Consciousness
Fri, 3/29
- Churchland, The Hornswoggle Problem (this is different than the article in the book)
Extras:

Week 11 - Chapter 1 - Does God Exist?

Mon, 4/1
- Homework 4 due
- Introduction to Chapter 1
- Aquinas, The Five Ways
Wed, 4/3
- Paley, The Argument from Design (from Natural Theology)
Fri, 4/5
- Sober, The Design Argument and Evolution and Creationism
Extras:
- Behe, Molecular Machines
- Behe, Irreducible Complexity: Obstacle to Darwinian Evolution
- Orr, review of Behe's Darwin's Black Box
- Joel's slides on common ancestry
- Joel's second debate with Paul Nelson of the Discovery Institute

Week 12 - Chapter 1 - Does God Exist?

Mon, 4/8
- Antony, No good reason - exploring the problem of evil
Wed, 4/10
- Stump, The problem of evil
Fri, 4/12
- 9:00 class - no new reading
- 2:00 class - no class (tutorials on Thursday)
Extras:

Week 13 - Chapter 2 - Is it reasonable to believe without evidence?

Mon, 4/15
- Homework 5 due
- Introduction to Chapter 2
- Pascal, The Wager (from Pensées)
- Hajek, Pascal's Ultimate Gamble
Wed, 4/17
- Clifford, The Ethics of Belief
Fri, 4/19
- James, The Will to Believe
Extras:

Week 14 - Chapter 2 - Is it reasonable to believe without evidence?

Mon, 4/22
- NO CLASS - University Holiday
Wed, 4/24
- Plantinga, Is Belief in God Properly Basic?
Fri, 4/26
- Buchak, When is Faith Rational?
Extras:

Week 15 - Chapter 17/19 - What is the Meaning of Life?

Mon, 4/29
- Street (from Chapter 17) - Does anything really matter or did we just evolve to think so?
Wed, 5/1
- Chapter 19 Introduction
- Wolf, Meaning in Life and Why it Matters
Fri, 5/3
- Sheffler, Death and the afterlife
- Homework 6 due
Extras:

Week 16 - Final Week

Mon, 5/7
- Review session
- Last day of class
Extras:

Final Exam scheduled Fri, May 10th 7:30-10:00 am

Final (honors) scheduled Fri, May 10th 1:30 - 4:00 pm --

Please bring a blue book: Review sheet for final exam