Phil 100

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Department of Philosophy: 2013

 

Phil 100: Mind, Knowledge and Reality

 

Course Outline for 2013, Semester 1: Web Information Sheet #1

 

 

Times:   LecturesSemester 1: Mondays 1-2 pm and Thursdays 3-4 pm.

  Tutorials: You are required to enrol in one tutorial per week (from week 2); there are several from which to choose (see information when you enrol at Student Services Online).

 

Lecturers: Robert Nola (Course Convenor):  r.nola@auckland.ac.nz

Denis Robinson: dj.robinson@auckland.ac.nz

 

Texts and use of CECIL:

Coursebooks will be made available through the bookstore UBS (there will be a charge for these). There are no prescribed texts. When a PowerPoint is used in class it will be made available on CECIL. Additional material will be posted in CECIL; you will be notified of this. 

 

Course Content:

 

Section A: Robert Nola's part of Phil 100 (half the course). Lecture Outline. 

 

1.    What contribution did the Ancient Greek philosophers, Socrates and Plato, make to philosophy?We will consider two dialogues by Plato, Laches and Euthyphro, which feature Socrates. The first discusses the nature of courage and the second argues that God’s commands have nothing to do with morality. But the main point of the dialogues is to tell us something about the nature of philosophical method and how we ought to answer Socratic ‘what is X?’ questions.

2.    The nature of knowledge.

What is knowledge? How does knowledge differ from belief? What are the sources of knowledge? Ought we to hold beliefs not founded on evidence? What ought to happen when what we believe is shown to be wrong? What are the answers to these questions?

3.    Metaphysics.

This attempts to tell us something about reality in general. We will discuss some paradoxes raised by St Augustine concerning the nature of time, the flux of time and the status of the present, the past and the future. St Augustine argues that only the present exists! Is he right? Or is this too weird, and if so what are the arguments against his position>

4.    Rationality and Knowledge.

Pascal famously argues that we have no rational grounds for believing in God but it is in our best interest to do so. Is he right? In arguing this he laid the foundations of modern decision theory. We will apply this to the case of what we believe where our beliefs go well beyond the evidence we have. Should we believe only on the basis of evidence or can we still rationally believe something where the evidence goes well beyond what we believe ?

 

 

Section B: Denis Robinson’s part of Phil 100 (half the course) Lecture Outline.

 

1.    The Problem of Personal Identity over Time

Certain distinctively philosophical questions arise about people due to the fact that they persist over time, and also change over time. (Such problems arise about other things too, but persons present an especially complex and interesting case.) What does it take to be the same person, despite changes over time? What events destroy a person? Many people believe in the possibility of survival after death of the body. How can a disembodied person in another realm be identical with an earlier existing, physically embodied person? Persons are special in having mental lives. Can a person survive radical change, or destruction, of their mental life? We examine some debates around these questions.

2.    A look at some arguments from Descartes’ Meditations I and II.

This brief look at Descartes will complement Robert Nola’s material on knowledge and give us another taste of the history of Philosophy, looking at how a historically influential figure approached the topic of knowledge. This will lead us into the topic of the relation between mental and physical categories, as well as introducing us to some basic metaphysical concepts we will be looking at further in what follows, such as the concepts of substance, attribute, essence, identity, and causation.

3.    The Problem of the Mental and the Physical

Many philosophical problems arise in trying to describe and explain our mental processes, experiences, and capacities. We will discuss a few of them, specially the central and ancient problem of how the mental relates to the physical. Are mental and physical quite distinct? Or partly distinct? Or are we also only composed of the same kinds of physical ingredients as those which comprise the physical universe generally? How is it that our mental life governs the actions of a physical body? We make some basic clarifications of these issues, and explore some of the diverse opinions about it which philosophers have defended, and some of the philosophically interesting arguments for, and objections against, these opinions. 

 

Expected outcomes for the course

(a) Skills and abilities

Students should aim to acquire some basic philosophical understanding, skills and abilities.

Ideally these will include most of the following:

·     understanding the ideas of argumentation and of deductive validity;

·     grasping the structure of some basic philosophical arguments;

·     having a basic understanding of the dialectical processes of challenge, counter example, reply and theory-modification;

·     seeing that well-known philosophical debates develop a natural structure which acquires a history of cumulative, continuing exploration;

·     grasping differences between: (a) evidential versus constitutive or definitional criteria; (b) rhetorical versus logical considerations; (c) the difference between attacking a viewpoint and attacking a person;

·     being able to express yourself philosophically, both in speech and in writing, in clear, concise and precise language;

·     being able to engage in reasoning and debate about abstract topics.

·     being able to grasp some of the distinctive methods of philosophy.

·     developing the critical attitude in evaluating beliefs.

 

(b) Knowledge of philosophical content

Students should aim to acquire an elementary knowledge of some of the most basic viewpoints and debates about the philosophical topics mentioned above, and to be acquainted with the philosophical doctrines discussed. More detail will be given about this when the course commences.

 

Attendance:

Students will be required to attend lectures and a one hour tutorial each week. Students can assign themselves a tutorial at the time they enrol. 

 

Coursework:

There are two coursework requirements.

(1)   Students will be required to complete one essay (worth a maximum of 20%).

(2)   In each tutorial, students will be required to do a writing assignment of about 15-20 minutes duration based on assigned readings. There will be 11 tutorials and a minimum of 7 writing exercises will be required to be completed over the 11 tutorial sessions. Completing these assignments is worth a maximum of 20%. The remainder of the tutorial time will be devoted to discussion based on prescribed reading.

The maximum total coursework mark is therefore 40%.

More details about coursework will be announced in class, such as the nature of the essay and the topic, the writing assignment topics and the readings, etc. 

Examination:

This will be of two hours duration with students being required to answer three questions, at least one question from each of the two sections A and B of the course as listed above. 

Final Grade:

For those students who complete all the coursework and sit the exam, the final grade is whichever is the higher of (i) the exam mark, if it is greater than the coursework mark, or (ii) if the exam mark is less than the coursework mark, then the final grade is 60% (exam mark) + 40% (coursework mark). This is known as 'plussage' or ‘maximizing’. Plussage will not apply where the coursework has not been completed. Fuller details of plussage and what happens when plussage does not apply will be announced at the commencement of class.