Philosophy 3370: Metaphysics Spring 2006

§2539 MWF 2:00-2:50; 131 Harrin Hall

Instructor: Ron Novy

Email: rnovy@uca.edu

Telephone: 450-5067

Course page: http://faculty.uca.edu/~rnovy

Office: 112 Harrin Hall

Office Hrs: MWF 11-12, 1-2; TTh 9- 11; by appt.

 

Textbook: Metaphysics (4th ed) by Richard Taylor (in the Prentice Hall Foundations of Philosophy Series); all other articles are available via web download or for reproduction in the department library. See course web page for appropriate links.

 

Course Description: Metaphysics can be thought of as an inquiry into the most basic and general features of existence. Aristotle called this inquiry "first philosophy” – the investigation of the philosophically most fundamental of matters. William James, on the other hand, tells us that metaphysics is “nothing but an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly.”  Taken together, metaphysics is a field of study that attempts to clearly and systematically address a wide-range of philosophical questions whose answers underlie our basic understanding of reality. In this course we will explore a number of such questions of historical and modern interest.

 

Preparation and expectations: Students are expected to attend all class meetings, to be familiar with the day’s assigned reading, and to actively participate in classroom discussions.

 

Grading: Your final grade for this course will be determined as follows: précis & presentation (20%), 12 evaluative essays (40%), and two exams (20% each). Participation & attendance will serve as a grade ceiling for the course (see below).

 

·         Exams: There will be both a mid-term and a non-cumulative final exam in this course. Each exam will include both short answer and essay questions.

 

·         Evaluative Essays: Through the course of the semester, each student is required to submit 12 critical, one-page essays on the assigned material. See notes at the course web page for further information.

 

·         Précis & presentation: Each student is expected to draw up and present a précis of one of the articles. See notes at the course web page for further information.

 

·         Class participation & attendance: Roll will be taken regularly and will act as a ceiling on the student’s grade for the course. Regardless of grades received on the various assignments, a student’s course grade will not exceed the percentage of classes attended.

 

·         No extra credit is available nor are makeup exams given.

 

Important Notes:

 

·         The use of all electronic information devices in the classroom (cell phones, PDAs, headphones, etc.) is prohibited.

 

·         The academic community regards academic dishonesty as an extremely serious matter with serious consequences that range from a failing grade to expulsion from the University. When in doubt regarding plagiarism, quotation, collaboration, etc. consult with the instructor. For further information regarding UCA’s academic misconduct policy, see the UCA Student Handbook.

 

·         Sexual harassment by any faculty member, staff member, or student is a violation of both federal law and university policy and will not be tolerated at UCA. For further information regarding the university’s sexual harassment policy, see the UCA Student Handbook.

 

·         The University of Central Arkansas adheres to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you need an accommodation under this act, contact the Office of Disability Support Services at 450-3135.

 

Course Schedule

Monday                                                  Wednesday                                            Friday

1/9

 

1/11

 

1/13 Introductory Bits

Plutarch: The Ship of Theseus

 

1/16

King  Holiday – No Classes

 

1/18

Taylor 12

Borges: The Library of Babel

1/20

Taylor 1

Aristotle: Metaphysics

1/23

Beauvoir: “Introduction” to The Second Sex

1/25 Minds & Bodies

Taylor 2, 3

1/27

Plato: Phaedo

 

1/30

Aristotle: De Anima

 

2/1

Descartes: Second Meditation

Bisson: They’re Made out of Meat

2/3

Taylor 4

Borges: Borges and I

2/6

Locke: Of Identity & Diversity

2/8

Nagel: What is it like to be a bat?

2/10

Dennett: Where am I?

 

2/13

 Putnam: Brains in a Vat

2/15 Mysterious Minds

Frana: The Artificial Other

Guest Speaker: Dr. Phil Frana of UCA Honors College

2/17

Moody: Conversations w/ Zombies

Dennett: Did HAL Commit Murder?

2/20

Lanier: You Can’t Argue with a Zombie

 

2/22

 Hauser: Why isn’t my Pocket Calculator a Thinking Thing?

Leiber: Space-Time for Springers

2/24

Haraway: A Cyborg Manifesto

Kunzru: You are Cyborg

Clynes: Cyborgs in Space

2/27

EXAM #1

3/1 Determinism & Fate

Taylor 5.6

3/3

Aristotle: On Fatalism

Aquinas: On Voluntary Action

3/6

Dennett: I could not have done otherwise, so what?

3/8 Causation
Taylor 10

3/10 God Stuff

Taylor 11

3/13
Anselm: Ontological Argument

Gaunilo: In Behalf of the Fool

3/15

Rowe: Cosmological Argument

3/17

Paley: Teleological Argument

Sober:  Creationism

3/20-3/24                           Spring Holiday – No Classes

3/27 Time Flies

Taylor 7,8

3/29 Paradoxes of Time

Parmenides: On Nature

Black: Achilles and the Tortoise

3/31

What is time?

Augustine, Newton, Aristotle

4/3

Taylor: 9

4/5

McTaggart: Time is Not Real

 

4/7

Williams: The Myth of Passage

4/10

Lewis: Paradoxes of Time Travel

4/12

Heinlein: All You Zombies!

 

4/14 Fiction & Laughter

Emerson: The Comic

 

4/17

Knox: Towards a Philosophy of Humor

Stevens: Anecdote of the Jar

4/19

Lec. Is There Truth in Fiction?

Foucault: The Order of Things

4/21

Park: The Function of Fiction

 

4/24

Assy: Eichmann, Banality of Evil & Thinking Arendt’s Thought

Eichmann: Wannsee Protocol

4/26 And So it Goes

Taylor 13

Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus

4/28

Reading Day – No Classes

 

5/5  10:00-12:00 EXAM #2