PHIL 378 - Contemporary Philosophy- Spring, 2014
Metropolitan State University
First position paper assignment (for students choosing 'Option 1') Due date postponed to March 6.
Resources:
Paper writing guides:
Links to online versions many of the texts we will be reading are imbedded in the class schedule below; others are available only in the class textbooks
Other Texts
Selections from many of the writers we will be studying (and many others besides) can be found in the archive at Marxists.org. This site includes many non-marxist philosophers (e.g., Russell, Carnap, Dewey, James, Heidegger, Foucault) as well as a wide range of texts from marxists and fellow travellers.
If you sign up for "academia.edu", you can access a PDF of the Macquarrie and Robinson traslation of Heidegger's Being and Time here
And here is the entire text of the more recent Stambaugh translation of Heidegger's Being and Time
A guide to Heidegger's Being and Time by John Tietz of Simon Fraser University (PDF)
A guide to Heidegger's Being and Time by Stephen Mulhall of Oxford University (PDF)
A commentary on Division One of Part One of Being and Time by Hebert Dreyfus of the University of California, Berkeley
A brief outline of Being and Time by Prof. G. J. Mattey of the University of California, Irvine
A collection of texts by Habermas
A collection of texts by Foucault
"Panopticism" from Discipline and Punish by Foucault (with pictures)
Jean-Francois Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition (Whole book)
Tentative schedule of Topics, Readings and Writing Assignments
Date |
Topic |
Reading Assignment |
Writinging Assignment |
|
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PR = The Pragmatism Reader |
|
Jan. 16 |
Intro – Logical Atomism and the Picture Theory of Meaning |
In class reading of selections from Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (Text is in The Wittgenstein Reader) |
|
Jan 23 |
Logical Positivism |
Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic, Chapters 1 -4 and last few pages of Chapter 6 (on religious beliefs). PDF, Kindle, etc., available here: Internet Archive |
Response Paper |
Jan 30 |
From Phenomenology to Existentialism |
How to Read Heidegger, Chapters 1-6; brief selection from Being and Time (handout - pdf here) |
Response Paper |
Feb. 6 |
Early 20th century pragmatism |
James, "Pragmatism's Conception of Truth"; Dewey, “The Need for a Recovery of Philosophy and "The Influence of Darwinism on Philosophy"; "A Pragmatic Conception of the A Priori" by C. I. Lewis -- all in PR |
Response Paper |
Feb. 13 |
Early Critical Theory |
Online only: Marx, Preface to “A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy"; Lenin, “The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism”; Lukacs, “Class Consciousness” (just to the end of section 1); Benhabib on Lukacs and Weber; |
Response Paper |
Feb.20 |
No Class -- too much snowAnalytic philosophy after positivism 1: the pragmatic turn |
No Class -- too much snowCarnap, “Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology”; Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”; Davidson, "On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme"; Optional: Goodman, “Words, Works, Worlds” -- all in PR |
No Class -- too much snowResponse Paper Some supplemental readings on Quine, Carnap and Davidson: Schwartz; Baldwin |
Feb. 27 |
Analytic philosophy after positivism 2: Wittgenstein reconsiders |
The Wittgenstein Reader , Chapters 2-6 |
Response Paper; |
March 6 |
More Wittgenstein: Private language and philosophical psychology |
The Wittgenstein Reader, Chapters 7, 9, 14, and 16 (on "Thinking", "Private Language and Private Experience" "Scepticism and Certainty" and "Ethics, Life and Faith") |
Response Paper; 4-6 page position paper due for students who have selected 'Option 1'. Instructions here |
March 13 |
Spring Break – No Class |
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March 20 |
Critical Theory after WWII |
Marcuse,One Dimensional Man, Introduction, Chapter One and Chapter 7. Excerpt from J.L. Austin, "A Plea for Excuses"; Habermas, “Knowledge and Human Interests"; Optional: Ryle, "Ordinary Language"; Habermas, “Technology and Science as Ideology” (Habermas pieces are in CT) |
Response Paper; Topic proposal for term paper due for students who have selected 'Option 2' |
March 27 |
Analytic Feminism |
Marilyn Frye, The Politics of Reality: in order of priority: 1. "Introduction" |
Response Paper |
April 3 |
Foucault 1 |
How To Read Foucault, Chapters 1-5; Foucault, “Nietzsche, Genealogy, History” (Handout) |
Response Paper; 4-6 page position paper due for students who have selected 'Option 1' |
April 10 |
Foucault 2 |
How To Read Foucault, Chapters 6-10; Foucault, “The Subject and Power” (in CT) |
Response Paper |
April 17 |
Postmodernism and the response from Frankfurt |
Lyotard, “The Postmodern Condition” (sections 4, 5, 10, and 14); Habermas, “An Alternative Way Out of the Philosophy of the Subject” and “Modernity an Unfinished Project” -- all in CT |
Response Paper; Rough draft of term paper due for students who have selected 'Option 2 |
April 24 |
Analytic Philosophy after positivism 3: recent philosophy of mind |
Daniel Dennett, "Toward a Cognitive Theory of Consciousness"; David Chalmers, "Consciousness and its Place in Nature" |
Response Paper |
May 1 |
Democracy in a pragmatic light |
Dewey, “Creative Democracy: The Task Before Us”; Rorty, “The Priority of Democracy to Philosophy"; Putnam, “A Reconsideration of Deweyan Democracy” )just section IV and the conclusion); Misak, “Making Disagreement Matter: Pragmatism and Deliberative Democracy” (link requires library log-in); Optional: Hook, “The Democratic Way of Life”-- all in PR |
Response Paper; 4-6 page position paper due for students who have selected 'Option 1'; final draft of term paper due for students who have selected 'Option 2 |