Phil 376 – Early Modern European Philosophy -- Fall Semester, 2017
Metropolitan Sate University
Jonathan Bennett's Early modern texts
The Online Library of Liberty text collection (mostly traditional texts and older translations)
The Marxists Internet Archive Library (includes works by a very wide range of writers, among them Hegel, Nietzsche, Mill, Locke, and Hobbes)
The publisher of our textbook has a companion website with various resources
Timelines: Russell Marcus of Hamilton Collge has a nice one devoted entirely to theearly modern period.
The Philosophy Department at Rochester Institute of Technology has a more compact timline covering a much larger timespan.
Wikipedia has a fairly comprehensive list of philosophers by date but it isn't really a timeline. It does have links to articles about all the philosophers listed.
Paper writing guides:
These assignments are carried over from last year. Check for updates as we go along.
First Paper instructions (Updated for 2017)
Second Paper Instructions (Updated for 2017)
Third Paper Instructions (Updated for 2017)
Tentative schedule of topics and readings. These assignments may change. Check for updates.:
Date |
Topic |
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August 21 |
Introductory Session |
Descartes, Meditations 1 and 2 (in class)
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August 28 |
Descartes’ reboot of the search for knowledge | TGC Ch 13 (Includes the Meditations by Descartes) |
Sept. 4 |
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Sept. 11
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Descartes’ dualism, Elizabeth's criticism, and Hobbes’ materialism
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TGC, Ch. 14 to p. 363, Hobbes, Leviathan,
Intro and Book 1, Chs. 1-6; Princess Elizabeth, correspondence with Descartes
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Sept. 18
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Hobbes and Locke on the Social Contract |
TGC 362-368; Hobbes, Leviathan, Chs. 13-15(pp. 56-74), 17, 18, 21 (pp. 77-85, 96-102); TGC 378-381; Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Chs. 1-5, 7-11
Mills,The Racial Contract(selections). Optional extra readings: Hall, "Race in Hobbes"; Bernasconi and Mann, "Locke, Slavery, and the Two Treatises". |
Sept. 25
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Locke’s theory of knowledge and
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TGC 368-378, 381-391; Locke,Essay Concerning Human Understanding, selections: Book I, Of Innate Notions Book II, Of Ideas Book IV Knowledge and Opinion |
Oct. 2 | Leibniz on God, Evil and the pre-existing harmony of the mental and the physical | 1st paper due
TGC Box on p.436; New! The cartoon version of Leibniz: a selection from Heretics by Steven and Ben Nadler Selections from Leibniz: 2. The first five sections of the Discourse on Metaphysics (pages 1-3 in Bennett's version) and also sections 23 ( starts on page 16 -- in which Leibniz discussed the Ontological Argument, which we encountered in Meditation #5) and sections 30-33 (pages 20-23 -- with a bit more on the problem of evil and Leibniz's account of the relation of soul and body) If you want more background on Leibniz and some help with his puzzling ideas , this Wikipedia article isn't bad. The following sections are especially relevant: # 2.1 The Principles For a lot more on Leibniz's metaphysics there is a good article in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: For a thorough discussion of his treatment of the problem of evil there is this from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: |
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Hume on knowledge and causality
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TGC 393-405; Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,
Chs. 1-7
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Hume on God, soul, and freedom
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TGC 405-414;Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,
Chs. 8-12
Read from the bottom of page 10, column 1, where Cleanthes states the Argument In Part 4, Read Philo's reply to Cleanthes (pp. 21-23) Read the first couple of pages of Part 6 Read Part 9, in which Demea states the Cosmological Argument and Cleanthes replies. Read the last few pages of Part 10 (start with Philo's speech on page 44) and all of Part 11 (on the problem of evil) |
Oct. 23 |
Hume on morality
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TGC 414-420; Hume,Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals,
Sections 1, 2, 3, and 9, plus appendix 1. Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, Book II, Part 3, section 3, "The |
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TGC 422-430; Kant, Critique of Pure Reason through page B73 (the end of the Transcedental Aesthetic –pp. 1-40 in Bennett’s version) |
Nov. 6
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Kant II: on the Categories of judgment and their Transcendental Deduction |
TGC 430-435; Kant, Critique of Pure Reason through page B168 (the end of the Transcendental Deduction –p.41-88 in Bennett’s version Note: links go to the beginning of Bennet's PDF's, there are internal links imbedded in the table of contents that can take you to the beginning of the relevant section |
Nov.
13
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Kant III: the refutation of idealism and the distinction between phenomena and noumena |
TGC 435-437; Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, pp.B266-B315 (section 4 of Chapter 2 and all of Chapter 3 in the Analytic –pp.123-143 in Bennett’s version) 2nd paper due (instructions) |
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Kant IV: The Ideas of Pure Reason: God, Soul, World and Freedom; Kant's moral philosophy; Mills' critique of Kant |
TGC 437-455; Mills, "Kant's Untermenschen".
Optional: The following readings were on our former schedule. Feel free to read some more Kant, if you have time and interest. Kant, Critique of Pure Reason,selections from the Dialectic a. The first section of the introduction called "Transcendental Illusion" (pp. B349-355, pp. 155-157 in Bennett's version ) |
Nov.
27
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From Hegel to Marx
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1. TGC Ch. 17; 2. Hegel, The dialectic of master and slave (just read enough to get the flavor of Hegel's prose style. It won't take long.) 3. Hegel, Philosophy of Right, section 135) This brief selection contains Hegel's famous critique of Kant' moral philosophy; 4. TGC, pp.510-517; 5. Marx, Theses on Feuerbach (very short); 6. Marx, Preface to the Critique of Political Economy; (super short) 7. from The German Ideology (skip section 3 and read just the first bit of section 4 on Social Being and Consciousness. ); 8. Marx,"Ruling Class and Ruling Ideas"; |
Dec. 4 |
Nietzsche
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TGC
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