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Course Information PHIL 0990T: Paradox and Infinity Josh Schechter Thursday 4:00–6:20 PM Spring 2014 Course Information Instructor Joshua Schechter Office: Corliss-Bracket, 45 Prospect St, Room 307 Office Hours: Tuesdays 2-4 (and by appointment) Email: [email protected] Phone: 863-3225 (office) Course Description This course will focus on several important paradoxes that arise in philosophy and mathematics. We will use these paradoxes to investigate central issues in metaphysics, the philosophy of language, decision theory, physics, mathematics, and logic. Among the paradoxes we will discuss are the following: Zeno's paradoxes of space, time, and motion; the paradoxes of set theory; the paradoxes of truth and reference; the sorites paradox; paradoxes of rational action and rational belief. This course will primarily operate as a seminar. Given the technical nature of some of the material, however, I will lecture for some portion of each week. There is no formal prerequisite for this course. It will not presuppose any particular background knowledge of philosophy or mathematics, but some background in either one would be helpful. Course Requirements Students will be required to complete the following work: 1. One 15-20 minute in-class presentation sometime during the term on a paradox we are studying. 2. A 15-20 page paper due near the end of the term focusing on one of the paradoxes we have studied. 3. A 6-8 page progress report due near the middle of the term. This will provide a draft of a chunk of the student’s final paper. 4. Each week, students will be required to turn in written work. Most weeks, this will be a page or two that describes an issue in the reading for that week that they found particularly interesting or stimulating. For some weeks, I will assign set problems. Required Texts The following texts are available at the bookstore: • R.M. Sainsbury, Paradoxes , 3 rd edition; • Rudy Rucker, Infinity and the Mind ; • A. W. Moore, The Infinite (optional). Additional readings will be distributed in class or made available on OCRA. PHIL 0990T: Paradox and Infinity Josh Schechter Thursday 4:00–6:20 PM Spring 2014 Schedule of Topics Note: We will have one class during reading period. January 23rd Introduction • Optional: W.V. Quine, “The Ways of Paradox” January 30 th Zeno’s Paradoxes • Sainsbury, chapter 1 • Frank Arnztenius, “Are There Really Instantaneous Velocities?” • James Thomson, “Tasks and Supertasks” • Optional: Paul Benacerraf, “Tasks, Supertasks, and the Modern Eleatics” • Highly Optional: Josh Parsons, “The Eleatic Hangover Cure” • Highly Optional: Graham Priest, “On a Version of One of Zeno” • Highly Optional: Stephen Yablo, “A Reply to New Zeno” February 6 th Infinity I • Rucker, chapter 1 Note: The final three sections (starting with “Infinities in the Mindscape”) are optional. • Optional: Moore, chapters 1-3 February 13 th Infinity II • Rucker, chapter 2 • Optional: Moore, chapters 4-6 February 20 th Paradoxes of Set Theory • Sainsbury, section 6.1 • George Boolos, “The Iterative Conception of Set” • Handout on “The Paradoxes of Set Theory” • Optional: Moore, chapter 8 • Optional: Rucker, chapter 5 • Optional: Joseph Shoenfield, “Axioms of Set Theory” February 27 th The Paradoxes of Truth and Reference I Note: This class will end early. • Sainsbury, sections 6.2–6.9 • Alfred Tarski, “The Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundations of Semantics” • Stephen Yablo, “Paradox without Self-Reference” • Optional: Graham Priest, “Yablo’s Paradox” • Optional: Roy Sorensen, “Yablo’s Paradox and Kindred Infinite Liars” March 6th The Paradoxes of Truth and Reference II • Sainsbury, sections 6.2–6.9 • Saul Kripke, “Outline of a Theory of Truth” March 13 st Vagueness I • Sainsbury, chapter 3 • Timothy Williamson, Vagueness , chapters 4 and 5 March 20 th Vagueness II • Sainsbury, chapter 3 • Timothy Williamson, Vagueness , chapters 7–8 • Gareth Evans, “Can There Be Vague Objects?” • David Lewis, “Vague Identity: Evans Misunderstood” • Optional: Timothy Williamson, chapter 9 • Highly optional: J. Robbert Williams, “Ontic Vagueness and Metaphysical Indeterminacy” • Highly Optional: Elizabeth Barnes, “Ontic Vagueness: A Guide for the Perpelexed” March 27 th NO CLASS – Spring Break April 3rd Paradoxes of Rational Action • Sainsbury, chapter 4 • David Lewis, “Causal Decision Theory” • David Lewis, “Prisoner’s Dilemma is a Newcomb Problem” • Optional: Andy Egan, “Some Counterexamples to Causal Decision Theory” April 10 th Paradoxes of Confirmation • Sainsbury, chapter 5.1 • Carl Hempel, Studies in the Logic of Confirmation , pp. 1–26 • Nelson Goodman, “The New Riddle of Induction” • W.V. Quine, “Natural Kinds” • Optional: Branden Fitelson, “The Paradox of Confirmation” April 17 th NO CLASS – Instructor Away April 24 th Epistemic Paradoxes • Sainsbury, chapter 5.2–5.4 • David Kaplan and Richard Montague, “A Paradox Regained” • Adam Elga, "Self-Locating Belief and the Sleeping Beauty Problem" • David Lewis, “Sleeping Beauty: Reply to Elga” • Optional: Crispin Wright and Aidan Sudbury, “The Paradox of the Unexpected Examination” May 1st Epistemic Paradoxes II • Lewis Carroll, “What Achilles Said to the Tortoise” • Henry Kyburg, “Conjunctivitis” • David Makinson, “The Paradox of the Preface" • Optional: David Christensen, Putting Logic In Its Place, chapter 3 Additional paradoxes that we may discuss include • The Berry Paradox • The St. Petersburg Paradox • The Two Envelope Paradox • The Anti-Expertise Paradox • The Grandfather Paradox The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a helpful resource: http://plato.stanford.edu It contains articles on the following topics (among many others): • “Zeno's Paradoxes” • “Supertasks” • “Russell’s Paradox” • “Liar Paradox” • “Curry’s Paradox” • “Vagueness” • “Sorites Paradox” • “Prisoner’s Dilemma” • “Causal Decision Theory” • “The Problem of Induction” • “Epistemic Paradoxes” .
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