PHIL. 11: MODERN & CONTEMPORARY PROFESSOR RANDY FIRESTONE: Spring 2014

Professor’s email: [email protected] Professor’s Office: Soc. Science 114 Phone: 310-660-3593x3762 Professor’s Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 12:45-1:45pm; Tuesday and Wednesday 9:00-9:30am; Tuesday: 3:30-5:30pm Required Text: Classics of Philosophy: Volume II, Modern & Contemporary Philosophy by Louis Pojman

This course is a survey of the development of modern and contemporary philosophical from the Renaissance to the 21st century. Topics include secular , the rise of modern science, , , , , logical , , and .

Course Objectives: 1. Identify and evaluate the roles of humanism, the Protestant Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution as precursors of modern thought. 2. Identify and evaluate the role of 16th and 17th century methods of science in the development of philosophical method. 3. Compare and contrast the ideas of such as Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz. 4. Compare and contrast the empirical and materialistic of Bacon, Hobbes, Newton, and Locke. 5. Compare and differentiate those ideas of Berkeley's philosophy and Hume's skepticism that paved the way for irrationalism and romanticism. 6. Identify and analyze the ideas of the German philosophers who dominated 19th century philosophic thought in Germany. 7. Identify and assess the thought of the British Utilitarians such as Bentham and Mill. 8. Explain and analyze how the increasingly secular and materialistic beliefs of the Enlightenment influenced the thought of the central British thinkers of the nineteenth century. 9. Identify and explain irrationalistic existentialism, 20th century non-metaphysical positivism, , and Neo-Realism. 10. Analyze the ideas of the pragmatists, William James and John Dewey including the social, educational, and revolutionary implications of their philosophies. 11. Assess the nature of as set forth by the various philosophers from the 15th to the 21st centuries.

ADA Statement: El Camino College is committed to providing educational accommodations for students with disabilities upon the timely request by the student to the instructor. A student with a disability, who would like to request an academic accommodation, is responsible for identifying herself/himself to the instructor and to the Special Resources Center. To make arrangements for academic accommodations, contact the Special Resources Center.

MODERN & CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY SYLLABUS, CONTINUED

Student Learning Outcomes: 1. Students will be able to demonstrate of the major Modern and Contemporary philosophers, and how each builds on the ideas of the philosophers who came before them. 2. Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding about how departs from earlier , with particular attention to the willingness to question past religious and other beliefs which were largely unquestioned in Medieval times. 3. Students will be able to describe how modern and contemporary philosophers such as Hume, Nietzsche, and Sartre, present new issues that philosophy had not faced before, such as if there is no God then what is the meaning of life and what can be the basis of .

Grading: 1st Exam: 30% 2nd Exam: 30% Final Exam: 30% Attendance, Homework Participation, & Presentation: 10% Total: 100%

Homework: You are to turn in a one page summary for each assigned reading. If handwritten, it must be equivalent to a typewritten page. Late homework will not be accepted unless you missed that class. Homework is part of your grade, and often will be the between getting a higher or lower grade.

Attendance & Participation: Attendance and participation count. Like the homework, it is part of your grade. Unless the professor makes an exception for you, if you miss more than 6 classes, you will either be dropped with a “W” in the class, or if it is too late to drop you, then you will probably receive no credit for participation, which will drop you one full grade.

Tardiness: Please be on time. Tardiness will be counted against you, as will leaving early. If you are late, you must see me after class to receive credit.

Exams: Please bring a Scantron form 882ES to each exam with a #2 pencil. If you miss an exam, contact me immediately to schedule a make-up exam. You usually will be penalized 2/3 of a grade. For example, an “A” would be reduced to a “B+”. Since the tests are part of the class requirements, if you do not take one of the exams, you will probably receive either a “F” or a “W” in the class.

Class Presentation: During the last week of class, you will make a class presentation where you will inform the class what you have learned and how you have changed or are changing your ideas, beliefs, and/or actions as a result of this course. Don’t worry. You’ll have a good time. This is a celebration of our journey, and we will clap for each other.

This class should be meaningful, stimulating, exciting and fun, and I look forward to sharing the with you.

READINGS FOR PHILOSOPHY 11: MODERN & CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY Spring 2014: PROFESSOR RANDY FIRESTONE BOOK: CLASSICS OF PHILOS:VOLUME II: MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY BY POJMAN DATE PHILOSOPHER & TOPIC PAGES, Sections, Paragraphs

JAN 21 INTRO JAN 23 HOBBES: 491-492, 500, Ch 13 p. 506-510, 515-517 Ch.17, 520, 525 JAN 28 DESCARTES: ; Ontol. Argument 465-477; Questionnaire JAN 30 SPINOZA: A Different God Part 1: Props XI, XV, XVIII, XXXIII; Appendix p.549-552; P. 566, Prop. XLVIII,

p. 570 Prop XVII FEB 4 LEIBNIZ & HUME: The Argument 609-613; 755-759 Part X from Evil: Perfect or Flawed World? FEB 6 LOCKE: Empiricism; Book I, ch 1, #3,4;ch 2, #1-5, 9; Primary & Secondary Qualities Book II, ch, 1, #2-6, Ch.2, #2;Ch. 6, #2;Ch. 8, #9-24; Ch. 9, #5, 14; Book IV, ch.2, #1-2,ch.3, #2,6;ch.ll, #1 HUME: Problem of Induction; Limits of FEB 11 679-686; 726-728 Part III Human Knowledge HUMEFEB & 13 PA PALEY & HUME:Teleological Argument 667-669, 735-739 (part II), 743-746 Part V

FEB 18 KANT: : C. I., Moral Worth 825-828,836-837,839-841 FEB 20 KANT: ’s limits & 788, 794, 799, 804-809, 814-819 FEB 25 TEST #1 FEB 27 HEGEL: Spirit; Struggle; Progress; History 857-863 MAR 4 SCHOPENHAUER: The Will 864-888 MAR 6 MILL: ; Liberty 917-919,945-949 MAR 11 MILL: Women's Rights 981-994 MAR 13 MARX: Communism v Capitalism 995-999, 1009-1013

MAR 18, 20 SPRING BREAK MAR 25 KIERKEGAARD: Faith & Subjective 901-912 MAR 27 NIETZSCHE: Perspectivism & 1014-1024 APR 1 NIETZSCHE: Reason’s Place 1024-1034 APR 3 NIETZSCHE: Attack on Christianity 1034-1044 APR 8 TEST #2 APR 10 HUSSERL: Phenomenology 1165-1179 APR 15 SARTRE: Existentialism 1201-1202; 1213-1217 APR 17 SARTRE: Bad Faith 1202-1213 APR 22 JAMES: Epist., Truth, & Pragmaticism 1070-1084 APR 24 AYERS: 1218-1225 APR 29 WITTGENSTEIN: Language 1147-1148, 1156-1164 MAY 1 RAWLS: Societal & Social Contract HANDOUT MAY 6 RUSSELL: Knowledge limits; Philo’s value 1128-1138 MAY 8 CLASS PRESENTATIONS MAY 13 CLASS PRESENTATIONS MAY 15 FINAL EXAM