PHI XXX: Modern Philosophy
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WESTMONT COLLEGE Department of Philosophy
PHI XXX: Modern Philosophy Instructor: YYY Course Description and Guidelines
I. Course Description:
A. Current Westmont College Catalogue course description: “A critical survey of major Western philosophers from Descartes to the present. Includes emphasis on abstract reasoning.”
B. Proposed Westmont College Catalogue course description: “A critical survey of major Western philosophers of the modern period from Descartes through Kant to Thomas Reid. Includes emphasis on abstract reasoning.”
C. Description of the course’s role in the major: This is an upper-level course in philosophy and is one of three courses students can take to satisfy the “History of Philosophy” philosophy major requirement (students need to take two out of three courses offered in this area to satisfy this requirement).
D. The over-arching theme of this course is the philosophy of Descartes and reactions to it in modern European philosophy through the end of the 18th century. Particular sub-themes include, e.g.: Descartes’ “new way of ideas” and reactions to it; the problem of substance in metaphysics; and the dialectic of rationalism, empiricism and skepticism in epistemology.
II. Course Objectives:
A. Relative to the Westmont Philosophy Major:
Here are the Philosophy Department’s official “Student Learning Outcomes”:
Knowledge: Students will be able to explain important philosophical positions, concepts, arguments, and themes.
Skills: Students will be able to construct structurally solid arguments and to critique faulty ones appropriately.
Virtues: Students will both value and acknowledge the limits of rational inquiry. In other words, they will display both the love of wisdom and Socratic humility.
In this course, students will build on their lower-level philosophical training, and continue to acquire the above knowledge, skills and virtues, especially in relation to the history of modern philosophy and the themes and sub-themes described above.
B. Relative to the Reasoning Abstractly GE Requirement:
Students in this course will be able to recognize, construct, and evaluate abstract arguments and explanations, analyze abstract concepts, and solve abstract problems.
PHI-102A? 1 III. Course Guidelines:
A. Class requirements:
B. Grading: Your grade will be based on two 2,000 word essays, a final exam, and a set of frequent, short quizzes on reading assignments. Each of these components will count 25%. You must provide an accurate word count at the end of your essay, and you must keep to the word limit: essays of more than 2,000 words (including quotations and footnotes, but not bibliography) will not be accepted for marking.
C. Essay Submission Procedure: Essays must be typed or word-processed and handed in to me in class, unless otherwise specified. Late essays will lowered by one third of a grade (e.g., from ‘B’ to ‘B-’) for the first day late (i.e., any time after the end of the assigned class period) and an additional third for each additional day (i.e., 24 hour period) late. An explanation of the criteria by which I assess essays will be distributed separately.
D. Cheating: cheating, including plagiarism, will result in an automatic ‘F’ for that assignment and referral to the College authorities.
E. Plagiarism: plagiarism is the presenting of someone else’s work, verbatim or paraphrased, intentionally or unintentionally, as your own. If you have studied for a paper or exam with another student and there is, as a result, the slightest chance that your answers may resemble theirs, you should indicate in your paper or exam that you have done so and identify them by name. (E.g., in a footnote, you might say, “I have discussed some of these ideas with Phyllis Stein.”)
F. Missing Exams: a missed exam will result in failure of that exam, unless prearranged with me.
G. Getting Help: If you want to discuss any aspect of the course, please see me during one of the Office Hours posted on my door, or fix an appointment to meet at another time. If you have any kind of problem that is preventing you from working on this course, speak to me or to your Personal Advisor or to anyone you feel you can approach. For help with writing assignments, the “Writer’s Corner” is a good first stop.
H. Disability: Students who have been diagnosed with a disability (learning, physical or psychological) are strongly encouraged to contact the Disability Services Office as early as possible to discuss appropriate accommodations for this course. Formal accommodations will be granted only for students whose disabilities have been verified by the Disability Services office. These accommodations may be necessary to ensure your full participation and the successful completion of this course. Contact the Director of Disability Services, Sheri Noble (x6159, [email protected]) as soon as possible.
I. Courtesy: All members of the class should treat each other courteously at all times. This includes, among other things not snoozing, texting, facebooking, websurfing, reading newspapers, looking at your smartphone or doing work for other classes during our class period. You may use your laptop in class for taking notes, but do not log on to the internet during class.
IV. Course Texts:
A. S. Cahn, ed., Classics of Western Philosophy, 6th ed. (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2002)
PHI-102A? 2 B. R. Francks, Modern Philosophy: the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003)
C. Occasional other photocopied items, to be supplied by instructor.
V. Sample Daily Syllabus
1. Preliminaries 2. Modernity, Descartes Francks: Preface, chs 1-4 3. Descartes Descartes, Dedication, Preface, Synopisis, Med I 4. Descartes Descartes, Med II 5. Descartes Descartes, Med III 6. Descartes Descartes, Med IV; Francks, chs 5 7. Descartes Descartes, Med V 8. Descartes Descartes, Med VI 9. Catch-up 10. Hobbes Hobbes, Leviathan up through ch XIII (Cahn, 487-503) 11. Hobbes Hobbes, Leviathan, ch XIV – end (Cahn, 503-519) 12. Spinoza Francks, biogr, ch 6 ; 13. Spinoza Spinoza, Ethics Pt I 14. Spinoza Francks, ch 7; Spinoza, Ethics Pt II, up through 31 15. Spinoza Francks, ch 8; Spinoza, Ethics Pt II, 32 – end 16. Leibniz Francks, biogr, ch 9-10 17. Leibniz Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics 18. Leibniz Francks, biogr, ch 11-12; Leibniz: Monadology 19. Catch-up, Paper # 1 Due! 20. Rationalism, Empiricism, Locke Francks, ch 13; Locke, I- II.XII (Cahn, 598-615) 21. Locke Locke, II.XII – III.V (Cahn, 615-640) 22. Locke Francks: ch 14; Locke, III.VI (Cahn, 640-650) 23. Locke Locke, IV (Cahn, 650-658) 24. Locke Francks, ch 15 25. Berkeley Francks, biogr, ch 16 26. Berkeley Francks, ch 17; Berkeley, 1st Dialogue (Cahn, 686-704) 27. Berkeley Francks, ch 18; Berkeley, 2nd Dialogue (Cahn, 704-713) 28. Berkeley Berkeley, 3rd Dialogue (Cahn, 713-731) 29. Hume Francks, biogr, ch 19; Hume, Treatise I-II (Cahn, 801-818) 30. Hume Hume, Treatise II-II (Cahn, 818-829) 31. Hume Francks, ch 20; Hume, Enquiry I-IV.II (Cahn, 734-748) 32. Hume Hume, Enquiry V-VII (Cahn, 749-765) 33. Catch-up, Paper #2 Due! 34. Hume Francks, ch 21; Hume, Enquiry X (Cahn, 777-788) 35. Kant Matson, chapter on Kant (additional) 36. Kant Critique of Pure Reason, preface (Cahn, 876-890) 37. Kant CPR, intro (Cahn, 891-900) 38. Kant CPR, Transcendental Aesthetic (Cahn, 901-914) 39. Reid excerpt from “Essay on the Intellectual Powers” (additional) 40. Reid excerpt from “Essay on the Intellectual Powers” (additional) 41. Catch-up
PHI-102A? 3