NEW YORK CITY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Course Code: PHIL 2105 Course Title: MODERN PHILOSOPHY Class hours/credits: 3 class hours, 3 credits Prerequisite: ENG 1101 or ENG 1101CO or ENG 1101ML

COURSE DESCRIPTION: The history of modern philosophy from the seventh century to this century; rationalism, empiricism, idealism, pragmatism and more recent movements; and includ- ing figures such as Descartes, Locke, Hegel, and Dewey.

RECOMMENDED/TYPICAL/REQUIRED TEXTBOOK (S) and/or MATERIALS* Kaufmann, Walter (late) and Forrest E. Baird. Philosophic Classics. Vol III. Modern Philosophy; Vol. IV Contemporary Philosophy. NJ: Prentice Hall 1999.

COURSE INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES/ASSESSMENT METHODS LEARNING OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT METHODS* 1. Explain the ideas of the late medieval thinkers 1.Oral discussion, exams, papers. on the state, its powers, its relation to the church, etc. as found in such philosophers as Marsilius, Machiavelli, etc. 2. Describe the shift in world view from the mid- 2.Quizzes, oral discussion, exams, papers. dle ages to the modern world, including such ideas as the decline of magic and hermeticism, replacement of alchemy by chemistry, break- down of geocentric view of the universe, mi- crocosm-macrocosm analogy and related cor- respondences, etc. 3. Explain Hobbes’s philosophy in relation to de- 3.Oral discussion, exams, papers velopments in politics and philosophy and nat- ural science, and the alleged close connection between the two. 4. Discuss Hume`s analyses of the problems of 4.Quizzes, oral discussion, exams, papers. scientific knowledge, induction, causation and explain the dilemma he left Kant. GENERAL EDUCATION LEARNING OUTCOMES/ASSESSMENT METHODS LEARNING OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT METHODS* 1. KNOWLEDGE: 1. Quizzes, oral discussion, exams, papers. Develop knowledge from a range of disciplinary perspectives, and develop the ability to deepen and continue learning. 2. SKILLS: 2.Oral discussion, exams, papers Acquire and use the tools needed for communica- tion, inquiry, analysis, and productive work. 3. INTEGRATION: 3. Oral discussion, group work, and papers. Work productively within and across disciplines. 4. VALUES, ETHICS, AND RELATIONSHIPS: 4. Oral discussion, group work, and papers. Understand and apply values, ethics, and diverse perspectives in personal, civic, and cultural/global domains.

SCOPE OF ASSIGNMENTS and other course requirements A selection of the following assignments should be utilized*: 1. Study questions 2. Short answer essays 3. Exam review preparation 4. Group projects 5. Quizzes * may vary slightly per instructor to suit their own needs

METHOD OF GRADING – elements and weight of factors determining the students’ grade This is an example of grade breakdown*: 1. Assignments – 20% 2. Mid-term Exam – 25% 3. Final Exam – 30 % 4. Quizzes – 10% 5. Group project – 15% * may vary slightly per instructor to suit their own needs

ATTENDANCE POLICY It is the conviction of the Department of Social Science that a student who is not in a class for any reason is not receiving the benefit of the education being provided. Missed class time in- cludes not just absences but also latenesses, early departures, and time outside the classroom tak- en by students during class meeting periods. Missed time impacts any portion of the final grade overtly allocated to participation and/or any grades awarded for activities that relate to presence in class. Instructors may including a reasonable “Participation” grade into their final grade calculations for this course.

STUDENT ACCESSIBILITY City Tech is committed to supporting the educational goals of enrolled students with disabilities in the areas of enrollment, academic advisement, tutoring, assistive technologies, and testing ac- commodations. If you have or think you may have a disability, you may be eligible for reason- able accommodations or academic adjustments as provided under applicable federal, state, and/ or city laws. You may also request services for temporary conditions or medical issues under cer- tain circumstances. If you have questions about your eligibility and/or would like to seek ac- commodation services and/or academic adjustments, please email the Student Accessibility Cen- ter.

COMMITMENT TO STUDENT DIVERSITY The Department of Social Science complies with the college wide nondiscrimination policy and seek to foster a safe and inclusive learning environment that celebrates diversity in its many forms and enhances our students’ ability to be informed, global citizens. Through our example, we demonstrate an appreciation of the rich diversity of world cultures and the unique forms of expression that make us human.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY STATEMENT Students and all others who work with information, ideas, texts, images, music, inventions, and other intellectual property owe their audience and sources accuracy and honesty in using, credit- ing, and citing sources. As a community of intellectual and professional workers, the College recognizes its responsibility for providing instruction in information literacy and academic in- tegrity, offering models of good practice, and responding vigilantly and appropriately to infrac- tions of academic integrity. Accordingly, academic dishonesty is prohibited in The City Universi- ty of New York and at New York City College of Technology and is punishable by penalties, in- cluding failing grades, suspension, and expulsion. The complete text of the College policy on Academic Integrity may be found in the catalog.

14 WEEK OUTLINE MODERN PHILOSOPHY

WEEK ONE: The Renaissance

- Preliminary discussion of definition of philosophy - Humanism - Teleological picture of the world inherited from Medieval period - Concept of the chain of being and man’s place init - The Christian world picture (and antique elements in it) - Four natural substances; correspondences - Magic and Hermeticism and their link to rise of science - Problem of the immortality of the soul - Rise of Platonism and continuation of the Aristotelian and scholastic traditions - Textual criticism and its importance - New geographic discoveries - Ethical relativism - Rise of the nation state - Birth of capitalism - Devotion moderna; Erasmus and Christian Humanism - Political ideas and ideals; More

WEEK TWO: The Reformation

- State of the Church in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance - Donation of Constantine and the exposure its of forgery - Humanist rediscovery of manuscripts and effects of textual criticism - Dante/Occam/Marsilius of Padua/early ideas on relations of state and church - Machiavelli - Great Schism and the rise of the Conciliar Movement - Indulgences/annates and other abuses of the Church - Church position in the new nation states - Church in Germany - Martin Luther: Career and Ideas - Views on Indulgences; early career - Protests; Protestantism; Attack on Papacy - Faith alone saves; on free will; on reason - On “clergy” and marriage; translates Bible into German - Influence of Luther around Europe - Luther’s defenders; Erasmus’ quandary - Religious Wars and their traumatic effects - Exhaustion of Europe - Rise of a secular ethic as the most durable effect (philosophically) of the Reformation and its aftermath

WEEK THREE: Rise of Science

- Scientific method: its two major components: empirical spirit and use of mathematics - New science of mathematical physics and its intellectual prestige - Late medieval contributions; rise of science - Leonardo/Gilbert/Harvey - Bacon and the Four Idols/ problem of method/ fear of Speculation/lawyer’s mind at work - What is enduring and what was discarded in Baconianism - Medieval elements in Bacon’s thought - Copernicus/Kepler and the three laws of motion - Medieval roots of Galilean science - The New Cosmology - Galileo: career and use of mathematics; use of experiments - New attitude the universe - Assumptions of the new physics - Contribution of technology - Primary and secondary qualities - Problem of subjectivity; the “mind” - From closed universe to infinite space - Pascal’s reaction/ was it typical?/ Was it rhetorical?

WEEK FOUR: Descartes

- Descartes: life, career, influence - Metaphysical foundations of modern science his quest - Search for a method - The method of systematic or methodic doubt: its assumptions - The world picture of Descartes - problem of skepticism as a background for Descartes - The nature of substance; two meanings of “substance” - God, and the proof of his existence - Concept of essence and properties - Discovery of the nature of mind; what Descartes thought mind was; objections to this conception - Epistemological separation of the mind from the body - The problem of knowledge thus created - Types of ideas; meanings of “ideas”; the career of the problem of “ideas” in subse- quent philosophy and their “location” - Mathematical nature and deduction as proof - The mind-body problem and Descartes solution - The legacy of Cartesianism

EXAM ONE

WEEK FIVE: Hobbes

- Hobbes’ life and career; importance of his ideas - Corpuscular reality and man as machine - The physical foundations of human nature - Hedonism and the nature of man; restlessness - Compatibilist view of the free will problem - Insecurity; desire and aversion; emotions; reason as calculation - Man in the state of nature - Three sources of insecurity in the state of nature - The right of nature and the laws of nature - The equivocal status of reason in Hobbes’ reasoning - The social contract and the power of the state - Position of the ruler and the revolutionary - Source of obligations to obey promises and contracts - Inconsistencies in Hobbes’ thinking - Hobbes and modern psychology - Hobbes and modern international relations - Hobbes and the computer - Enduring aspects of Hobbes’ model of Humankind

WEEK SIX: John Locke

- Life and career of Locke: teacher/doctor/advisor/government offical/revolutionary/edu- cational theorist philosopher/model Enlightenment man to the Eighteenth century - Locke on the revolutionary, republican tradition - Locke and the problems of epistemology - Locke’s project and its moral dimension/Newtonianism - Locke’s assumptions atomism in ideas but not in people - Simple and complex ideas/against innate ideas - The varied meanings of idea - Locke on perception/Locke on language - Modes/substances/and relations - Primary and secondary qualities/powers - Knowledge and probability - God, and the design argument to proves God’s existence - Power and free will/voluntary and intention - Filmer and divine right of kings - Man’s social nature; man as the workmanship of God - Distinguishing legitimate from illegitimate governments - State of nature and the natural condition of mankind - The natural law tradition and how Locke draws on it - Natural human (political) equality; natural rights - Inconveniences of the state of nature/Locke not a “hidden” Hobbist - Locke’s theory of property and its influence on Socialism misconceptions about Locke’s theory of property in current studies. - The social contracts and the concepts of trust - Locke’s limited government and its equivocal elements - Weaknesses in Locke’s thought, and its enduring legacy WEEK SEVEN: Hume

- Hume and the problem of scientific knowledge - The world of “ideas” and the realm of certain knowledge - The theory of perception - Two types of truth - The riddle of induction - Causation and custom - Experience and certainty - The laws of science and the sources of knowledge - Hume’s unresolved enigma the problems left for Kant - Hume’s conservative, empirical character - Hume on religion - Hume’s attack on the design argument and how it could be strengthened even further in our century - Hume’s attack on miracles: heir to a tradition - Natural theology and the origin of religious ideas - Utility and moral feelings and sentiments - Hume on justice and the origin of moral notions - Hume’s criticisms of the contract theory - Hume’s great twentieth-century influence

- EXAM TWO

WEEK EIGHT: Kant: Solving Hume’s problems

- Hume’s problem and the birth of the critical philosophy - A thing and its properties - Nature of observation - Identity of objects - Laws of science - Kant’s attack on Hume’s sense-perception (impression) as basis of knowledge - Conditions of sense-impressions - Two types of judgment: analytic and synthetic - The a priori and a posteriori judgments - God’s existence, freedom of the will, immortality of the soul: the problem of synthetic a priori judgments - Transcendental Aesthetic: space and time - Forms of intuition - Things-in-themselves and intuited things - Space has empirical reality and transcendental ideality - Transcendental Analytic (brief summary!!) - Unity of consciousness and knowledge of objects - Dependance of objective judgments of pure apperception

WEEK NINE: Kant: Metaphysics and Ethics

- Schematism - Axioms of intuition/anticipations of perception/analogies of experience/postulates of empirical thought - The paralogism of pure reason - Antinomies of pure reason - Summary of Kantian view of the operation of the mind Kant’s ethics - Search for objectivity and necessity - Types of imperatives - The categorical imperative - Maxims, moral rules, and descriptions of actions - Motives and judgments of morality - The ideal of duty and problems of a Kantian position - Hume’s anticipatory criticisms of a Kantian position - The unknowable ethical person - Kant’s legacy to philosophy

WEEK TEN: Hegel and Marx

- Hegel’s process philosophy - Spirit and dialectic - Origins of the notion of spirit in German thought - Function of the state and its relation to private like in Hegel’s thought - Hegel’s rejection of contract theories of family and the state - State not justifiable in terms of self-interest - Hegel’s defense of private property - Phenomenology and the liberation of mankind from religion - Interpretations of Hegel in Germany - Hegel’s later conservatism - Hegel’s influence on Marx: -Alienation theme -Opposition to social atomism -Rejection of abstract ethical idealism -Dialectic -Emphasis on process and history as a key to understanding human culture - Left Hegelians and the attack on Geist - Marx’s theory of historical materialism and ideology - The analysis of capitalism and alienation - Communist society and mode of production - Critique of Marxism WEEK ELEVEN: Major Nineteenth-Century Philosophers

1.Comte - Comte and positivism, a neglected thinker - Comte’s relation to modern sociology - The three stages of human evolution - Comte and Saint-Simon - Comte’s hierarchic classification of the sciences - From Aristotle to St. Paul (Comte’s career): the High Priest of Humanity - Order and Progress - History of mentality as history of religion - Idea of progress in nineteenth-century thought - Crises - Women and the proletariat - Comparisons to Hegel and Marx - Utopian socialism and its legacy

2.Utilitarianism: Bentham and Mill - Social/political context of utilitarian thought - Mill’s modifications of Bentham’s thought - Problems with the utilitarian standard as a solution to social/moral problems - Mill on induction in logic

3.Nietzsche 4.-The Metaphysics of the artist in the Birth of Tragedy 5.-Appollonian vs. Dionysian - the genealogy of morals - Nihilism and overcoming it - Concept of the “superman” - Ambiguities in the “superman” concept - Nietzsche’s challenge to the modern world: living withoutGod - Eternal recurrence 6.-The will to power and the world as flux

WEEK TWELVE: Rise of Analytic Philosophy

- Rejection of idealism by Moore and Russell - Crucial role of logic and language in this rejection - New math, new science, and new logic - Analysis of terms, and how it proceeds - Moore’s commonsense philosophy - Wittgenstein and difficulties with logical atomism - The new positivism: logical positivism - Vienna circle - Rejection of metaphysics - New influence of Hume - The verifiability criterion - The philosophy of science and the “meaninglessness” of value judgments - Defects and difficulties in the verifiability criterion, and its gradual modification and dissolution

WEEK THIRTEEN: Phenomenology and Existentialism

- Husserl’s move away from idealism/materialism dispute - Husserl’s “third way” - Descriptive philosophy - Life-world and its analysis - Concept of intentionality and the constitution of meaning - Example: the phenomenology of signs - Birth of existentialism: Heidegger - Sartre’s theory of consciousness - Anguish, freedom, nothingness - Responsibility and bad faith - Authenticity - Source of value - Influences on twentieth-century thought and culture

WEEK FOURTEEN & FIFTEEN: The Later Wittgenstein and more recent movements - The nature of language - Universals and family resemblance - The question of precision - How philosophical problems are dissolved - Australian Materialism - French Deconstruction

- FINAL EXAM

Revised by Peter Parides, Spring 2021