Postgraduate Course: Introduction to Philosophical Methodology (Online) (PHIL11132)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Philosophy |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
Please see Learn page |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course aims to introduce students whose academic background is not primarily in philosophy to the topic of philosophical methodology. This will be achieved by studying the structure of philosophical arguments as they appear in a selection of important contemporary philosophical texts, particularly in the core areas of philosophy of science, philosophy of language, epistemology, ethics, and philosophy of mind.
Course lecturers: Prof. Jesper Kallestrup, Dr. Suilin Lavelle, Dr. Alistair Isaac, Dr. Debbie Roberts.
Formative feedback available:
- students can submit a formative essay by the closing deadline.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2014/15 Semester 1, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
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Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Class Delivery Information |
This course is only for MSc/Dip/Cert Epistemology, Ethics and Mind students. |
| Course Start Date |
15/09/2014 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Online Activities 20,
Revision Session Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
164 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
85 %,
Practical Exam
15 %
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| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
| Students will become familiar with the methods of philosophy, with particular focus on philosophical topics in the fields of epistemology, ethics, philosophy of mind and cognitive science, and philosophy of science. They will develop their ability to read philosophical texts, and will also develop their skills in critical thinking and in the oral and written presentation of philosophical arguments. |
Assessment Information
Students will be assessed by a 2500 word essay at the end of the semester (85%) and successful participation in the on-line activities associated with the course (15%).
Essay deadline: Monday 15th December 2014 by 12 noon
Word limit: 2500 words maximum
Return deadline: Friday 16th January 2015 |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Week 1: Introduction to Conceptual Analysis and Thought Experiments
- Asynchronous forum seminar
Week 2: Functionalism, Inverted Qualia and Blockhead
- Asynchronous forum seminar
Week 3: Physicalism and Zombies
- Synchronous seminar
Week 4: JTB Analysis of Knowledge and Gettier Cases
- Asynchronous forum seminar
Week 5: Reliabilism, Clairvoyance and the New Evil Demon
- Synchronous seminar
Week 6: Galileo's Falling Bodies, Newton's Bucket, and Einstein's Elevator
- Asynchronous forum seminar
Week 7: Artificial Intelligence and the Chinese Room Argument
- Synchronous seminar
Week 8: The Open Question Argument and the Paradox of Analysis
- Asynchronous forum seminar
Week 9: Moral Twin Earth
- Synchronous seminar
Week 10: Descriptivism about Proper Names
- Asynchronous forum seminar
Week 11: Kripke's Epistemic, Modal and Semantic Arguments
- Synchronous seminar |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Week 1
Class readings
Chris Daly, An Introduction to Philosophical Methods, Broadview Press, 2010. Chapter 2.
Secondary readings
Frank Jackson, From Metaphysics to Ethics: A Defence of Conceptual Analysis, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Chapter 2.
David Papineau, 'The Poverty of Conceptual Analysis', in Matthew Haug (ed.), Philosophical Methodology: The Armchair or the Laboratory?, London: Routledge, 2013. 166-194.
Online Resources:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/analysis/
Week 2
Class reading
Ned Block (1978) 'Troubles with functionalism', in Timothy O'Connor and David Robb (eds.), Philosophy of Mind: Contemporary Readings. Routledge, 2003. 222 - 233. Available as an e-book.
Secondary readings
David Chalmers. 'Absent Qualia, Fading Qualia, Dancing Qualia' in O'Connor and Robb (eds.) 234 - 254
William Lycan, (1995) Consciousness. MIT Press. Ch.4. Available at: http://cognet.mit.edu/library/books/mitpress/0262620960/cache/chpt4.pdf
David Lewis 'Reduction of Mind', in O'Connor and Robb (eds.)197 - 209
Hilary Putnam 'The Nature of Mental states' in O'Connor and Robb (eds.) 210- 221
Robert Van Gulick (2009) 'Functionalism' in Brian McLaughlin, Ansgar Beckermann, and Sven Walter (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mind Oxford University Press. 128 - 151. Available as an e-book.
Sydney Shoemaker (1975) 'Functionalism and Qualia' Philosophical Studies, 27, 291 - 315
Sydney Shoemaker (1982) 'The Inverted Spectrum' Journal of Philosophy, 79, 357 - 381
Week 3
Class readings
Todd Moody (1994) 'Conversations with zombies' Journal of Consciousness Studies, 1, 196 - 200 (read this first)
Daniel Dennett (1995) 'The unimagined preposterousness of zombies' Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2, 322 - 326
Secondary readings
Any of the papers in Journal of Consciousness, 2:4 (1995)
Ned Block & Robert Stalnaker (1999) 'Conceptual Analysis, Dualism and the Explanatory Gap.' Philosophical Review, 108, 1 - 46
Katalin Balog (1999) 'Conceivability, Possibility and the Mind-Body problem'. Philosophical Review, 108, 497 - 528
David Chalmers (1996). The Conscious Mind. Oxford University Press. ch.7.
David Chalmers (2009) 'The two-dimensional argument against materialism'. in Brian McLaughlin, Ansgar Beckermann, and Sven Walter (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mind Oxford University Press. 313 - 338. Available as an e-book.
Week 4
Reading list TBD
Week 5
Reading list TBD
Week 6
Class readings
Norton, J. D. (1995) 'Are Thought Experiments Just What You Thought?¿ Canadian Journal of Philosophy 26(3): 333 - 366.
Secondary readings
Clatterbuck, H. (2013) 'The Epistemology of Thought Experiments: A Non-Eliminativist, Non-Platonic Account,' European Journal for Philosophy of Science 3(3): 309 - 329.
Primary Sources
Galileo's falling bodies argument occurs late on the first day of his Dialogue Concerning Two New Sciences: http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/109N/tns61.htm
Newton's 'bucket argument' occurs in the Scholium to the Definitions at the start of his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Mathematical_Principles_of_Natural_Philosophy_%281846%29/Definitions (around 81)
Online Resource
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thought-experiment/
Week 7
Class readings
Searle, J. R. (1980) 'Minds, Brains and Programs,' Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3(3): 417 - 424.
Plus these responses (also in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 3, 1980): Abelson, R. P. 'Searle's argument is just a set of Chinese symbols,' 424 - 5. Block, N. 'What intuitions about homunculi don¿t show,' 425 - 6. Dennett, D. 'The milk of human intentionality,' 428 - 30. Hofstadter, D. R. 'Reductionism and religion,' 433 - 4. Minsky, M. 'Decentralized minds,' 439 - 40.Rorty, R. 'Searle and the special powers of the brain,' 445 - 6.
Secondary readings
Read the full set of responses and Searle's reply, BBS 3(3): 417 - 57.
Turing, A. M. (1950) 'Computing Machinery and Intelligence,' Mind 59(236): 433 - 460. Block, N. (1995) 'The Mind as the Software of the Brain,' in Smith and Sternberg (eds.) An Invitation to Cognitive Science. MIT Press: 170 - 185. http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/philo/faculty/block/papers/msb.html
Online Resource
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/chinese-room/
Week 8
Class Reading
Moore, G. E. (1903) 'The Subject Matter of Ethics' in his Principia Ethica, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Baldwin, T. (2010) ¿The Open Question Argument' in The Routledge Companion to Ethics, John Skorupski (ed.), Oxford: Routledge
Secondary Reading
Earl, D. (2007). A Semantic Resolution of the Paradox of Analysis. Acta Analytica 22 (3):189-205.
Jackson, F. (1998) From Metaphysics to Ethics Oxford: Oxford University Press, Chapter 6
Mason Myers, C. (1971). Moore's Paradox of Analysis. Metaphilosophy 2 (4):295 - 308.
Pigden, C. R. (2012). Identifying Goodness. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 90 (1):93 - 109.
Wilfrid Sellars (1964). The Paradox of Analysis: A Neo-Fregean Approach. Analysis 24 (Suppl-2):84 - 98.
Smith, M. (2013) 'Moral Realism' in The Blackwell Guide to Ethical Theory 2nd ed. Hugh LaFollette and Ingmar Persson (eds.), Oxford: Blackwell
Week 9
Class reading
1. Hare, R. M. (1952) The Language of Morals (OUP) p148-50.
2. Horgan, T. and Timmons, M. (1991) 'New Wave Moral Realism Meets Moral Twin Earth' Journal of Philosophical Research 16
Secondary reading
David Copp (2000). Milk, Honey, and the Good Life on Moral Twin Earth. Synthese 124 (1-2):113-137.
Joshua Gert (2006). Problems for Moral Twin Earth Arguments. Synthese 150 (2):171 - 183.
David Merli (2002). Return to Moral Twin Earth. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 32 (2):207 - 240.
Michael Rubin (2008). Sound Intuitions on Moral Twin Earth. Philosophical Studies 139 (3):307 - 327.
Mark van Roojen (2006). Knowing Enough to Disagree: A New Response to the Moral Twin Earth Argument. In Russ Shafer-Landau (ed.), Oxford Studies In Metaethics, Volume 1. 161-94.
Week 10
Class reading
Jesper Kallestrup, Semantic Externalism, London: Routledge, 2011. Chapter 1.
Secondary reading
David Braun, 'Names and Natural Kind Terms', in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Language, Ernie LePore and Barry Smith (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006, 490-515.
Frank Jackson, 'Reference and Description Revisited', Philosophical Perspectives, 1998, 201-218.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/reference/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/names/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descriptions/
Week 11
Class reading
Jesper Kallestrup, Semantic Externalism, London: Routledge, 2011, Chapter 2.
Secondary reading
David Sosa, 'Rigidity', in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Language, Ernie LePore and Barry Smith (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 476-489.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/reference/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/names/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descriptions/
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jesper Kallestrup
Tel:
Email: jesper.kallestrup@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lynsey Buchanan
Tel: (0131 6)51 5002
Email: Lynsey.Buchanan@ed.ac.uk |
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