|
SAMPLE SYLLABUS
|
SYLLABUS
EPISTEMOLOGY
(0122-316-01)
FALL 2000
|
|
COURSE AIM
|
|
THE AIM OF THE
COURSE/SEMINAR IS TO OFFER AN INTRODUCTION TO THE THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE.
THE COURSE WILL INQUIRE INTO THE NATURE OF HUMAN KNOWING AND ACCORDINGLY
WILL ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW? WHAT
DO (CAN) WE KNOW? CAN WE KNOW THINGS WITH CERTITUDE? HOW DO WE KNOW
THAT THINGS OTHER THAN OURSELVES AND OUR IDEAS EXIST? WHAT DOES IT
MEAN TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT SOMETHING? WHAT ROLE DOES SENSATION
PLAY IN KNOWING? THE CONCEPT? JUDGMENT? WHAT IS COMMON
SENSE AND HOW DOES IT RELATE TO PHILOSOPHICAL KNOWLEDGE? ATTENTION
WILL ALSO BE GIVEN TO RELATIVISM, ESPECIALLY REGARDING KNOWLEDGE IN
THE SOCIAL CONTEXT, FEMINIST EPISTEMOLOGY, AND THE POSTMODERNIST CHALLENGE:
CAN WE ATTAIN A TRANSCULTURAL, AHISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE?
|
|
READINGS
|
- Jacques Maritain, Degrees of Knowledge (Notre Dame Indiana:University
of Notre Dame Press, 1995) Available in the bookstore.
- Selected classical texts; see my website
- Selected contemporary texts; on the reserve shelf in Gleeson
Library
|
|
ASSIGNMENTS
|
- Each student will give two seminar presentations during the
semester. These presentations will take the form of a critique
of the assignment and will consume no more than 30 minutes; the
other students will submit a summary (1/2 page typed) of the assignment
at the end of class.
- Each student will submit a paper, 10-15 typed pp., by 5pm on
the date assigned for the final examination, which is Thurs.,
Dec. 14. It is expected that the student will consult with me
about the paper’s topic before writing it.
|
|
GRADING
|
|
The final grade
for the course will be based on the above three assignments.
|
|
Class presentations:
|
60% (30% each)
|
|
Final Paper:
|
40%
|
|
N.B.
The summaries are assigned no percentages; instead generally unsatisfactory
submissions by the student will result in a reduction of one full
grade for the course; generally good class participation will result
in ½ grade increase for the course.
|
|
Office Hours:
|
MW 2-3 &
by appt.
CA D6; x6456
dennehyr@usfca.edu
|
|
ASSIGNMENTS
|
 |
F 9/1:
assign topics
|
|
|
Preface: Has
Epistemology Been on the Wrong Track?
|
|
W 9/4:
Lorraine Code: "Is the Sex of the Knower Epistemologically
Significant?" (Reserve Shelf)
|
|
F 9/8:
Immanuel Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics,
Introduction, Preamble…Secs. 1-5; "How Is A
Pure Science of Nature Possible?
|
|
M 9/11:
Kant
|
|
W 9/13:
Kant
|
|
F 9/15:
Richard Rorty: "Dismantling Truth: Solidarity Versus Objectivity"
(Reserve Shelf)
|
|
M 9/18:
Jacques Maritain, Degrees of Knowledge, 86-107
|
|
W 9/20:
Discussion of topic.
|
|
|
1) The Modern
Question: Is objective knowledge of the world possible?
|
|
F 9/22:
Hilary Putnam, "Brains in a Vat" (Reserve Room)
|
|
M 9/25:
Putnam
|
|
W 9/27:George
Berkeley, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge,
#1-11, 16-20, 25-41, 45-48 (
|
|
F 9/29:
Berkeley
|
|
M 10/2:
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,
Secs. II, III, IV. (same site)
|
|
W 10/4:
Hume
|
|
|
QUESTION:
CAN DESCARTES’ "METHODICAL DOUBT" HAVE AN ANSWER TO
THE ABOVE POSITIONS?
|
|
F 10/6
--Descartes, A Discourse on Method, Pts. I,II, IV
|
|
M 10/9
The Meditations on the First Philosophy, Med. II, VI.
|
|
W 10/11:
Jacques Maritain, Degrees of Knowledge, pp. 75-85; Raymond
Dennehy, "Maritain’s Reply to Gilson’s Rejection
of Critical Realism" in The Gilson Annual ed. by
Peter Redpath (forthcoming) My website under courses: epistemology
316-01
|
|
F 10/13:
Discussion of topic
|
|
|
2) What is
Knowledge?
|
|
M 10/16:
Edmund L. Gettier, "Is Justified Belief True Knowledge?,"
(handout)
|
|
W10/18:
Plato, Republic, V 473-480; Theatetus 201- 202
c (handout)
|
|
F 10/20:
No class
|
|
M 10/23:
Plato, VI-VII 507-520
|
|
W 10/25:
Aristotle, Posterior Analytics, Bk I, chs 1,2 & Bk
II, ch 19
|
|
F 10/27:Metaphysics,
Bk I, chs 1&2, Bk II, ch 1, BkVII, ch 4
|
|
M 10/30:
Maritain, 118-126
|
|
W 11/1:
Maritain, 127-144
|
|
F 11/3:
Discussion: What is knowledge?
|
|
|
3)Foundations
of Knowledge: Foundationalism & Coherentism
|
|
M 11/6:
Ernest Sousa, "The Raft and the Pyramid: Coherence Versus
Foundations in the Theory of Knowledge" (Reserve Room)
|
|
W 11/8:
Sousa
|
|
|
4) Foundations
of Knowledge (II): Externalism & Internalism
|
|
F 11/10:
Alvin Goldman: "Reliabilism: What is Justified Belief?"
(Reserve Room)
|
|
M 11/13:
Goldman
|
|
W 11/ 15"Matthias
Steup: "A Defense of Internalism" (Reserve Room)
|
|
F 11/ 17:
Steup
|
|
M 11/20:
Jacques Maritain, 215-240
|
|
W 11/22:
Maritain 215-240
|
|
F 1124:
THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
|
|
M 11/27:
Maritain Versus Husserl, Degrees of Knowledge (see index
for ref. to Husserl.)
|
|
Conclusion:
Is there an epistemology of democracy? Is there an epistemology of
liberal education?
|
W 11/29:
Richard Rorty, "The priority of democracy to philosophy"
(Reserve Room)
|
|
F 12/1
: Rorty
|
|
M/ 12/4
:Raymond Dennehy, "The Epistemology of Democracy"
(Reserve shelf)
|
|
W 12/6:
last class meeting: discussion of research topics
|
|
Department
of Philosophy