Philosophy 4340 / 5340 - Epistemology (Spring 2012)

Instructor: Brian Talbot
Office Hours: MWF, 10-10:50; MW, 2-3; and by appointment
Office Location: Hellems (HLMS) 170
Email: When I put my address on the web, I get tons of spam. So it's a little puzzle... this course is in what department? My email address is the name of that department, @ , and then the name of this website. It's on the syllabus too.

Where what this website says conflicts with the syllabus, trust this site over the syllabus. Safari users might not be able to see updates to the website when they occur. It's a problem with Safari; use Firefox instead. For Firefox users, if the website is supposed to have been updated but you don't see the updates, hit the "reload current page" button.

Week one, January 18: Introduction
* Friday, January 20: Reading: William K. Clifford, "The Ethics of Belief" (excerpt) [no homework due]

Week two, January 23: More introduction (formalizing, epistemology)
* Monday, January 23: CLASS CANCELED
* Wednesday, Jan 25: Here is a handout on how to formalize arguments for this class.
* Friday, January 27: Turn in formalization of Clifford

Week three: January 30
* Monday, Jan 30, Reading: Descartes - Meditation I (excerpts)
* Monday, Jan 30, Homework: Formalize Descartes. Note: from now on, you will have to turn in as homework a formalization of each reading we do, except as noted. I will no longer say that for any of the following readings, you have to remember.
* Friday, Feb 3, Reading: G.E. Moore's 'Proof of an External World'. When you read this, think about the following: let's say you reject the premise in Descartes' argument that goes "If you have any reason to doubt x, then you shouldn't believe x." Even so, you still have to answer the question, "What SHOULD I believe (and why)?" Descartes' other premise still stands: we know that our senses can be and sometimes are deceived. So, should we trust them? Why should we believe in what our senses tell us - specifically, why should we believe that there is an external world? Moore is trying to answer that question.

Week four: Feb 4
* Friday, Feb 10, Homework: Which of the following four views discussed in class - skepticism, infinitism, foundationalism, and coherentism - is correct? Write a brief essay (no more than a page double spaced) in which you explain why the view you pick is the correct view. The first sentence of your essay should clearly identify the view you think is correct. You do not need to formalize anything, but you do need to give reasons for your claims. I will grade on clarity of writing and quality of arguments/reasons. Please note - points will be deducted for essays that apparently have not been proofread.

Week five: Feb 11
* Mon, Feb 13, Reading: Peter Klein, "Human Knowledge and the Infinite Regress of Reasons". Note: I encourage you to skip the following sections of the paper: I.(a). (page 301-303), I.(b) (303-304), Objection 2 in section II (p 310-311), Objection 3 (311-312).

Week six: Feb 20
* Mon, Feb 20, Reading: Bonjour, "Can Empirical Knowledge Have a Foundation".
* Friday, Feb 24, class canceled

Week seven: Feb 27
* Mon, Feb 27, Reading: Huemer - A version of foundationalism (from Skepticism and the Veil of Perception).

Week Eight: March 5
* Wednesday, Mar 7, Reading: Bonjour - Coherence Theory of Empirical Knowledge (it's a toughie - don't put it off!).
* Click here to see the first paper assignment topics. The first paper will be due at the end of Spring Break.

Week Nine: March 12
* Monday, Mar 12, reading: Why be an externalist? (I couldn't find a reading on externalism that suited our needs, so I wrote one myself)

Week Ten: March 19
* No reading for this week.

Spring Break

Week Eleven: April 2
* Wednesday, April 4, Reading: Singer, Ethics and Intuitions. Formalizing this paper is optional.

Week Twelve: April 9
* Monday, April 9, Reading: Eugene d'Aquili & Andrew Newberg, "The Neuropsychological Basic of Religions, or Why God Won't Go Away" (this is not about intuitions, but it's also applied epistemology, and it's sort of the flip-side of the type of science-based argument Singer makes)

Week Thirteen: April 16
* Monday, April 16, Reading: Peter van Inwagen, "Quam Dilecta". You don't have to read the whole thing; you can start where he says "Yes, yes, autobiographical narrative is all very well" and end where you find the "****"

Week Fourteen: April 23
* Wednesday, April 25, Reading (updated): Huemer, Epistemological Egotism.
* Friday, April 27: Outline of your final paper due in class.