Kant (PHIL 303)

Instructor: Sandy Berkovski

Fall 2009

Contact details: sandy.berkovski+comment@gmail.com, Bilkent ext. 1048
Office hours: FA113C, Tue 13:30-15:30, and by appointment

The name of the game

The course is devoted to the close reading of the Critique of Pure Reason and examination of its major arguments. Occasionally we shall also look at the Prolegomena. Our textbook will be [Bro78].

Readings

It is essential that students get their own copy of the 1997 edition of the Critique which is currently available from the campus bookstore. Please note that you will not be allowed into class unless you bring your copy of the text. The text of the Prolegomena can be consulted online. It does not matter which edition you use. Broad's book is on reserve in the library.

[Bro78]: C. D. Broad. Kant: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press, 1978.
[Kan53]: I. Kant. Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics. Manchester University Press, 1953.
[Kan97]: I Kant. Critique of Pure Reason. Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Preliminary term schedule

Week 1: General introduction, structure of the Critique
Week 2: Kant's project, Copernican revolution, general concepts: Introduction A and B
Weeks 3-4: Theory of space and time, transcendental idealism, nature of mathematical knowledge: Transcendental Aesthetic, Discipline of Pure Reason (B740-B766)
Week 5: Judgement and categories: Metaphysical deduction, Table of categories
Weeks 6-8: Transcendental deduction of categories; Midterm essay due
Week 9: Schematism, Axioms of intuition
Week 10: Analogies of experience
Week 11: Postulates of empirical thought, Refutation of idealism
Week 12: Idealism revisited: Phenomena and noumena
Week 13-14: Antinomies of pure reason
Week 15: Final essay due

Requirements

Essays: Students will submit two essays of about 2500 words each.
Assignments: There will be eight 500-700 words long home assignments, five of which are obligatory.
Participation: It can come in different ways. The simplest is to take part in the discussion at the class. This includes asking meaningful questions, however trivial they might seem. Alternatively, students may submit short written comments (200-300 words) on the fragment we currently study before the relevant class.

Note: I will not accept electronic submissions, and there will be no exceptions to this rule.

Grading

Grades will have the following weight:

Assignments		20%
Midterm essay		30%
Final essay		30%
Participation		20%

While your overall grade at the end of the term will be according to Bilkent's standard A-F scale, I shall grade your work during the term by using my own percentage scale. These two scales relate to each other as follows:

Numerical scale (%)		Bilkent scale
90 - 100		A
85 - 90		A-
80 - 85		B+
75 - 80		B
70 - 75		B-
65 - 70		C+
60 - 65		C
55 - 60		C-
50 - 55		D+
40 - 50		D
00 - 40		F

File translated from T_EX by T_TH, version 3.85.