Metaphysics (PHIL 401/531)

Contact details

sandy.berkovski@gmail.com

Office hours

H147, Mon 1030-1230, and by appointment

Readings

Readings for this course consist of articles and book selections. There is only one source: an electronic collection provided by the lecturer.

[Ber24]

Y. S. Berkovski. Metaphysics: Course reader. The link to the .pdf file forwarded at the beginning of the semester. Note that only hard copies will be allowed to use in class.

Preliminary term schedule

Abbreviations: `Author[i]' designates item #i in [Ber24]. Starred items demand especially close scrutiny, either because of the significance of their arguments, or because of their sophistication, or both. Items with a dagger will be discussed only in passing (but remember that every item on the list is a required reading).

Departing from Berkeley

Week 1

Introduction; Idealism: *Berkeley[1]

Week 2

Critique of Berkeley's Master Argument: *Williams[2], *Peacocke[3]

Week 3

Critique of the Design Argument: †Paley[4], *White[5], *White[6]

Scepticism and relativism

Week 4

Sceptical response: Hume[7], †Goodman[8]

Week 5

Relativist response: Goodman[9], †Goodman[10], Boghossian[11]

Week 5

Midterm essay I (PHIL 401)

Varieties of realism

Week 6

Pragmatist response: †Peirce[12]; Commonsensical realist response: †Moore[13], †Moore[14], *Moore[15], †Moore[16]

Week 7

Critique of common sense: *Clarke[17]; Inferentialist realist response: Russell-1[18], Russell-1[19]

Week 8

Constructionist realist response: Russell-2[20], †Ayer[21]

Week 9

Critique of realism: *Dummett[22], †Dummett[23]

Week 9

Midterm essay II (PHIL 401)

Conventionalism and naturalism

Week 10

Logical positivist response: †Carnap[24]; Conventionalist response: Carnap[25]

Week 11

Naturalist response: †Quine[26], Quine[27], Quine[28]

Week 12

Neo-Carnapianism: *Yablo[29]

Kripkeanism

Week 13

Kripkean realism: *Kripke[30]

Week 14

Necessity and fiction: Kripke[31]

Week 15

Midterm essay III (PHIL 401)

Requirements

PHIL 401

Midterms essays

There will be three take-home essays.

Participation

Students are encouraged to take part in the in-class discussions. This includes asking meaningful questions, however trivial they might seem.

Etiquette

Please note that latecomers will not be allowed into class, including those that are late from the break. This rule will be strictly enforced throughout the semester. No electronic devices are allowed in class without an explicit leave by the lecturer.

PHIL 531

Essay

Students will submit an essay of about 3500 words by 22:00 on 6 January.

Discussion pieces

Every Sunday by 20:00 students will be required to submit a short fragment (ca. 700 words) on one or two issues in the text we are expected to cover the following week. Students will be required to submit twelve such fragments. Please save the files in PDF format and rename them as follows (for the discussion piece #1): "HW1.Surname.pdf" The files should be sent to: sandy.berkovski+meta@gmail.com

Participation

Students are encouraged to take part in the in-class discussions. This includes asking meaningful questions, however trivial they might seem.

Etiquette

Please note that latecomers will not be allowed into class, including those that are late from the break. This rule will be strictly enforced throughout the semester. No electronic devices are allowed in class without an explicit leave by the lecturer.

Grading

PHIL401

Midterm essay I		30%
Midterm essay II		30%
Midterm essay III		30%
Participation		10%

PHIL 531

Essay		40%
Discussion pieces		48%
Participation		12%

All your grades will take the following values: 100, 99, 90, 84, 70, 59, 10, 0. These values roughly correspond to the Bilkent percentage scale:

Numerical scale (%)		Letter scale
95 - 100		A
90 - 94		A-
86 - 89		B+
82 - 85		B
78 - 81		B-
74 - 77		C+
70 - 73		C
67 - 69		C-
63 - 66		D+
59 - 62		D
00 - 58		F

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File translated from T_EX by T_TH, version 4.16.