The list of subjects I am happy to supervise on is here. Below are materials for the courses I teach now or have taught in the past several years.
Ethics
Materials for a sophomore course in moral philosophy.
Syllabus |
Study questions
Lectures 2025: 0. Sense of justice |
1. Psychological rationalism |
2. Social intuitionism |
3. Brains and morals |
4. Humeanism |
5. Moorean realism |
6. Naturalist (anti-)realism |
7. Debunking |
8. Epistemology of debunking I |
9. Epistemology of debunking II |
10. Epistemology of debunking III |
11. Debunking reviewed |
12. Justice as fairness |
13. Contractualism
Lectures 2024: 0. Sense of justice |
1. Parents and principles |
2. Social intuitionism |
3. Brains and morals I |
4. Brains and morals II |
5. Justice as fairness |
6. Contractualism |
7. Critique of utilitarianism |
8. Character and moral theory |
9. Equality I |
11. Moral Luck I |
12. Moral Luck II |
13. War and massacre |
14. Alternate possibilities |
15. Moral responsibility |
16. Coercion |
17. Moral realism |
18. Debunking |
19. Epistemology of debunking I
Lectures 2023: 0. Sense of justice |
1. Parents and principles |
2. Social intuitionism |
3. Brains and morals I |
4. Brains and morals II |
5. Justice as fairness |
6. Contractualism |
7. Character and moral theory |
8. Love |
9. Moral realism |
10. Debunking |
11. Against debunking |
12. Epistemology of debunking I |
13. Epistemology of debunking II |
14. Epistemology of debunking III |
15. Excuses |
16. Responsibility |
17. Coercion
Lectures 2022: 0. Sense of justice |
1. Acting from duty |
2. Apriority of morality |
3. Maxims and imperatives |
4. Categorical imperative FLN |
5. Categorical imperative FH |
6. Freedom |
7. Freedom and morality |
8. Duties and virtues |
9. Schiller, Fichte |
10. Hegel |
11. Sidgwick |
12. Foot |
13. McDowell |
14. Scanlon |
15. Egoism, amoralism, rationalism |
16. Singer, Kohlberg |
17. Haidt |
18. Greene |
19. Greene II |
20. Greene III |
21. Street
Lectures 2019: 0. Sense of justice |
1. Acting from duty |
2. Apriority of morality |
3. Maxims and imperatives |
4. Categorical imperative FLN |
5. Categorical imperative FH, FA |
6. Freedom |
7. Freedom and morality |
8. Morality and freedom (KpV) |
9. Duties and virtues |
10. Schiller: Beauty, freedom, morality |
11. Fichte: Morality, conviction |
12. Fichte: Freedom, society |
13. Hegel: Free will, conscience |
14. Hegel: Ethical life |
15. Foot: Hypothetical imperatives |
16. McDowell: Virtue and reason |
17. McDowell: Virtue and reason II |
18. McDowell: Virtue and reason III |
19. Evolutionism |
20. Critique of evolutionism |
21. Relativism and convention |
22. Evolutionary debunking
Social and Political Philosophy II
Materials for the second part of the course in the history of political thought.
Syllabus |
Study questions
Metaphysics
Materials for a joint graduate and senior year course.
Syllabus |
Final essay PHIL531
Lectures 2024:
1. Berkeley |
2. Williams |
3. Peacocke |
4. Origins of life |
5. Fine-tuning |
6. Hume |
7. Goodman |
8. Boghossian |
9. Moore |
11. Russell-1 |
12. Russell-2 |
13. Dummett-1 |
14. Dummett-2 |
15. Carnap |
16. Quine on Carnap |
17. Quine |
18. Yablo
Lectures 2023:
1. Hume |
2. Carnap |
3. Quine |
4. Nagel |
6. Wilkins |
7. Origins of life |
8. Fine-tuning |
9. Freedom |
10. Mystery of freedom |
11. Vihvelin |
12. Greene and Cohen |
13. Fatalism I |
14. Fatalism II |
15. Merricks I |
16. Merricks II |
17. Merricks III |
18. McTaggart I |
19. McTaggart II |
20. Dummett on McTaggart |
21. Dummett |
22. Time travel |
23. Possible worlds
Lectures 2022:
1. Leibniz |
2. Hobbes |
3. D'Holbach |
4. Rachels |
5. Kant |
6. Schopenhauer |
7. van Inwagen |
8. Vihvelin |
9. Greene and Cohen |
10. Fatalism I |
11. Fatalism II |
12. Merricks I |
13. Merricks II |
14. Dummett |
15. Hume |
16. Carnap |
17. Strawson I |
18. Stroud |
19. Strawson II |
20. Goodman |
21. Boghossian |
22. Dawkins |
23. Grice |
24. White |
27. Wilkins
Lectures 2021: 1. Leibniz |
2. Hobbes |
3. D'Holbach |
4. Rachels, Kant |
5. Vihvelin |
6. Merricks I |
7. Merricks II |
8. Greene and Cohen |
9. Goodman |
10. Boghossian |
11. Davidson |
12. Putnam |
13. Dummett |
14. Carnap |
15. Quine on Carnap |
16. Quine |
17. Hirsch
Lectures 2019: 1. Sextus, Carnap |
2. Truth by convention I |
3. Truth by convention II |
4. Truth by convention III |
5. Ontological relativity I |
6. Ontological relativity II |
7. Things and theories |
8. Yablo on Carnap
Lectures 2018: 0. Introduction |
1. Cosmological arguments |
2. Design argument I |
3. Design argument II |
4. Origins of life |
5. Sextus, Carnap |
6. Quine on Carnap |
7. Ontological relativity |
8. Things and theories |
9. Yablo on Carnap |
10. Ontology and make-believe |
11. Truth and epistemology |
12. Nominalism and indispensability |
13. Mathematical fictionalism |
14. Modal realism |
15. Liberal platonism |
16. Unreality of time I |
17. Unreality of time II |
18. Time and change |
19. Dummett on McTaggart |
20. Spaces and times |
21. Tense |
22. Presentism
Lectures 2017: 1. Cosmological arguments |
2. Design argument I |
3. Design argument II |
4. Origins of life |
5. Carnap's frameworks |
6. Quine's critique |
7. Ontological relativity |
8. Things and theories |
9. Modal realism |
10. Liberal platonism |
11. Mathematical existence |
12. Figuralism |
13. Mathematical applicability |
14. Unreality of time |
15. Dummett on McTaggart |
16. Spaces and times |
17. Tense and change |
18. Presentism |
19. Natural kinds |
20. Ground
Lectures 2016: 1. Cosmological arguments |
2. Design argument |
3. Linguistic frameworks |
4. Quine's critique |
5. Ontological relativity |
6. Modal realism |
7. Liberal platonism |
8. Mathematical existence |
9. Figuralism |
10. Mathematical applicability |
11. Unreality of time |
12. Dummett on McTaggart |
13. Tense |
14. Spaces and times |
15. Presentism |
16. Causation |
17. Natural kinds |
18. Determinism |
19. Free will
Social and Political Philosophy I
Materials for the course in the history of political thought.
Syllabus |
Study questions
Intermediate Logic
Materials for a self-contained senior undergraduate course. Topics include propositional calculus, predicate calculus, trees, metalogical results, Turing machines, incompleteness of arithmetic.
Introduction |
Sentence calculus |
Predicate calculus |
Modal logic |
Incompleteness |
Assignments
Moral Psychology
Materials for a joint graduate and senior year course.
Course description |
Study questions |
Final essay
Lectures 2021: 1. Evolution and realism |
2. Debunking |
3. Hypocrisy I |
4. Hypocrisy II |
5. Hypocrisy III |
6. Morality and condemnation I |
7. Morality and condemnation II |
8. Self-love |
9. Internalism and externalism |
10. Empathy |
11. Altruism and hedonism |
12. Evolution of altruism
Philosophy of Language
Materials for a senior year course.
Course description |
Final essay
Lectures 2020: 1. Sense and reference I |
2. Sense and reference II |
3. Thought I |
4. Thought II |
5. Sense and tone |
6. Descriptivism and proper names |
7. Critique of descriptivism |
8. Summary of Kripke's critique |
9. Causal theory of reference |
10. Indeterminacy of translation |
11. Indeterminacy of translation II |
12. Davidson's theory of meaning |
13. Searle's critique |
14. The rule-following paradox |
15. The sceptical solution |
16. The naturalist solution |
17. Performatives |
18. Intention and convention |
19. Gricean meaning
Study questions: Carroll |
Sense and reference |
Thoughts |
Dummett |
Naming and necessity |
Davidson |
Searle |
Millikan
Lectures 2019: 0. Introduction |
1. Sense and reference I |
2. Sense and reference II |
3. Thought I |
4. Thought II |
5. Sense and tone |
6. Descriptivism and proper names |
7. Critique of descriptivism |
8. Summary of Kripke's critique |
9. Causal theory of reference |
10. Indeterminacy of translation |
11. Indeterminacy of translation II |
12. Searle's critique |
13. The rule-following paradox |
14. The sceptical solution |
15. The naturalist solution |
16. Meaning naturalised |
17. Performatives |
18. Speech acts |
19. Gricean meaning |
20. Intention and convention |
21. The Gricean programme |
22. Implicatures and maxims
Lectures 2018: 1. Sense and reference I |
2. Sense and reference II |
3. Thought I |
4. Thought II |
5. Sense and tone |
6. Naming and necessity I |
7. Naming and necessity II |
8. Naming and necessity III |
9. Critique of Kripke |
10. Nominal descriptivism I |
11. Nominal descriptivism II |
12. Significance of names |
14. Speech acts |
15. Gricean meaning
Lectures 2017: 1. Sense and reference I |
2. Sense and reference II |
3. Sense and tone |
4. Naming and necessity I |
5. Naming and necessity II |
6. Naming and necessity III |
7. Critique of Kripke |
8. Nominal descriptivism I |
9. Nominal descriptivism II |
10. Significance of names |
11. Demonstratives |
12. Assertion I |
13. Assertion II |
14. First person |
15. Reference of 'I' |
16. Indeterminacy of translation |
17. Critique of Quine I |
18. Critique of Quine II |
19. Two dogmas |
Quine quotes
Introduction to Philosophy II
Materials for a first year course.
Course description
Annotated text: Berkeley: Three Dialogues
Lectures 2017: 1. Idealism I |
2. Idealism II |
3. Scepticism I |
4. Scepticism II |
5. Critique of idealism |
6. Matter as logical construction |
7. Objects and experience |
8. Naturalism I |
9. Naturalism II |
10. Freedom I |
11. Freedom II |
12. Freedom and morality |
13. Freedom and resentment I |
14. Freedom and resentment II |
15. Alternate possibilities |
16. Desire and will |
17. Moral luck I |
18. Moral luck II |
19. Utilitarianism
Lectures 2013: 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16
Philosophy of Science
Materials for a senior year course.
Course description
Lectures 2016: 1. Early empiricism I |
2. Early empiricism II |
3. Conventionalism I |
4. Conventionalism II |
5. Conventionalism III |
6. Theory and evidence |
7. Induction I |
8. Induction II |
9. Natural kinds |
10. D-N explanation |
11. Unification and biology |
12. Mechanistic explanation |
13. Scientific change |
14. Change and Darwinism |
15. Creationism and Darwinism |
16. Creationism and likelihoods |
18. Biological laws |
19. Biological reduction |
20. Biology and culture |
21. Scientific realism
Lectures 2015: 1. Early empiricism I |
2. Early empiricism II |
3. Conventionalism I |
4. Conventionalism II |
5. Conventionalism III |
6. Operationalism |
7. Verificationism |
8. Structure of theories |
9. Observation, induction |
10. New riddle of induction |
11. Analyticity I |
12. Analyticity II |
13. Naturalism |
14. Explanation I |
15. Explanation II |
16. Explanation III |
17. Laws I |
18. Laws II |
19. Scientific change |
20. Evolutionary theory |
21. Creationism |
22. Biological contingency
Annotated texts: Helmholtz on geometry |
Poincaré on geometry |
Einstein on geometry |
Reichenbach on geometry |
Bridgman on operationalism |
Reichenbach on verification |
Carnap on theories |
Hempel on theories |
Goodman on induction |
Carnap on analyticity |
Quine on dogmas |
Quine on naturalism |
Cartwright on laws |
Lange on laws |
Beatty on biological laws
Lectures 2014: 1. Origins of empiricism |
2. Positivism |
3. Nature of geometry |
4. Operationalism |
5. Induction |
6. Testability |
7. Explanation I |
8. Explanation II |
9. Laws |
10. Global reduction |
11. Local reduction |
12. Scientific change |
13. Scientific realism |
14. Science and objectivity
The Empiricists
Materials for a course on British Empiricists.
Course description |
Final essay
Annotated texts: Berkeley: Three Dialogues
Lectures 2016: 1. Innate ideas |
2. Innate ideas II |
3. Primary and secondary qualities |
4. Primary and secondary qualities II |
5. Abstraction and essence |
6. Identity |
7. Personal identity |
8. Freedom |
9. Depth, size perception |
10. Moon illusion |
11. Sensible qualities |
12. Resemblance |
13. God |
14. Objections and replies |
15. Hume's method |
16. Copy principle |
17. Relations |
18. Causation |
19. Induction |
20. The external world |
21. The external world II
Philosophy of Social Enquiry
Materials for a graduate course for students in the faculty of social sciences.
Course description
Lectures 2018: 2. Objectivity |
3. Thought collectives
Kant
Materials for a course I taught in the fall 2009.
Course description |
Assignments |
Midterm essay |
Final essay
History of Modern Philosophy: Empiricists
Syllabi and essay questions for the Oxford course 0101.
Download: pdf
History of Modern Philosophy: Rationalists
Syllabi and essay questions for the Oxford course 0111.
Download: html
Philosophy of Science and Psychology
Syllabi and essay questions for the Oxford course 0105.
Download: html
Logic for Mods and Prelims
Problem sheets for the Oxford introductory logic course based on Hodges' book.
Download: html
The Philosophy of Kant
Syllabi and essay questions for an Oxford course on the first Critique.
Download: html
Frege, Russell, early Wittgenstein
Syllabi and essay questions for an Oxford course on the mighty triple.
Download: html
Formal Logic
Problem sheets for the first part of the Oxford advanced logic course.
Download: pdf
Metamathematics
Problem sheets for the second part of the Oxford advanced logic course.
Download: pdf
Philosophy of Mathematics
Syllabi and essay questions for an Oxford course.
Download: html
Philosophy of Social Science
Fragmentary syllabi and essay questions for an Oxford course.
Download: pdf
The Later Wittgenstein
Syllabi and essay questions for an Oxford course.
Download: pdf
Aesthetics and Literary Criticism
Syllabi and essay questions for an Oxford course.
Download: html
