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Mark Collier > Courses > Modern Philosophy

Phil 3171: History of Modern Philosophy


University of Minnesota, Morris
Spring 2010
Professor Collier
M&W 3:30-5:10
Imholte Hall 101

 

 

Course Description: The Scientific Revolution caused a serious crisis in modern thought. It called into question a number of traditional assumptions about the nature of the universe, the relationship between God and the world, and the possibility of human knowledge. It required us to rethink, in other words, our basic conception of things. Philosophers were at the frontlines of this endeavor. We will consider the visions of modernity offered by a diverse and brilliant group of thinkers, including Montaigne, Galileo, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Malebranche, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Reid, and Kant.

Course Requirements: This course will be structured around a combination of lectures and class discussions/group work. This means that you should come to class well-prepared (i.e. with a solid understanding of the readings for the day and questions for discussion). You will be expected to make significant contributions in class discussions.

Grade Distribution:

Four Exams: 15% each
Paper (7-8 pages): 20% (date TBA)
Class Discussion: 20%

Primary Text: Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources (Eds. Ariew and Watkins), Second Edition.

COURSE SYLLABUS

 

I. Locke

Jan 25. Locke's Polemic Against Innate Ideas

Locke: "No innate principles in the mind" (*)

Jan 27. Locke on Primary/Secondary Qualities

Galileo: "Corpuscularianism" (21- 25)
Boyle: "Corpuscular or Mechanical Philosophy" (308-315)
Locke: Essay Concerning Human Understanding, II.1.1-5 (322-324), II.2-4 (328-330), II.8.7-26 (332-337)

Feb 1. Locke on Complex Ideas and Substances

Hobbes: "Of Sense" (116)
Locke: Essay Concerning Human Understanding, II.12 (340-342), II.23 (359-367)

Feb 3. Locke on Language and Classification

Locke: Essay Concerning Human Understanding, III.3 and III.6 (377-386)
Philosophy Compass: "Locke on Language" (291-296)

Feb 8. Locke on Liberty and Power

Locke: Essay Concerning Human Understanding, II.21 (348-357)

Feb 10. Locke on Personal Identity

Locke: Essay Concerning Human Understanding, II.27 (367-377)
Butler: "Of Personal Identity" (*)
Reid: "Of Mr. Locke's Account of Personal Identity" (*)

Feb 15. Locke on Knowledge

Hobbes: "Of Reason and Science" (125-129)
Locke: Essay Concerning Human Understanding, I.1-7 (316-318) and IV.1-4 (386-405)


II. Leibniz

Feb 17. Leibniz's Theodicy

Leibniz: Discourse on Metaphysics 1-7 (224-228)
Leibniz: "Summary of the controversy reduced to formal arguments" (from his Theodicy) (*)

Feb 22. Leibniz on God and the Principle of Sufficient Reason

Leibniz: Monadology, 31-46 (278-279)
Leibniz: "The Ultimate Origin of Things"
Rowe: "Cosmological Arguments"

Feb 24. Leibniz's Theory of Individual Substances

Leibniz: "Primary Truths" (265-268)
Leibniz: Discourse on Metaphysics 8-14 (228-232)
Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy: "Leibniz's Modal Metaphysics" (Section 1)

Mar 1. Leibniz's Theory of Freedom and Contingency

Leibniz: "Of Contingency"
Leibniz: Discourse on Metaphysics, 30 (242)
Arnauld: "Letter to Leibniz, May 13, 1686" (pp. 11-16)
Leibniz: "Letters to Arnauld" (248-254)
SEP: "Leibniz's Modal Metaphysics" (Sections 3-4)

Mar 3. Leibniz on Minds and their Place in Nature

Leibniz: "New System of Nature" (269- 274)
SEP: "Leibniz's Philosophy of Physics" (Sections 2.1-2.2; 3.3) (recommended)

Mar 8. Windowless Monads

Leibniz: The Principes of Philosophy, or the Monadology (275-283)

Mar 10. Exam #1

III. Malebranche and Berkeley

Mar 22. Malebranche's Epistemology: 'Vision in God'

Malebranche: Search After Truth, Elucidation VI (e-reserve)
Malebrache: Search After Truth III.2.1-7 (200-210)

Mar 24. Malebranche's Metaphysics: 'Occasionalism'

Malebranche: Search After Truth, VI.2.3 & Elucidation XV (212-223)

Mar 29. Berkeley's Critique of Materialism (I)

Berkeley: Principles of Human Knowledge. Part I. 1-7 (447-448)
Berkeley: First Dialogue between Hylas and Philonous (454-464)

Mar 31. Berkeley's Critique of Materialism (II)

Berkeley: Principles of Human Knowledge Part I. 8-25 (448-452)
Berkeley: First Dialogue between Hylas and Philonous (464-474)

Apr 5 . Berkeley's Critique of Materialism (III)

Berkeley: Principles of Human Knowledge Part I. 25-33 (452-453)
Berkeley: Second Dialogue between Hylas and Philonous (475-484)

Apr 7. Berkeley's Defense of Idealism

Berkeley: Principles of Human Knowledge Preface, Introduction 1-5 (438-439)
Berkeley: Third Dialogue between Hylas and Philonous (484-503)

Apr 12. Exam #2


IV. Hume and Kant

Apr 14. Hume's Theory of the External World

Hume: Treatise of Human Nature, "Of skepticism with regard to the senses" (e-reserve)

Apr 19. Hume's Theory of Personal Identity

Hume: Treatise of Human Nature, "Of Personal Identity" (525-532)

Apr 21. Hume's Theory of Causation

Hume: An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section VII, "Of the idea of necessary connection" (556-564)

Apr 26. Skepticism and its Critics

Bayle: Dictionary, "Pyrrho", Note B (512-516)
Hume: An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section VII (598-600)
Reid: Inquiry into the Human Mind and Principles of Common Sense,Conclusion and Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, VI.1-2 (646-653)

Apr 28. Kant's Response to Hume

Kant: Prolegamena, "Preface" (661-664: read up to "wherever he like")
Kant: Critique of Pure Reason, "Introduction IV-VII" (724-729)

May 3. Kant's Theory of Causation

Kant: Critique of Pure Reason, "On the Deduction of the Pure Concepts of the Understanding" (742-745; read up to "appropriate activity")
Kant: Critique of Pure Reason, "Second Analogy" (772-776)

May 5. Kant's Theory of Freedom

Kant: Critique of Pure Reason, "Refutation of Idealism" (781-783)
Kant: Critique of Pure Reason, "Third Antinomy" (798-800); "Reconciled" (813-814)

May 13: Exam #3 (1:30-3:30)