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Mark Collier > Courses > Modern Philosophy

Phil 3171: History of Modern Philosophy


University of Minnesota, Morris
Professor Collier

 

 

Course Description: The Scientific Revolution caused a major 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 grasp 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:

Three Exams: 20% 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. Additional readings available at Briggs Library e-reserve.


Class Schedule:

Locke

1. Polemic Against Innate Ideas

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

2. Primary/Secondary Qualities

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

3. Complex Ideas and Substances

Locke: Essay II.12 (340-342), II.23 (359-367)

4. Personal Identity

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

5. Knowledge

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


Leibniz and Spinoza

1. God and the Principle of Sufficient Reason

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

2. Theodicy

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

3. 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)

4. Freedom and Contingency

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

5. Substance Monism

Spinoza: Ethics, Part I (129-136)

6. Necessitarianism

Spinoza: Ethics, Part I (137-149)

III. Malebranche and Berkeley

1. Vision in God

Malebrache: Search After Truth III.2.1-7 (200-212)
Malebranche: Search After Truth, Elucidation VI (e-reserve)
Leibniz: Discourse on Metaphysics, 23-29 (238-242)

2. Occasionalism

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

3. Critique of Materialism

Berkeley: First Dialogue between Hylas and Philonous (413-423)

4. Critique of Materialism (II)

Berkeley: First Dialogue between Hylas and Philonous (423-433)

 5. Critique of Materialism (III)

Berkeley: Second Dialogue between Hylas and Philonous (433-443)

6. Defense of Idealism

Berkeley: Third Dialogue between Hylas and Philonous (443-461)


IV. Hume and Kant

1. The External World

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

2. Personal Identity

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

3. Causation

Hume: Enquiry, Section VII, "Of the idea of necessary connection" (556-564)

4. Skepticism

Hume: Enquiry, Section VII (598-600)
Reid: 3-12, 19-25, 52-59 (Beanblossom and Lehrer ed.) *
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)

5. Kant's Reply to Hume

Kant: Prolegamena, "Preface" (661-664)
Kant: Critique of Pure Reason, "Introduction IV-VII" (724-729)
Kant: Critique of Pure Reason, "On the Deduction of the Pure Concepts of the Understanding" (742-745)
Kant: Critique of Pure Reason, "Second Analogy" (772-776)

6. Kant's Refutation of Idealism and 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)