Classics of Analytic Philosophy First Year Seminar

Princeton University Fall 2008

Delia G. Fara graff@princeton.edu

Thomas Kelly tkelly@princeton.edu Wednesdays, 2:30-4:30.

Each week we will read a seminal work of twentieth century analytic philosophy and try to make as much sense of it as we can together. We will attempt to reconstruct and evaluate the author's argument, but we will be no less concerned to place the work in historical context and to understand why it achieved landmark status.

Students will make presentations and write short (2-3 page) papers on a regular basis (roughly, every other week). Please bring two hard copies of your paper to class. Schedule of Readings (subject to change at discretion of the instructors). Week 1, 9/17. G.E. Moore, “The Subject Matter of Ethics”, chapter 1 of his Principia Ethica (1903). Week 2, 9/24. Bertrand Russell, “On Denoting”. Mind, New Series, vol.14, No.56 (Oct. 1905), pp.479-493. Available via JSTOR. Reprinted in his Logic and Knowledge. Russell, “Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge By Description”, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (New Series), Vol.XI, (1910-1911), pp.108-128. Reprinted in his Mysticism and Logic. Week 3, 10/1. A.J. Ayer, “The Elimination of Metaphysics”, “The Function of Philosophy”, and “The A Priori”, Chapters 1, 2, and 4 of his Language, Truth, and Logic (1936), pp.33- 58, 71-87.

2

Week 4, 10/8. Ayer, “Critique of Ethics and Theology”, chapter 6 of Language, Truth, and Logic, pp.102-120. J.L.Mackie, “The Subjectivity of Values”, chapter 1 of his Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong (1977), pp.15-49. Week 5, 10/15. W.V.Quine “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” The Philosophical Review, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Jan., 1951), pp. 20-43. Available via JSTOR. Week 6, 10/22. Nelson Goodman, “The New Riddle of Induction”, Chapter 3 of his Fact, Fiction, and Forecast, pp.59-83. Goodman, “The Passing of the Possible” (selections), Chapter 2 of Fact, Fiction, and Forecast. Fall Break Week 7, 11/5. Carl Hempel, “Explanation in Science and in History”, in R.G. Golodny (ed.) Frontiers of Science and Philosophy (London and Pittsburgh: Allen& Unwin, 1962): 7-33. Reprinted in David-Hillel Ruben (ed.) Explanation (Oxford University Press, 1993, 17-41. Week 8, 11/12. Edmund Gettier, “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?” in Analysis, Vol. 23, No. 6 (Jun., 1963), pp. 121-123. Available via JSTOR. Gilbert Harman, “The Inference to the Best Explanation”, The Philosophical Review, Vol. 74, No. 1 (Jan., 1965), pp. 88-95.

3

Week 9, 11/19. Alvin Goldman, “Discrimination and Perceptual Knowledge” The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 73, No. 20, 771-791. Nov. 18, 1976. Available online via JSTOR. David Lewis, “Elusive Knowledge”, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, volume 74, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 549 – 567. Available online from Princeton e-journals. Also reprinted in his Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology. Week 10, 11/26. Saul Kripke, Naming and Necessity. Week 11, 12/3. Kripke, Naming and Necessity (continued). Week 12, 12/10. Frank Jackson, “Epiphenomenal Qualia”, Philosophical Quarterly 32 (1982):127-36. Available online via JSTOR. David Lewis, “Mad Pain and Martian Pain”, in his Philosophical Papers, vol.I, pp.122-132 (including postscript).