This course will survey three topics in metaphysics: free will, material constitution, and time, with roughly equal portions of the semester being devoted to each section.
Free Will: We tend to think that most of the time the things we do are done freely, that it is up to us whether to do this thing or that other thing. If I come to a fork in the road, I can turn left or I can turn right, and which I do depends on what I choose. But we also tend to think that our actions, just like any other natural events, are in principle amenable to explanation and prediction, that they are just some among many of the causes and effects studied by scientists. Are these two thoughts incompatible? If they are, does that mean we never act freely? And if we never act freely, does that mean we should never be praised or blamed for anything we do?
Material Constitution: Ordinary objects are made up of, or constituted by, material stuff. What is the relation between these ordinary objects and the material that they're made from? My coffee-cup, for example, is made out of clay. It was created from a lump of clay that was squished into a cuplike shape and then dried in a kiln. So it seems that there are two objects, the cup and the lump of clay it's made from. But how can that be? If these are really two objects, then they occupy exactly the same space at the moment. But that's hard to believe--there doesn't seem to be room for two objects of coffee-cup size and shape in the place where the cup is. And if I was counting the things on my desk, it would be absurd to count both the cup and the clay it's made from. But if there aren't two objects there, then there's just one: the cup is identical with the piece of clay it's made from. But that's hard to believe too, since the cup and the piece of clay have different properties--the clay existed in a lump-like shape well before the cup was created. How do we sort out this mess?
Time: Are the past and the future real, in the same sense in which the present is real? Or is the past something that only used to be real, the future only going to be real? Are objects and events laid out in time the way they seem to be laid out in space? For example, does Julius Caesar exist, in the same sense in which San Francisco exists (even though, of course, Julius Caesar doesn't exist now, just as San Francisco doesn't exist here). Or is it rather that Julius Caesar doesn't exist (although he used to)? How do the different answers to these questions square with our ordinary understanding of the flow or passage of time from one moment to the next, or of time being a dimension relative to which things can change? And what can the answers to these questions tell us about the nature of ordinary things? (And perhaps, in addition: is it in principle possible for something or someone to travel forwards or backwards in time--is the time-travel of science fiction in principle possible?)
You'll have to write two papers, and sit a take-home final exam. The first paper should be four to five pages in length, and will be due the week before Fall Break. The second paper should be six to seven pages in length, and will be due the last week of classes. The final exam will be distributed on Wednesday January 17 (the first day of exams), and must be returned to me on or before 10:00a.m. on Monday January 22.
The first paper will be worth 20% of your final grade; the second paper 35%; the take-home final 35%. The remaining 10% of your grade will be determined on the basis of your participation in precepts, which will meet for fifty minutes once a week (days, times and location to be determined).
Late papers will have 1/3 of a letter grade deducted for each day they are late (including Saturdays and Sundays). (So a paper handed in three days late that should have received an A will end up receiving a B). You will find me completely inflexible on this point. There are only two ways to wriggle out of this policy: (i) Find yourself in a genuine medical or family emergency, with an appropriate medical or University official prepared to back you up; (ii) Contact me at least a week before the paper is due, and give me a reasonable explanation of why you won't be able to have the paper done in time. (Reasonable: "I have seven job interviews in the week before the paper is due." Unreasonable: "I have a chemistry midterm the day before the paper is due.")
Please note that the due-date for the take-home final is the last date allowed by the University. Any exam returned to me after 10:00a.m. on Jan 22 will receive a grade of F.