Philosophy 0210, History of Modern Philosophy

University of Pittsburgh

Fall 2000

Lectures: Tuesday 5:45-9:00

Instructor: Hans Halvorson
Office Hours (Cathedral of Learning 1425E): Thu 1:00-2:00
E-mail: hphst1@pitt.edu (This is by far the easiest method for reaching me)
Philosophy Department Phone: 624-5774

Textbooks:

• The Rationalists. (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz; Anchor Books, 1974)
• The Empiricists. (Locke, Berkeley, Hume; Anchor Books, 1974)
• Immanuel Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (Ed. Gary Hatfield; Cambridge University Press)

Grading:

Quizzes: Every class period for which readings are assigned will begin with a brief two-question quiz. The questions may cover the reading assigned for that class period, or material covered in the previous lecture. The lowest quiz grade will be dropped.

Schedule of readings and assignments: Readings should be done prior to the lecture during which they will be discussed. For example, Meditations 1,2 and 3 should be read prior to the lecture on Sep 5. Assignments should be turned in at the beginning of lecture on the due date.

Aug 29: Introduction

Sep 5: Descartes, Meditations 1,2,3 (R, 113-143). Study Questions

Sep 12: Meditations 4,5,6 (R, 144-175); Synopsis of Meditations (R, 108-111); Discourse on Method, Parts I, II, and IV (R, 39-54, 62-68)

Sep 19: Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. (E, 7-59)

Sep 26: Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. (E, 60-91, 117-125)

Oct 3: Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.

Oct 10: Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.

Oct 17: Midterm Exam

Oct 24: Hume, On Miracles (E, 387-404)

Oct 31: Berkeley, Principles of Human Knowledge. (E, 151-215)

Nov 7: Berkeley, First Dialogue between Hylas and Philonous. (E, 217-252)

Nov 14: Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics. (R, 409-453)

Nov 21: Leibniz, The Monadology. (R, 455-471)

Nov 28: Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics.

Dec 5: Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics.

Dec 12: Overflow