Modern Philosophy
Introduction
Rationalism
René Descartes (1596-1650): Meditations
A. Philosophical Method
2
B. Cogito ergo sum
C. God’s Existence
D. World’s Existence
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-1592): Essays
3
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662): Pensées
A. Epistemology
B. Faith/Reason
C. Proofs of God’s Existence
4
D. Proofs of Christianity
Isaiah in Dead Sea Scrolls
The Philosophes
Voltaire
5
Diderot
Execution of Louis XVI
6
Thomas Paine (1737-1809): Age of Reason
A. Reason
Priest granting Absolution
B. Science
7
C. Deism
D. Bible
8
Political Philosophy
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679): Leviathan
A. Natural State
B. Sovereign
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778): The Social Contract
9
A. Natural State
Gaugin’s Tahiti
B. Sovereign
Robespierre and the National Assembly
10
John Locke (1632-1704): Concerning Civil Government, Second Essay
A. Natural State (Law of Nature): liberty, property, and equality
B. Sovereign: law, judge, and executioner
11
C. Toleration: A Letter concerning Toleration
Spanish Inquisition
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873): On Liberty
12
A. Harm Principle
B. Tyranny of the Majority
13
C. Variety of Opinions
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
A. Das Kapital: Surplus Value
B. Manifesto of the Communist Party: Dialectic Materialism, Bourgeoisie, and
Proletariat
14
Industrial Revolution
Alienation/Exploitation
15
Max Weber (1881-1961): The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Wages of Idleness
End of the Enlightenment
David Hume (1711-1776)
16
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): Critique of Pure Reason
A. Introduction: Metaphysics and Copernican Revolution
B. Sensibility
17
C. Understanding
Causality
D. Reason and Metaphysical Ideas
1. Unity of Self (Soul)
2. Unity of Series of Conditions (Cosmos)
3. Unity of Thought (God)
German Idealism
George Hegel (1770-1831): Phenomenology of the Spirit
18
A. Subjectivity
B. Self-Consciousness
C. Alienation
D. Opposites
E. Becoming
F. History
G. The Whole Process
H. Psychology/Physiognomy
19
I. Universal/Individual
J. Universal Morals
K. Capitalism/Communism
20
L. Community/Nation/Family
Deutschland über Alles
M. The Spirit
N. Content
O. Religion
Baal
21
P. Jesus Christ/ Death and Resurrection
Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Christ
Hegel: The Philosophy of Right
A. Morality
B. The State
Napoleon
22
C. Left-wing (Totalitarianism and Welfare)
D. Right-Wing (Inequality, Property Rights, and Lex Talionis)
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860): The World as Will and Representation
A. Introduction
B. Limits of Philosophy
C. Maya
D. Matter
E. Time/Space/Causality
F. Perception
23
G. Animals
H. Reason
I. Physiognomy/Eugenics
J. Will
K. Will in Nature, Animals, Plants, and Natural Forces
L. Will-to-Life/Procreation
Sockeye Salmon Spawning
24
M. Life’s Misery
Sisyphus
N. Asceticism
Shakers
25
Existentialism
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
A. Attack upon Christendom
B. Concluding Unscientific Postscript
1. The System
26
2. Objective v. Subjective Truth
3. Leap of Faith (Gotthold Lessing)
4. Stages on Life’s Way (Aesthetic, Ethical, and Religious)
5. Ethics
Abraham sacrifices Isaac
27
Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936): The Tragic Sense of Life in Men and Nations
A. Introduction
Don Quixote
B. Faith in God
C. Doubt
28
D. Reason
Heraclitus
“[Reason] seeks to congeal the flowing stream of life into blocks of ice.”
“Science is a cemetery of dead ideas.”
Fyodor Dostoevsy (1821-1881): The Brothers Karamazov
29
A. Introduction
B. Ivan
1. “All things are possible.”
2. Suffering
3. The Grand Inquisitor
C. Alyosha
D. Dmitri
E. Socialism
F. Church/State
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976): Being and Time
30
A. Introduction
B. What is Being (Sein)?
C. Dasein
D. Being-in the-World
E. Read-to-Hand
F. Care
31
G. Angst
H. Authentic v. Inauthentic Existence
I. Conscience
J. Time
32
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980): Being and Nothingness
A. Introduction
B. Phenomenology
C. Being-in-itself
D. Being-for-itself
E. Ego and Consciousness
F. World and Consciousness (Spaciality, Temporality, Instrumentality
G. Time
H. Freedom
1. Reflection-Reflecting
2. Human Origin
3. Condemned to be free
4. Ontological Reality
5. Choice of Ends/Causes/Motives
33
I. The Other
1. Subjectivity
2. Objectivity (Being-for-others)
J. Conflict
K. The Look
No Exit
34
L. Love/Sex/Sadomasochism
Marquis de Sade
M. Government
N. Anguish
O. Death
P. Ethics/Values
35
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900): Thus Spoke Zarathustra
A. Introduction
B. Inequality
C. Übermensch
36
D. Will-to–Power
Mussolini and Hitler
E. Slave Morality v. Master Morality
F. Ressentiment
G. Anti-Christ
H. God is Dead
I. Eternal Recurrence of the Same
37
Logic and Linguistics
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
A. Introduction
B. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
C. Philosophical Investigations
D. On Certainty
American Pragmatism
John Dewey (1859-1952)
A. Relativity
B. Old Education
C. New Education
Postmodernism
Jacques Derrida (1930-2005)
A. Deconstructionism
B. Of Grammatology
1. Subject/Object
2. Heidegger/Being
3. Nietzsche/Forgetfulness
4. Dissemination
5. Différance
38
6. Blind Spots
7. Semiology/Structuralism
8. Writing
9. Saussure/ Lévi-Strauss/Rousseau
C. Limited Inc: Problems with limiting interpretation to the author’s intention
1. A writing is cut off from the consciousness of an author.
2. A citation breaks with every given context.
3. Interpretation can subvert an author.
4. There are ramifications and implications that exceed the original context.
5. The conscious ego is never fully present to itself.
Richard Rorty (1931- ): Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature
n. Harry Frankfurt (1929- ): On Bullshit
39
Bull Session
Stanley Fish (1938- ): Doing What Comes Naturally
A. Is There a Text in This Class?
B. Sophists
C. Bias
D. Sitz im Leben
40
E. Science
F. Freud and Psychoanalysis (n. Elaine Showalter’s Hysterical Epidemics and
Modern Culture)
G. Theory/Justice/Liberalism
Sonia Sotomayor at Senate Hearing
41
Slavoj Žižek (1049- )
A. Introduction
B. The Real as Fantacy-Frame
C. Kant (Noumenal/Phenomenal World/Ego/Morality)
D. Hegel (Synthesis)
E. The Subject
F. Sexuality
G. Social Identity
42
Michel Foucault (1926-1984)
A. Introduction
B. Abnormal v. Normal
C. Human Sciences
D. Structuralism
E. The Archaeology of Knowledge
F. Genealogy as a Means of critique
G. Power/Knowledge
43
H. The Birth of the Clinic
Autopsy
I. Madness and Civilization
Insane Asylum
44
J. Discipline & Punish (n. Philip Howard’s The Death of Common Sense)
Panopticon
45
K. The History of Sexuality
1. Sexual Revolution
2. Abstinence/Moderation
46
3. Sexual Preference
Greek Sexuality
Anti-Postmodernism
Noam Chomsky (1928- )
47
A. Universal Grammar
B. Children
C. Animals
D. A Priori Nature of Language
Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002): Truth and Method
48
A. Art
Van Gogh
B. Authorial Intent
Plato and Aristotle
49
C. Tradition
Mozart
Jürgen Habermas (1929- )
50
A. The Theory of Communicative Action
B. The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity
1. Sinister Historical Ramifications (Nietzsche and Heidegger)
2. Unprovable
3.
No Mechanism for Social Integration
51
Feminism
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797): A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
A. Introduction
B. Rousseau
C. Culture
D. Custom
52
E. Coquetry
Marilyn Monroe
F. Sycophants
G. Reason
H. Marriage and Motherhood
53
J. S. Mill (1806-1873): The Subjection of Women
A. Reason for Subjection
B. Equality of Opportunity
Betty Friedan (1921-2006): The Feminine Mystique
54
A. Intro.
B. Functionalism (Margaret Mead)
C. Egalitarianism
D. Cultural Indoctrination
55
E. 1950s (Occupation: Housewife)
56
F. Female Identity
G. History of Feminism
H. Penis Envy
I. Women and Politics
57
J. Solutions
Mary Daly (1928- )
58
A. Pure Lust
1. Phallocracy/Patriarchy
Good Old Boys Club
Asherah Pole at Hazor
59
2. Christianity
The Flogging of Jesus
3. Nature
B. Gyn/ecology
1. Radical feminism
2. Five Rites of Female Massacre: Suttee, Chinese Foot Binding, Female
Circumcision, Witch Hunts, and Gynecology
60
Chinese Foot Binding
Witch Hunts
61
Mammogram
3. Female Language
4. Femininity
Carol Gilligan (1936- ): In a Different Voice
A. Ethics
62
Hopscotch
B. Relationships
Simon de Beauvoir (1908-1986): The Second Sex
A. Female Inequality
B. Reproduction
63
C. Culture
D. Immanence
E. Independence
F. Mystery
G. Passivity
64
H. Marriage
I. Female body
J. Abortion
William James (1842-1910): The Varieties of Religious Experience and The Will to
Believe
A. Introduction
B. Religious Experience
C. Healthy-Mindedness v. Morbid Consciousness
65
Walt Whitman
D. Corporate v. Individual Experience
E. Asceticism and Pragmatism
66
Margaret Mary
F. Limits of Reason/Science
G. Credibility
H. Necessity of Choosing
I. Science v. the Soul
67
J. Morality/Free Will
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1883): Selected Essays
A. Natural Revelation
68
B. Spirit and Matter
C. Transcendentalism
D. Self-Reliance
E. Ongoing Revelation
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)
69
A. Introduction
B. Civil Disobedience
C. Walden
70
1. Simplicity
2. Isolation
3. Nature
4. Religion
5. Work Ethic
6. Individualism
71
Kip Redick
Martin Buber (1878-1965): I and Thou
A. Introduction
B. I/Thou v. I/It
C. God and the World
72
D. Encounter
Georges Bataille (1897-1962)
A. Eroticism: Death and Sensuality
St. Teresa of Avila
73
B. Literature and Evil
Rolling Stones
Eastern Philosophy
74
Buddhism
A. The Life of Siddhartha Gautama (Sixth Century B.C.E.)
B. Four Noble Truths
C. Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism
Bodhisattva
75
D. Zen Buddhism (Zazen, Koan, and Satori)
Confucianism: Analects
A. The Life of Teacher Kong
B. Social Ethics
C. Metaphysics
D. Cardinal Virtues: ren, li, and xiao
E. History and Schools
1. Mohists
2. Legalists
3. Daoists
76
Daoism: Dao De Ching
A. Lao Tzu (Sixth/Fifth Century B.C.E.)
B. Wu Wei
C. Relativity
D. Laissez-Faire
E. Dao
77
F. Yin/Yang
Mind/Body Problem
John Searle (1932- )
78
Water Molecule
B. F. Skinner (1904-1990): Beyond Freedom & Dignity
A. Environment
79
B. Responsibility
C. Morality
Gilbert Ryle (170-1976): The Concept of the Mind
A. Descartes’ Dualism
B. Behaviorism
C. Self-Consciousness
D. No Phantasms
E. Psychology
F. Free Will
G. Logic
80
Philosophy of Science
A. Bacon and Bias
B. Kuhn: Theory and Fact
C. Progress
D. Essences
E. Regularity
F. Simplicity
William Ockham
81
G. Reductionism
H. Popper and Falsifiability
Karl Popper
I. Predictions
82
J. Measurements
K. Probability
Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996): The Structure of the Scientific Revolution
A. Progress
B. Normative Science
83
C. Fact and Theory
Evolutionary Theory
Charles Darwin
A. Proof
84
Darwin’s Finches
Ontogeny recapitulates Phylogeny
85
B. Influence on Darwin
Thomas Malthus
86
C. Mechanism
Lamark’s Mechanism
87
Darwin’s Mechanism
D. Darwin’s Philosophical Influence (Economics, Racism, Eugenics, and
Materialism)
Herbert Spencer
88
Epiphany I: Adoration of the Magi (Gottfried Helnwein)
E. Uniformity v. Catastrophe
89
F. Transitions
Archaeopteryx
Sinosauropteryx
90
G. Punctuated Equilibria
Coelacanth
Trilobite
H. Michael Behe’s Darwin’s Black Box
1. Introduction
91
2. The Eye
3. The Cell (Cilium, Blood Clotting, Intra-Cellular Transport, the Immune
System, and AMP)
4. Paley’s Argument
92
Physics
A. Limitations
B. Einstein’s Epistemology
C. Newton’s Laws of Motion, Theory of Gravity, and Concept of Space and Time
D. Einstein’s concept of Space and Time
93
E. Special Relativity
94
F. General Relativity
G. Proof
Bending of Light
95
H. Spinoffs
Atom Bomb
96
Finite Space
97
Black Holes
Quantum Theory
A. Unified Field Theory for the Four Forces (Gravity, Electromagnetism, Weak Force,
and Strong Force)
B. Light: Wave (Thomas Young and James Maxwell) or Particle (Max Plank and
Albert Einstein)
98
C. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle
Werner Heisenberg
D. Copenhagen Interpretation
Niels Bohr
99
Schrödinger’s Cat
E. Probability
F. Our Consciousness
G. Telepathy
H. Atomic Models
Rutherford
100
Bohr
Schrödinger
I. New Particles (Fermions, Bosons, Quarks, Anti-Matter, et al.)
J. The Standard Model
101
K. Superstring Theory
String Particle
L. 10/11 Dimensions
M. GUT
102
N. Higgs Boson
O. Practical Spinoffs of Quantum Theory (Neon Lights, Plasma TV, Lasers,
Microwaves, GPS, Electricity, Conductors, Solar Panels, X-Rays, MRI, Electron
Microscopes
Paul Davies: Cosmic Fine-Tuning
Paul Davies
A. Unified Theory of Particles
B. Rational/Mathematical Universe
C. Heat/Symmetry
David Heddle
103
D. Big Bang
E. Singularity
F. Fine-Tuning
1. Carbon
2. Dark Energy (Λ: 10-28)
3. God
4. Multiverse
5. Closed-Loop
104
Ethics
A. Asceticism (Pythagoreans)
B. Hedonism (Cyrenaics and Epicureans)
C. Moderation: Plato and Aristotle
D. Deontological Ethics (Immanuel Kant)
E. Utilitarianism (Jeremy Bentham and J.S. Mill)
F. Existentialism
1. Theistic (Søren Kierkegaard, Rudolf Bultmann, and Karl Barth)
2. Atheistic (Friedrich Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre)
G. Virtue (Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and Alasdair MacIntyre)
Trolley Problem
Spur
105
Fat Man Problem
Peter Singer (1946- ): Practical Ethics
A. Consequentialism
B. Egalitarianism
106
C. Animal Rights
107
D. Abortion
108
E. Infanticide