Philosophy 101: Introduction to Philosophy, Spring 2008
Professor Edward Hinchman
618 Curtin Hall, 229-4719, hinchman@uwm.edu
Office hours: MW 12:00-1:00
Teaching Assistants
Mark Arciaga, marciaga@uwm.edu; Roy Blumenfeld, rb@uwm.edu; Jeremy Hankins, hankins@uwm.edu; Jonathan
Hunter, hunterjm@uwm.edu; William Reckner, wreckner@uwm.edu; Gareth Wilson, gmwilson@uwm.edu
Required Texts
Steven M. Cahn (ed.), Philosophy for the 21st Century (Oxford University Press, 2003)
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Ross, rev. Ackrill and Urmson (Oxford University Press, 1998)
--The UWM bookstore assures me that the Aristotle text is free when you purchase the Cahn.
Course Description
This course is an introduction to Western Philosophy. Students need not have any background in philosophy, nor any
plans for further study. The course has three broad aims:
(1) to introduce students to the tradition of philosophical argument in the West via primary texts, both classical
and contemporary,
(2) to teach students how in general to make and evaluate philosophical arguments,
(3) to demonstrate to any student who cares to participate actively how exciting and even fun philosophy can be.
Since philosophy is, most fundamentally, nothing but informed public reflection on what it might be to do and believe
what we ought to do and believe (Socrates: “What we are talking about is how one should live”), I hope that by the end of
the term the third aim of the course will take priority over the other two.
This course will use D2L (at https://uwm.courses.wisconsin.edu)
Make sure you know how to use D2L right away, since discussion sections will meet online every other week.
Online sections will not meet the first week. See the Schedule of Readings, Sections and Exams.
Coursework
*Participation
--Discussion sections, both online and in class, will live up to their name: discussion will be strongly
encouraged there.
--Plus, each student must make at least one substantial contribution per week to the threaded discussion
board.
--Participation, in class and online, will constitute 20% of your course grade.
*Weekly quizzes on the lectures and reading
--The quizzes give you an incentive to keep up with both the lectures and the reading.
--The quizzes will be on D2L each D-Week.
--The quizzes will constitute 20% of your course grade. (Each quiz is roughly 2%.)
*Three non-cumulative exams
--There will be three fifty-minute non-cumulative exams during the term.
--Each exam will constitute 20% of your course grade.
Note on the lectures
Since our classrooms are so large, I will lecture with powerpoints and other displayed material, but I will not
make this material otherwise available. You must attend lecture and take notes. If you have to miss a lecture
owing to illness, get notes from a classmate and test your understanding of them in discussion section.
Note on tutoring and accessibility
Don’t be shy about talking either to me or to your TA if you need help with the course material. For much of
this material you will not be able to find tutorial help elsewhere on campus. If you will need accommodations in
order to meet any of the requirements of this course, please contact the Student Accessibility Center (229-6287)
right away.
Schedule of Readings, Sections, and Exams for Philosophy 101, Spring 2008 (with page numbers in the Cahn Reader)
D-Week = ‘discussion week.’ Odd numbered discussion sections meet online in odd D-Weeks; even numbered
sections meet online in even D-Weeks. Other D-Weeks, sections meet in the classroom.
Part One: God, Freedom, and Personhood
No Discussion
W, 23 Jan
Introduction to the course
D-Week 1
M, 28 Jan
W, 30 Jan
Blackburn, Introduction: “What is Philosophy” and “A Little Logic” (1-5, 5-6)
Plato, Euthyphro (13)
D-Week 2
M, 4 Feb
Anselm, “The Ontological Argument” (24), Gaunilo, “In Behalf of the Fool” (26),
Kant, “Critique of the Ontological Argument” (27), Moore, “Is Existence a Predicate?” (28)
W, 6 Feb
Swinburne, “Why God Allows Evil” (72)
D-Week 3
M, 11 Feb
W, 13 Feb
Ayer, “Freedom and Necessity” (401)
Chisholm, “Human Freedom and the Self” (407)
D-Week 4
M, 18 Feb
W, 20 Feb
Frankfurt, “Alternative Possibilities and Moral Responsibility” (414)
Locke, “Of Identity and Diversity” (330)
D-Week 5
M, 25 Feb
W, 27 Feb
Shoemaker, “Personal Identity and Memory” (337)
Parfit, “Personal Identity” (345)
D-Week 6
M, 3 March
First exam
Part Two: Epistemology and Metaphysics
W, 5 March
Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy (101)
D-Week 7
M, 10 March
Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (110), and Berkeley, Three
Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (115), to nine lines from the end of page 119.
W, 12 March
Berkeley, Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (115), to the end
D-Week 8
M, 24 March
W, 26 March
G. E. Moore, “Proof of an External World” (137)
Russell, “On the Relations of Universals and Particulars” (290)
D-Week 9
M, 31 March
W, 2 April
Lewis, “Many, but almost One” (320)
Fodor, “The Mind-Body Problem” (451)
No Discussion
M, 7 April
W, 9 April
Searle, “Can Computers Think?” (475)
Second exam
Part Three: Ethics and Metaethics
D-Week 10
M, 14 April
W, 16 April
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Books I through VI, in our Reader (610)
Aristotle, NE, Book VII, chapters 1-10 (pp. 159-183 of the complete edition)
D-Week 11
M, 21 April
W, 23 April
Aristotle, NE, Books VIII and IX, pp. 192-206 and 225-241 of the complete ed.
MacIntyre, After Virtue (619)
D-Week 12
M, 28 April
W, 30 April
Mill, Utilitarianism (575), and Nozick, “The Experience Machine” (580)
Kant, Fundamental Principles (582), and O’Neill, “A Simplified Account” (587)
No Discussion
M, 5 May
W, 7 May
Nagel, “Moral Luck” (650)
Mackie, “The Subjectivity of Values” (561), and Dworkin, “A Critique” (568)
Third exam at the officially scheduled final exam time.