Alexis Burgess
Winter 2009
Philosophy 42
Philosophy Through Theater
Stanford University
The Premise
This course is an experiment. Let me explain. I’m a philosopher who works mostly on
metaphysics and language. I’ve also spent a considerable amount of time acting and writing
plays. My favorite works of theater are ones that have something to say, a thesis to convey. But
why write a play when you could just write a paper? Philosophical dialogues take advantage of
characters to embody different positions on a given topic, but the more informative they are the
less performable they become. It seems to me that the distinctive value of a philosophically
sensitive play lies in its capacity to convey the significance of a philosophical problem, rather
than a compelling argument for or against some solution to it. The idea is therefore that this kind
of theater could be used as a teaching tool, to get you invested in the problems of philosophy.
Or, if that doesn’t work, at least we’ll have read some good plays. Like I said, this is an
experiment.
The Topics
What is art? What is theater? What is good theater? What are we? In what sense are you the
same person your mother gave birth to, or even the same person who walked in the room
wearing your clothes a few moments ago? What implications does the possibility of cloning
have for these questions? What, if any, are the moral responsibilities of scientists? Does God
exist? How could we know? And if so, what has It done for us lately? Is everything we do
predetermined? Is there room for free will in a probabilistic universe? What is the meaning or
purpose of this life? And what do we gain by raising philosophical questions like these in a
dramatic context?
The Mechanics
The course meets on Thursdays, from 2:15 to 4:05, in Herrin T195. My office is in Building 90,
room 92A, where I’ll be holding office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12-1, and by
appointment. My email address is agb@stanford.edu. This is a discussion-based seminar. As a
rule, I won’t be lecturing, though I may occasionally do a brief presentation to clarify some of
the purely philosophical readings. A schedule is on the back of this page, including information
about the three written assignments for the course. Note that the last two weeks of the quarter
are reserved for a workshop of the dramatic scenes you’ll be writing. All of the required
readings (except for the Frankfurt, which will be posted on Coursework) should be available to
buy at the Bookstore. Optional readings are listed in a smaller type. Feel free to ask for
additional recommendations.
The Event
Last year, I started a playwriting workshop with a graduate student in philosophy and a freshman
we had in my metaphysics course. This quarter, we’re putting up the first three one-act plays to
come out of that workshop, with the help of a grant from SICA. You are all hereby invited and
encouraged to participate in that production, as cast, crew, or whatever we need and you want to
do. At the very least, you should come see the finished product. Hopefully it will be the first in
a long line of “philosophy plays” here at Stanford. Ask me for more information.
Alexis Burgess
Winter 2009
Schedule
01/08
INTRODUCTION
[no required readings]
Monty Python, ‘The Argument Sketch’
01/15
Tom Stoppard, Jumpers
Thomas Nagel, What Does it All Mean?
Plato, ‘Theaetetus’
01/22
Yasmina Reza, Art
Paul Woodruff, The Necessity of Theater, pages 3-62
Aristotle, Poetics
01/25
PAPERS DUE (11:59 pm), 3-5 pages, 20% of final grade
01/29
Caryl Churchill, A Number
John Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality
Bernard Williams, ‘The Self and the Future’
02/05
Friedrich Durrenmatt, The Physicists
Michael Frayn, Copenhagen
Michael Frayn, The Human Touch, part II
02/12
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Mark Bernstein, ‘Fatalism’
02/15
DIALOGUES DUE (11:59 pm), 10-15 pages, 30% of final grade
02/19
Jean Anouilh, Antigone
Paul Woodruff, The Necessity of Theater, pages 63-107
Sophocles, Oedipus the King
02/26
Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Harry Frankfurt, ‘Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility’
Peter van Inwagen, ‘The Incompatibility of Free Will and Determinism’
03/05
WORKSHOP
Peter Brook, The Empty Space
Antonin Artaud, The Theater and Its Double
03/12
WORKSHOP
Peter Brook, The Empty Space
Antonin Artaud, The Theater and Its Double
03/22
SCENES DUE (11:59 pm), 15-20 pages, 40% of final grade
[the last 10% of your final grade will be determined by class participation]