Phil540

PHIL 540 Special Issues in Philosophy I
Fall 2004-2005

OFFICE MATTERS :

In this course we will focus on the following issues in metaphysics: causation, determinism, free will, and fatalism. Our discussion and readings will be in the style of Analytic Philosophy.

Office : Room B139 in the Social Sciences Building.
Office hours : Mon 12:40-13:30; Tue 15:40-17:30. Other meeting times with the instructor are also possible by prior appointment.
Office phone : On campus: 5339; off campus: 210-5339. You can leave a message on the answering machine.
E-mail : esayan@metu.edu.tr

COURSE REQUIREMENTS :

Attendance and active class participation are required. You must come to class having done the assigned reading, and must be prepared to orally answer my questions on the reading assignment during class. A brief quiz will be given every week consisting of a couple of questions on the reading assignment for that week. The quiz questions will be “nonsubstantial,” designed merely to check if the students are doing the reading assignments, rather than to measure their grasp of the material. There will be no class presentations by students.

You will also be required to write two papers. The length of each paper should not be less than 7 and more than 10 pages (not including the “References” section). The pages must be double-spaced (i.e. about 24-25 lines per page) and written in Times New Roman with 12 pts font or its equivalent. Papers outside these length limitations will lose points for being too short or too long. The first paper is due in the middle of the semester, and the second the end. The vague words ‘middle’ and ‘end’ here will be made precise later. Your papers must be on different topics, as opposed to the second paper being a mere follow-up of the first one. The topics must, of course, be related to the course material. You are advised to consult with me and get my approval about the topics you want to choose for your papers. Needless to say, the papers must comply with the academic norms of format and style. Put more bluntly, noncompliance will lose you points. A number of sample graduate-student papers written in the past will be made available in the Reserve Section of the library for you to look at.

The first paper will carry a weight of 35% and the second 40%. The total weight of the class participation/contribution and the quizzes will be 25%.

For an encyclopedia of philosophy on the Web see, “Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy” at:
http://plato.stanford.edu

THE SEQUENCE OF READINGS :

A. “Cause” (Chapter 14) in Roger Scruton, Modern Philosophy (New York: Penguin Books, 1994).
B. “Causation” (Chapter 4) in Brian Carr, Metaphysics (Atlantic Highlands: Humanities Press Intentional, 1987).
C. “Introduction” in Ernest Sosa and Michael Tooley (eds.), Causation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993).
D. “Freedom” (Chapter 17) in Scruton, op. cit.
E. “Metaphysical Freedom” (Chapter 9) in Bruce Aune, Metaphysics (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985).
F. “The Powers of Rational Beings: Freedom of the Will” (Chapter 11) in Peter van Inwagen, Metaphysics (Boulder and San Fransisco: Westview Press, 1993).
G. “Determinism, Freedom, and Fatalism” (Chapter 7) in Michael Jubien, Contemporary Metaphysics (Malden, Mass. and Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell Publishers, 1997).
H. “Fatalism” in Jaegwon Kim and Ernest Sosa (eds.), A Companion to Metaphysics (Malden, Mass. and Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell, 1995).