Reading Assignments
(Readings from the textbook Metaphysics: Contemporary Readings, edited by Steven D. Hales are listed by selection title, author, and chapter number (or page numbers). Readings from Properties, edited by Mellor and Oliver are listed by title, author, and "P" followed by their chapter number. Readings labeled "photocopy" are on reserve at Swem Library. Additional, on-line readings are linked here.)
- For Sept. 2: Read "Preface to the Student" by Hales (pp. xv-xvi), then the first selections (Book I, Parts 1 and 2, Book IV, Parts 1 and 2, and Book VI, Part 1) from Metaphysics by Aristotle. Then read "Introduction: The Nature of Metaphysics" by Lowe (photocopy). You might want to get started on the Quine (14) as well.
- For Sept. 4: Read "On What There Is" by Quine (14).
- For Sept. 9: Read "Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology" by Carnap (15).
- For Sept. 11: Re-read the Quine and Carnap. Also, if you want to follow up on our discussion of the identity of indiscernibles, take a look at "The Identity of Indsicernibles" by Max Black.
- For Sept. 16: Read "Introduction to Abstracta" by Hale (pp. 197-206, skipping Sections 3 and 4), paragraphs 206-241, 268-269, and 287-314 from Plato's Phaedo (74a-75d, 76d-77a, 78d-79d), and Plato's Parmenides up through the passage "Do you see then, Socrates, how great is the difficulty of affirming the ideas to be absolute?--Yes, indeed." (i.e., through 133a).
- For Sept. 18: Read "The World of Universals" and "Our Knowledge of Universals" by Russell (P, II-III).
- For Sept. 23: Read "Universals as Attributes" by Armstrong (19).
- For Sept. 25: Re-read pp. 210-212 of "On What There Is" (14), then read "'Ostrich Nominalism' or 'Mirage Realism'?" by Devitt (P, VII) and "Against 'Ostrich' Nominalism: A Reply to Michael Devitt" by Armstrong (P, VIII). You might also check out pp. 188-201 of "New Work for a Theory of Universals" by Lewis (P, XIV)
- For Sept. 30: Read "The Metaphysics of Abstract Particulars" by Campbell (P, X).
- For Oct. 9: Read Parts 1-5 of Categories and Book VII (skipping Parts 7-9) from Metaphysics by Aristotle.
- For Oct. 16: Re-read the Aristotle and also read Book II, Chapter 23 of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by Locke and "Introduction to Substance" by Lowe (pp. 371-376).
- For Oct. 21: Read "Three Versions of the Bundle Theory" by Van Cleve (26). Also, get started on the First Paper Assignment, which is due on 10/30.
- For Oct. 23: Read "Particulars in Particular Clothing: Three Trope Theories of Substance" by Simons (28).
- For Oct. 28: No class
- For Oct. 30: First Paper due.
- For Nov. 6: Read "Bare Particulars" by Allaire, "Particulars Re-Clothed" by Chappell, and "Another Look at Bare Particulars" by Allaire (all photocopies).
- For Nov. 11: Re-read the Allaire-Chappell papers. Also, read Sections 1-3, 8-9, 13-14, 31 from Discourse on Metaphysics, "Necessary and Contingent Truths" (photocopy), and Sections 31-55 from Monadology, all by Leibniz.
- For Nov. 18: Look at the Leibniz again (focusing on what he says about modalities). Also, read "Possible Worlds" and the selection from On the Plurality of Worlds, both by Lewis (photocopies).
- For Nov. 20: Read "Possible Worlds" by Stalnaker.
- For Nov. 25: Read the selection (pp. 39-47) from Naming and Necessity by Kripke (photocopy) and "Transworld Identity or Worldbound Individuals?" by Plantinga (photocopy). Also, get started on the Second Paper Assignment, which is due on 12/6.
- For Dec. 2: Read "Introduction to the Realism Debates" by Blackburn (pp. 47-51), "Why There Isn't a Ready-Made World" by Putnam (5), and "Putnam's Pragmatic Realism" by Sosa (6).
- For Dec. 4: Read "A Naturalistic Defense of Realism" (7) and "Postscript" (8) by Devitt.
- For Dec. 6: Second Paper due by 5pm.
- For Dec. 8: Review session, 5pm.
- For Dec. 10: Study for the Final Exam, which will be at 8:30am on this day. Bring a bluebook.
Last updated November 25, 2002
This site is maintained by James A. Woodbridge.
This document was created on August 26, 2002.