PHIL 115 – PHILOSOPHY OF DEATH AND DYING (Section 01)

SPRING 2010

Professor: Dr. Ron Wilburn

Time and Location: M, W 2:30-3:45 PM, CBC C235

Office Hours: M, T, Th 11:30 – 12:45 PM and by appointment, (702) 895-4334

Office: CDC Building #4, Room 30 (CDC is the collection of temporary one-story structures between CBC and BEH -- Link to Interactive Campus Map)

Email: rojobn@unlv.nevada.edu; wilburn.ron@gmail.net

Url: http://faculty.unlv.edu/rwilburn/115%20syllabus%20fall%202008.htm

Acknowledgements: I am heavily indebted to Shelly Kagen's "Death" course (Yale University), and to  Vincent Barry's 10 Good Questions About Life And Death, for both the reading list and lecture sequence of this course.

Introduction

Of the few certainties available to us, one is that every single one of us will die. However, what should we make of this inevitability? Herein, we will consider various issues that arise in connection with the fact of our mortality. What is death? Is immortality possible, and would it even be desirable? Why is death typically regarded as an evil? Is suicide ever permissible? How should we treat the dead? And how should our knowledge of our mortality affect the way we live?

Texts to buy:

John Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality (in bookstore by mid-semester)

Other Materials that you need not buy (these will all be linked directly from the syllabus, or placed on reserve through Lied library, or sent to you directly by way of class list serve).

Barry, Vincent E., Philosophical Thinking about Death and Dying (selections)

Belshaw, Christopher, 10 Good Questions About Life And Death (selections)

Barnes, Julian. "The Dream." In History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters.

Brandt, Richard. "The Morality and Rationality of Suicide." In Moral Problems, Edited by James Rachels. New York: Harper & Row, 1979.

Edwards, Paul. "Existentialism and Death: A Survey of Some Confusions and Absurdities." In Philosophy, Science and Method: Essays in Honor of Ernest Nagel. Edited by Sidney Morgenbesser, Patrick Suppes and Morton White. New York: St. Matrin's Press, 1969. pp. 473-505

Feldman, Fred. "The Enigma of Death." In Confrontations with the Reaper: A Philosophical Study of Nature and Value of Death. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. pp. 56-71

Hume, David. "On Suicide." In Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary.

Kaufmann, Walter. "Death." In The Faith of a Heretic. New York: New American Library, 1959. pp. 353-376

Kaufmann, Walter. "Death Without Dread." In Existentialism, Religion, and Death: Thirteen Essays. New York: New American Library, 1976. pp. 224-248

Martin, Robert. "The Identity of Animal and People." In There are Two Errors in the the Title of This Book: A Sourcebook of Philosophical Puzzles, Problems, and Paradoxes. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2002. pp. 223-226

Montaigne, Michel de. "That to Philosophize is to Learn to Die." In The Complete Essays.

Nagel, Thomas. "Death." In Mortal Questions. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979. pp. 1-10

Plato, Phaedo (online)

Rosenberg, Jay. "Life After Death: In Search of the Question." In Thinking Clearly About Death. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1983. pp. 18-22

Schick, Theodore and Lewis Vaughn. "Near-Death Experiences." In How to Think About Weird Things. New York: McGraw Hill, 2005. pp 307-323

Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels, Part III, chapter 10.

Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych.

Williams, Bernard. "The Makropulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality." In Language, Metaphysics, and Death. Edited by John Donnelly. New York: Fordham University Press, 1978. pp. 229-242

Grading

Discussion section attendance and participation: 20%
Two short papers: 20% each (total: 40%) and a final exam (40%).

Miscellaneous

I also require that each student submit a “record page” to help me recognize who's who. This consist of a letter-size sheet of paper onto which the student has photocopied his or her student ID. This single "record page" is to be given to me by the end of the second class (after which I start taking daily role). After this, students are automatically counted as "absent" until they have submitted a record page.

Every UNLV student, upon admission, is assigned a rebelmail address. If you have not activated your rebelmail account, do so by going to http://rebelmail.unlv.edu/. I may use this address from time to time to communicate with individual students.

Student Services: There are a number of services available to registered UNLV students (disability, counseling, academic advising, etc.). For further information, go to http://tlc.unlv.edu/student_success.htm.

Online Syllabus: This syllabus is posted online. From the UNLV homepage at http://www.unlv.edu, click on academics, departments, philosophy, faculty, Wilburn, Philosophy 115 (spring 2009). Check this site frequently to access assignments and note any changes that I might have to make to this syllabus. Or else just go tohttp://faculty.unlv.edu/rwilburn/115%20syllabus%20fall%202008.htm.

Agenda

Week 1

1. Mon, Jan 11: Course Introduction

Reading assignment: None

2. Mon, Jan 13: Persons --  Defining Death, Big Issues and Philosophical Methodology

Reading assignment: Barry, pp. 1-30, Belshaw, Chapter 2 and Schick and Vaughn, pp. l78-197.

Week 2

3. Mon, Jan 18: No Class (Martin Luther King Day) 

Reading assignment: none

4. Wed, Jan 20: Descartes on the Nature and Existence of the Soul

Reading assignment: Descartes’ Meditations I, II, III (online at http://www.wright.edu/cola/descartes/mede.html).

Week 3

5. Mon, Jan 25: Descartes on the Nature and Existence of the Soul (cont.)

Reading assignment: Continue with Descartes’ Meditations IV, V, VI (online at http://www.wright.edu/cola/ descartes/mede.html).

6. Wed, Jan 27: Plato on the Nature and Existence of the Soul.

Read assignment: Plato’s Phaedo (online at  http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/plato-phaedo.txt). Reading assignment: Belshaw, Chapter 5. Also, look at Schick and Vaughn, pp. l78-197. Arguments for the Existence of the Soul Part III (Free will and near-death experiences)

Week 4 and beyond is available on my WebCT class site.