American Philosophy 334

Some will claim that the most important feature of american philosophy is Pragmatism. In this class we will study pragmatism as an attempt to come up with a middle ground between Metaphysical Idealism, which holds that the world is dependent and internal to our minds, and Metaphysical Realism, which holds that the world is independent and external to our minds. We will therefore focus on the more metaphysical and epistemological aspects of pragmatism; but also consider pragmatism as a method of doing philosophy more generally. In our attempt to understand the particular ideas placed in a more general framework, we gradually move from the historical parts to the more contemporary developments.

We will pick readings from the following list:

C.S.Peirce

  1. C. S. Peirce "The Essential Peirce: Selected Philosophical Writings 1893-1913" (Ch.1,2,3,7&8)
  2. C. S. Peirce "The Essential Peirce: Selected Philosophical Writings 1867-1893" (Ch.10,15,24&25)

W.James

  1. W. James "The Sentiment of Rationality" (JSTOR)
  2. W. James "Pragmatism" (Lecture 2&6)
  3. W. James "The Meaning of Truth" (Ch.2&8)

J.Dewey

  1. J. Dewey "The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy and other Essays" (Excerpts)
  2. J. Dewey "Studies in Logical Theory" (Excerpts)

W.V.O.Quine

  1. W. V. O. Quine "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" (JSTOR)
  2. W. V. O. Quine "On What There Is"

N.Goodman

  1. N. Goodman "Fact, Fiction, and Forecast" (Ch. III&IV)
  2. N. Goodman "Ways of Worldmaking" (Ch. I,VI&VII)

 

  1. C. I. Lewis "A Pragmatic Conception of the a priori" (JSTOR)
  2. C. I. Lewis "The Given Element in Empirical Knowledge" (JSTOR

W.S.Sellars

  1. W. S. Sellars "Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind" (Excerpts)
  2. W. S. Sellars "Is There a Synthetic A Priori?"

D.Davidson

  1. D. Davidson "Radical Interpretation"
  2. D. Davidson "On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme"
  3. D. Davidson "A Coherence Theory of Truth and Knowledge"

D.Lewis

  1. D. Lewis "Radical Interpretation" (Online at DuBois)

R.Rorty

  1. R. Rorty "The World Well Lost" (JSTOR)
  2. R. Rorty "Is Truth a Goal of Inquiry?" (JSTOR)
  3. R. Rorty "Pragmatism, Davidson, and Truth"

H.Putnam

  1. H. Putnam "Reflections on Goodman's Ways of Worldmaking" (JSTOR)
  2. H. Putnam "The Many Faces of Realism" (Excerpts)
  3. H. Putnam "The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy" (Excerpts)

 

First assignment (10%): Do the following two things: (i) Clearly present and explain Peirce's notion of Pragmatism. (ii) In class we talked about some objections to Peirce's notion of Pragmatism. Clearly present and explain the main objection. Your answer must be in the range of 1-2 pages (standard format). No less, no more. The assignment is due Friday 10/12/07, in class.

Second assignment (50%) Write a 5 page essay (and by that I mean a 5 page essay!) in standard format where you do two things: (i) clearly present and explain a problem we have discussed in class as it occurs and is discussed in an article by either Lewis, Quine, Goodman, or Davidson; and (ii) present, explain, and discuss (i.e. give pros and cons to) what you take to be the main problem with one of the above mentioned authors solution to the problem. Don't try to do too much. It's better to make one good point than five bad ones. Be clear. Say only true things. For further guidelines and precisifications according to which I will grade, attend class and click here. The assignment is due Friday 11/30/07, in class.

No class Friday 10/26/07, Monday 10/29, Wednesday 10/31/07, and Friday 11/02/07. Work on the assignment!

Final in-class exam (40%) Wednesday 12/12/07

Office Hours: Mondays 3:30-4:30, Bartlett Hall 367

The readings will be available at Amherst Books, or by clicking on the items on the list above, or in class.

As a "light" preparation for this class I recommend reading "The Metaphysical Club" by Louis Menand.

Warning: this class will NOT be easy. The above readings are extremely difficult to understand. You will need to do a lot of reading and re-reading. Thus, if you are not genuinely interested in speculative philosophy, or if you don't like to read, then I suggest you do not take this class.

 

Tentative Schedule:

First Week: Intro

9/10-21: Peirce, Vol.I, Ch.1-3&7-8

9/24-10/1: James, "The sentiment of rationality", "Pragmatism", Lectures 2&6, "The meaning of truth", Ch.2&8.

10/3-12: Peirce, Vol.II, Ch.10,15,24,&25.

10/15-17: C.I.Lewis, "A pragmatic conception of the a priori" and "The given element in empirical knowledge"

10/19-24: Quine, "Two dogmas of empiricism" and "On what there is"

11/05-16: Goodman, "Fact, fiction, and forecast", Ch. 3&4.

11/19-30: Davidson, Ch.10,11&13.

12/03-05: Rorty, "The world well lost"

12/07-12: Peirce, Vol.II, Ch.29

 

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