Course name: Metaphysics (PHIL 401) = 3 credits
Instructor's name: István Aranyosi. E-MAIL: aranyosi@bilkent.edu.tr (use only this email if you are a Bilkent student)
Office location: FA 113A
COURSE SCHEDULE: MON 15:40-17:40
WED 16:40-17:40
PLACE: FA 121
OFFICE HOURS: Tuesday13-15 SAMPLE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR WRITTEN EXAM
OBJECTIVE: To familiarize students with the main topics and debates in contemporary analytic metaphysics.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: (a) attendance, (b) participation in class, (c) a midterm, 2h long, closed book exam, and (d) a short, 1500-2000 word, essay on a topic of the student's choice (but from the set of topics we will have covered in the course).
PARTICIPATION: by "participation" I mean asking questions, commenting on the texts, and also a short 10-15 min. presentation of a fragment of the required readings. By default student presentation will take place during the 2-hour slot of the class (but this might change from time to time).
GRADING: essay - 40%
midterm exam - 30%
participation - 15%
attendance - 15%
TEXTBOOK: we will use E.J. Lowe, A survey of metaphysics, OUP, 2002.
OTHER MATERIAL: mostly online, see below.
READING AND TOPIC SCHEDULE:
Week 1 (17/9): EXISTENCE AND ONTOLOGICAL COMMITMENT (handout)
W.V.O. Quine, "On what there is", you copy it from his book From a logical point of view : 9 logico-philosophical essays, which you find in the library BC71.Q48 1963, ON RESERVE. (I'll also have a copy).
Week 2 (24/9): ONTOLOGICAL CATEGORIES
Aristotle, The Categories (sections 1-5), online at http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/a/aristotle/categories/
I. Aranyosi, "Aristotelian nonsubstantial particulars", Philosophical Writings 26, Summer 2004, 3-15. Online at: http://www.personal.ceu.hu/students/03/Istvan_Aranyosi/Aristotelian%20Nonsubstantial%20Particulars,%20by%20I.A.%20Aranyosi.pdf
Week 3 (1/10): UNIVERSALS AND PARTICULARS (handout, handout2)
Part VI from Lowe
Week 4 (8/10): SPACE AND TIME (handout, handout2)
Part V, chapters 14, 17, 18 from Lowe
WEEK 5 (15/10): EVENTS AND ACTIONS (handout, handout2)
Part IV, chapters 12, 13 from Lowe
WEEK 6 (22/10): MIND AND BODY: MATERIALISM VERSUS DUALISM (handout, handout 2)
D. Chalmers, "Consciousness and its Place in Nature", in The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Mind, edited by Stephen Stich and Fritz Warfield (Blackwell, 2003. Online at: http://consc.net/papers/nature.pdf
WEEK 7 (29/10):TROPES (No class on 29/10).(handout)
J. Schaffer, "The individuation of tropes", Australasian Journal of Philosophy 79 (2001), 247-57. Online at:
http://people.umass.edu/schaffer/papers/Tropes.pdf
+ Review for the exam.
WEEK 8 (5/11): Closed book, 2h exam. Then continue with tropes.
WEEK 9 (12/11): PERSISTENCE/CONSTITUTION (handout)
M. Moyer "Statues and lumps: a strange coincidence?",Synthese 148 (1/2006), 401-423. Online at: http://www.uvm.edu/~mmmoyer/papers/TC.pdf
WEEK 10 (19/11): FREE WILL (handout)
P. Van Inwagen, "How to Think about the Problem of Free Will", The Journal of Ethics (forthcoming). Online at http://philosophy.nd.edu/people/all/profiles/van-inwagen-peter/documents/HowThinkFW.doc
WEEK 11 (26/11): CAUSATION
J. Schaffer "Trumping preemption", The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 97, No. 4, April 2000, pp. 165-181. Online at: http://people.umass.edu/schaffer/papers/Trumping.pdf
WEEK 12 (3/12): MODALITY (First draft of the term paper due on 7/12)
Selections from S. Kripke, Naming and necessity.
WEEK 13 (10/12): LESSER KINDS (Extended office hours on 14/12 for feedback on your first draft)
R. Casati and A. Varzi, "Counting the Holes", Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 82:1 (2004), 23-27. (special issue on “The Philosophy of David Lewis”). Online at:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ftinterface~content=a713659800~fulltext=713240930
I. Aranyosi, "Shadows of Constitution", The Monist, July 2007, Casati and Varzi (eds.), Lesser Kinds. Online at:
here
WEEK 14 (17/12): GOD
W. L. Craig, "The existence of God and the beginning of the Universe", Online: http://www.leaderu.com/truth/3truth11.html (No class on Wed 19/12)
WEEK 15 (24/12): METAONTOLOGY (Final draft of term paper due on 05/1/2008)
H. Price, "Carnap, Quine and the Fate of Metaphysics" The Electronic Journal of Analytic Philosophy, Issue 5, Spring 1997, Guest editor: Gregg Rosenberg, Methods of Ontology. Online at:
http://ejap.louisiana.edu/EJAP/1997.spring/price976.html