Modern Western Philosophy (SS149)
This course is not computer related but essential for science thinking. Though the final grade is not satisfying, I learnt a lot from this course. The instructor is a analytic philosopher, so the course might seem boring and tough for some students. Well, all philosophy courses are tough and mind-blowing.
About
- Instructor:
Takaharu Oda (小田崇晴) - Semester:
2024 Spring - Textbook: See Materials
Content
The content is divided into two parts: 17-th century and 18-th century, both take 7 weeks.
| Week | Topic | Overview |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | Intro to logic and analytic philosophy |
| 2 | Descartes 1 | Meditation 1-3: Argument for sceptical hypothesis, Wax argument, and argument for the existence of God |
| 3 | Descartes 2 | Meditation 5-6: Argument about judgement, ontological argument, conceivability argument and argument for bodily causation |
| 4 | Spinoza and Leibniz | Defense and objection to final causation |
| 5 | Leibniz and Cavendish | Argument for motion of matter |
| 6 | Cavendish and Malebranche | Panpsychism and Occasionalism |
| 7 | Locke and Astell and Part I Conclusion | The nature and origin of idea, argument for knowledge and judgement and conclusion of 17-th century |
| 8 | Berkeley 1 | Occasional causation |
| 9 | Berkeley 2 | Berkeley's response to objection |
| 10 | Berkeley 3 | Argument of the Three Dialogues |
| 11 | Berkeley 4 | Theories of causation |
| 12 | Hume | Hume's Fork, uniformity principle of nature, custom principle, chimera, copy principle and idea of 'No necessary connection' |
| 13 | Shepherd | Vision argument, Uncaused Objection |
| 14 | Kant and Part II Conclusion | Intro to Immanuel Kant and Conclusion of 18-th century |
| 15-16 | Presentation | 3 mins talks by students |
Assessment
As a social science course, the assessment mainly includes the following: - Attendance: see if you learn something from the class - Essay: see if you acquire the ability to think critically like a analytic philosopher - Presentation: see if you can explain your thoughts logically
Essay
For more details, see Essay Questions.
Choose exactly one question from the list of questions and critically evaluate the question. The evaluation should be based on the following criteria: - Identify the premises and conclusion of thoughts, and provides a construction of the argument. - Check the validity and soundness of the argument, and evaluate it. - Determine one possible weakness of the argument and provide an objection. - Provide a response to the objection, i.e., defend the argument or revise it.
Presentation
The talks should cover another question from the list, and similar structure as the essay.