Joe Lau's wiki: Courses/2006b PHIL 3810

Senior Seminar (3810/6810)

2nd semester, 2006-07 Monday 2-4pm seminar room
Teachers - Dr. Lau, Dr. Ci, Dr. Hawley
Course coordinator - Dr. Lau

This is an advanced seminar for undergraduate students and first-year postgraduate students. We shall be reading a list of classic and recent philosophical papers. The aim of the course is to provide an in-depth introduction to philosophical methodology and analytical skills. Students should do the assigned reading before coming to class.

• Assessment: Writing exercises (75%), Class participation (25%)
• You will be given a short essay question for each part of the course. When you submit an essay, your teacher will schedule a meeting to discuss your paper.
  • Undergraduate students: You are required to write three short essays.
  • Postgraduate students: You are required to write at least two essays. If you write three, the best two marks will be used to calculate your final grade. (Pass/Fail)
• See this page for advice about reading and writing papers.

Provisional schedule

There will be 8 meetings in total.

Part 1 (Dr. Lau)

• [29 Jan] The introduction of Williamson's book draft The Philosophy of Philosophy for The Carl G. Hempel Lectures. http://web.princeton.edu/sites/philosph/hempel2006.html (The introduction is in the PDF file for the whole book accessible from this link.)
• [5 Feb] Hempel "Problems and Changes in the Empiricist Criterion of Meaning" (Study questions to prepare before class.)
• [12 Feb] Carnap "Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology" (Study questions to prepare before class.)
• Writing assignment #1

Part 2 (Dr. Ci)

G. A. Cohen If You're an Egalitarian, How Come You're So Rich? Harvard University Press. isbn:0674006933 You can borrow the book from either the Main Library or from Loletta.

• [26 Feb] Ch. 8 "Justice, Incentives, and Selfishness"
• [5 Mar] Ch. 9 "Where the Action Is: On the Site of Distributive Justice "
• Writing assignment #2

Part 2 (Dr. Hawley)

• [19 Mar]
  • E. Gettier (1963) "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?"
  • W. Lycan, (2005) "On the Gettier Problem problem"
• [26 Mar]
  • H. P. Grice (1957) "Meaning"
  • R. Stalnaker (2005) "Saying and meaning, cheap talk and credibility"
• [2 Apr]
  • Required: E. Sosa (2006) "A defense of the use of intuitions in philosophy"
  • Recommended: E. Sosa (2007) "Intuitions: their nature and epistemic efficacy"
• Writing assignment #3 - Due on 11 May. This is to be a brief (about 5-6 page) paper on a topic of your own choosing related to the essays discussed. Please feel welcome to discuss your paper with Dr. Hawley, at any stage of your writing process.