Philosophy 1000: Introduction to Philosophy
Prof. Brian Beakley
bbeakley@eiu.edu
3536 Coleman Hall    581-3964
Office Hours: T,Th 5-6, 7:15-8:15

I. The Course. This course is intended to provide a general introduction to philosophy, by covering a variety of classical philosophical topics.  The course lives up to its name by focusing primarily on two of the leading forces in human culture –  religion and science – as they have shaped our conception(s) of the human person.  We begin with a topic specific to philosophy of religion, namely arguments for and against the existence of God.  We then turn to the related question of how the existence of evil and suffering in the universe affects philosophical views on God, and how both religious and later scientific views of humanity handle the concept of free will.  We look next at issues of personal identity (of how one can be the same person through time and change), again considering how scientific developments might alter or complicate traditional views; then we consider the related mind-body problem, comparing traditional religious claims about immaterial souls with latter-day materialist views on minds, brains, and computers.  We finish with a topic peculiar to philosophy of science: scientific realism, the question   whether or not we have good reasons to think that our best scientific theories are true.       

II. Course Grade.  Your grade will be based on three factors, weighted roughly equally, plus several very small writing assignments: a midterm exam covering material from the first half of the course; a final exam covering material from the second half of the course; six quizzes, throughout the semester; and four short "position papers" expressing your own views on class subjects.  The quizzes and position papers will be unannounced, to further encourage class attendance.  The point breakdown is as follows:

	Midterm: 			  		36 pts.
	Final:   			  		36 pts
	Quizzes: 6 pts. x 6 = 		                        36 pts.
	Position papers: 3 pts. x 4 =	                        12 pts.
	-------------------------------------
	Total: 			 	                      120 pts.

Note that the quizzes will be unannounced. Making up a missed quiz, position paper, or exam will require formal documentation that the absence was excusable. Excusable absences include serious illness, university functions, etc. -- inquire if a particular case is unclear.  Documentation consists of an official piece of paper, from a doctor, coach, teacher, etc. Your own testimony, or a note from your mother, does not count as official documentation.

However, you get one free makeup for a quiz; these require no excuse or documentation.  (Of course, if you miss a quiz and you have documentation of an excused absence, you will probably not want to spend your free makeup on that occasion.)  

You must see me to schedule a makeup no more than one week after the missed assignment; if you wait longer than that, you can no longer make up the assignment (whether excused makeup or free makeup). No free makeups during the last week of class.  

These are makeups for missed assignments.  That means:
– You cannot retake an assignment you did poorly on, and 
– You cannot “drop the lowest grade”.

Documented, excusable absences will only cover you for missed quizzes, etc..  It is still your responsibility to get any lecture material you missed.

Also: 
-- You do not have to tell me ahead of time if you’re going to miss class.
-- Your makeup quiz will not be the same quiz that the class took; it may not even be on the same topic as the original quiz.
-- Don’t leave assignments under my office door or in my mailbox unless I give you explicit permission to do it that time.

Some further time-saving points: 
-- If you get something wrong (on a quiz, homework, or exam), it is no defense to show me that you have that wrong answer in your notes.  I cannot be held responsible for your notes; the fact that a student’s notes are wrong (even several students’ notes) is no evidence that I taught the wrong answer in class.
-- Likewise, your testimony alone will not prove that I said something in class.  If you have a video-tape of me saying it, that will prove to me that I did in fact say what you accuse me of saying.  Merely your word, however, will not establish anything. 

III. Schedule of Readings (Approximate):

I. God, Evil, and Freedom
1. St. Thomas Aquinas, The Five Ways [P]
2. Samuel Clarke, An Improved Version of the Argument [HO]
3. David Hume, Criticism of Clarke's Argument [HO]
4. William Paley, The Watch and the Watchmaker[P]
5. David Hume, Critique of the Teleological Argument [P]
6. St. Anselm, The Ontological Argument [P]
7. Blaise Pascal, Faith is a Logical Bet [P]
8. The Argument from Evil [HO]
9. John Hick, There is a Reason Why God Allows Evil [P]
10. Gottfried Leibniz, from Discourse on Metaphysics and Correspondence with Antoine Arnauld: Leibniz; Arnauld's Objection; Leibniz's Response [HO: 10-15; 73; 94-5; 110-17]
11. William James, The Dilemma of Determinism [P] 
12. Daniel Dennett, Mechanism and Responsibility [HO]

II. Self, Mind, and Science

1. John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding [HO: 335-45]
2. David Hume, Treatise Concerning Human Nature [HO: 251-63]
3. David Lewis, The Paradoxes of Time Travel [HO: 67-80]
4. Daniel Dennett, Where Am I? [HO]
5. Michael Gazzaniga, The Social Brain, [HO: 70-80]
6. Rene Descartes, from Meditations II and VI and Replies [BL: 13-4]
7. Rene Descartes, from Passions of the Soul [BL: 109-14]
8. Nicholas Malebranche, from The Union of the Soul and Body [BL: 115-8]
9. Gottfried Leibniz, Nature and Communication of Substances [BL: 119-21]
10. George Berkeley, from Principles of Human Knowledge [BL: 15-7]
11. Paul Churchland, Reductive Materialism, [C: 26-9]
12. Gilbert Ryle, Descartes' Myth [BL: 23-31]
13. Hilary Putnam, The Nature of Mental States [BL: 51-8]
14. Paul Churchland, Eliminative Materialism, [C: 43-9]
15. Bas van Fraassen, from The Scientific Image and Laws and Symmetry, [HO: 6-25, 77-83]  

TEXTS: 
[BL]: Brian Beakley and Peter Ludlow, eds., The Philosophy of Mind (MIT Press: 1992).
[P]: Louis Pojman, ed., Philosophy: The Quest for Truth, 2nd. ed. (Wadsworth Publishing Co.: 1992)
[C]: Paul Churchland, Matter and Consciousness 2nd ed. (MIT Press)
[HO]: Hand-out.