Metaphysics SyllabusPHIL 402 - DR. KEITH A. KORCZ
How To Reach Professor Keith Korcz:
My office is in H. L. Griffin Hall, rm. 563. My office hours are MWF 1:00-2:00 and 3:00-4:00, and TR 12:00-2:00. We can also meet at other times by arrangement - just ask. My office phone no. is 482-6806. You can also contact me (or ask questions) by e-mail at keithk@louisiana.edu.
Required Texts:
1. Michael Jubien, Contemporary Metaphysics, (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1997).
2. Course Pack.
The course pack is available only at the Dupre Library Reserve Desk.
Assignments:
Exams:
There will be two in-class, short-answer exams, each worth 20% of the course grade. There will also be a cumulative short-answer final exam worth 25% of the course grade. However, all make-up exams will be primarily long-essay. The exams will cover both lectures and assigned readings (material in lectures and assigned readings will not always overlap). All exams are closed book/closed note.
Paper Assignment:
There will also be a term paper (approx. 20 pages in length). The term paper will be completed in two successive drafts. The first draft will be worth 5% of the course grade and the final draft worth 30% of the course grade. Each draft of the term paper will consist of two parts. The first part of the paper should be a critical discussion of a published article(s) or a view(s) we have discussed in class. The second part of the paper should consist of an original, positive contribution regarding one of the issues raised in the first part of the paper. Topics must be approved by the instructor. Suggested topics and further information will be provided later.
Grading:
The course grades will initially be determined according to the standard scale, i.e., 90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, 60-69% = D, 59% and below = F, and then may be modified as follows: Course grades might be curved, but, if so, the curve would not be such that any student's grade is lowered. Such factors as improvement over the length of the course, class participation, attendance, etc., may be taken into consideration, especially where doing so may improve a borderline grade. You must complete all course assignments (namely all four short papers and both drafts of the term paper) to receive a passing grade (i.e., a grade other than F, NC or U).
Internet Resources:
The course home page (http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~kak7409/402Home.html) contains links to useful sites regarding the subject matter of the course, including philosophy journals available on-line and at Dupre, the on-line syllabus, and other resources. The on-line syllabus contains links to the home pages of the authors of our readings, readings available on-line, etc.
You are also encouraged to visit my home page, which contains a link to the home page for this class as well as hundreds of organized links to research and philosophy oriented web sites, among other things, that you may find interesting and useful. The address for my home page is http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~kak7409.
Class Policies:
If you miss class, for whatever reason, it is your responsibility to get class notes from another student. Missed assignments can be made up only if an appropriate excuse, e.g., illness requiring medical attention, participation in certain official university events, etc., is provided. If you know in advance that you will miss a due date for an assignment, let me know beforehand. An unexcused late assignment will be dropped 2/3 of a letter grade per day it is late. If you have a disability and require assistance with fulfilling class assignments, don't hesitate to notify the instructor and the Office for Services to Students with Disabilities at 482-5252. Finally, be sure you are familiar with all university policies described in the Undergraduate Bulletin. Any instance of academic dishonesty on any assignment will be sufficient to fail the course.
Emergency Evacuation Procedures:
A map of this floor is posted near the elevator marking the evacuation route and the Designated Rescue Area. This is an area where emergency service personnel will go first to look for individuals who need assistance in exiting the building. Students who may need assistance should identify themselves to the teaching faculty.
Course Calendar & Planned Reading Assignments*
*Note: Topics, readings, assignments and their due dates are tentative and may be changed at the discretion of the instructor.
(CM) = Contemporary Metaphysics
(CP) = Course Pack
Topic 1: What Is Metaphysics?
Week of Jan. 10: (CM): Chapter 1, "Metaphysics"
MONDAY, JANUARY 17: MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY - NO CLASSES
Topic 2: What Is Truth?
a. What Do We Want From A Theory of Truth?
b. Truth and Objectivity: Jan. 19 and 21: (CM): Chapter 5 "Is Truth Relative?"
c. A Pragmatic Conception of Truth: Week of Jan. 24: (CP): William James "Pragmatism's Conception of Truth"
d. Coherence Theories of Truth: (CP): Frederick Schmitt "The Coherence Theory"
e. Correspondence Theories of Truth: Week of Jan. 31: (CP): Richard Kirkham "The Correspondence Theory"
FRIDAY, FEB. 4: EXAM #1.
MONDAY FEB. 7 - WEDNESDAY FEB. 9: MARDI GRAS HOLIDAYS - NO CLASSES
f. A Deflationary Theory of Truth: Feb. 11: (CP): Paul Horwich selections from Truth, Second Ed.
Topic 3: What Are Numbers?
a. Overview: Week of Feb. 14: (CM): Chapter 2, "Numbers"
b. Historical Background: (CP): W. C. Kneale "Gottlob Frege and Mathematical Logic"
c. A Defense of Nominalism About Numbers: (CP): Paul Benacerraf "What Numbers Could Not Be" [A short bio of Benacerraf is available here.]
d. A Defense of Realism About Numbers: Week of Feb. 21: (CP): Penelope Maddy "Perception and Mathematical Intuition"
Topic 4: What Are Properties? Relations? Propositions?
a. Overview: Week of Feb. 28: (CM): Chapter 3 "Platonism"
b. Propositions and Truth: (CP): W. V. Quine "Meaning and Truth" [you can read a nice obituary of Quine from the New York Times - Quine died Dec. 25, 2000], William Alston "Alethic Realism"
FRIDAY, MARCH 4: EXAM #2.
Topic 5: Identity
Week of March 7: (CM): Chapter 4 "Identity" and Chapter 9 "Things and Their Parts"
Topic 6: Do Humans Have Free Will?
a. Overview: Week of March 14: (CP): Richard Taylor "Freedom and Determinism" (Optional: (CM): Chapter 7 "Determinism, Freedom and Fatalism")
b. A Defense of Incompatibilism: March 21 and 23: (CP): Peter van Inwagen "When Is The Will Free?"
FRIDAY, MARCH 25 THROUGH FRIDAY, APRIL 1 - SPRING BREAK - NO CLASSES.
c. The Principle of Alternate Possibilities: Week of April 4: (CP): Harry Frankfurt "Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility", David Widerker "Libertarianism and Frankfurt's Attack on the Principle of Alternative Possibilities".
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23: FIRST DRAFT OF PAPER DUE.
d. A Defense of Compatibilism: (CP): William Rowe "Responsibility, Agent-Causation, and Freedom: An Eighteenth Century View".
Topic 7: What Are Possibilities?
a. Overview: Week of April 11: (CM): Chapter 8 "Modality"
b. Realism About Possible Worlds: Week of April 2: (CP): David Lewis "Possible Worlds"
c. Trans-World Identity: (CP): Alvin Plantinga "Transworld Identity or Worldbound Individuals?"
d. In Defense of Essentialism: Week of April 18: (CP): Hilary Putnam "Meaning and Reference"
e. Iterated Modalities: (no readings)
Topic 8: What Is Fiction?
a. Realism About Fictional Entities: Week of April 25: (CP): Alexius Meinong "A Theory of Objects"
b. Fiction and Analysis: (CM): Chapter 10 "Is There Truth In Fiction?"
FRIDAY, APRIL 22: FINAL DRAFT OF PAPER DUE.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4: STUDY DAY
FINAL EXAM DAY: FRIDAY, MAY 6, 10:15-12:45PM, IN REGULAR CLASSROOM
