Phil 1: Introduction to Philosophy

Important Dates

First Paper Due: October 19th

Midterm: October 28th

Second Paper Due: November 28th

Final: December 5th, 8-11am

Tuesday, 9-9:50am, Girvetz Hall 2124

Tuesday, 6-6:50pm, Girvetz Hall 1116

Monday, 11am-1pm, South Hall 5706

Understand what philosophy is.
Understand how philosophical argumentation works.
Get a feel for reading and evaluating philosophy.
Understand the argument from design, both as an argument from analogy and as an inference to the best explanation.
Understand the criticisms of the argument raised in Hume's dialogues.
Understand why evolution may undermine the argument from design.

Understand what nihilism is and why Camus is a nihilist in regards to the meaning of life.
Understand what Camus means when he says that life is absurd.
Understand the point that Camus is making in The Myth of Sisyphus.
Understand the distinction between the meaning of life and the meaningfulness of life.
Understand Susan Wolf's three examples of a meaningless life.
Understand what Susan Wolf thinks constitutes a meaningful life.
Understand why Susan Wolf's account is a hybrid of both the subjectivist and objectivist accounts.

Study for the midterm exam.
Understand why Epicurus and Lucretius think that death is neither good nor bad, and that the fear of death is irrational.
Understand Epicurus' two arguments: the hedonist and the time of harm arguments.
Understand Lucretius' symmetry argument.
Understand the two accounts of death's badness: the deprivation and the desire-frustration accounts.
Understand the arguments given by Brueckner and Fischer, Parfit, and Nagel for why death is bad.

Understand the main point that Singer is making in "Famine, Affluence, and Morality."
Understand Singer's drowning child thought experiment and the role it plays in his argument.
Understand the criticisms of Singer's thought experiment, as well as his responses to them.

Understand what utilitarianism is claiming and what distinguishes it from other moral positions.
Understand Carritt's four criticisms of utilitarianism.
Understand what Bernard Williams means by integrity, and why he thinks it is problematic for utilitarianism.
Understand William's two scenarios: George the chemist and Jim the botanist.
Understand Bentham's formulation of utilitarianism and how he thinks we can calculate utility.

Understand the first formulation of the Categorical Imperative.
Understand the way in which one's maxim might fail the test of universalizability.
Understand some of the potential problems with the first formulation.
Understand the second formulation of the Categorical Imperative.
Understand the distinction between means and ends for Kant.
Understand what it means to treat a person as a mere means.

Understand the importance of free will to morality.
Understand the doctrine of determinism.
Understand the free will dilemma.
Understand the basic positions on free will: libertarianism, hard determinism, soft determinism, etc.
Understand why D'Holbach thinks we don't possess free will.

Understand the distinction between transeunt causation and immanent causation.
Understand the principle of alternative possibilities.
Understand what Frankfurt cases are and what they aim to show about free will and morality.
Understand what the compatibilist thinks is needed for free will other than the principle of alternative possibilities.