Required textbooks:

• Donald Davidson, Essays on Actions and Events
• David Lewis, On the Plurality of Worlds
• P. F. Strawson, Individuals
• Nelson Goodman, Fact, Fiction and Forecast (4th ed.)

Further readings will be made available as photocopies and on-line.

1. Jan. 6. Introduction: The Prehistory of Analytic Metaphysics: Optional pre-reading: C. I. Lewis, Mind and the World Order; Rudolph Carnap, "Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology" (on-line reserve).

2. Jan. 8. The Distinction Quine Couldn't Distinguish: Reading: W. V. Quine, "Two Dogmas of Empiricism." (on-line reserve). Optional: Carnap, "The Overcoming of Metaphysics through Logical Analysis of Language" (on-line reserve).

3. Jan. 10. How Ontology Was Made Respectable (Again): Reading: W. V. Quine, "On What There Is" (on-line reserve). Optional: Hilary Putnam, "Ontology: An Obituary". (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

4. Jan. 13. The Mysteries of Logical Form: Reading: Bertrand Russell, "On Denoting" (on-line reserve); Lewis Carroll, "Through the Looking Glass", pp. 223-225 (on-line reserve).

5. Jan. 15. Reductionism (or, Logical Form Writ Large): Reading: Paul Oppenheim and Hilary Putnam, "Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" (on-line reserve). Optional: Ernest Nagel, "The Meaning of Reduction in the Natural Sciences" (on-line reserve).

6. Jan. 17. NO CLASS. (I'll be at the Kantian Ethics Conference.) And no class Jan. 20 (Martin Luther King Day).

7. Jan. 22. Applying "On What There Is": Reading: Donald Davidson, "The Logical Form of Action Sentences;" Davidson, the beginning of "Events as Particulars," pp. 181-182. Optional: "Criticism, Comment, and Defence" (follows the article in Essays on Actions and Events); the rest of "Events as Particulars."

8. Jan. 24. The Davidsonic Boom: Donald Davidson, "The Individuation of Events". Optional reading: Davidson, "Causal Relations."

9. Jan. 27. Axons and Events: Donald Davidson, "Mental Events," to p. 218, top (end of the first para.); and sec. III, starting p. 223. Optional reading: G. E. M. Anscombe, "Causality and Determination" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

10. Jan. 29. Problems with Reductionism: Disjunctive reading -- i.e., read at least one of: Chisholm, "The Problem of Empiricism." (on-line reserve), Putnam, "Brains and Behavior" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

11. Jan 31. Laws and Counterfactuals: Nelson Goodman, Fact, Fiction and Forecast, chapter 1 ("The Problem of Counterfactual Conditionals"). Optional reading: Sellars, "Counterfactuals" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

12. Feb. 3 The New Riddle of Induction -- the Y2K+4 Bug: Nelson Goodman, Fact, Fiction and Forecast, chapters 2-3 (ch. 3, sec. 3 is optional). Optional reading: Davidson, Essays on Actions and Events, pp. 218, 225-227.

13. Feb 5. Introduction to Field Theory: Optional reading: Hartry Field, Science without Numbers (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

14. Feb 7. Reflective Equilibrium: Nelson Goodman, Fact, Fiction and Forecast; review FFF pp. 62-66 (ch. 3, sec. 2).

15. Feb 12. Goodman's Solution: Nelson Goodman, Fact, Fiction and Forecast, chapter 4. Optional reading: Sydney Shoemaker, "On Projecting the Unprojectible."

NO CLASS FEB. 14, VALENTINE'S DAY (I'll be at the Nietzsche conference). Also, no class Feb. 17 (Presidents' Day). Enjoy the long weekend! TOPICS FOR THE SECOND PAPER HAVE BEEN HANDED OUT.
16. Feb. 19. The Radical Translation of Quinespeak: Quine, Word and Object, ch. 2. (on-line reserve, part 1; on-line reserve, part 2); Gilbert Harman, "Quine on Meaning and Existence" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department). Optional reading: Jonathan Lear, Love and Its Place in Nature, pp. 190-192; Ian Hacking, "Was There Ever a Radical Mistranslation?" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

    Further optional reading (for the presentation): Andrzej Zabludowski, "Concerning a Fiction About How Facts Are Forecast" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

17. Feb. 21. The Charity of Your Choice: Davidson, "A Coherence Theory of Truth and Knowledge" (on-line reserve). Optional reading: Davidson, "The Method of Truth in Metaphysics" (on-line reserve).

18. Feb. 24. Quine's Missing Argument: Hilary Putnam, "Models and Reality" (on-line reserve); Clifton McIntosh, "Basics of Model Theory" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department). Optional reading: Timothy Bays, "On Putnam and his Models" (on-line reserve); Putnam, Reason, Truth and History, pp. 32-38, 217-218 (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

19. Feb. 26. Does Indeterminacy Count?: Hilary Putnam, "The Meaning of Meaning," to p. 245 (on-line reserve, part 1, on-line reserve, part 2) Optional reading: Paul Benacerraf, "What Numbers Could Not Be" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

    Followup reading: Putnam, "Is Water Necessarily H2O?" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department), para. bridging pp. 69-70; all of p. 71; last para on p. 73; pp. 74-79.

20. Feb. 28. NO CLASS. (I'll be giving a talk at Bowling Green.)

21. Mar. 3. Itemizing Your Charitable Deductions? Davidson, "The Method of Truth in Metaphysics" (on-line reserve).

    (Start Friday's reading early -- it's a long chapter!)

    Further optional reading: Lanier Anderson, "Overcoming Charity: The Case of Maudemarie Clark's Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy (in Nietzsche-Studien 25 [1996]: 307-341), introduction and section IV.

22. Mar. 5. Advanced Field Theory: Hartry Field, "Tarski's Theory of Truth" (on-line [JSTOR]).

23. Mar. 7. How to Talk with a Funny Accent: David Lewis, On the Plurality of Worlds, ch. 1.

24. Mar. 10. Taking Your Personal Deductions: Davidson, "Knowing One's Own Mind" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department). Optional: Davidson, "First Person Authority"; Edward Craig, "Davidson and the Sceptic: The Thumbnail Version" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

    Further optional reading: Jaegwon Kim, "Philosophy of Mind and Psychology" (in Ludwig, Donald Davidson; on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

25. Mar. 12. Time for an Incredulous Stare... David Lewis, On the Plurality of Worlds, ch. 2.

26. Mar. 14. Taking It All Back -- Quantification without Commitment: Gideon Rosen, "Modal Fictionalism" (on-line reserve).

TWO MODEL PAPERS HAVE BEEN PUT ON RESERVE IN THE PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT
27. Mar. 24. Who Cares What People Say (About Possible Worlds)? Robert Nozick, Invariances, pp. 120-125, 133-155 (on-line reserve).

    Further optional reading: Jonathan Bennett, "Farewell to the Phlogiston Theory of Conditionals."

28. Mar. 26. Realism or Ersatzism? David Lewis, On the Plurality of Worlds, ch. 3. Optional: Jorge Luis Borges, "The Library of Babel" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

29. Mar. 28. NO CLASS (Pacific APA). Reading: Glossary.

30. Mar. 31. Now Part of American Heir Lines... David Kaplan, "Transworld Heir Lines" [thru p. 104] (on-line reserve).

31. Apr. 2. Personal Identity Across Possible Worlds: David Lewis, On the Plurality of Worlds, ch. 4.

32. Apr. 4. (Alleged) Payoffs from Possible Worlds (I): David Lewis, "An Analysis of Counterfactuals" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

33. Apr. 7. (Alleged) Payoffs from Possible Worlds (II): David Lewis, "New Work for a Theory of Universals" (on-line reserve).

34. Apr. 9. (Alleged) Payoffs from Possible Worlds (III): David Lewis, "Causation" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

    Optional: Peter Menzies, "Probabilistic Causation and the Pre-emption Problem," secs. 3-4 [pp. 96-105] (on-line reserve).

35. Apr. 11. A Dissenting View: Hilary Putnam, "Is the Causal Structure of the Physical Itself Something Physical?" (on-line reserve). Optional: Lewis, Counterfactuals, pp. 91-95 (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

36. Apr. 14. And Now for Something Completely Different... P. F. Strawson, Individuals, ch. 1 ("Bodies").

    Further optional reading: Barry Stroud, "Transcendental Arguments".

37. Apr. 16. Are Kantians Just Whistling in the Dark? P. F. Strawson, Individuals, ch. 2 ("Sounds").

38. Apr. 18. Why Strawson Isn't Afraid of Ghosts: P. F. Strawson, Individuals, ch. 3 ("Persons").

    Optional: Individuals, ch. 4 ("Monads").

    REMINDER: OUTLINES FOR THE FINAL PAPERS DUE TODAY! FINAL PAPERS WITH NO OUTLINE WILL NOT BE GRADED. OUTLINES DUE IN MY BOX OR BY EMAIL AT 4:00.

39. Apr. 21. Beyond Particulars and Universals: Guy Rohrbaugh, "Artworks as Historical Individuals" (on reserve in the Philosophy Department).

40. Apr. 23. Since When Are Theories True? Paul Teller, "Twilight of the Perfect Model Model" (on-line reserve).

    Very optional further reading: Sunny Auyang, Foundations of Complex-System Theories.

    REMINDER: FINAL PAPERS DUE TODAY -- LATE FINAL PAPERS WILL NOT BE GRADED.