Seminar: Practical Reasoning
>> Weekly Assignments


Artwork by Gabriele Juvan.

Weekly Assignments

  1. Aug. 27: Here's an assignment for the first day of class, for those who've already taken classes with me, know what these are, and want to get an early start. Stanley Cavell, The Claim of Reason (on on-line reserve), from last para. on p. 318 ("In the present instance...") to line 12 on p. 319 ("...strength of the premises, etc.").
  2. Sept. 3: Korsgaard, "Skepticism about Practical Reason" (in VPR), p. 114, 1st para. (Remember that the order of exposition isn't necessarily the order of argument!) Alternative assignment, for the extra-ambitious: John McDowell, "Might There Be External Reasons" (e-reserve), pp. 72-73 (from "Let us trace our steps..." to "justification by ethical argument").
  3. Sept. 10: Smith, p. 56, para. starting, "Indeed, he might go on the offensive..."
  4. Sept. 17: Thompson, Life and Action, pp. 113-115 ("Excursus").
  5. Sept. 24: Nagel, Possibility of Altruism, p. 42, the para. starting "Thirdly...".
  6. Oct. 1: Korsgaard, "Self-Constitution in the Ethics of Plato and Kant," p. 26 (top, "So particularistic willing is neither...") to p. 27 (3rd para., thru "...of something within him").
  7. Oct. 8: Kolnai, "Deliberation Is of Ends," p. 263, para. starting, "That the technical preamble to action...", to 15 lines from the bottom of the page ("...beyond its mere preliminary information").

    8. (N.B.: The changeover has now happened, and from here on out, weekly assignments have two parts, per the Requirements page.)

  8. Oct. 15: BONUS FALL BREAK ASSIGNMENT. Millgram, "Specificationism," last two paragraphs.
  9. Oct. 22: Structures, pp.33-34, the first two paras. of sec. 6, plus the para. bridging pp. 35-36. (Treat it all as one argument.)
  10. Oct. 29: Structures, p. 75 (6 lines from the bottom, "A problem here...") to end of para. (Don't reproduce Bratman's response in your counterargument.)
  11. Nov. 5: Structures, pp. 158f, from "Well, it is common ground..." to "...underdetermination will not." (Don't reproduce Bratman's response in your counterargument.)
  12. Nov. 12: Life and Action, pp. 68-69, the para. starting "Does the sentence...", together with the first 12 lines of the para starting, "It is implicit...".
  13. Nov. 19: Life and Action, p.184, first full para. ("Elaborating this thought...") through p. 186 ("...through mutual scandal"); skip the first full para. on p. 185.
  14. Nov. 26: Landesman, "When to Terminate a Charitable Trust?" (the whole article).
  15. Dec. 3: Morton, p. 19 (from "You have a free evening...") to p. 20 ("...nothing to recommend the compromise solution").
  16. Dec. 10: Davidson, "The Money Pump Argument" (online reserve).