PHIL 4105W:
Epistemology
Fall 2008
Instructor:
Peter Hanks
Email: pwhanks@umn.edu
Office:
817 Heller
Office phone: 612-624-6415
Website:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~pwhanks
Office hours: M 1-3 & by appt.
Lecture:
MWF 11:15-12:05, 125 Blegen
Text:
Epistemology: An Anthology, 2nd
Edition, eds. Sosa, Kim, Fantl, McGrath, Blackwell
Publishing.
Grading:
3 short answer assignments: 5% each
Term
Paper (5-7 pages): 35%
Midterm
Exam: 15%
Final
Exam: 35%
Schedule (subject to change)
Week
1: September 1 – 5
Topic:
Introduction, defining knowledge
Reading: Edmund Gettier, ÒIs Justified True
Belief Knowledge?Ó 192-3.
Linda Zagzebski, ÒThe Inescapability of
Gettier Problems,Ó 207-212.
Week
2: September 8 – 12
Topic:
Cartesian skepticism
Reading:
Barry Stroud, ÒThe Problem of the External World,Ó 7-25.
G.E. Moore, ÒProof of an External
World,Ó 26-28.
G.E. Moore, ÒFour Forms of Scepticism,Ó
29-30.
G.E. Moore, ÒCertainty,Ó 31-34.
Week
3: September 15 – 19
Topic:
Cartesian skepticism: epistemic closure
Reading:
Fred Dretske, ÒEpistemic Operators,Ó 237-246.
Jonathan Vogel, ÒAre There
Counterexamples to the Closure Principle?Ó 290-301.
First
short answer assignment due Friday Sept. 19 in class.
Week
4: September 22 – 26
Topic:
Cartesian skepticism: tracking the truth
Reading:
Robert Nozick, ÒKnowledge and Skepticism,Ó 255-279.
Ernest Sosa, ÒHow to Defeat Opposition to Moore,Ó 280-289.
Week
5: September 29 – October 3
Topic:
Externalism
Reading:
Alvin Goldman, ÒWhat is Justified Belief?Ó 333-347.
Jonathan Vogel, ÒReliabilism Leveled,Ó 348-362.
Second
short answer assignment due Friday Oct. 3 Monday October 6 in class.
Week
6: October 6 – 10
Topic:
Internalism
Reading:
Alvin Goldman, ÒInternalism Exposed,Ó 379-393.
Richard Feldman and Earl Conee, ÒInternalism Defended,Ó 407-421.
Week
7: October 13 – 17
Topic:
Cartesian skepticism: contextualism
Reading:
Keith DeRose, ÒSolving the Skeptical Problem,Ó 669-690.
Third
short answer assignment due Friday Oct. 17 in class.
Week
8: October 20 – 24
Topic:
Review for midterm
Reading:
None
Midterm:
Friday, October 24 in class.
Week
9: October 27 – 31
Topic:
Cartesian skepticism: contextualism
Reading:
Jason Stanley, Knowledge and Practical Interest, selections, 720-741.
Jeremy Fantl and Matthew McGrath, ÒEvidence, Pragmatics, and
Justification,Ó 742-759.
Week
10: November 3 – 7
Topic:
Pyrrhonian skepticism: foundationalism
Reading:
Roderick Chisholm, ÒThe Myth of the Given,Ó 80-93.
Wilfrid Sellars, ÒDoes Empirical Knowledge Have a Foundation?Ó 94-98.
Wilfrid Sellars, ÒEpistemic Principles,Ó
99-108.
Week
11: November 10 – 14
Topic:
Pyrrhonian skepticism: foundationalism
Reading:
Laurence Bonjour, Ò Can Empirical Knowledge Have a Foundation?Ó 109-123.
Laurence Bonjour, ÒExternalist Theories of Empirical Knowledge,Ó
363-378.
Term
paper first draft due Friday Nov. 14 in class.
Week
12: November 17 – 21
Topic:
Pyrrhonian skepticism: foundationalism and coherentism
Reading:
Ernest Sosa, ÒThe Raft and the Pyramid,Ó 145-164.
Week
13: November 24 – 28 (no class Friday Nov. 28 – Thanksgiving)
Topic:
Pyrrhonian skepticism: infinitism
Reading:
Peter Klein, ÒHuman Knowledge and the Infinite Regress of Reasons,Ó 165-185.
Week
14: December 1 – 5
Topic:
Testimony and memory
Reading:
Jennifer Lackey, ÒTestimonial Knowledge and Transmission,Ó 855-867.
Michael Huemer, ÒThe Problem of Memory Knowledge,Ó 868-875.
Term
paper final draft due Friday Dec. 5 in class.
Week
15: December 8 – 12 (classes end Wed. Dec. 10)
Topic:
Review for final exam
Reading:
None
Final
Exam: Monday, December 15, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m., 125 Blegen.