SYLLABUS FOR PHILOSOPHY 101:
PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN WESTERN CULTURE
Spring 2011 Instructor: James Van Cleve
Office: MHP 112
Hours: Mondays 3:30-4:30
Wednesdays 12:30-1:30
In this course we will examine the ideas of five giants of western thought: Plato (ca. 424-338 B.C.),Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), Rene Descartes (1596-1650), David Hume (1711-1776), and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). In connection with each of the five, we will also read a recent or contemporary thinker in whose work the influence of the historical figure lives on and affects modern culture. We will end the semester by reading Paul Boghossian’s Fear of Knowledge, a critique of post-modern relativism, and Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a novel of philosophical discovery.
Among the issues we will discuss are the following:
Does morality depend on theology?
Does knowledge aim at and reach truths that are true for everyone?
What are the proper roles of reason, experience, and authorityin the attainment of knowledge?
Of what, if anything, can we be absolutely certain?
How is the mind related to the body?
Can the existence of God be proved by rational arguments?
Can we have ideas ofthings we have never experienced?
What is the nature of cause and effect?
Do human beings have free will?
Which of the perceived features of the world around us are features of the world itself and which are projections of the human mind?
Is morality more properly founded on sentiment (Hume) or on reason (Kant)?
Is science just one of many equally legitimate ways of obtaining knowledge?
Required Books (available at the USC Bookstore)
Plato, Theaetetus
Brecht, Galileo(a play)
Course reader: Thus Spoke Galileo
Descartes, Selected Philosophical Writings
Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason (abridged)
Russell, The Problems of Philosophy
Boghossian, Fear of Knowledge
Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Additional readings will be available through the ARES electronic reserves system.
Written Work
The written work for the course will consist of two exams (on February 25 and May 4), two three-to-five page papers on course-related topics of your choosing (due around February 18 and April 20), and a series of eight or so one-page exercises. The weighting toward your grade will be approximately as follows: each of the two papers, 20%; each of the two exams, 20%; exercises and class participation, 20%.
Discussion Sections
In addition to attending the lectures on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, everyone who registers for the course should also sign up for a weekly discussion section. The sections are an important part of the course; they are an opportunity to discuss the material from the lectures and readings, ask questions about it, and get extra information or light from another angle about course material.
Academic Integrity
It is unacceptable to use the words or ideas of someone else without proper acknowledgment. For guidelines, see the Trojan Integrity Guide at and the Undergraduate Guide for Avoiding Plagiarism at
Students with Disabilities
If you have a disability entitling you to any special accommodation (for instance, extra time on exams), please let me know.
Other Policies
(1) You cannot pass the course without regular good-faith engagement, which includes reasonable attendance and timely completion of course assignments. Absences in excess of three will hurt your grade.(2) Exercises will not be accepted late, because we will often be discussing them on the day they are due. (3) Papers will be accepted late, but with a penalty of one notch (e.g., A-goes to B+) for each day late. (4) You may not request to take the final exam at another time
Schedule of Classes and Readings on Plato and Galileo
I will provide a day-by-day breakdown like the following as we begin each new unit.
Date / Topic / Reading assignment (to be read before class) & other information1/10 / Introduction
1/12 / Short course on logic / Handout to be made available in class this day.
The first exercise (on logic) will be distributed this day.
1/14 / Plato on morality and the gods / Plato’s Euthyphro (available through Ares)
Exercise 1 will be collected and exercise 2 distributed.
1/17 / No class (MLK Day)
1/19 / Plato on knowledge I / Theaetetus through 186E
Exercise 2 is due this day.
1/21 / Plato on knowledge II / Theaetetus to end
The Problems of Philosophy, ch. 5, 12, and 13
1/24 / Bertrand Russell,
contemporary Platonist / The Problems of Philosophy, ch. 9 and 10
1/26 / Galileo I / Thus Spoke Galileo (course reader),
at least through p. 77
1/28 / Galileo II / Finish Thus Spoke Galileo.
Get started on Brecht’s Galileo and finish it before your section meeting this week.
Exercise 3 will be distributed.
1/31 / Karl Popper, contemporary Galilean / Popper, “Three Views Concerning Human Knowledge” (Ares)
Exercise 3 is due this day.
2/2 / Begin on Descartes / A schedule of readings for this unit will be provided.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
We will not discuss this book until the final week of the course, but I suggest reading it early on for previews of Hume, Kant, and other philosophers we will be discussing. I also recommend reading the book before you read the introduction and the end material.