| Class |
Topic |
Reading |
| |
|
|
| Week 1 |
Setting out the problem |
|
| Tu 28 Sept |
What's special about personal identity? |
Parfit §75 |
| Th 30 Sept |
Identity in general |
Locke §§1-10, Parfit §§76-77 |
| |
|
|
| Week 2 |
The memory theory |
|
| Tu 5 Oct |
Consciousness extended backwards: Locke's memory theory |
Locke §§11-29 |
| Th 7 Oct |
Objections to the memory theory: consciousness and substance |
Butler |
| |
|
|
| Week 3 |
Broader psychological criteria |
|
| Tu 12 Oct |
Objections to the memory theory: circularity and intransitivity |
Reid |
| Th 14 Oct |
A broader psychological theory |
Quinton |
| |
|
|
| Week 4 |
Objections to any psychological theory |
|
| Tu 19 Oct |
The reduplication problem |
Williams "Personal Identity and Individuation" and "Are Persons Bodies?" pp. 76-81 |
| Th 21 Oct |
Williams's spectrum |
Williams "The Self and the Future," esp. pp. 180-192 |
| |
|
|
| Week 5 |
Indeterminancy, reductionism |
|
| Tu 26 Oct |
Can there be indeterminate questions? |
Williams "The Self and the Future," esp. pp. 193-198 |
| Th 28 Oct |
Impersonal descriptions |
Parfit §§78-82 |
| |
|
|
| Week 6 |
Is personal identity important? |
|
| Tu 2 Nov |
Indeterminacy and the bodily criterion |
Parfit §§83-86 |
| Th 4 Nov |
The unimportance of identity |
Parfit §§87-91 |
| |
|
|
| Week 7 |
Implications of reductionism |
|
| Tu 9 Nov |
Reductionism vs. the further fact view |
Parfit §§94-99 |
| Th 11 Nov |
Practical implications of reductionism |
Parfit §§102-118 |
| |
|
|
| Week 8 |
Alternatives |
|
| Tu 16 Nov |
Combination plate |
Garrett |
| Th 18 Nov |
Multiple occupancy |
Lewis |
| |
|
|
| Week 9 |
Alternatives |
|
| Tu 23 Nov |
Kantian practical commitment |
Korsgaard |
| Th 25 Nov |
Thanksgiving: no class |
|
| |
|
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| Week 10 |
Discussion and summary |
|
| Tu 30 Nov |
Discussion of alternatives/papers |
|
| Th 2 Dec |
Discussion of alternatives/papers |
|