Problems of Philosophy Philosophy 1, Fall 2006

What’s here?

Class picture (Most of) the scholars.
Contact How to get in touch with Michael Green.
Grades Qualitative and quantitative explanations of what grades mean.
Notes My perspective on each session.
Sakai Use Sakai for announcements, due dates, the roster, and e-reserve readings.
Syllabus The plan for each session in glorious PDF.
Writing My advice about philosophy papers. Worth every penny it costs to click.

Where’s the website?

This website is the same as the one you might remember. It just has a different address and a new look. The content is all the same.

Class notes

Ethics

  1. Singer’s argument
    Singer outline
  2. Singer’s principle
  3. Cohen on responsibility
    Cohen outline
  4. Thomson’s analogy
    Thomson outline
    Thomson handout [pdf]
  5. The right to abortion
  6. Moral luck
  7. Moral realism and relativism
    Moral relativism handout [pdf]
    Iranian examples [pdf]
    Dostoyevsky’s Grand Inquisitor chapter [pdf]

Epistemology

  1. Descartes
  2. Hume on causation:
    Hume’s psychology lecturette [pdf]
    The problem of induction
    What is a cause?
    Cause vs. correlation handout [pdf]
  3. Hume on miracles
    Handout: background [pdf]
    Handout: Hume’s letters on miracles [pdf]
    Hobbes’s letter on miracles [pdf]
  4. Hume on design: providence and a future state

Metaphysics

  1. Locke on personal identity
    Handout: Locke’s pinky [pdf]
    Tutorial: necessary and sufficient conditions
    Handout: Alternatives to Locke’s position [pdf]
    Problem cases for Locke
  2. Williams on personal identity:
    Williams on the body-switching cases
    Can questions about personal identity have indeterminate answers?
  3. Parfit on personal identity:
    Parfit’s teletransporter
    Parfit’s spectra
  4. Williams on death
    Handout: Unamuno [pdf]
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Problems of Philosophy