Two major philosophers are studied in this module: David Hume, in the first half, and Immanuel Kant, in the second. We will try to determine what each philosopher’s fundamental approach to philosophy consists in, and how it gives rise to his views on the nature of causation, the external world, the self, and the limits of knowledge. As Kant’s first Critique was a response to Hume’s philosophical scepticism, we will pay close attention to his diagnoses of Hume’s difficulties and his proposed solutions.
Lecture Outline
Week 1 Introduction to Hume: Hume on impressions and ideas
Week 2 Hume’s Problem of Induction
Week 3 Hume on Causation
Week 4 Hume on the External World
Week 5 Hume on Personal Identity
Week 6 Humean Skepticism
Recess Week
Week 7 Introduction to Kant; synthetic a priori judgments
Week 8 Kant on Space
Week 9 Kant’s Transcendental Deduction
Week 10 No lectures or tutorials (Lecturer Away on Conference 15-16 Oct 2009)
Week 11 Kant on Personal Identity
Week 12 Kant on Causality
Week 13 Phenomena and Noumena
Assessment
One long term paper (25%), one short paper (15%), class participation (10%) and an open book final examination (50%).
References
Readings
Primary texts
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section I-V, VII and XII in Hume’s Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals, ed. PH Nidditch, Oxford University Press B1455 Sel
Or
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, ed. Eric Sternberg, 2nd ed., Hackett 1993 (available at the Co-op)
David Hume, A Treatise on Human Nature, ed. L A Selby-Bigge and P H Nidditch, OxfordUniversity Press, Book I, Part IV, Sections II & VI B1486 Sel
Excerpts from Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, trans. Norman Kemp Smith I-3237
T E Wilkerson, Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason: A Commentary for Students, Thoemmes Press 1998 B 2779 Wil 1998
Secondary Readings
Barry Stroud, Hume, Routledge 1977 B1498 Str
Georges Dicker, Hume’s Epistemology and Metaphysics, Routledge 1999 B1499 Kno.Di
Otfried Hoffe, Immanuel Kant, SUNY 1994, B 2798 Hof
Patricia Kitcher (ed.) Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason – Critical Essays, Rowman and Littlefield 1998 B2779 Kant
Paul Guyer (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Kants, Cambridge 1992 B2798 Cam
Suggested Supplementary Readings for Specific Lectures
Introduction to Hume/Hume on Impressions and Ideas
David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, Book I, Part I, Section 1
Barry Stroud, Chapter 2
David Pears, Hume’s System: An Examination of the First Book of his Treatise, Oxford 1990, Chapter 2
Harold Noonan, Hume on Knowledge, Routledge 1999, Chapter 2
Readings for this lecture: Enquiry, Sections 1-3
Readings for next two lectures: Enquiry, Sections 4-5
Hume on the Problem of Induction
Wesley Salmon, Foundations of Scientific Inference, Pittsburgh 1966, Section I
Georges Dicker, Hume’s Epistemology and Metaphysics, Routledge 1998, Chapter 3
Stroud, op. cit., Chapter 3
Hume on Causation
L Mackie, The Cement of the Universe, Oxford 1974, Chapters 1-2
Galen Strawson, The Secret Connexion, Oxford 1989, Chapter 22
Stroud, op. cit., Chapters 3 and 4
Pears, op. cit., Chapters 5-7
Hume’s Enquiry, Section VII
Readings for next week: Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, Book I, Part IV, Section II
Hume on the Physical World
Stroud, op. cit., Chapter 5
Noonan, op. cit., Chapter 4
Dicker, op. cit., Chapter 6
Readings for next week: Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, Book I Section IV, Part VI
Hume on the Self and Personal Identity
Stroud, op. cit., Chapter 6
Terence Penelhum, Hume, Macmillan 1975, Chapter 4
Hume’s Treatise, Appendix p. 633-636
Robert Fogelin “The Soul and the Self” in Critical Essays on Locke, Berkeley and Hume, ed. Margaret Atherton, Rowman and Littlefield 1999
Pears, op. cit., Chapters 8 and 9
Hume on Skepticism
Robert Fogelin, “Hume’s Skepticism” in the Cambridge Companion to Hume, Cambridge 1992.
Penelhum, op. cit., Chapter 1, pp. 22-7
Robert Fogelin, Hume’s Skepticism in the Treatise of Human Nature, Routledge 1985
Barry Stroud, “Hume’s Skepticism: Natural Instincts and Philsoophical Reflection” in The Empiricists: Critical Essays, op. cit.
Hume’s Treatise, Book I, Part IV, Section VI
Readings for next lecture: Wilkerson, Chapter 1, or Kant, CPR, Introduction
Introduction to Kant/Kant on Synthetic A Priori Judgments
Ralph Walker, Kant, Routledge 1962, Chapter 1
Stephan Korner, Kant, Penguin 1955, Chapter 1
Wesley Salmon, The Structure of Scientific Inference, op. cit., Section IV of Part 2
Philip Kitcher, “Kant’s A Priori Framework in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason – Critical Essays, ed. Patricia Kitcher, Rowman and Littlefield, 1998
Readings for next lecture: excerpt from CPR Transcendental Aesthetic/Wilkerson, Chapter 2
Kant’s Arguments for Space as an A Priori Intuition
1. Salmon, op. cit.
2. Geoffrey Hopkins, “Visual Geometry” in Kant on Pure Reason, ed. Ralph Walker, Oxford 1982
3. Charles Parsons, “The Transcendental Aesthetic” in The Cambridge Companion to Kant , ed. Paul Guyer, Cambridge 1992
4. Walker , op. cit., Chapter 5
5. P.F. Strawson, The Bounds of Sense, Routledge 1975, Part 2, Section 1
Readings for next lecture: Read CPR Transcendental Deduction/Wilkerson, Chapter 3
Kant’s Transcendental Deduction
Walker , op. cit., Chapter 4
Karl Ameriks, “Kant’s Transcendental Deduction as Regressive Argument” in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason – Critical Essays, op. cit.
Paul Guyer, “The Transcendental Deduction of the Categories” in The Cambridge Companion to Kant , op. cit.
Barry Stroud, “Transcendental Arguments” in Kant on Pure Reason, op. cit.
Lewis White Beck, “Did the Sage of Konigsberg have no Dreams?” in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason – Critical Essays, op.cit.
Readings for next lecture: same as last week
Hume and Kant on the Self
Patricia Kitcher, “Kant’s Cognitive Self” in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason – Critical Essays, op. cit.
Henry Allison, Kant’s Transcendental Idealism, Yale University Press 1983, Chapter 7
Paul Guyer, Kant and the Claims of Knowledge, Cambridge University Press 1987, Chapter 5
Cassim Quassim, “Kant and Reductionisim”, Review of Metaphysics 1989
Readings for next lecture: Wilkerson, Chapter 4, Section 3
Kant on Causation
Graham Bird, Kant’s Theory of Knowledge, Humanities Pres, 1973, Chapter 10
Walker , op. cit. Chapter 8, Part 3
Michael Friedman, “Causal Laws and the Foundations of Natural Science” in The Cambridge Companion to Kant , op. cit.
Guyer, Kant and the Claims of Knowledge, op. cit., Chapter 10
Readings for next lecture: Wilkerson, op. cit., Chapter 9
