PHIL
310: Theories of Knowledge LARKIN:
Fall 2004
Syllabus
I.
Course Information
A.
Name: Theories of Knowledge
B.
Number: PHIL 310.001
C.
Days/time: MW 3:00–4:15 PM
D.
Room: PH 2409
II.
Instructor Information
A.
Name: Dr. William S. Larkin
B.
Office: Peck Hall 2207
C.
Office Hours: MW 10:00-11:00 AM, and by appointment
D.
Office Phone: 650-2643
E.
E-Mail: wlarkin@siue.edu
III.
Course Description
This course aims to provide students with the
concepts, skills, and perspectives needed to pursue a rational and reflective
understanding of the general nature of human knowledge and the standards we use
to evaluate beliefs. The course will
revolve around the philosophical problem of skepticism. Investigating the limits of knowledge
provides insight into the nature of knowledge; and identifying the principles
that underlie the best skeptical arguments helps bring to the surface our
implicit assumptions about what knowledge is and what it requires. And so it is that the possible responses to
skepticism are intimately bound up with the hottest current debates on the
nature of knowledge and justification.
In considering various responses to skepticism, we will be investigating
such issues as: the analysis of knowledge and the Gettier problem, internalist
vs. externalist theories of epistemic justification, direct realism and the
nature of perception, semantic externalism and the relation between mind and
world, and contextualism and the semantics of knowledge attributions.
A.
Required (provided by instructor)
Course packet of readings
B.
Supplemental (available through textbook rental):
Readings in
Epistemology,
Jack S. Crumley II
An
Introduction to Epistemology, Jack S. Crumley II
V.
Course Requirements
1. Reading Journals: Students
will be required to keep a reading journal in which they record (a) pre-reading
reflections on the topics and theses of our readings, (b) answers to various
reading questions designed to promote active reading, (c) outlines of the
readings, and (d) post-reading evaluations of the readings and reflections on their
own views on relevant issues. Journals will be graded on the
basis of completeness and evidence of good faith effort at active engagement
with the readings for the course.
Reading journals will be worth 40%
of the semester grade.
2.
Exams: There will be a midterm and a final exam. Each exam will be a take home essay exam (typed, 5-7 pp.)
requiring both an exposition and an evaluation of various problems and views
discussed in the readings and in class.
Each exam will be worth 30% of the semester grade.
VI.
Expectations
Genuine learning requires
two-way communication. Students are not
merely empty vessels waiting to be filled up with information—they come to this
course with various backgrounds, beliefs, skills and talents. My goal is (1) to incorporate some new
concepts, ideas, and perspectives into students’ pre-existing knowledge base,
and (2) to help students acquire and hone certain critical thinking habits,
active reading techniques, and argumentative skills.
It is expected that you will help facilitate
this process by taking an active role in your own learning process. Only with your active participation can
genuine learning occur, and only genuine learning will insure success in the
course. I expect you to take an active
role in class by taking notes, participating in discussion, asking questions,
and providing feedback on the class and your own progress. No behavior that manifests a lack of respect
for others or their learning objectives will be tolerated. It is absolutely crucial that everyone feel
comfortable stating and defending their own views.
Outside of class you are expected to do the
following: keep up on assigned readings, keep a reading journal, review notes,
and see me in office hours whenever a question or problem arises. I also want to encourage you to get together
with fellow students to discuss the material in the course and to read related
material that we will not be covering.
I am more than willing to help with either of those projects in any way.
No kind or degree of academic dishonesty (i.e.,
cheating or plagiarism) will be tolerated.
Any such behavior on any assignment will certainly result in failing
that assignment, will probably result in failing the course, and may require
more drastic measures through official channels.
VIII.
Weekly Schedule
Week One: Philosophy,
Epistemology, and The Philosophical Problem of Skepticism
Read: Descartes,
“Meditation One”
Week Two: The Philosophical
Significance of Skepticism
Read: Stroud,
“Skepticism and the Possibility of Knowledge”
Week Three: The Analysis of
Knowledge
Read:
Gettier,
“Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?”
Week Four: Externalist Analysis of Knowledge
Read:
Goldman,
“What is Justified True Belief?”
Weeks
Five/Six: Internalist Notion of Epistemic Justification
Read: BonJour, “A Version of Internalist
Foundationalism”
Weeks
Seven/Eight: Externalist Notion of
Epistemic Justification Contextualism
Read: Sosa, “Beyond Internal Foundations to
External
Virtues”
Weeks
Nine/Ten: Direct Realism
Read:
Huemer, “A Version of Direct
Realism”
Weeks
Eleven/Twelve: Semantic
Externalism
Read: Putnam, “Brains in a Vat”
Weeks
Thirteen/Fourteen: Contextualism
Read: DeRose,
“Solving the Skeptical Problem”
Week Fifteen: Wrap
Up