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.

 

 

 

IV.              Texts

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.

 

 

 

VII.           Academic Dishonesty:

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