https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/ Recent content in Assignments on PHIL 871 Hugo -- gohugo.io Colin McLear Wed, 06 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0600 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week16/ Wed, 06 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0600 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week16/ This week we end by looking at Kant’s famous division of practical imperatives into those of hypothetical and categorical form. We’ll discuss Kant’s conception of a will, how it acts on imperatives, and the broader conception of agency in which this fits. We’ll also look at the various formulations of the moral law, and raise some questions concerning how they all fit together. Handout Readings Groundwork, section II: 4:406-45 Korsgaard, ’Introduction’, second section Optional: Korsgaard, ’Kant’s Formula of Universal Law’ & ’Kant’s Formula of Humanity’, chs. https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week15/ Wed, 29 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0500 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week15/ This week we start our discussion of Kant’s moral theory. We’ll discuss the aims and structure of the Groundwork and then move on to section one and Kant’s notion of a “good will”, acting in accordance with a maxim, and his related theory of obligation. Handout Readings Groundwork, Preface & section I: 4:387-405 Korsgaard, ’Introduction’, preface and first section Optional: Korsgaard, ’Kant’s Analysis of Obligation’ Optional: Potter, ’The Argument of Kant’s Groundwork, chapter 1’ Questions What does Kant think the science of morality/ethics concerns? https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week14/ Wed, 22 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0500 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week14/ No class this week. By Wednesday 11/22 at the latest, please be sure to have sent me at least an outline of your planned paper, including topic, thesis, and the general structure of your arguments. https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week13/ Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0500 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week13/ We begin our discussion of Kant’s moral theory by looking at his argument for freedom as autonomy in the third section of the Groundwork and related passages from the Critique of Practical Reason. Joining us for our discussion is Jessica Tizzard, and we’ll be looking at some forthcoming work from her on these issues as well (see the Discord thread for her paper). Readings Groundwork, section III: 4:446-63 Review of Schultz (Practical Philosophy, 7-10) CPrR: §7, 5:30-1 (Practical Philoosphy, 164-5) CPR: Canon – “On the ultimate end of the pure use of our reason”, A797-804/B825-832 (Guyer & Wood pp. https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week12/ Wed, 08 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0500 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week12/ For our final week on the first Critique we discuss Kant’s Third Antinomy and various conceptions of freedom. In particular, we’ll see how Kant aims to secure the logical possibility that we are what he calls “transcendentally free.” We’ll also look at how this view is developed in the Critique of Practical Reason. Handout Readings CPR: Antinomy of Pure Reason and Third Antinomy, A405-25/B432-53 and A444-51/B474-9 (Guyer and Wood, 459-69 and 484-9) CPR: Resolution of the cosmological idea, A532-58/B560-86 (Guyer and Wood, 532-46) CPrR: 5:91-100 (Practical Philosophy 213-220) OPTIONAL: Wood, ’The Antinomies of Pure Reason’ OPTIONAL: Pereboom, ’Kant on Transcendental Freedom’ OPTIONAL: Allison, ’Kant on Freedom of the Will’ Questions What is an “antinomy”? https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week11/ Wed, 01 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0400 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week11/ This week we’ll continue our discussion of reason – what is it?, why does it lead us into illusion?, and is “supreme principle” of reason the same as (or a restriction of) Leibniz’s “Principle of Sufficient Reason.” Guest Rosalind Chaplin will help lead our discussion concerning these issues. CPR: Introduction to the Dialectic, B349-B398 (Guyer & Wood, 384-410) OPTIONAL: The Discipline Of Pure Reason, B735/B822 (Guyer & Wood, 627-671) Chaplin: Kant’s Supreme Principle of Pure Reason and the Principle of Sufficient Reason (see Discord) OPTIONAL: Notes on the Forms of the PSR, Restricting the PSR OPTIONAL: Rohlf, ’The Ideas of Pure Reason’ OPTIONAL: Williams, ’Kant’s Account of Reason’ (SEP) https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/overview-1/ Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0500 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/overview-1/ In lieu of a passage analysis this week, please answer the following: What is the question of the book? How does Kant think we go about answering it? How do 1+2 explain the structure of the book? There’s no strict word limit, but this shouldn’t really need much longer than 2-3 pages (and it could be as short as a paragraph). https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week10/ Wed, 25 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0400 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week10/ With Kant’s positive conception of cognition behind us, we turn this week to a look at two issues. First, we close out the Analytic of Principles with a discussion of phenomena and noumena. Second we start looking at Kant’s broader negative argument that constitutes the “critique” of reason proper. We’ll look at his conception of what the faculty of reason is, why it tends to lead us into illusion, and the form of these illusions. https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week9/ Wed, 18 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0400 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week9/ Hume famously presents a challenge to conceptions of causation as a kind of necessitation relation. This week we look at Kant’s general approach to necessary connection in the temporal or “schematized” application of the categories. In turn this leads to our central topic of discussion: the sense in which Kant’s position on time determination and the relation between inner appearances and their outer cause(s) allows him to reply to the skeptical positions of Descartes (problematic idealism) and Berkeley (dogmatic idealism). https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week8/ Wed, 11 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0400 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week8/ This week we’ll wrap up our discussion of the Deduction and move on to Kant’s discussion of the “schematism” of the categories in their role as “principles” of experience. Readings CPR: Review the Deduction Introduction to the Analytic, B169-75 (Guyer & Wood, 267-70) The Schematism, B176-87 (Guyer & Wood, 271-77) System of Principles, B187-202 (Guyer & Wood, 278-86) OPTIONAL: Watkins, “The System of Principles, §§1-2” OPTIONAL: Guyer, “What is the Schematism? https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week7/ Wed, 04 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0500 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week7/ Once Kant has argued for which concepts should be considered the fundamental concepts of metaphysics (as he did in the Metaphysical Deduction), he then needs to argue that such concepts can legitimately be applied to what is given in sensibility. This is the task of the (in)famous “Transcendental Deduction of the Categories.” This week we’ll look at the overall structure of the Deduction, and consider the initial few sections in some detail. https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/analysis-2/ Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0400 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/analysis-2/ Choose from one of the two provided passages. In no more than 500 words describe Kant’s argument or point in the passage in as plain English as possible. For this assignment please make clear how the parts of your analysis relate to the relevant parts of the given text. The analysis is due via email Friday, September 29. by 5 p.m. First Passage There are only two possible cases in which synthetic representation and its objects can come together, necessarily relate to each other, and, as it were, meet each other: Either if the object alone makes the representation possible, or if the representation alone makes the object possible. https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week6/ Wed, 27 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0500 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week6/ Kant’s project of defending our knowledge of true synthetic a priori judgments in metaphysics requires a defense of the legitimacy of the basic concepts of metaphysics. But which concepts are the most basic? This week we start our discussion of the Transcendental Analytic with a look at the section of the Critique of Pure Reason called the “Metaphysical Deduction”, in which Kant gives us an argument for determining which concepts are fundamental to metaphysics, and how they could be cognized a priori. https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week5/ Wed, 20 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0400 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week5/ We’re finishing our discussion of Transcendental Idealism this week by looking more closely at epistemic readings of TI. Be sure to have read the below chapters by Allison, if you haven’t already. Other things to look at include Van Cleve’s criticisms of Allison’s reading and Nick Stang’s overview of issues surrounding the interpretation of Transcendental Idealism. Note that class on the 20th will be remote via zoom, with guest Banafsheh Baizaei of Brown University (https://philosophy. https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week4/ Wed, 13 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0400 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week4/ This week we continue our discussion of Kant’s doctrine of Transcendental Idealism. We’ll focus primarily on his inference from the a priori and intuitive status of our representation of space and time to the conclusion that space and time themselves are mind-dependent. We’ll also look at various options for interpreting Kant’s positions on idealism and realism. If there is time we may discuss briefly Kant’s derivation of the categories and how this conception of the categories might provide a further basis for Kant’s idealism (see optional reading). https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/analysis-1/ Fri, 08 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0500 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/analysis-1/ Choose from one of the two provided passages. In no more than 500 words describe Kant’s argument or point in the passage in as plain English as possible. The is due via email Friday, September 8. by 11 p.m. If you need an extension please just email me. First Passage Up to now it has been assumed that all our cognition must conform to the objects; but all attempts to find out something about them a priori through concepts that would extend our cognition have, on this presupposition, come to nothing. https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week3/ Wed, 06 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0400 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week3/ This week we discuss further Kant’s argument for construing space and time as mere forms of sensibility. We’ll discuss his seeming inference from the putative fact that space and time are forms of sensibility to the conclusion that they are only forms of sensibility and nothing “in themselves”. We’ll also discuss some possibilities for interpreting the overall sense in which his position is “idealist.” Readings CPR: Transcendental Aesthetic (B59-73; Guyer & Wood, 185-92) Prolegomena, Note III (Kant replying to critics of his idealism) (Optional): Allison, Transcendental Idealism and Transcendental Realism Henry Allison’s now classic discussion & defense of Kant’s idealism (Optional): Allais, Manifest Reality, ch. https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week2/ Wed, 30 Aug 2023 00:00:00 -0400 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week2/ It’s volleyball day! So campus is closed and we are not meeting. I’ll post a link to a video (probably this weekend) discussing Kant’s conception of space and time as a priori and non-conceptual representations. We’ll try and understand what it means to say that space and time are merely “forms” of intuition, the arguments for the view, and how it stands up to relevant alternatives. Lectures I broke up discussion of the project of the synthetic a priori and its relation to the structure of the book and general and the Transcendental Aesthetic in particular into three parts. https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week1/ Wed, 23 Aug 2023 00:00:00 -0400 https://phil871.colinmclear.net/assignments/week1/ This week we look at the basic structure of Kant’s critical project, and in particular, the issue of “synthetic a priori” judgment. Readings Preface (Second Edition), Bxii-xliv (Guyer & Wood, 106-124) & Introduction (Second Edition), B1-30 (Guyer & Wood, 136-52) to the Critique of Pure Reason (Recommended) Hogan, “Metaphysical Motives of Kant’s Analytic/Synthetic Distinction” (especially §§1-4) (Recommended) Van Cleve, “Necessity, Analyticity, and the A Priori” (Optional) SEP entry on Kant’s Philosophical Development Notes on the critical philosophy, transcendental idealism, and the “copernican turn” Handout Questions What is the difference between an analytic and a synthetic judgment?