Readings

Tuesday, January 6
: (no reading, first class).

Background: Aristotelian Metaphysics
 
Thursday, January 8
: selections from Aristotle (on substance and accident).
Tuesday, January 13
: selections from Aristotle and Porphyry (on the predicables and the categories). ME #1 due.
Thursday, January 15
: selections from Plotinus, Porphyry, Avicenna, and Thomas Aquinas (on substance and accident). ME #2 due.

Descartes
 
Tuesday, January 20
: Descartes, Discourse on the Method, parts 1–3 (pp. 20–35), part 6, first paragraph (p. 46); Principles of Philosophy I.1–3 (p. 160), IV.207 (p. 212). ME #3 due.
Thursday, January 22
: First Meditation (pp. 76–9). No ME due.
Tuesday, January 27
: beginning of Second Meditation (pp. 80–83, through the paragraph ending “in this restricted sense of the term it is simply thinking”); Principles of Philosophy I.9–10 (p. 162–3), .20 (pp. 166–7); Objections and Replies, selection entitled “[Appendix: Arguments Arranged in Geometrical Fashion],” pp. 150–52. ME #4 due.
Thursday, January 29
: remainder of Second Meditation (pp. 83–6); Principles of Philosophy I.8 (p. 162), .11 (p. 163), .45–8 (pp. 174–6), .51–4 (pp. 177–8), .63 (p. 182), .66 (p. 183), II.4 (p. 190). ME #5 due.
Tuesday, February 3
: Third and Fifth Meditations (pp. 86–98; 105–110). First paper due. No ME due.
Thursday, February 5
: Fourth Meditation (pp. 98–105); Principles of Philosophy I.6 (p. 161); Objections and Replies, selection entitled “[The indifference of the will]” (pp. 134–5). ME #6 due.
Tuesday, February 10
: Sixth Meditation (pp. 110–22); Passions of the Soul I.17–18 (p. 225), .25 (pp. 227–8); .30–35 (pp. 229–32); .39–41 (p. 233); .49–50 (pp. 237–8). ME #7 due.

Spinoza
 
Thursday, February 12
: Spinoza, Ethics I, beginning through Scholium to Prop. 15 (pp. 31–43). Theologico-Political Treatise, ch. 7, tr. Elwes, pp. 98–top of 101 (ending “which occur in the Bible”). (All readings from the Theologico-Political Treatise are available as a single file on eCommons.) ME #8 due.
Tuesday, February 17
: Ethics I, Prop. 16 through end (pp. 43–62). Theologico-Political Treatise, pp. 101–4 (ending “its meaning concerning them”). ME #9 due.
Thursday, February 19
: Ethics II, beginning through Scholium to Prop. 18 (pp. 63–79). Theologico-Political Treatise, paragraph beginning at the bottom of p. 106 (“We have thus shown …”) and ending on p. 107 (“…about the former”); top of p. 114 (beginning “There only remains”)–top of p. 117 (ending “the learned fare alike”). ME #10 due.
Tuesday, February 24
: Ethics II, Prop. 19 to end (pp. 80–101). Theologico-Political Treatise, pp. 117–119. Second paper due. No ME due.
Thursday, February 26
: Ethics III, beginning through Scholium to Prop. 11 (pp. 102–111) and Prop. 53 (p. 136); IV, Definitions (pp. 155–6) and Prop. 28 (p. 168); V, Preface (pp. 201–3), Prop. 4 (p. 206) and Prop. 14 to end (pp. 210–23). ME #11 due.

Leibniz
 
Tuesday, March 3
: Leibniz, “A New System of Nature,” first three paragraphs (pp. 138–9); from letters to Clarke: 1.4 (pp. 320–21), 2.12 (p. 324), 3.17 (p. 327), 4.42 (p. 331), 5.107–11 (pp. 343–4), along with Clarke’s replies to each; “A Specimen of Dynamics,” first two paragraphs (pp. 118–19); “Discourse on Metaphysics,” §§[2]The symbol § stands for “section”; §§ means “sections.” 8–12, 24, 26–8, 33 (pp. 40–44, 56–7, 58–60, 64–5). ME #12 due.
Thursday, March 5
: “A New System of Nature,” remaining part (pp. 139–45); “Monadology,” §§1–61 (pp. 213-21). No ME due.
Tuesday, March 10
: selections from Thomas Aquinas (on angels); Leibniz, from letters to de Volder, last two paragraphs of B, first paragraph of C, and first paragraph of D (pp. 178–9, 181–2); “Monadology,” §§62–81 (pp. 221–3). Introductory paragraph and outline of final paper due. No ME due.
Thursday, March 12
: Leibniz, “Dialogue on Human Freedom,” pp. 111–17; letter to Coste (pp. 193–6); “Discourse on Metaphysics,” §§13–16, 19–20, 30–32, 35–7 (pp. 44–9, 52–3, 60–64, 66–8); “Monadology,” §§82–end (pp. 223–5). ME #13 due.
Tuesday, March 17
: final paper due.