Phil 290P: David Lewis
Fall, 2018
Readings
-
Thursday, September 27
- : (no reading, first class).
-
Thursday, October 4
- : “Counterpart Theory and Quantified Modal Logic,”
with postscripts (Phil. Papers, vol. 1, pp. 26–46). Note this is probably
the most technically challenging reading we will have, but I think
necessary.
-
Tuesday, October 9
- : On the Plurality of Worlds, §§1.3 (pp. 20–27), 1.6–8
(pp. 69–96).
-
Thursday, October 11
- : On the Plurality of Worlds, §1.9; §2.1 (pp. 97–101);
§2.4 (pp. 108–15), §2.8 (pp. 133-5).
-
Tuesday, October 16
- : On the Plurality of Worlds, §3.1–2 (pp. 136–165).
-
Thursday, October 18
- : On the Plurality of Worlds, §§§4.1–3 (pp. 192–220).
-
Tuesday, October 23
- : Carnap, “Empiricism, Semantics and Ontology”;
Quine, “On Carnap’s Views on Ontology”; Carnap, reply to Quine’s
“Carnap and Logical Truth.”
-
Thursday, October 25
- : Introduction to Philosophical Papers,
vol. 1 (pp. x–xii); “Holes” (with Stephanie Lewis) (Phil. Papers, vol. 1,
pp. 3–9); On the Plurality of Worlds, §1.1 (pp. 1–5).
-
Tuesday, October 30
- : “Languages and Language” (Phil. Papers, vol. 1,
pp. 163–188).
-
Thursday, November 1
- : Convention, ch. 3.1–4 (pp. 83–107) and 3.6
(pp. 118–121).
-
Tuesday, November 6
- : “Scorekeeping in a Language Game” (Phil. Papers,
vol. 1, pp. 233–49).
-
Thursday, November 8
- : “Academic appointments: Why ignore the advantage
of being right?” (Papers in Ethics, pp. 187–200); “Noneism or Allism?”
(Papers in Metaphysics, pp. 152–63).
-
The possibility of science and of meaningful thought
-
-
Tuesday, November 13
- : Carnap, Aufbau, §§1–2, 14–16, 61–4, 67, 75–8, 124–6,
153–5, 165; “Meaning and Synomymy in Natural Languages”; Quine, “Two
Dogmas of Empiricism,” §5; “Ontological Relativity.”
-
Thursday, November 15
- : “New Work for a Theory of Universals,” beginning
(Papers in Metaphysics, pp. 8-25, through the end of the section titled
“ONE OVER MANY”).
-
Tuesday, November 20
- : “New Work for a Theory of Universals,” end (Papers
in Metaphysics, pp. 25–55).
-
Thursday, November 22
- : No class (Thanksgiving)
-
Tuesday, November 27
- : “Causation” (Phil. Papers, vol. 2, pp. 159–72;
postscripts, pp. 172–213, recommended but not required).
-
Thursday, November 29
- : “How to Define Theoretical Terms” (Phil. Papers,
vol. 1, pp. 78–95).
-
Tuesday, December 4
- : “Radical Interpretation,” with postscripts
(Phil. Papers, vol. 1, pp. 108–21).
-
Thursday, December 6
- : “Putnam’s Paradox,” (Papers in Metaphysics,
pp. 56–77).
-
Wednesday, December 12
- : final paper due.