Readings

Thursday, September 27

: (no reading, first class).

Basic system

Tuesday, October 2

: no class due to Simchat Torah.

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).

Methodology

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.