Readings
- Monday, October 2
- : (no reading, first class).
- Basic system
- Wednesday, 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.
- Monday, October 9
- : On the Plurality of Worlds, §§1.3 (pp. 20–27), 1.6–8 (pp. 69–96)
- Wednesday, October 11
- : On the Plurality of Worlds, §1.9; §2.1 (pp. 97–101); §2.4 (pp. 108–15), §2.8 (pp. 133-5). .
- Monday, October 16
- : On the Plurality of Worlds, §3.1–2 (pp. 136–165).
- Wednesday, October 18
- : On the Plurality of Worlds, §§§4.1–3 (pp. 192–220).
- Methodology
- Monday, October 23
- : Carnap, “Empiricism, Semantics and Ontology”; Quine, “On Carnap’s Views on Ontology”; Carnap, reply to Quine’s “Carnap and Logical Truth.”
- Wednesday, 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).
- Monday, October 30
- : “Languages and Language” (Phil. Papers, vol. 1, pp. 163–188).
- Wednesday, November 1
- : Convention, ch. 3.1–4 (pp. 83–107) and 3.6 (pp. 118–121).
- Monday, November 6
- : “Scorekeeping in a Language Game” (Phil. Papers, vol. 1, pp. 233–49).
- Wednesday, 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
- Monday, November 13
- : Carnap, Aufbau, §§1–2, 14–16, 61–4, 67, 75–8, 124–6, 153–5, 165; “Meaning and Synomymy in Natural Languages”
- Wednesday, November 15
- : Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism,” §5; “Ontological Relativity.”
- Monday, November 20
- : “New Work for a Theory of Universals,” beginning (Papers in Metaphysics, pp. 8-25, through the end of the section titled “ONE OVER MANY”).
- Wednesday, November 22
- : “New Work for a Theory of Universals,” end (Papers in Metaphysics, pp. 25–55).
- Monday, November 27
- : “Causation” (Phil. Papers, vol. 2, pp. 159–72; postscripts, pp. 172–213, recommended but not required).
- Wednesday, November 29
- : “How to Define Theoretical Terms” (Phil. Papers, vol. 1, pp. 78–95).
- Monday, December 4
- : “Radical Interpretation,” with postscripts (Phil. Papers, vol. 1, pp. 108–21).
- Wednesday, December 6
- : “Putnam’s Paradox,” (Papers in Metaphysics, pp. 56–77).