PHIL 517 (Topics in Contemporary Philosophy)
Spring 2007

Hours: W 3 4 5

Course Description:  This course is centered around the contemporary debate on truth and pluralism.  Our main task will be to read Michael Lynch’s book Truth in Context.  As we go along, however, we will touch upon the pertinent ideas of such thinkers as D. Davidson, H. Putnam, W. V. O. Quine, R. Rorty, and L. Wittgenstein.  The principal “problematic” of the course will be the neo-Kantian approach to alethic matters, its relations with some metaphysical and social issues, and whether it can deal with certain critical theoretical difficulties that have been articulated by those philosophers who believe that any sort of Kantianism (old or new) is a non-starter when it comes to the well-known questions of metaphysics (or, more harmlessly, “ontology”), theory of knowledge, and philosophy of language.

Reading material:  A course package will be available at Hisar Copy Shop (Nispetiye Str., 23).  The reader contains the following:

Book:

Lynch, M. P. Truth in Context: An Essay on Pluralism and Objectivity, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1998.

Articles and (selected) chapters:

Alston, W. P. A Realist Conception of Truth, London: Cornell University Press, 1996.

Baç, M.  “Pluralistic Kantianism,” The Philosophical Forum, vol. 37, issue 2, 2006, 183-204.

Davidson, D. Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984.

Davidson, D. “A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs” in E. LePore (ed.), Truth and Interpretation, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986.

Davidson, D. “The Structure and Content of Truth,” Journal of Philosophy, vol. lxxxvii, no. 6, 1990, 279-328.

Davidson, D. Subjective, Intersubjective, and Objective, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001.

Hegel, G. W. F. Phenomenology of Spirit, tr. A. V. Miller, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.

James, W. “What Pragmatism Means,” “Pragmatism’s Conception of Truth,” from Pragmatism, N.Y: Longman, 1907.

Kraut, R. “The Third Dogma” in E. LePore (ed.), Truth and Interpretation, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986.

Putnam, H. Reason, Truth, and History, London: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Putnam, H. Realism with a Human Face, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1990.

Putnam, H. Pragmatism, Cambridge: Blackwell, 1995.

Quine, W. V. O. From a Logical Point of View, 2nd ed., Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980.

Quine, W. V. O. Pursuit of Truth, revised edition, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992.

Rorty, R. Consequences of Pragmatism, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982.

Wittgenstein, L. Philosophical Investigations, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1958.

Grading:  You will write a single paper for this course, at least 4000 words or approximately 12 pages (60% grade value).  It will be submitted early in the finals period.  You are required to produce a written progress report (10% grade value) several weeks before the submission of paper.  The remaining 30% will come from your presentations and participation in our class discussions.

Reminder:   Students are responsible for arranging a presentation time in consultation with me.  It is highly inadvisable for you to leave the determination of your presentation time to the last few weeks.  If you fail to do presentation(s), I will not compensate the missing 30% (i.e., presentation part) of your grade by other means such as extra papers.
 

Plagiarism:  Please read “About Plagiarism” given at the beginning of the course reader carefully.