Philosophy 333

American Philosophy

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Reading List

All readings are electronically accessible on direct links through the library or downloadable through links to a secure directory.  I will send the login and password information for the secure directory to registered members of the class by e-mail.  (If you need the login and password and don’t have it, please e-mail me.) 

The two books by William James, The Will to Believe and Pragmatism are in the form of full length pdf's.  These are also available in free Kindle versions from amazon.com and may be available in other free formats on the web.

Exactly which readings are due each week can be found on the course website under the link Weekly Assignments.

Peirce

•   1.2. Thursday 9/1/16:  Historical Background – Peirce on Belief
  Reading:  Peirce, “The Fixation of Belief.”
•   2.1. Tuesday 9/6/16:  Peirce on Belief
  Reading: Peirce, “The Scientific Attitude and Fallibilism.”
•  2.2. Thursday 9/8/16:  Peirce and Pragmatism – 1
  Reading:  Peirce, “How to Make Our Ideas Clear.”
•   3.1. Tuesday 9/13/16:  Peirce and Pragmatism – 2
  Reading: Peirce, "Pragmatism and Pragmaticism"
•   3.2. Thursday 9/15/16:  Peirce on Metaphysics
  Reading: Peirce, "The Backward State of Metaphysics" and "The Categories.":
  
• 4.1. Tuesday 9/20/16: Peirce's Cosmology
  Reading:  Peirce, “Evolutionary Love.”

James

•   4.2. Thursday 9/22/16:  James' Early Thought
  Reading:  James, “The Sentiment of Rationality,” (in The Will to Believe, pp. 63-110).
•   5.1. Tuesday 9/27/16:  The Decision to Believe
  Reading: James, “The Will to Believe,” (in The Will to Believe, pp. 1-31).
•   5.2. Thursday 9/29/16:  Determinism
  Reading:  James, “The Dilemma of Determinism, ” (in The Will to Believe, pp. 145-183).
•   6.1. Tuesday 10/4/16:  James’s Pragmatism – 1
  Reading:  James, Pragmatism, chapters 1 and 2.
  Recommended:  James, “Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results.”
•  6.2. Thursday 10/6/16:  James’s Pragmatism – 2
  Reading:  James, Pragmatism, chapters 3 and 4.
• 8.1 Tuesday 10/18/16:  James on Truth
  Reading:  James, Pragmatism, chapter 6 (chapter 7 recommended); James, “Humanism and Truth."

Dewey

•   8.2. Thursday 10/20/16:  Introducing Dewey
  Reading:  Dewey, “Darwin's Influence Upon Philosophy.”
•   9.1. Tuesday 10/25/16:  Dewey on Truth
  Reading:  Dewey, "Truth and Consequences."
•   9.2. Thursday 10/27/16: Philosophical Systems
  Reading:  Godfrey-Smith, “James and Dewey on Philosophical Systems.”.
  Recommended:  Dewey, Quest for Certainty, chapter 1 and chapter 2..
• 10.1. Tuesday 11/1//16:  Dewey on Inquiry – 1
  Readings:  Dewey, "Quest for Certainty"
• 10.2. Thursday 11/3/16:  Dewey on Inquiry – 2
  Reading: Dewey, "Common Sense and Scientific Inquiry."
  Recommended:  Godfrey-Smith, “Dewey on Naturalism, Realism, and Science.” .
• 11.1. Tuesday 11/8/16:  Dewey on Aesthetics
  Reading:  Dewey, "Art as Experience."
• 11.2. Thursday 11/10/16:  Dewey on the Normative
  Reading:  Dewey, "The Construction of the Good."

More Recent Work

• 12.1. Tuesday 11/15/16:  Dewey's Political Philosophy
  Reading:  Dewey, "Philosopy and Democracy."
  Reading:  Price, “Truth as a Convenient Fiction.”
• 12.2 Thursday 11/17/16:  Naturalism
  Reading:  Hook, "Naturalism and First Principles."
  
• 13.1. 11/22/16:  Representation and Truth - 1
  Reading: Putnam, "Is There Still Anything to Say About Reality and Truth."
• 14.1. 11/29/16:  Representation and Truth - 2
  Reading: Price, "Truth as Convenient Fiction."
  
• 14.2. 12/1/16:  Rorty's Pragmatism – 1
  Reading:  Rorty, “Pragmatism and Philosophy” (Consequences of Pragmatism, Introduction).
  Recommended:  “Dewey's Metaphysics.” (Consequences of Pragmatism, ch. 5).
• 15.1 Tuesday 11/6/16:  Rorty’s Pragmatism – 2  
  Reading: “Pragmatism, Relativism, Irrationalism,” (Consequences of Pragmatism, ch. 9).
• 15.2. Thrusday 12/8/16:  Rorty on Social Science
  Reading:  Rorty, “Method, Social Science and Social Hope,” (Consequences of Pragmatism, ch. 11).