Schedule

Last updated: Mon, Jan 26, 2026

Date Module Readings Due Dates
2026-01-21 Introduction Getting philosophical
 Please complete this “Getting to Know You” survey by 7:30pm the day before our first day of class (or as soon as possible if you are joining late)
2026-01-26 Portraits of a philosopher Remote snow day (on Zoom)
  • In-class screening: The Truman Show (1998), directed by Peter Weir, 102 min
2026-01-28 Portraits of a philosopher The junzi (“gentleman”) I
  • Kongzi [Confucius], Analects, 1.1–4; 2.1–4, 11–12, 17; 3.8, 23; 4.1–10, 15–25; 5.12–13; 6.5, 12, 18, 21–23, 27–30; 7.3–8, 12, 30; 8.9, 13; 9.2–3, 6, 13–14, 17–19, 23–24; 10.12; 11.12, 22, 26; 12.17–19; 13.5–6; 14.4, 36; 15.24, 36, 39; 16.4–5, 7–9; 17.2, 21, 25; 19.11 [CourseWorks > Files]
2026-02-02 Portraits of a philosopher The junzi II
  • Mozi, Mozi, pp. 65–67, 71, 73–74, 85–90, 103–8 [CourseWorks]
  • Ban Zhao, in Nancy Lee Swann, ed., Pan Chao: Foremost Woman Scholar of China:
    • Lessons for Women, pp. 82–90, 91 nn. 11–12
    • “The Needle and Thread,” p. 104
    • “Traveling East,” pp. 113–14, 116, 118
2026-02-04 Portraits of a philosopher The lover of wisdom I
  • Thales, ¶¶ 1–5; Anaximander, ¶¶ 1, 3, 6–7, 9–11 [Coursework]
  • Heraclitus, ¶¶ 1–5, 11–13, 16–17, 33–39, 44, 50, 52, 60, 62 [Coursework]
  • Parmenides, ¶¶ 1–2, 7–8, 13, 17–18 [Coursework]
  • Protagoras, ¶¶ 5–8, 10–12 [Coursework]
  • Sappho, in Diane J. Rayor and André Lardinois, eds., A New Translation of the Complete Works, frs. 1–2, 16–17, 23, 26, 31, 41, 44, 47–48, 50, 58, 94–96, 102, 105, 108, 126, 129–30, 147–48, 153–54; “Brothers Song”
2026-02-09 Portraits of a philosopher The lover of wisdom II
  • Plato, Euthyphro, 2a–12a, 15c–16a; Apology, 17a–26b, 35e–42a; Crito, 43a–54e [CourseWorks]
  • Plato, Phaedo, 115a–118a [CourseWorks]
  • Plato, Republic, 514a-518d, 523a-525b, 531c-535a [CourseWorks]
  • Aristotle, Metaphysics I.1–2, 980a22–983a23 [CourseWorks]
2026-02-11 Philosophy & religion Between reason and faith
  • Ibn Rushd [Averroes], The Decisive Treatise [CourseWorks]
2026-02-16 Philosophy & religion Ontological arguments
  • In Anselm, Proslogion: With the Replies of Gaunilo and Anselm [CourseWorks]:
    • Anselm, Proslogion, chaps. 1–5, 15
    • Gaunilo, “Reply on Behalf of the Fool”
    • Anselm, “Reply to Gaunilo”
  • Ibn Sina [Avicenna], The Book of Salvation II.12–13 [CourseWorks]
2026-02-18 Philosophy & religion Cosmological arguments
2026-02-23 Philosophy & religion The problem of evil
  • Augustine, Confessions VII.xi (17)–xiii (19)
  • Augustine, Enchiridion, chaps. 3–4 [CourseWorks]
  • Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, Part I, Introduction (up to 1.3b) and Part III, chaps. 8, 10, 12 (up to 3.20b), 51
2026-02-25 Philosophy & religion Pascal’s wager
  • Pascal, Pensées, selections [CourseWorks]
2026-03-02 Determinism & free will The consequence argument
2026-03-04 Determinism & free will Local miracles
2026-03-09 Determinism & free will Frankfurt cases
2026-03-11 Determinism & free will Time travel
2026-03-16 Knowledge & skepticism Spring recess (no class)
2026-03-18 Knowledge & skepticism Spring recess (no class)
2026-03-23 Knowledge & skepticism Skeptical hypotheses I (movie night assignment—no class)
2026-03-25 Knowledge & skepticism Skeptical hypotheses II
  • No new readings
 Movie night assignment due by the beginning of class
2026-03-30 Knowledge & skepticism Inference to the best explanation
2026-04-01 Knowledge & skepticism Minds & machines
2026-04-06 Meaning in life The reasonable & the absurd I
  • Immanuel Kant, “An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment?” [CourseWorks]
  • Friedrich Nietzsche, “‘Reason’ in Philosophy” in Twilight of the Idols, or How to Philosophize with a Hammer [CourseWorks]
  • Nietzsche, The Gay Science, sec. 125 [CourseWorks]
  • Albert Camus, “Absurdity and Suicide” and “The Myth of Sisyphus” in The Myth of Sisyphus [CourseWorks]
2026-04-08 Meaning in life Existentialism
  • Jean-Paul Sartre, “Existentialism Is a Humanism,” pp. 17–54 [CourseWorks]
2026-04-13 Meaning in life Woman as a situation
  • Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, pp. xviii–xx, 3–9, 21, 283, and skim pp. 284–95 [CourseWorks]
2026-04-15 Meaning in life Throwing like a girl
  • Iris Young, “Throwing Like a Girl: A Phenomenology of Feminine Body Comportment Motility and Spatiality”
2026-04-22 Politics & society Social contract I
  • Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, selections TBD
 If you are interested in pursuing your own final project, please meet with either of us by this day
2026-04-27 Politics & society Social contract II
  • John Locke, Second Treatise, chaps. 2, 4–5, 7 (only §§ 77–82), 8 (only §§ 95-99)
2026-04-29 Politics & society Alienation & emancipation
  • Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, pp. 85–95, and “Theses on Feuerbach” [CourseWorks]
2026-05-04 Politics & society Philosophy & poetry redux