P ierce R andall
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This course covers the critical philosophy of Kant and his successors, part of a movement in German philosophy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that would come to be called German idealism. As with many other philosophical traditions, these thinkers were motivated by the problem of how to reconcile the nature of things as they are with our conscious experience of them. In attempting to solve this problem, they developed important theories of the structure of our experience, the understanding of which is essential to understanding later nineteenth century thought. We will mainly focus on the writings of Kant, Fichte, and Schelling, although we will also engage with works by Hegel, Jacobi, Schulze, and Reinhold, as well as some contemporary secondary texts. Students taking this course should expect to gain a thorough background in late-eighteenth to early-nineteenth German philosophy, and should expect to improve their writing and critical thinking skills.
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, eds. Paul Guyer and Alan Wood (Cambridge University Press, 1998).
Johann Fichte, The Vocation of Man, trans. Peter Preuss (Hackett Publishing, 1987).
F. W. J. Schelling, First Outline of a System of the Philosophy of Nature, trans. Keith R. Peterson (State University of New York Press, 2004).
G. W. F. Hegel, The Difference between Fichte's and Schelling's System of Philosophy, eds. H. S. Harris and Walter Cerf (State University of New York, 1977).
Secondary texts, as well as selections from Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre, will be provide online through the course website.
You will be expected to complete the following assignments:
One diagnostic 2-3 page writing assignment, due at the end of week three. You will be required to focus on a single passage, summarize it, and briefly raise a challenge to the point being made. The purpose of this assignment is to assess what skills you already have writing about philosophy and to determine how best to help you improve.
Paragraph summaries: Starting on week four, you will be required to turn in one paragraph summary once per week. You'll need to focus on a single paragraph of one of the primary texts we read and summarize as clearly as you can. Don't focus on arguing with the text. Though this is a low-stakes assignment, you will be graded on the clarity of your writing and I will sometimes give feedback on your understanding of the texts.
An in-class presentation. You'll be responsible for presenting a section of the texts to the class and providing discussion questions. You'll sign up for presentations in the second week of the class. Your presentations are expected to be between 20-30 minutes.
Two papers, due at the mid-point and end of the course. Both papers may be no more than 3,000 words.
| Diagnostic writing | 10% |
| Paragraph summaries | 20% |
| Presentation | 15% |
| Midterm paper | 25% |
| Final paper | 30% |
I will make course announcements primarily via email. If you need to contact me, please email me from your university account. Do not try to message me on Canvas [or any other online learning platform], as I may not see it.
I will aim to reply to student emails within 48 hours of receiving them. If you email me and do no receive a reply within that period, please resend the email.
I may, at my discretion, grant extensions for assignments to students who ask for them, consistent with any relevant university policies. If you need an extension, email me at least 48 hours before the assignment is due. I may not respond to extension requests after that point. If I don't respond to your extension request, you're responsible for turning the assignment in on time.
Since classroom discussion is a significant part of this class, you are expected to observe norms of respectful discussion. Your participation grade in class will be partially based on the extent to which you are a constructive and respectful participant.
Please read David Chalmers' summary of respectful discourse norms, available here: http://consc.net/guidelines/. Chalmers' list is intended for talks at academic conferences, where a speaker gives a prepared talk, followed by a moderated question and answer session. Since we won't normally have designated speakers or Q&A periods, some of Chalmers' guidelines won't be applicable to our class. But most will be.
Here are some norms I'd like to emphasize:
Don't interrupt others.
Don't use disrespectful body language (e.g.: don't roll your eyes or sigh loudly when people bring up points).
Don't dominate conversation. If you've made several points, let others talk. If you're focused on an issue and the rest of the class seems ready to move on, consider dropping it or bringing it up in private with me or your fellow students.
Don't be dismissive toward the comments of others. Instead of saying things like "that's crazy" or "your argument is logically absurd," consider saying things like: "But isn't this point a problem for that view?"
Don't single people out on the basis of their race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or linguistic community.
Avoid potentially offensive examples unless necessary to make cogent, on-topic points. Even in the course of making cogent, on-topic points, use discretion about sensitive matters that may reasonable offend someone. If you have a question about what this means, ask me.
Listen to others and acknowledge what they have to say. If you make a point that's similar to what someone else has said, give them credit. (It's fine to point out if you think your point is slightly different, too.)
If someone breaches a norm of respect, be polite about pointing it out to them. If it's still a problem, let me know. If someone tells you that you've behaved disrespectfully, don't dismiss what they say. At least consider the possibility that they may be right.
If you copy text from another source, you must indicate that it is a quotation (by using quotation marks or by offsetting it as a block quote) and provide a citation for the source.
If you paraphrase text from another source (i.e, you summarize a passage or argument in your own words), you must provide a citation for the source.
If you use an idea that someone else came up with, you must provide a citation to credit them. This includes ideas others mention to you in personal conversation. For instance, if your friend Betty reads a draft of your paper and makes an objection you decide to respond to in the final version, you should write something like "I am indebted to Betty Jenkins for pressing me on this point" in a footnote.
If you fail to comply with the three above requirements, or if you're caught cheating on an in-class assignment, I may refer the incident to the university's disciplinary body. This could result in the university sanctioning you. (Consult relevant university policy regarding what constitutes cheating.)
You should also cite controversial or not-widely-known claims in your paper if you make them. Most claims based on recent academic research are either controversial, not widely known, or both. You don't need to cite uncontroversial, widely-known claims.
[Paste university-wide policies here.]
Week 1: Introduction to the course and historical antecedents; rousing you from your dogmatic slumber
Appearance and reality: foundational problems in metaphysics and epistemology
The analytic/synthetic distinction
Hume's theory of ideas
Our non-acquaintance with the hidden causal powers of objects
General metaphysics (ontology) and special metaphysics (psychology, cosmology, and rational theology)
Readings:
Christian Wolff, selections from Preliminary Discourse on Philosophy in General (course website)
David Hume, selections from A Treatise of Human Nature (course website)
Week 2: Introducing Kant's critical project
Three questions: What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope for?
The synthetic a priori
Pure and empirical cognition
The structure of the Critique
Readings:
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, introductions to both editions
Week 3: The Transcendental Aesthetic: Kant's doctrine of space and time
Sensations and intuitions
The ideality of space and time
Intensive versus extensive magnitudes
The relationship between the Transcendental Aesthetic and Newtonian physics/metaphysics
Readings:
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Transcendental Aesthetic (both editions)
Week 4: The Transcendental Analytic: The core of Kant's system
Concepts and categories
Kant's idea of judgment
The list of the categories (where do they come from?)
Apperception, the conditions of experience and judgment, and Kant's epigenesis of pure reason
Readings:
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Analytic of Concepts (All three sections of chapter 1, plus the B deduction)
Week 5: Kant on cosmology in the Transcendental Dialectic
The antimonies of pure reason
On the interest of reason
Regulative principles of reason
The search for the unconditioned
Readings:
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, "The Antimony of Pure Reason," sect. 1-3 & 9.
Week 6: Jacobi and Schulze as critics of Kant
The problem of the thing-in-itself
Can we read Kant as having vindicated skepticism?
Readings:
selections from Jacobi, appendix to Hume on Faith (course website)
Schulze, selections from Aenesidemus
Week 7: Introducing post-Kantian philosophy, and Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre
The "Spinozism of Freedom"
Fichte's idealist interpretation of Kant
The structure and textual history of the Wissenschaftslehre
Readings:
selections from Henrich, Between Kant and Hegel (online)
Fichte, introduction to the Wissenschaftslehre (online)
Week 8: Fichte's The Vocation of Man (1)
The literary genre of the Vocation
Fichte's response to skepticism
The Absolute I
Fichte and Kant
Readings:
Fichte, Vocation of Man, books I & II ("Doubt" and "Knowledge")
Week 9: Fichte's Vocation (2)
Is faith the basis of knowledge?
Fichte and Jacobi
Readings:
Fichte, Vocation, book III ("Faith")
Week 10: Schelling's Naturphilosophie (1)
What is the philosophy of nature?
Schelling and the unconditioned
Schelling's relationship to Spinozism
The correspondence of nature to our ways of categorizing it
Schelling's concept of "organism"
Readings:
Schelling, First Outline of a System of the Philosophy of Nature, Div. 1-2 (selections)
Week 11: Schelling's Naturphilosophie (2)
Schelling and chemistry
Appraisal: 19th century science and speculative philosophy
Readings:
Schelling, First Outline, div. 3 (selections)
Week 12: Hegel on philosophy in general, and on Fichte
The continuity between philosophy and culture
Identity and predication
Hegel's deployment of his identity argument against Fichte
Hegel, Differenzschrift, chs. 1 & 2
Week 13: Hegel on Schelling
Freedom and nature
Summing up the course
Readings:
Hegel, Differezschrift, ch. 3.