Philosophy 192N: Naturalism

Philosophy 192N: Naturalism
G. Randolph Mayes

Essay #9 Posted below.

Last reading of the semester

The American Origins of Philosophical Naturalism, by Jaegwon Kim

Related Readings

Interesting Websites and People

The Formula, by Malcolm Gladwell

Fusing the Images, by Jay Rosenberg

Unstrung, by Jim Holt

The Belief Trap, by Judith Shulevitz

Everybody's an Expert, by Louis Menand

Dennett and the Natural Science of Free Will, by Matteo Mameli

Naturalistic Fallacy, by Michael Ruse in Reason Magazine

Malcolm Gladwell

Wilfrid Sellars

Reading/Assignment Schedule

General Writing Guidelines

Instructions for Writing Analyses

Sample Analysis 1

Sample Analysis 2

Notes

Naturalism (IEP)
The Naturalists Return, P. Kitcher
Naturalism and the A Priori, by P. Maddy
Three Forms of Naturalism, by P. Maddy
Philosophy and the Scientific Image Of Man, by W. Sellars
A Naturalistic Defense of Realism, by M. Devitt
The Evolution of Knowledge, by D. Papineau
Normativity and Epistemic Intuitions, by J. Weinberg, S. Nichols, and S. Stich
The First Person Perspective: A Test for Naturalism, by L. Baker
Moral Naturalism and Three Grades of Normativity, by D. Copp
Moral Theory and Explanatory Impotence, by G. Sayre-McCord
The Biological Justification of Ethics, by A. Rosenberg
Moral Psychology: Empirical Approaches, by S. Stich and J. Doris
The American Origins of Philosophical Naturalism, by J. Kim

Internet Resources

Essays and Assignments

Essay #1

The Naturalists Return, by P. Kitcher (p. 75-113) Due 9/25 See Instructions for Writing Analyses.
- Student sample 1
- Student sample 2

Essay # 2 Choose between the following articles:

Philosophical Naturalism, by Michael Friedman
Transcendentalism and Naturalism, by L. Allais

Students: The link to the Allais article was recently died. You can still get it by Googling and clicking on Cache or HTML. Also, I've uploaded both to WEB CT.

Due 10/9

Essay # 3 Choose between the following articles:

Another Look at the Manifest Image, by Uriah Kriegel
Sellars and the Scientific Image, by Robert Ackerman

Note: the Ackerman article is from JSTOR. I've also uploaded it to WEB CT.

Due 10/23

Essay # 4 Choose between the following articles:

No Place for the A Priori, by M. Devitt
The Incompatibility of Naturalism and Scientific Realism, by R. Koons

Due 10/6

Essay #5 Choose between the following articles:

Rationality, Reliability, and Natural Selection, by Richard Feldman
- (JSTOR link, also available in WEBCT)
Truth-Reliability and the Evolution of Human Cognitive Faculties, by James Sage
- (Obtained directly from author, available in WEBCT only.)

Due 11/20

Essay # 6

When Does a Person Begin?, by Lynne Rudder Baker

Due 11/27

Essay # 7 Choose between the following articles:

Four Epistemological Challenges to Ethical Naturalism, by D. Copp
Moral Realism, by Geoffrey Sayre-McCord

Due 12/4

Essay # 8

The Biological Justification of Ethics, by E.O. Wilson
Against Evolutionary Ethics, by Wim J. van der Steen (Available in WebCT)

Due 12/11

Essay # 9

The Anti-Naturalistic Fallacy, by A. Walter

Due 12/18