T 1/13 Course Introduction: What is philosophy? What is philosophy of human nature?
Plato and Responses
Th 1/15 Phaedo 57a?70b
What sort of person is Socrates? What attitude does he
have toward death? What does Socrates think the philosopher should
value, and why?
T 1/20 Phaedo 70b?80b
What reasons does Socrates have for thinking the soul is immortal?
What specific arguments does he offer, and how good are they?
Th 1/22 Phaedo 80c?95a
How should body and soul be related to one another in this life?
Why? What objections can be raised against Socratesí arguments?
What attitude should we have to argument?
T 1/27 Phaedo 95a?107a
What motivated Socratesí interest in philosophy? (Note
all of Socratesí uses of the word ìcauseî in this passage.) What
sort of thing is the soul? What defines its nature? What is
Socratesí final argument for immortality?
Th 1/29 Phaedo 107a?118a
What happens to soul after death? What does Socratesí attitude
about his own death suggest?
F 1/30 Plato paper draft due 5 p.m. (required)
T 2/3 Irwin, selections from ìAristotleî (handout); Aristotle,
selection from ìOn the Soulî (handout)
What is Aristotleís understanding of the soul, the body, and
the person? How does Aristotleís theory of soul reflect his theory
of reality? How are different types of soul (plant, animal, and human)
distinguished from one another?
Th 2/5 Epicurus, excerpts from the Letters (handout)
What does Epicurus think is real? What does that imply
about the human soul, and about death? Compare Epicurusí view of
the good life to Socratesí.
M 2/9 Plato paper due 5 p.m.
Descartes and Responses
T 2/10 Goodstein and Goodstein, ìFrom Copernicus to Newtonî (handout);
Descartes, Discourse on Method I?II (pp. 1?13)
How had scientists altered the accepted understanding of the
universe by Descartesí time? What is Descartesí assessment of his
own education? What rules does Descartes adopt for seeking certain
truth? What effects did the advances in scientific thought seem to
have on Descartes?
Th 2/12 Dedication of Meditations (pp. 47?50); Meditations I?II
(pp. 59?70)
What is Descartesí objective in the Meditations? What are
reasons for doubting what seems to be certain? Of what is Descartes
certain? Why? What is the point of the ìwax experimentî?
T 2/17 Meditations III (pp. 70?81); Aquinas, ìThe Existence of
Godî (handout); Pascal, excerpt from Pensees (handout)
Can we know that God exists? If so, how? What sort
of thing is God? To what extent do Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, and
Pascal agree on these questions?
Th 2/19 Meditations IV?V (pp. 81?93)
Why do we make mistakes? Is God responsible? What
does Godís essence prove about his existence? Why does Descartes
offer a second proof for Godís existence?
T 2/24 Meditations VI, Synopsis (pp. 93?105, 54?56)
Can we be sure of the bodyís existence? How are mind and
body related? How do they differ? Is Descartes certain of the
immortality of the soul? Explain.
Th 2/26 Discourse on Method part of V (pp. 26?34)
According to Descartes, how are mind and body related?
In what ways are animals and humans similar and different?
Optional: critically evaluate the ability of the ghost in the
movie ìGhostî to move physical objects despite his ìspiritualî nature,
especially in the scene where he first learns to move objects from the
ghost on the subway (on reserve)
T 3/3 Gilbert Ryle, ìDescartesí Mythî (handout)
What specific criticisms of Descartes and the ìOfficial Doctrineî
does Ryle offer? What is a ìcategory mistake,î and why does Ryle
think that the ìOfficial Doctrineî commits one? What is the ìbroken-backed
argumentî?
F 3/6 Descartes paper due 5 p.m.
The Rise of Scientific Naturalism
Th 3/5 Charles Darwin ìComparison of the Mental Powers of Man and the
Lower Animalsî (handout); Carl Sagan and Anne Druyan, ìWhat Makes
Us Different?î (handout)
Are human beings significantly different from animals, especially
higher primates? Is there evidence of animal mental activity, communication,
or ethical behavior? How does Darwinism develop Descartesí dualism
in a way Descartes did not intend?
3/9?3/13 Spring Vacation
T 3/17 Dawkins, ìExplaining the Very Improbableî and ìDoomed Rivalsî
(handout)
What are the two possible ways of explaining the phenomenon of
biological diversity? Why does Dawkins believe that it is now possible
to be an ìintellectually fulfilled atheistî? What is Dawkinsí conception
of Darwinism, and why does he think it has no viable rivals?
Th 3/19 B. F. Skinner, ìA Technology of Behaviorî (handout)
What is a technology of behavior and how can it be developed?
What does Skinner believe explains our failure to understand ourselves?
Are human beings truly free? Why does Skinner wish to go ìbeyond
freedom and dignityî?
Optional: view Skinner interview on video ìB. F. Skinner on Behaviorismî
(on reserve)
T 3/24 Michael Ruse, ìIs Human Sociobiology a New Paradigm?î (handout)
How is sociobiology an extension of the ideas of Darwinism?
What behavior does sociobiology seek to explain? How? How successful
does it seem to you? Why?
Th 3/26 John Searle, Minds, Brains, and Science, pp. 8?11, 13?27
How does Searle characterize the mind-body problem? What
are the basic characteristics of mental phenomena? What ìtwo-levelî
solution to the mind-body problem does Searle offer?
Optional: view Searle interview on video ìDoes Mind Matter?î
(on reserve)
T 3/31 Searle, pp. 28?41; Stipp, ìGuess Whoís Humanî (handout)
How is thinking like and unlike computer processing? What
is the Turing Test, and how is Searleís ìChinese Roomî meant to respond
to it? Can computers think?
ïWhich of the Turing Test examples reported in the Stipp article
are humans? How can human responses be distinguished from computer
responses?
Th 4/2 Searle, pp. 71?85
Why does Searle reject Skinnerís notion of a science of human
behavior? Contrast his view to Skinnerís (note particularly the relevance
of Searleís two-level theory). In Searleís view, what do social sciences
describe?
T 4/7 Searle, pp. 86?99
Why is human freedom problematic? What evidence supports
determinism, and what supports freedom? What possible accounts of
human freedom are there? What solution does Searle offer by appealing
to his two-level theory? Is it satisfactory?
F 4/10 Scientific Naturalism paper due 12 noon (optional)
Existentialism
Th 4/9 Nietzsche, ìOn Truth and Lie,î ìThe Madman,î and ìOf the Three
Metamorphosesî (handout)
What is the moral of the ìfableî Nietzsche tells about truth?
How does it develop Darwinism in a new way? What is Nietzscheís madman
meant to convey? What is he suggesting about the place of religion
in the modern world? What do the ìthree metamorphosesî suggest about
Nietzscheís perception of the stages of human development?
T 4/14 Sartre, Existentialism, pp. 9?23
What is existentialism? What basic view of humans does
it advance? What is the point of the ìpaper-cutterî analogy?
What kinds of existentialism are there? How does Sartreís atheism
appear to build on Nietzscheís ideas?
Th 4/16 Existentialism, pp. 23?36
What does Sartre mean to illustrate with his story of the young
man seeking advice? On what do human choices ultimately rest?
What makes up a personís self?
T 4/21 Existentialism, pp. 36?51
To what extent does Sartre agree with Descartes? Are existentialists
committed to relativism, the view that truth and goodness are defined arbitrarily
by each individual? Can existentialists judge others? Are existentialists
ìhumanistsî?
Th 4/23 Existentialism, pp. 52?59; 63?67; 84?90
How are human beings and world related? What does Sartre
mean by ìworldî? For what is a person responsible, and why?
Why does Sartre, an atheist, claim that human beings desire to be God,
and what does he mean by this? What are our prospects for acheiving
what we really want?
F 4/24 Sartre paper due 5 p.m. (optional)
A Criticism of the Modern Scientific World View
T 4/28 Walker Percy, ìThe Fateful Rift: The San Andreas Fault in the
Modern Mindî (handout)
What flaw lies at the heart of the scientific analysis of human
beings? How does Percyís discussion of Pierceís distinction between
dyadic and triadic relations explain this problem?
Th 4/30 Course Conclusion
What are the key elements of your theory of human nature?
What reasons do you have for holding your view? With which thinkers
we have studied are you most in agreement? With which do you most
disagree? Why?
Back to PHIL 201 Philosophy of Human Nature Page
Back to David H. Calhoun's Home Page
Copyright 1998 by David Calhoun. This page last
updated on March 15, 1998.