Second, you should consider the thematic areas discussed in the Focus Themes of the syllabus. These are the major areas of dispute and argument in the field of Philosophy of Human Nature. As you will see, the readings assigned for each day of class will touch on one or more of these themes. It is important to be as clear as possible about these areas of dispute, because the ideas offered by the different thinkers we study are raw material for you to develop your own ideas.
The structure of the midterm exam and final exam (see the Sample
Exam) parallels the two emphases of (1) terms and concepts and (2)
focus themes in its two parts.
General
metaphysics (theory of reality)
epistemology (theory of knowledge)
ethics (theory of right action)
human nature
monist vs. dualist theories of human nature
Plato
death as separation of soul and body
asceticism/philosopher's life is "preparation for death"
philosophy as purification
transmigration of souls
theory of forms
misanthropy and misology
arguments for immortality: cyclical, recollection, likeness, and causal
Aristotle
form vs. matter
soul as the functional principle of a living body
analogies of the axe and the eye
different types of soul: plant, animal, human
Epicurus
materialistic atomism
hedonism
Descartes
common sense
four rules of method
skepticism
cogito/"I think, therefore I am"
substance-attribute metaphysics
essence/essential attribute vs. accident/accidental property
"thinking thing"
will and understanding
reason and imagination
metaphysical dualism: dualist interactionism and dualist parallelism
two tests to distinguish machines from human beings
relationship between soul and body is not like that between pilot and
ship
Ryle
"category mistake"
"ghost in the machine"
solipsism and the privacy of mental states
mental conduct concepts
Darwinism
"natural selection"
human beings as animals
quantitative vs. qualitative distinction between human beings and animals
animal communication
Dawkins
the "blind watchmaker"
"intellectually fulfilled" atheism
Skinner
behaviorism
human beings are automatons
talk of "mental states"=descriptions of patterns of behavior
"operant behavior"
autonomous man
Ruse
sociobiology
genetic explanations of human behavior and social customs
"biological adaptation"
Searle
Searle's two-level theory (note examples of water and hammer)
artificial intelligence
Turing Test
Chinese Room example
syntax vs. semantics
the "classical expression" of the problem of determinism (La Place)
compatibilism
Nietzsche
nihilism and the "death of God"
Sartre
existentialism (theistic and atheistic)
paper cutter analogy
"existence precedes essence"
thrownness/facticity
human action expresses the "desire to be God"
"man is a useless passion"
being-for-itself vs. being-in-itself
Percy
incoherence in modern science
explanatory gap between mental and physical
language as clue to science of human beings
dyadic events vs. triadic events
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Copyright 1998 by David Calhoun. This page last
updated on March 15, 1998.