Sharyn Clough: OSU Course Outlines

Philosophy 251: Knowers, Knowing, and the Known

Note: This course is not available to students who have taken Phil 201 with Professor Clough

Instructor: Dr. S.Clough
Office: 102B Hovland Hall
Email: Sharyn.Clough@oregonstate.edu
http://oregonstate.edu/~cloughs
Phone: 541-737-9801

Required Texts:
Photocopied package of readings available at the bookstore.
Students should bring reading package to the first class.

Course Plan:
The theme of this course will be a debate about whether knowledge can ever be objective, or whether we are stuck in our own subjective worlds.  We will also examine the model of human knowledge that makes this debate possible and whether alternate models would produce more fruitful results.

We begin with the pursuit of objectivity found in Descartes and Hume.  How does their quest for objectivity lead to radical doubt about all our knowledge?  Should this uncertainty and doubt affect scientific knowledge?  Can science ever be objective?  What does objectivity mean in this context?  Do cultural factors, such as racism and sexism, affect our objectivity in science?  How does our cultural identity affect our own knowledge, more generally?  Finally, we will apply our analysis of objectivity and subjectivity to current debates about computers and consciousness.  Is there something subjective about consciousness?  Or could we build a conscious machine using objectively accessible, physical material?

Course Requirements:

**4 short position papers (2-3pp.), due throughout the term, only top three grades will count, worth 20% each.
Note: If you hand in any paper late, for reasons beyond your control, we can work something out.  (Acts of god and children’s dental emergencies are beyond your control, outside employment is not).  If you hand in any paper late for reasons you could have controlled, I will not take it personally, I promise, but to be fair to those who handed their papers in on time, you will lose 1 point, out of the 20 total, for each day (including weekends) that I receive the paper late.

**Critical summaries of each reading, collected randomly, eight times throughout the semester, worth 5% each, graded on an "all or nothing" basis.
Note: The reading summaries are intended to get you prepared to talk about the reading in class.  Therefore you have to be in class to get the points.  If, for reasons beyond your control, you miss a class where a summary is due, you will receive the full 5 points without penalty.  If you missed a class for reasons that were within your control, you will get a zero for that summary, no late summaries accepted.

**These requirements add up to a score out of 100 which will be translated to a letter grade near the end of the semester.  One possible translation scheme, provided as a guideline only, is as follows:

A 100 - 91  B 84 - 82  C 75 - 73  D 66 - 64
A- 90 - 88  B- 81 - 79  C- 72 - 70  D- 63 - 61
B+  87 - 85  C+ 78 - 76  D+ 69 - 67  F 60 - 0

If you have a disability that makes some part of your experience in this class unnecessarily difficult for you, please contact me as soon as possible, and we’ll see what accommodations we can work out.

Reading and Discussion Schedule:

This schedule is subject to change, so please stay in touch.  You are responsible for knowing about any changes announced on days you were absent.

Week one:
Mon.  Review outline; Lecture: Objectivity vs. subjectivity.
Wed.  Lecture: Descartes & representationalism; Worksheet for Reading Philosophy Essays.

Week two:
Mon Discuss: Descartes, Meditations I-III.
Wed. Lecture: Evaluating Positions Papers; Descartes and Neo

Week three:
Mon.  Lecture: ; View: The Matrix
Wed. 1st paper due (Descartes/ Scepticism/Neo); Lecture: Hume.

Week six:
Mon. Discuss: Okruhlik, "Gender and the Biological Sciences," skip sec. II.
Wed. Class cancelled? Check Blackboard version of the class schedule for official cancellations.

Week seven:
Mon. 3rd paper due (Objectivity/Values/Science); Lecture: Artificial Intelligence; View STNG "The Measure of a Man."
Wed. Discuss: Hanley, Is Data Human? The Metaphysics of Star Trek (2 chps.)

Week eight:
Mon. Discuss: Turing, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence."
Wed. Discuss: Davidson, "Turing's Test."

Week nine:
Mon. Discuss: Dennett, "The Intentional Stance," skip pp. 17-22.
Wed. Class cancelled? Check Blackboard version of the class schedule for official cancellations.

Week ten:
Mon. Discuss: Nagel, "What Is It Like To Be a Bat?"
Wed. Discuss: Searle: "Minds, Brains and Programs."
Fri.  4th paper due (Objectivity/Subjectivity/Consciousness) in Prof. Clough's office at noon.