PHIL 5191/6191
Weekly Assignments
- The default is to outline the passage I assign.
- If you choose
a different passage:
- make sure it contains an argument.
- you have to tell me what it is. (I'm not a mind reader.)
- please make it terse---a paragraph
or two, not a chapter, or anything like a chapter.
(I have to read the passage side by side with your outline,
to check that the latter correctly represents the argument in the former.)
My experience is that attempts to outline longer stretches of text
don't generally work out well.
- Aug. 20 (for those of you who have already taken a class
from me, who know what these outline
assignments -- not the same as microcommentary assignments!
-- are supposed to look like, and who want to get an early
start):
Hume, Enquiry Concerning the Principles
of Morals, Appendix
I, sec. V, first two paragraphs, starting with "It appears
evident that the ultimate ends..."
(In the standard Selby-Bigge/Nidditch edition, this is on
p. 293).
- Aug. 27:
Either Korsgaard, "Skepticism about Practical Reason" (in
VPR), p. 114, 1st para. (this is the last para. of sec. IV;
and remember, the order of
exposition isn't necessarily the order of argument);
or
Michael Smith, "The Humean Theory of Motivation,"
p. 47 (from "Here, then, is a second objection")
thru the top 4 lines of p. 48.
- Sept. 3:
Either Kolnai, "Deliberation Is of Ends,"
p. 263, para. starting, "That the technical preamble to action...",
to 15 lines from the bottom of the page ("...beyond its mere
preliminary information"); or Brewer, Retrieval,
on p. 23, top para., from "Yet the propositionalist must
limit..." to the end of the para.
- Sept. 10:
Either O'Neill, "Consistency in Action,"
para. bridging pp. 317f ("An argument of the same
type...") ; or
Korsgaard, "Self-Constitution in the Ethics of Plato and Kant,"
p. 26 (top, "So particularistic willing is neither...") to
p. 27 (3rd para., thru "...of something within him").
- Sept. 17:
Either Murdoch, "The Idea of Perfection" (VPR ch. 18),
para. bridging pp. 410f ("I said that the argument..."); or
Brewer, Retrieval,
on p. 80, first full para. ("There is an additional source
of support...").
- Sept. 24:
Either the Davidson excerpt on the readings for
the session (remember to sandblast away the narrative!); or
Mandler, p. 384, first full para., starting "A standard
challenge is put..."
- Oct. 1:
Either Bratman, "Taking Plans Seriously," p. 205
(from the top, "A natural conjecture..." thru the
para. bridging 205-06); or Brandom, "Action, Norms, and Practical
Reasoning," p. 471 (from "The
Davidsonian will respond...") to 472 ("...even on
the theoretical side").
FROM HERE ON OUT, WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS ARE TWO-PART; SEE THE
REQUIREMENTS PAGE FOR DETAILS
- Oct. 8: BONUS WEEKLY ASSIGNMENT! Conlisk,
"Why Bounded Rationality?", pp. 686f, 2 paras. starting
(at the bottom of 686) "Unbounded rationality is typically
formulated..."; look at the last para. on 687, the first
couple of sentences starting "The regress problem seems to
block..." for orientation.
- Oct. 15: Landesman, "When to
Terminate a Charitable Trust?" (in Analysis,
55 (1), 1995: 12-13 [means you can also find it through
the Marriott catalog]; this is a very short
piece; extract the argument for the whole thing).