The weeks and articles are color-coded by unit:
Yellow = Epistemology (the study of knowledge)
Blue = Value theory (ethics and political philosophy)
Green = Metaphysics (the study of nature or existence)
This materials for this class are mostly Open Access, Open Educational Resources (OER), or in the public domain which essentially means they are free at the point of use. Note that one text is freely accessible online through your public library and another is free from The Atlantic (but you may only access five free articles from them in one month). To access texts, click on the name of the text (underlined in black) and the browser will open a new tab, taking you to the site where the text “lives”. It should be easy to download, listen, or watch texts from there.
If you have any questions about or issues with accessing texts, email me at mgreer@gradcenter.cuny.edu.
| Week | Guiding Questions | Read/Watch/Attend |
|---|---|---|
| 1 8/25-8/29 | What are we doing in philosophy? | Class 1: 8/25 Syllabus Day Read: Nothing |
| 2 8/30-9/5 | How can we know what is real and what isn’t? | Class 1 8/30: Nicholas Bostrom, Are You Living in a Computer Simulation? Class 2 9/1: (1) Plato, Republic, Book VII. Read here, listen here. (2) Selections (61-71) from Douglas Drabkin’s The Intelligent Troglodyte’s Guide to Plato’s Republic |
| 3 9/6 – 9/12 | N/A | No class 9/6 & 9/8 |
| 4 9/13 – 9/19 | What can we know? | Class 1 – 9/13: Zhuangzi, Section 2, The Butterfly Dream No class 9/15 |
| 5 9/20 – 9/26 | How is knowledge shaped or constrained by your location? | Class 1 – 9/20: Thi Nguyen, Escape the Echo Chamber Class 2 – 9-22: Briana Toole, From Standpoint Epistemology to Epistemic Oppression |
| 6 9/27 – 10/3 | (Why) is truth important? | Class 1 – 9/27: Briana Toole article, continued Class 2 – 9/29: Friedrich Nietzsche, On Truth and Lies in a Non-Moral Sense |
| 7 10/4 – 10/10 First half of Week 7 | (continued) | Class 1 – 10/4 Gordon Pennycook, Why bullshit is no laughing matter |
| Second half of Week 7 | What is morally important? | Class 2 – 10/6 William James, The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life |
| 8 10/11 – 10/17 | (continued) | No class 10/11 Class – 10/13 : John Stuart Mill, Chapters 1, 2, and 4 from Utilitarianism |
| 9 10/18 – 10/24 | (continued) | Class 1 – 10/18 (1) Ta-Nehisi Coates, The case for reparations (2) Kevin D. Richardson , The Case Against Reparations (3) Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Climate Colonialism and Reparations Class 2, 10/20: (1) Jeremy Fischer & Rachel Fredericks, The Creeps as a Moral Emotion (2) Audre Lorde, The Uses of Anger (3) Myisha Cherry, Anger is not a Bad Word TED Talk |
| 10 10/25 – 10/31 | Should there be a revolution? What should it look like? | Class 1 – 10/25: (1) Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Listen here. Read here. (2) Ashwin Bhumbla, Why Saying Rioting is Bad is Bullshit Class 2 – 10/27: (1) Audre Lorde, Youtube video: There is no hierarchy of oppressions (2) Lila Abu-Lughod, Do Muslim Women Need Saving? |
| 11 11/1 – 11/7 | (continued) | Class 1 & 2, 11/1 & 11/3: (1) Robert Paul Wolff, “The Conflict between Authority and Autonomy” and “Beyond the Legitimate State” from In Defense of Anarchism (2) Case study: Prison and Police Abolution. Click on the following Critical Resistance graphic: Reform vs. Abolition |
| 12 11/8 – 11/14 | Where and what is the self? | Class 1 – 11/8: (1) John Locke, The Prince and the Cobbler, Chapter 27, in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (2) Podcast episode with Nigel Wharburton and Anthony Grayling on Personal Identity. Listen here. Class 2 – 11/10: Class Cancelled |
| 13 11/15 – 11/21 | (continued) | Class 1 – 11/15: (1) Kristin Seemuth Whaley, Are we Animals? Animals and Personal Identity (2) Daniel Dennett’s Where Am I (on Youtube Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here) Class 2 – 11/17: Shayla Love, What Waking Up in a Friend’s Body Does to Your Mind |
| 14 11/22 – 11/28 | Are there “kinds” of people? | Class 1: 11/22 Lisa Guenther, The Concrete Abyss Class 2: 11/24 (1) Ian Hacking, Making Up People (2) Anna Mollow, The Ninety-Five Percent: Fighting Neoliberalism and Fatphobia Together |
| 15 11/29 – 12/5 | Do race(s) and gender(s) exist? | Class 1: 11/29 Hacking & Mollow continued Class 2: 12/1 (1) Linda Martín Alcoff, Philosophy and Racial Identity (2) Prince Ea, I am NOT Black, you are NOT White |
| 16 12/6 – 12/12 | Buffer Week | Class 1: 12/6 Robin Dembroff, Why be nonbinary? Class 2: 12/8 Buffer Day |
| 17 12/13 – 12/19 | No readings; presentation week Class 1: 12/13 Class 2: 12/15 |
