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PHIL 5500/6500
Weekly Assignments

  1. Aug. 26: Michael Smith, "The Humean Theory of Motivation," p. 47 (from "Here, then, is a second objection") thru the top 4 lines of p. 48. (For those of you who've taken a class with me, who know what these assignments look like, and who want to get an early start.)
  2. Sept. 2: 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). Alternative assignment, for the extra-ambitious: John McDowell, "Might There Be External Reasons" (e-reserve), pp. 72-73 (from "Let us retrace our steps..." to "justification by ethical argument").
  3. Sept. 9: If you didn't outline the following passage for the first session, you can do it this week: Michael Smith, "The Humean Theory of Motivation," p. 47 (from "Here, then, is a second objection") thru the top 4 lines of p. 48. Alternatively, Raz, "The Myth of Instrumental Rationality," p. 16, from "One explanation is offered by Wallace," through the end of the indented quotation ("...on certain combinations of beliefs").
  4. Sept. 16: Thompson, Life and Action, either pp. 68f, taking together the two paras. starting "Does the sentence then rather amount to..." and "It is implicit in Aristotle's remarks..."; or pp. 116f, from "So what is to be said for sophistication?" to "...the real reason, and so forth".
  5. Sept. 23: 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 Buss, mss pp. 22-23, paragraph starting "Of course, different ways of being good..."
  6. Sept. 30: 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").
  7. Oct. 7: Dancy, Ethics without Principles, either the last 7 lines on p. 40 (from "Are we sure that..." to "not itself a favourer"), or the first 7 lines on p. 41 (from "if (4) was a favourer" to "...rather than enabling").

    8. FROM HERE ON OUT, WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS ARE TWO-PART; SEE THE REQUIREMENTS PAGE FOR DETAILS

  8. Oct. 14: BONUS WEEKLY ASSIGNMENT! Dancy, Ethics without Principles, p. 46, para. starting, "Another such instance, in my own highly contentious view..."
  9. Oct. 21: Dancy, Ethics without Principles, either p. 84, para. starting "With this picture..." (however, in your counterargument, avoid duplicating Dancy's own rebuttal at the top of p. 85); or p. 87, from the start of the first full para. ("The point of this distinction...") to (about midway through the next para.) "...ever be a guide to judgement."
  10. Oct. 28: Either Velleman, "The Possibility of Practical Reason," in the section titled "Outline of an Alternative View", para. starting "Not necessarily" (in the Ethics version, this is on p. 705); or HWGA, pp. 24f, para. starting "Making sense is even less likely..."
  11. Nov. 4: Nussbaum, "A Science of Practical Reasoning," VPR p. 185, from "Socrates' conclusion, however, should make us suspect..." to the end of the paragraph. (You will need to draw on the surrounding text to fill in some steps.)
    Alternatively, HWGA 46 (from "The same pressure...") to 48 (at the section break); you may want to take a look at the para. bridging 56f, and at the remarks on "com-prehending" on p. 63.
  12. Nov. 11: HWGA, either pp. 136f, from "Yet the correctness..." to "...resultant behavior as action," or para. bridging 137f.
  13. Nov. 18: Davidson, McKinsey, and Suppes, excerpt from "Outlines of a Formal Theory of Value" (online reserve).
  14. Nov. 23: Three options this time: Brandom, "Action, Norms, and Practical Reasoning," either p. 471 (from "The Davidsonian will respond...") to 472 ("...even on the theoretical side"), or 475 ("To endorse a practical inference as entitlement preserving...") to 476 ("...corresponding obligation or commitment"). N.B.: Both of these are challenging passages; successful reconstruction will pull away from the textual surface. Alternatively, HWGA 106 (from "It's just that simple...") to the top of 107.
  15. Dec. 2: Engstrom, The Form of Practical Knowledge, either p. 14, para. starting "In the pages to follow..."; or pp. 16-17, para. starting "It might initially seem doubtful..."
  16. Dec. 9: Engstrom, The Form of Practical Knowledge, either the para. bridging pp. viii-ix ("This tradition offers..."), or p. 2, from "But the philosopher is entangled..." to the end of the para.