Required textbooks:

You will have to have paper copies of these books, which you will need to bring to class.

• Cottingham, Stoothoff and Murdoch, trans., The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, vols. I and II
  Cambridge University Press (paperback); ISBN 978-0-521-28807-1 and 978-0-521-28808-8
• Amelie Rorty, ed., Essays on Descartes' Meditations
  University of California Press (paperback); ISBN 978-0520055094
• Harry Frankfurt, Demons, Dreamers, and Madmen
  Princeton University Press (paperback); ISBN 978-0-691-13416-1
• Margaret Wilson, Descartes
  Routledge (paperback); ISBN 978-0415065764
• Bernard Williams, Descartes: The Project of Pure Enquiry
  Routledge (paperback); ISBN 978-1138019188; the older Penguin edition, ISBN 978-0140220063, is also fine.

Optional textbook:

• Lisa Shapiro (ed.), The Correspondence Between Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and Rene Descartes
  University of Chicago Press (paperback); ISBN 978-0-226-20442-0

Reading Assignments:

1. Aug. 25: Introduction.
   
   Optional prereading: Descartes, "The Search for Truth" (CSM II:399-420 [that is, in the Cottingham, Stoothoff and Murdoch edition of The Philosophical Writings, vol. II, pp. 399-420]); "Discourse on the Method," first para. of Part II (at CSM I:116-17, starting "At that time I was in Germany...").
   
   I'll ask you to read Descartes's first Meditation in class, and if you want to preview that, see the link for the following week, below.
2. Sept. 1: Modern Skepticism.
   
   
   • Skepticism with a Point. Meditations on First Philosophy, the First Meditation ("What can be called into doubt," CSM II:12-15).
     Hilary Putnam, Reason, Truth, and History, ch. 1; Donald Davidson, "The Method of Truth in Metaphysics," sec. 1.
     Optional reading: Putnam, Reason, Truth, and History, chs. 2-3; Davidson, "A Coherence Theory of Truth and Knowledge".
   • One Thing I'm Sure About: I'm Right Here! Descartes, Second Meditation (CSM II:16-23). CSM I:127, para. starting "Next I examined attentively..."; Jaakko Hintikka, "Cogito, Ergo Sum: Inference or Performance?". Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, secs. 16-17 (excerpt on handout).
     Optional reading: Robert Nozick, "Fiction," in Socratic Puzzles.
   • If There's One Thing I'm Sure of, Then I Know What I Am. Avner Baz, "Whose Dream Is It Anyway?", sec. 7 only, starting on p. 281.
     Optional reading: Harry Frankfurt, Demons, Dreamers, and Madmen, ch. 10. Norman Malcolm, "Descartes's Proof that his Essence is Thinking".
     
3. Sept. 8: Building a Skyhook.
   
   
   • Various Kinds of Reality. Descartes, Third Meditation.
     Optional reading: Bernard Williams, Descartes, ch. 5 ("God"), up to p. 137 (in the Routledge edition, = p. 153 in the Penguin edition).
   • Reality Conservation. Annette Baier, "The Idea of the True God in Descartes," thru sec. 2 (i.e., up to p. 365), in Rorty, Essays.
     Optional reading: The remainder of the Baier paper; Margaret Wilson, "Can I Be the Cause of My Idea of the World?", in Rorty, Essays.
   • Reality Check. Austin, Sense and Sensibility, para. bridging pp. 70-71, under the heading (2): "Next, 'real' is what we may call... "; William James, in The Meaning of Truth, "The Tigers in India," p. 43 up to the top of p. 46, "...any that nature yields," and "Knower and Known," from p. 104, "Suppose me to be sitting..." up through p. 109, at the section break (handout; also available online through Marriott Library).
     Optional followon reading, if you want to follow up on the comparison to the Transcendental Deduction: Lanier Anderson, "Synthesis, Cognitive Normativity, and the Meaning of Kant's Question, 'How Are Synthetic Cognitions A Priori Possible?'" European Journal of Philosophy 9(3), Dec. 2001: 275-305.
     
4. Sept. 15: Skyhook Engineering. (tentative)
   
   
   • Fine Print on the Warranty. Descartes, Fourth Meditation. Bernard Williams, Descartes: The Project of Pure Enquiry, ch.6 ("Error and the Will").
     Optional reading: Bernard Williams, "Deciding to Believe" (search Marriott for his book, Problems of the Self; this is ch. 9).
   • Shoring Up the Skyhook: Upcycling Anselm. Descartes, Fifth Meditation. Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, "The Impossibility of an Ontological Proof of the Existence of God" (A592/B620-A602/B630).
     Optional reading: Bernard Williams, Descartes, the rest of ch. 5 ("God"), from p. 137 (in the Routledge edition, = p. 153 in the Penguin edition).
   • How to Turn an Idea into a Short Paper. TBA.
     
     Optional reading: TBA.