AP/PHIL4400 3.0 M: Seminar in Pragmatism
Offered by: PHIL
Session
Summer 2022
Term
S2
Format
SEMR
Instructor
Calendar Description / Prerequisite / Co-Requisite
An intensive examination of one of more authors or topics from classical Pragmatism or contemporary Neo-Pragmatism. Prerequisite: At least nine credits in philosophy. Course credit exclusion: AP/PHIL 4400 3.00 (prior to Fall 2012). PRIOR TO FALL 2009: Prerequisite: At least nine credits in philosophy. Course credit exclusion: AS/PHIL 4400 3.00.
Course Start Up
Course Websites hosted on York's "eClass" are accessible to students during the first week of the term. It takes two business days from the time of your enrolment to access your course website. Course materials begin to be released on the course website during the first week. To log in to your eClass course visit the York U eClass Portal and login with your Student Passport York Account. If you are creating and participating in Zoom meetings you may also go directly to the York U Zoom Portal.
For further course Start Up details, review the Getting Started webpage.
For IT support, students may contact University Information Technology Client Services via askit@yorku.ca or (416) 736-5800. Please also visit Students Getting Started UIT or the Getting Help - UIT webpages.
Course Director: H. Jackman
Office: 434 South Ross
Office hours: TBA
Course Time: T, TH: 2:30-5:30
Office phone: 736 2100 x77575
E-mail: hjackman@yorku.ca
Web Page: www.jackman.org
Pragmatism emerged as a major philosophical movement at the turn of the last century and has experienced a resurgence at the turn of this one. This course will focus on the work of the most influential of the Pragmatists, William James. James's distinctive critique of traditional philosophy flowed from both his naturalistic streak and his emphasis on the relation between thought and action, and we will be investigating how the combination of these led James to suggest a number of radical revisions to our concepts of truth, meaning and reality.
Technical Requirements for taking the course
The lecture notes and recordings will be available on the class Moodle page.
All of the required texts are in the course kit available at the bookstore.
Seminar participation: 15%
Pre-Class/In-Class Assignments: 20%
Term Paper (500 word abstract & 1-page outline): 10% (Due Aug 6)
Term paper (final version, 3000 words): 55% (Due August 19)
June 28: Introduction: James’s life and Background
“Personal Depression and Recovery”, “The Present Dilemma of Philosophy”, “The Sick Soul”
June 30: Psychology and Philosophy I: Habit and the Stream of Thought
“The Stream of Thought”. “Habit”
July 5: Psychology and Philosophy II: Conceptions and the A Priori
“Conception”, “Necessary Truths and the Effects of Experience”
July 7: Rationality, Belief and Faith I
“Remarks on Spencer’s Definition of Mind as Correspondence”, “The Sentiment of Rationality”
- S. Peirce: “Some Consequences of Four Incapacities”, “The Fixation of Belief”
July 12: Rationality, Belief and Faith II
“The Will to Believe”, “Faith and the Right to Believe”, “The Dilemma of Determinism”
July 14: Pragmatism and Meaning
- S. Peirce: “How to Make our Ideas Clear”, “The Doctrine of Chances”
“Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results”, “What Pragmatism Means” [first part], “Some Metaphysical Problems Pragmatically Considered”
July 19: Pragmatism and Reference
“Review of Royce’s The Religious Aspect of Philosophy” , “The Function of Cognition”, “The Essence of Humanism”, “Tigers in India, “The Relation between Knower and Known”, Letter to Renouvier
July 21: Pragmatism and Truth I: Belief and the Nature of Truth
“What Pragmatism Means” [second part], “Pragmatism and Common Sense”, “Pragmatism’s Conception of truth”, “Pragmatism and Humanism”, “[Pragmatism and Radical Empiricism]”, “A Dialogue”, “Interview in [The] New York Times, 1907”, “Notes from James’s 1908 Harvard discussion of Pragmatism”
July 26: Pragmatism and Truth II: Conceptions and Truth
“Percept and Concept – The Import of Concepts, The Abuse of Concepts, Some Corollaries” , “The Compounding of Consciousness”, “Bergson and His Critique of Intellectualism”
July 28: Ethics and Religion I: Ethics
“The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life” , “On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings”, “What makes Life Significant”, “The Moral Equivalent of War”
Aug 2: Ethics and Religion II: Religion
“[Experience and Religion: A comment]”, “Circumscription of the [Religious] Topic” , Conclusion & Postscript to The Varieties of Religious Experience, “Pragmatism and Religion” , “Faith and the Right to Believe”, “Answers to Pratt Questionair on Religious Belief”
Aug 4: Radical Empiricism, Reception, and Legacy
“Radical Empiricism: 1897”, “Radical Empiricism: 1909”, “Does Consciousness Exist”, “How Two Minds Can know One thing”, “A World of Pure Experience”, “The Knowing of Things Together”.
- To introduce students in detail to the philosophy and intellectual context of at least one major figure in the Pragmatist tradition.
- Master the writing of a substantial philosophy research paper.
- To develop a familiarity with Pragmatism as a philosophical approach.
- Learn how to present philosophical ideas to others in an online seminar setting.
- Academic Honesty
- Student Rights and Responsibilities
- Religious Observance
- Grading Scheme and Feedback
- 20% Rule
No examinations or tests collectively worth more than 20% of the final grade in a course will be given during the final 14 calendar days of classes in a term. The exceptions to the rule are classes which regularly meet Friday evenings or on Saturday and/or Sunday at any time, and courses offered in the compressed summer terms. - Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities
