Fatima Sadek
sadel95@yorku.ca
Office Location:  TBA
Phone number:  TBA
Office Hours:  By appointment, in person or via zoom.

This is an introductory course in Philosophy that tackles philosophical questions surrounding knowledge, truth and reality. This course has no prerequisites, nor do I expect you to have any prior knowledge in Philosophy. We will discus what it means to “know” something, how knowledge is acquired, and whether we do – or can – actually know anything. We will read works by thinkers from various classical western schools of thought, such as Plato, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. We will explore arguments on skepticism and whether the external world is real, or whether our knowledge of it is real. We will examine pragmatic theories of truth, where truth is defined in terms of its utility, and we will question whether there’s a distinction between objectivity and subjectivity. Finally, we will look into feminist perspectives on knowledge.

We will meet in person twice a week. You must come to class prepared by having done the reading assigned for the class.

All the reading material is on eclass for this course and can be accessed for free. There’s no need to purchase a book. Please note that some links on eclass will be links of entire books, so pay attention to the reading instructions and read only the assigned chapters/selections for the week.

Participation: 10%

Short Paper: 15% (Due October 3^rd)

Midterm Exam: 20% (On October 17^th)

Final Paper: 25% (Due November 28^th)

Final Exam: 30% (Exam Period, TBA)

Schedule

Sep 7^th

• Syllabus
• The Experience Machine (Nozick)

Sep 12^th

• Apology: Defense of Socrates (Plato)

Sep 14^th

• Allegory of the Cave (Plato)

Sep 19^th

• Meditations on First Philosophy (Descartes), Meditations I, II & III

Sep 21^st

• Descartes Cont.

Sep 26^th

• An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Locke), Book IV, chapter 19: Of Enthusiasm

Sep 28^th

• An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Locke), Selections:

Introduction (1, 2 & 3)/ Book I, Chapter 1 (1à5)/ Book II, Chapter 1 (1à6), Chapter 8 (8à10, 13à16, 21), Chapter 11 (8, 9)/ Book IV, Chapter 2 (1à5, 14), Chapter 11 (1à5), chapter 15 (1, 2 & 5).

Oct 3^rd

• Three Dialogues Between Hylas & Philonous (Berkeley) (pp. 7-24, 31, 44-47, 64-66).

SHORT PAPER DUE

Oct 5^th

• Berkeley Cont. + Exam Review

READING WEEK

Oct 17^th

• Midterm Exam (In class)

Oct 19^th

• Proof of an External World (Moore)
• Responding to Skepticism (DeRose & Warfield), Selections 1, 2 & 3

Oct 24^th

• An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Hume), Sections II, III, IV, V, VI, & VII

Oct 26^th

• Hume Cont.

Oct 31^st

• Hume Cont.

Nov 2^nd

• The Problem of Induction (Salmon)

Nov 7^th

• The Problems of Philosophy (Russell), Chapter XII

NOV 8^TH COURSE WITHDRAWAL DEADLINE

Nov 9^th

• Pragmatism, A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking (James), Lecture II (pp. 43-47) + Lecture VI

Nov 14^th

• Science as Solidarity (Rorty), (pp. 18-22)

Nov 16^th

• Post-modernism of Truth (Dennett)

Nov 21^st

• Knowledge, Human Interests, and Objectivity in Feminist Epistemology (Anderson)

Nov 23^rd

• Feminist Philosophy of Science: Standpoint Matters (Wylie)

Nov 28^th

• White Ignorance’. In Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance (Mills)

FINAL PAPER DUE

Nov 30^th

• “Calm down, dear”: Intellectual Arrogance, Silencing and Ignorance (Tanesini)

Dec 5^th

• Final Exam Review

FINAL EXAM

TBA

Participation, Essays, and Late Penalties

Participation:

Your participation mark is determined by your TA and your continued attendance and engagement in your tutorials. Every student is allowed to skip two tutorials without their grade being affected, and they don’t need to provide a reason to their TA. However, for every class missed afterwards, 1 mark will be deducted from your participation grade. No excuses will be accepted for these absences, so my advice is to save your 2 no-excuse absences for when you might need them.

Additionally, merely being physically in class will not guarantee a high participation mark. Some level of engagement in class (or through other means as decided by your TA) is expected. Your participation mark will not be good if you don’t, well, participate.

Papers:

Paper topics will be posted on eclass at least two weeks prior to the submission deadlines, along with detailed instructions. Additionally, a writing guide will be available on eclass, so make use of it because it will be strictly adhered to in evaluating your essays.

For the short paper, the deadline for submitting your essays will be on October 3^rd, at 11:59 pm, with a penalty of 5% per day for every day the paper is not submitted after the deadline. If you can’t meet the deadline, please get in touch with me at least 24 hours before the deadline with the reason and I will decide whether an extension can be granted. No extensions will be given if you contact me any later than that or after the deadline had passed.

For the final paper, the deadline for submitting your essays will be on November 28^th, at 11:59 pm. However, all students can have an automatic extension of up to one week (till December 5^th, at 11:59 pm) without acquiring any penalties. If you submit on or before November 28^th, you will receive feedback on your paper along with a grade. If you submit after November 28^th but before December 5^th, you will receive a grade, but you will not receive any feedback. If you submit after December 5^th, you will be given a 5% penalty per day. No papers without approved extensions will be accepted after December 12^th. As before, if you can’t meet the deadline, please get in touch with me at least 24 hours before the deadline with the reason and I will decide whether an extension can be granted. No extensions will be given if you contact me any later than that or after the deadline had passed.

All papers must be submitted to turn-it-in on eclass. I WILL NOT accept hard copies or papers sent via email. Any paper not submitted to turn-it-in will not be marked.

Other Policies

Email policy:

You can email me for any inquiries you might have or for scheduling an appointment. Give me at least 2 days to respond to your email before you send another one. Keep in mind that emails are not a proper substitute for office hours, so if you have a long inquiry regarding something you did not understand in the readings or lectures, please email me to set an appointment to meet.

Accommodations:

If you’re in need of accommodations, please register with disability services as early as possible. Additionally, get in touch with me to schedule a meeting to discuss your accommodations early in the term. For more information, check out the link below:

https://accessibility.students.yorku.ca/

For Religious Accommodations: https://w2prod.sis.yorku.ca/Apps/WebObjects/cdm.woa/wa/regobs

Academic Honesty:

It’s expected of you to abide by and maintain high standards of academic integrity. If you’re not sure what exactly counts as plagiarism, please come talk to me about it so that we can sort it out.

Find below the Senate policy on Academic Honesty that are expected of you to follow:

https://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/policies/policies/academic-honesty-senate-policy-on/