Philosophy 102 - History of Modern Philosophy 1

Professor Graciela De Pierris

Prof. De Pierris’s Office: Building 100, 102D.

Philosophy Department Telephones: 723-2547; 723-2548.
Email: graciela@stanford.edu

Texts, Schedule, and Assignments

Texts:

Rene Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy with Selections from the

Objections and Replies, ed. J. Cottingham (Cambridge Texts in the
History of Philosophy, Second Edition).

Gottfried W. Leibniz: Philosophical Essays, eds. R. Ariew and D. Garber (Hackett).

David Hume: An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, ed. E. Steinberg

(Hackett).

Immanuel Kant: Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics, ed. G. Hatfield

(Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy, Revised Edition).

Schedule of Lectures, Readings, and Assignments:

Week I (Tu): Descartes’s Method of Doubt. The Dream Argument. The Evil
Demon Argument.
Reading: Descartes, First Meditation, and selections from the
objections and replies to the First Meditation.

Week I (Th): The Cogito. The nature of mind. Clear and distinct ideas. The piece
of wax argument.
Reading: Descartes, Second Meditation, and selections from the
objections and replies to the Second Meditation.

Week II (Tu): Descartes’s proof of the existence of God based on causal

principles. Degrees of formal (inherent) reality and of objective
(representative) reality.
Reading: Descartes, Third Meditation, and selections from the
objections and replies to the Third Meditation.

Week II (Th): Descartes’s ontological proof of the existence of God. True and
immutable natures. The circularity objection to Descartes’s proofs
of the existence of God.
Reading: Descartes, Fifth Meditation, and selections from
objections and replies to the Fifth Meditation.
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Professor Graciela De Pierris
Week III (Tu): Descartes’s mind-body dualism. The causal interactions and union
of mind and body. The proof of the existence of matter.
Reading: Descartes, Sixth Meditation, and selections from
objections and replies to the Sixth Meditations.

End of Week III: assignment on Descartes due

Week III (Th): Leibniz, On Contingency (pp. 28-30), and Primary Truths (pp. 30-
34).

Week IV: Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics, sections 1-16 (pp. 35-49),

section 30 (pp. 60-62), sections 33-35 (pp. 64 -67). Monadology,
(pp. 213-225). [Recommended: the rest of the sections of the
Discourse on Metaphysics].

Week V: Leibniz, On Freedom (pp. 94-98); Remarks on Arnauld’s Letter

about My Proposition That the Individual Notion … (pp. 69-77); A
New System of Nature (pp. 138-145); Preface to the New Essays
(pp. 291-306).

Tuesday of Week VI: assignment on Leibniz due

Week VI: Hume’s theory of ideas. The distinction between “relations of

ideas” and “matters of fact.” Causation and induction. Skepticism
and naturalism.
Reading: Hume, Enquiry, section I (last three paragraphs), and
sections II-V.

Week VII: Hume on Miracles. Reading: Hume, Enquiry, section X.

Recommended: section XI.

Week VIII: Kant’s Copernican revolution in the theory of knowledge. Hume’s

“interruption” of Kant’s “dogmatic slumber.” The
distinction between analytic and synthetic, a priori and a
posteriori judgments. The proper problem of pure reason as contained in
the question: How are synthetic a priori judgments possible?
Reading: Kant, Prolegomena, Preface, Preamble, General Question
of the Prolegomena: Is metaphysics possible at all?, and
Prolegomena General Question: How is cognition from pure
reason possible? (Sections 1-5, pp. 5-31).

End of Week VIII: assignment on Hume due

Week IX: Kant on Space and Time as the form of sensibility.

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Professor Graciela De Pierris

Reading: Kant, Prolegomena, The Main Transcendental Question,

First Part: How is pure mathematics possible? (Sections 6-13 and
Notes, pp. 32-45).

Week X: Judgments of Perception and Judgments of Experience. Kant’s

answer to Hume.
Reading: Kant, Prolegomena, sections 14–21 (pp. 46-56), and
sections 27-30 (pp. 62-65) of The Main Transcendental Question,
Second Part: How is pure natural science possible?

End of Week X: assignment on Kant due

Grades: Each of the four assignments is worth 22% of the final grade.
Attendance in lectures and sections, participation in class discussion,
and improvement throughout the quarter together count for 12% of the final grade.

Reading: Philosophical writings must be read carefully and more than once.
Read the texts at least once before the lectures. The lectures focus on some central theses
and arguments, and are intended to guide students in their further readings of the texts.

Written assignments: Although discussions throughout the course with other students
and the teachers are strongly encouraged, the written work of each of the students is
individual work. Students are allowed to consult with the texts and lecture notes while
writing take-home exams or papers, but rigorous citation of any outside sources is
required. Topics for the written assignments will be distributed one week in advance of
the due date. The assignments should be submitted electronically through Canvas or by e-
mail to the assigned Teaching Assistant.