Eli Alshanetsky

Instructor:
Eli Alshanetsky
alshanetsky@nyu.edu

Office:
Rm 315, Dept. of Philosophy
5 Washington Place
New York, NY 10003
Office Hours: Thursday 6-8pm

Requirements:
Participation (20%),
4 short writing assignments (80%).

Schedule

Books:
Richard Feldman, Epistemology.
Paul Boghossian, Fear of Knowledge.
Other readings will be handed out in class and will be posted on the course Blog.

Useful Resources:
www.plato.stanford.edu/contents.html
www.jimpryor.net/teaching/index.html
www.philosophy.fas.nyu.edu/page/home

Teaching

Belief, Truth and Knowledge

Summer 2009
Session 2 (June 29th - August 7th)
Monday – Thursday, 3:30 – 5:05pm
Place: 3rd floor seminar room (5 Washington Pl)
Course #: V83.0076

Course Description
In this course we'll inquire into the nature of inquiry.

Questions will include: What is it, exactly, to know something? Is our knowledge built on foundations? Can we know anything about the world beyond our mental states (how do we know that we're not in a Matrix or that the people around us have minds)? Is knowledge, in some sense, socially constructed? Is certainty attainable? What is it to be rational? Is there an objective fact of the matter as to who is rational and who is not? Throughout the course we will read some selections from historical texts (e.g. by Plato, Descartes, Pascal and William James), but spend most of our time discussing contemporary authors.

This course has no prerequisites. No background in philosophy is assumed. The topics may vary, depending on the interest of the class.