Belief, Truth and Knowledge
Summer 2010, Session 2 (June 28th-August 6th)
Monday-Thursday, 3:30–5:05pm
Place: TBA
Description:
Despite its title, this course will have little to do with the nature of Belief and Truth. It will touch upon the nature of Knowledge, but only tangentially. Instead, the main focus will be on the nature of Rationality and Objectivity. The course will be split into two parts. In the first part we will talk about Skepticism, the view on which we know nothing (or close to nothing) about the world. We will spend most of our time examining and trying to respond to the most powerful Skeptical arguments that seem to show that none of our beliefs about the world are even reasonable. This will lead us to discuss broader issues about the rationality of our beliefs, which will be our springboard for talking about objectivity. In the second part of the course we will try to get a better understanding of what objectivity is, whether there are any objective facts and whether we can have objective reasons to believe anything. I will also be open to exploring some additional topics, depending on the interests of the class.
This course has no prerequisites. No background in philosophy is assumed. The topics may vary, depending on the interest of the class.
Schedule: coming soon.
Instructor:
Eli Alshanetsky (alshanetsky@nyu.edu)
Office: Rm 305, Dept. of Philosophy (5 Washington Place)
Office Hours: TBA
Requirements:
Participation (20%), 4 short writing assignments (80%).
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:
http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html
http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/index.html
http://philosophy.fas.nyu.edu/page/home