This course provides an introduction to epistemology and metaphysics. Topics to be discussed include: the nature of knowledge, scepticism, the existence of God, whether theism is rational, why the universe exists, free will, personal identity, and the metaphysics of race.

Week 1: The Existence of God

Required readings:

1. Roger White, "The Argument from Cosmological Fine-Tuning," from The Norton Introduction to Philosophy (NIP)

2. Louise Antony, "The Argument from Evil," from NIP

Week 2: Believing Without Evidence

Required Readings:

1. Blaise Pascal, The Wager, from Pensées

2. William James, "The Will to Believe," fromThe Will to Believe and Other Essays

2. Lara Buchak, "When is Faith Rational?" from NIP

Week 3: Do We Know Anything?

1. Rene Descartes, Meditation I, from Meditations on First Philosophy

2. Barry Stroud, "The Problem of the External World," from The Significance of Philosophical Skepticism

Week 4: What is Knowledge?

1. Edmund Gettier, "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?", Analysis

2. Linda Zagzebski, "The Inescapability of Gettier Problems," Philosophical Quarterly

3. Timothy Williamson, "Knowledge and Belief," from NIP

Week 5: Will the Sun Rise Tomorrow?

Required Readings:

1. Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Sections iv-v

2. Wesley Salmon, "An Encounter with David Hume," from Reason and Responsibility: Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy

Week 6: Grue!


Required Readings:

1. Nelson Goodman, "The New Riddle of Induction," from Fact, Fiction, and Forecast

2. W. V. O. Quine, "Natural Kinds," from Ontological Relativity and Other Essays

Week 7: Race

Required Readings:

1. Alyssa Ney and Alan Hazlett, "The Metaphysics of Race," from Metaphysics: An Introduction

2. Anthony Appiah, "The Uncompleted Argument: Du Bois and the Illusion of Race," Critical Inquiry

3. Quayshawn Spencer, "Are Folk Races like Dingoes, Dimes, or Dodos?" from NIP

Week 8: What Are We?

Required Readings:

1. John Locke, "Of Identity and Diversity," from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 

2. Derek Parfit, Personal Identity, from Reasons and Persons 

3. Bernard Williams, "The Self and the Future," The Philosophical Review

Week 9: Are We Free?

1. Peter van Inwagen, "The Incompatibility of Free Will and Determinism," Philosophical Studies

2. Harry Frankfurt, "Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility," The Journal of Philosophy

3. Susan Wolf, "Asymmetrical Freedom," The Journal of Philosophy

Week 10: Should We Trust Our Intuitions?

1. Jonathan Weinberg, Shaun Nichols, and Stephen Stich, "Normativity and Epistemic Intuition," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

2. Jennifer Nagel, "Intuitions and Experiments: A Defense of the Case Method in Epistemology," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research

3. Amia Srinivasan, "The Archimedean Urge," Philosophical Perspectives

Philosophy Area A