OhioLINK History of Philosophy Website

Philosophy 31004
British Empiricism

Fall 1991

Professor Gayle Ormiston
320-D Bowman Hall
Office Hours: 10:45-12:15 T R, 1:30-3:10 W
and by appointment.

Course Description and Design

The purpose of this course is to present a detailed, intensive analysis of "British empiricism," and its attendant concepts and questions, as explored by some of its more classic (17th and 18th century) figures, such as Francis Bacon, John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume. Readings, writing assignments, and class discussions will focus on a variety of topics relevant to the development of British empiricism in the 17th and 18th centuries as well as the development of empiricism in the 19th and 20th centuries. These topics will include but will not be limited to: diverse conceptions and definitions of philosophic method and scientific method, sense experience, rationality, imagination, passion, and their (inter)relation or disjunction; what constitutes human nature; what constitutes knowledge as opposed to belief; theories of perception, i.e., relevant theories of optics and vision; the place and status of religious and moral discussion with respect to the "experimental methods" of philosophy and science.

Texts

Texts are listed in the order of use.

1. Aristotle, selections from the Physics and Posterior Analytics (hand out), and Nicolaus Copernicus, selections from The Commentariolus and On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (De Revolutionibus) (hand out).
   
   
2. Francis Bacon, The New Organon, edited by Fulton Anderson
   
   
3. Galileo Galilei, selections from The Assayer, Dialogues Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, and Discourses Concerning the Two New Sciences (hand out)
   
   
4. Isaac Newton, selections from Principia and Optiks (hand out)
   
   
5. John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Dover Edition)
   
   
6. George Berkeley, Philosophical Works, including the works on vision (Dutton Edition)
   
   
7. David Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding and Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.

Mechanics

1. Writing

In line with the recently adopted University-wide "writing intensive course" requirement, the Department of Philosophy has designated all courses in the history of philosophy sequence (31001, 31003, 31004, 31005, and so on) as Philosophy writing intensive courses commencing in the Fall 1991. Philosophy 31004/5308 is a writing intensive course. One purpose of a writing intensive course is "to help students become effective writers in a specific discipline." Thus, according to this new policy, a student must take at least one upper division course in his or her major designated as a writing intensive course. Further, for a course to be considered a writing intensive course it must have "a substantial amount of writing" and offer at least one assignment that provides students "with an opportunity for guided revision before grading occurs."

Eight writing assignments ("sensible experiences" perhaps!) will be required during the course of the semester. The writing experiences will vary in length from one page to eight page papers. Moreover, the nature of each writing assignment will vary: at times you will be given library bibliographic assignments in which you will search for available journal articles and book chapters, reporting in a one page précis the salient points of the article or book chapter you have read. You will be asked to report on specific issues as well as serendipitous contacts and lineages. Other assignments will require that you respond to a specific question provided in advance, offering a structured and thoughtful reflection on your encounter with a specific text or set of issues. The opportunity to rewrite will be available for each of the writing assignments exceeding four pages in length (at least two of the eight). Each writing assignment will be designed to assist you in your reading and discussion experiences, to support your work on the exams, and to enable you to work with the detail of a particular text, especially as that text stands in relation to others (its predecessors or successors).

Furthermore, the writing assignments will be designed to enable a first-hand--"empirical" or "sensible"--grasp of the tools available for and necessary to current research in philosophy, related British Empiricism or not. This means that use-knowledge of the Philosopher's Index, the library's Catalyst system, the OCLC system, and other on-line computer and indexing systems will be part of the experience! Indeed, the utilization of the computer may well prove integral in support of our reflections on the empirical, the sensible, and the rational.

Each written assignment will be read so that detailed comments can be supplied: these comments will concern sentence structure, grammar, organization, content, purpose of response, and the reporting of insights and enlightenments, confusions and bewilderments. To this end, it would assist me with quick turnaround if you could supply both a disk copy and a hard copy of your assignment. The comments will be made on the disk copy. Please always keep a hard copy of your own. Any word processing software (WordStar, PC Write, Multi-Mate, and so on) is acceptable but WordPerfect (in any version from 4.2 to 5.1) is preferred. If you do not use WordPerfect, please supply your disk copy in ASCI or DOS format. If you do not currently have access to a PC or one of the several computer labs on campus, or if you do not currently "know" one of these programs (or the computer), please see me. We can arrange a special session of the class for those persons, and anyone else, as a tutoring session in WordPerfect 5.1.

The tentative dates for when each writing assignment will be due are listed on the Reading and Writing Schedule. Of course, these dates MAY change depending on the progress of our discussions and reading.

2. Exams

In addition to the writing experiences, there will be three examinations--two semester exams and the final examination. The exams are tentatively scheduled for the following dates:

September 19th (Bacon)
November 7th (Locke)
December 20th (comprehensive final: Berkeley and Hume)

3. Grades

Final grades will be determined on the basis of ALL forms of class participation--writing experiences, examinations, oral participation. ALL writing assignments must be completed. You must pass the final examination, even though you may have completed all other writing assignments and examinations, in order to receive a passing grade. There will be no incompletes for the course unless a situation of dire emergency arises and prohibits the satisfactory completion of the course.

4. Expectations

Attendance to each class session, completion of the readings for the date assigned, and participation in class discussion are expected. Finally, it is expected that if you have a question, you ask it. If you have a comment you would like to share with rest of the class, your state it. And if you have a criticism, you will express it. Each element of your class participation will provide additional information and new perspectives on which discussion can proceed.

Reading and Writing Schedule

This page is part of the OhioLINK History of Philosophy Instructional Website designed and developed by the Department of Philosophy at Kent State University. We are interested in any comments you may have concerning this syllabus. Send e-mail to the KSU Department of Philosophy Instructional Website Team or directly to Professor Gayle Ormiston, who designed this syllabus.

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Fall 1991.
KSU Department of Philosophy