Text:

Ludwig Wittgenstein. The Blue and Brown Books (Prentice-Hall, 1958).

Handouts:

Bertrand Russell, chs. 5, 12, and sels. from chs. 1, 4 of The Problems of Philosophy (Russell handout 1, Russell handout 2)

Ludwig Wittgenstein, sels. from Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (TLP handout)

JSTOR:

Rudolf Carnap, “On the Character of Philosophic Problems,” Philosophy of Science, vol. 1 (1934), pp. 5-19 (on JSTOR)

Hilary Putnam, “Meaning and Reference,” The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 70 (1973), pp. 699-711 (on JSTOR)

W. V. Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism,” The Philosophical Review, vol. 60 (1951), pp. 20-43 (on JSTOR)

W. V. Quine, “On Carnap’s Views on Ontology,” Philosophical Studies, vol. 2 (1951), pp. 65-72 (on JSTOR)

W. V. Quine, “Ontological Relativity,” The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 65 (1968), pp. 185-212 (on JSTOR)

Requirements: (1) Two papers (the first paper about 2-3 pp. and the second paper 5-6 pp.); I will suggest topics but you will have substantial freedom of choice. (2) Regular, prepared, and active participation in class discussion (perhaps including occasional brief writing assignments or assigned tasks in discussion). Your final grade will be based on these in the following way: 25% and 55%, respectively, for the papers and 20% for class participation.