Syllabus: calendar, text and requirements, contacting me
 
 

Calendar. You should regard the assignments given below as approximate and tentative even though they are unlikely to change. Ariew and Garber’s collection of translations is abbreviated “AG,” and Jolley’s Companion is abbreviated “J.” Much of the schedule will be filled in as we go along so it is still to be determined (“TBD”).

9/1 primary sources background: AG vii-x; J 48-58; handouts: Descartes (html, pdf), Spinoza (html, pdf, html full)
9/3 early work: AG 1-5; handout of sels. from De Summa Rerum; AG 5-10; AG 23-27; J 72f, 93-107
9/8 “Discourse on Metaphysics” §§1-13 and letter to Arnauld (5/1686): AG 35-46, 69-77; J 199-212
9/10 “Discourse on Metaphysics” §§14-22 and letter to Arnauld (11-12/1686): AG 46-55, 77-81; J 325-328, 383-393
9/15 “Discourse on Metaphysics” §§23-37 and letter to Arnauld (4/1687): AG 55-68, 81-90; J 178-182, 190-192, 398-405
9/17 “Specimen Dynamicum”: AG 117-138; J 309-325
9/22 “A New System of Nature”: AG 138-149; J 124-132
9/24 “On Nature Itself”: AG 155-167
9/29 “Principles of Nature and Grace” and “Monadology”: AG 206-225
10/1 “Monadology” cont’d; J 132-143
10/6 letters to de Volder: AG 171-186; J 143-153
10/8 letters to Des Bosses: AG 197-206; J 154-163
10/13 secondary sources Mitch Rivers leading: Hartz and Cover, “Space and Time in the Leibnizian Metaphysic” Noûs, vol. 22 (1988), pp. 493-519—JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2215454
10/15 Grant Gussman leading: David Blumenfeld, “Freedom, Contingency, and Things Possible in Themselves,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, vol. 49 (1988), pp. 81-101—JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2107993
10/20 Nathan Rutz leading: R. S. Woolhouse, “Leibniz’s Reaction to Cartesian Interaction,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, n.s., vol. 86 (1985-6) pp. 69-82.—JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4545037
10/22 ppr 1 due Alex Thompson leading: Michael J. Murray, “Leibniz on Divine Foreknowledge of Future Contingents and Human Freedom.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, vol. 55 (1995), pp. 75-108.—JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2108310
10/27 Jonathan Edwards leading: David Blumenfeld, “Is the Best Possible World Possible?” The Philosophical Review, vol. 84 (1975), pp. 163-177.—JSTOR:  http://www.jstor.org/stable/2183966 
10/29 Catherine Wilson, “Leibnizian Optimism,” The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 80 (1983), pp. 765-783.—JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2026020
11/3 Robert Brandom, “Leibniz and Degrees of Perception,” Journal of the History of Philosophy, vol. 19 (1981), pp. 447-479—Project MUSE: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_history_of_philosophy/v019/19.4brandom.pdf
11/5 Joe Smith leading: G.H.R. Parkinson, “Moral luck, freedom, and Leibniz,” Monist, vol. 81 (1998), pp. 633-47—EBSCO: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1713755&site=ehost-live
11/10 ppr 2 ≤ due Erik Whipkey leading: Michael V. Griffin, “Leibniz on God's Knowledge of Counterfactuals,” The Philosophical Review, vol. 108 (1999), pp. 317-343—JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2998464
11/12 Benjamin Johnson leading: Patrick Riley, “Leibniz’s Political and Moral Philosophy in the Novissima Sinica, 1699-1999,” Journal of the History of Ideas, vol. 60 (1999), pp. 217-239.—JSTOR: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3653853
11/17 Will Hohmeister leading: Gregory Brown, “Leibniz’s Theodicy and the Confluence of Worldly Goods,” Journal of the History of Philosophy, vol. 26 (1988), pp. 571-591.—Project MUSE: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_history_of_philosophy/v026/26.4brown.pdf
11/19 students’ work prospectuses: Mitch Rivers, Grant Gussman, Nathan Rutz
Thanksgiving break
12/1 propectus: Alex Thompson; also Gilles Deleuze, “The Fold,” Yale French Studies, no. 80 (1991), pp. 227-247—see assignment
12/3   prospectuses: Jon Edwards, Joe Smith
12/8 prospectuses: Erik Whipkey, Benjamin Johnson, Will Hohmeister
12/10 no class meeting  
12/17 final papers due