phi490S16syll

Philosophy 490: Senior Reading
Spring 2016

Requirements:

• the choice of a reading for one discussion, and a paper (of c. 1500-1800) words critically discussing some point in that reading

• a discussion question for each discussion

• active participation in all discussions

Reading and paper: The reading should come from philosophical work in recent decades and be on a topic of interest to you. I’ll offer advice (and retain the power of veto), but the choice will be basically yours. The paper should consider a position found in the reading (whether advanced or merely discussed) and an objection to it (which may or may not be found in the reading) and evaluate the relative strength of the two sides.

Evaluation: paper 25%, discussion questions 5% each, participation 40%. Your participation grade will be based on your participation in all discussions, including that of your own paper.

Calendar:

1/19	Christine M. Korsgaard, “Self-Constitution in the Ethics of Plato and Kant,” The Journal of Ethics, vol. 3 (1999), pp. 1-29. On JSTOR at 25115598. (Helman)
1/26	Jorge J. E. Gracia, “Borges’s ‘Pierre Menard’: Philosophy or Literature?” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 59 (2001), pp. 45-57. On JSTOR at 432267. (Lopac)
2/2	David Ludwig, “Against the New Metaphysics of Race,” Philosophy of Science, vol. 82 (2015), pp. 244-265. Issue table of contents (with link to PDF of article); direct link to PDF file. (Bojrab)
2/9	Benedetta Giovanola, “Re-Thinking the Anthropological and Ethical Foundation of Economics and Business: Human Richness and Capabilities Enhancement,” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 88 (2009), pp. 431–444. On JSTOR at 40295010 and on Springer Link (link to abstract from which you can download a PDF file). (Anzalone)
2/16	Alvin Plantinga, “The Prospects for Natural Theology,” Philosophical Perspectives, vol. 5 (1991), pp. 287-315. On JSTOR at 2214098. (Cooper)
2/23	Grant Tavinor, “Video Games and Interactive Fiction,” Philosophy and Literature, vol. 29 (2005), pp. 24-40. On Project Muse at https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/philosophy_and_literature/v029/29.1tavinor.pdf The above is a direct link to a PDF file that should work from the campus network. From off the network, use the link to Project Muse on the library’s databases page—at http://library.wabash.edu/databases—to go via the proxy server, and then search for “Tavinor.” (Cavanaugh)
3/1	Dorit Bar-On, “Indeterminacy of Translation—Theory and Practice,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, vol. 53 (1993), pp. 781-810. On JSTOR at 2108253 (Morris)