Topics in Metaphysics
PHIL 390
Spring 2020
| Section:
01
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| This course may be repeated for credit. |
This is a research seminar on the metaphysical conceptions of logic, mathematics, and the world in early analytic philosophy. In the first half of the seminar, we focus on Frege and Russell's critique of Kant's philosophy of mathematics, which is the foundation of his transcendental idealism. Kant took mathematics to be knowable a priori, independent of experience, but not by logic and definitions alone. We will examine in detail how Frege and Russell's discoveries of higher-order quantificational logic support their attempts to demonstrate that at least arithmetic is knowable on the basis of logic alone. In the second half, we focus on Wittgenstein's critiques of Russell's theory of judgment, and of Frege's and Russell's conception of logic. We will investigate how these criticisms led to conceptions of logic and mathematics that underlie some of the most enigmatic aspects of Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: the distinction between what can be said and what can only be shown, the view that there is truth in solipsism and mysticism, and finally the apparent astonishing "conclusion" of the Tractatus that this book is made up of nonsense, and has itself to be overcome, to see the world right. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA PHIL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: (PHIL201 OR PHIL202) AND (PHIL231 OR PHIL286 OR PHIL289 OR PHIL292) |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (PHIL)(PHIL-Philosophy)(PHIL-Social Jus) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Classic and contemporary sources.
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Examinations and Assignments:
One seminar paper, and possibly also other assignments. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This is an advanced seminar in philosophy, and so students will need to have a general background in the history of philosophy, such as acquired from Phil 201 or 202, and some knowledge of logic, such as acquired from Phil 231, Phil 290, or Math 243, and probably also one course in philosophy beyond the introductory level. |
| Instructor(s): Shieh,Sanford Times: ..T.... 07:10PM-10:00PM; Location: BOGH110; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 5 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: 11 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 1 | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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