Below you'll find a list of the readings for each week. This list will include links to PDF documents that supplement the textbook for this course. You can read these PDFs online, or print them to bring to class. Our one required text is:
Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources,edited by Roger Ariew, Eric Watkins) (Hackett Pub., 2nd Edition, 2009)
ISBN: 978-0872209787
Buy here from Amazon
Week 1
Montaigne, Apology for Raymond Sebond (selections in Modern Philosophy, pp. 4-15)
Luther, selection from Letter to the Christian Nobility
(PDF)
Can’t Get Enough?
Read a little bit of Thomas Aquinas, selection from Summa Contra Gentiles (PDF)
Week 2
Bacon, New Organon (selections in Modern Philosophy, pp. 16-20, as well as PDF selection)
Galileo,
Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina (PDF)
Can’t Get Enough?
Read some more Galileo: selection from The Assayer (PDF)
and some more Bacon: The Great Instauration (Preface and Plan) (online webpage)
Week 3
Descartes, Discourse on Method, Parts 1-2 (in Modern Philosophy, pp. 25-33)
Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, Parts 1-3 (in Modern Philosophy, pp. 35-54)
Lisez Descartes en français si vous préférez! (Discours de la méthode PDF) et
(Méditations PDF)
In a Hurry?
Just focus on Part 1 of the Discourse (pp. 25-28), and the Second Meditation (pp. 43-47).
Can’t Get Enough?
Read some of Pascal's Pensées (PDF)
Lisez Pascal en français si vous préférez! (PDF ici)
Week 4
Descartes, Discourse on Method, Part 5 (selections in Modern Philosophy, pp. 33-35) and Part 6 (PDF of Part 6 here)
Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, Parts 4-6 (in Modern Philosophy, pp. 47-68)
Lisez Descartes en français si vous préférez! Discours de la méthode Parties 5 et 6 PDF et Méditations 4-6 PDF
In a Hurry?
Just focus on the PDF of the Discourse on Method, part 6.
Can’t Get Enough?
Read our textbook's selection of objections to Descartes by Hobbes and Arnauld, along with Descartes' replies (Modern Philosophy, pp. 69-92)
Week 5
Leibniz, Monadology (in Modern Philosophy, pp. 275-283)
Spinoza, Ethics (selections in Modern Philosophy, pp. 144-169)
In a Hurry?
Just focus on Spinoza's Ethics - the first part of Parts I and II. Try pp. 144-149, then pp. 164-167. If you've got twenty more minutes, read Spinoza's 'appendix' about error that starts on p. 160.
Can’t Get Enough?
Read Leibniz's New System of Nature... (selections in Modern Philosophy, pp. 269-274)
Week 6
Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding (selections in Modern Philosophy, pp.316-332; 337-344; 348-356; 386-395)
In a Hurry?
10 pages! Read the beginning of Book I (pp. 316-321), then Book I, Chapter 12 (pp. 340-41), then a bit on the will, starting near the end of p.349 and going to p. 353.
Can’t Get Enough?
Well, gosh! Read all the Locke in our textbook - pp. 316-421. AND/OR read the selections from Leibniz's Preface to the New Essays, which is Leibniz's response to Locke - pp. 422-433.
Week 7
Berkeley, Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (Dialogue 1, in Modern Philosophy, pp. 454-474)
Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (selections in Modern Philosophy, pp. 533-576).
In a Hurry?
Just focus on Hume... read pp. 539-544, then pp. 555-562
Can’t Get Enough?
Read all of Berkeley's Three Dialogues (in Modern Philosophy, pp. 454-503).
AND/OR
Read all of Hume's Enquiry(in Modern Philosophy, pp. 533-600).
Week 8
Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics (selections in Modern Philosophy, pp. 661-672; 695-716);
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason (selections in Modern Philosophy, pp. 717-730).
In a Hurry?
Just focus on the first part of the Prolegomena (Modern Philosophy, pp. 661-672)
Can’t Get Enough?
Read the entire Prolegomena (Modern Philosophy, pp. 661-716)
Week 9
Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (PDF selection here)
In a Hurry?
Just read pp. 22-38 from the PDF above (using the book's page numbers).
Can’t Get Enough?
Read the entire Groundwork! (PDF here)
Week 10
Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals (PDF selection here)
Nietzsche, The Gay Science (PDF selection here)
In a Hurry?
Just read the following numbered fragments (fragments, not page numbers!) from The Gay Science,
in the above PDF: #11, 12, 57, 58, 109-112, 125, 300
Can’t Get Enough?
Read this longer chunk of the The Gay Science: (longer PDF selection )
Want more? Read the whole Third Essay from Genealogy of Morals (PDF here)
Want yet even more? Read all of The Gay Science! Well, you can skip the poetry in the beginning. The rest is delightful!