Meets Wednesdays in 59/1257 from 10am-noon and Thursdays in 65/1097 from 11am-noon SCHEDULE OF READINGS
For each week, the readings mainly divide into required and optional further readings. I include the optional readings just in case you find the topic especially interesting and would like to write a paper on it or simply learn more.
Week 1 – The Nature and History of the Ethics of Belief
Required Reading There is none for this week. See Blackboard for notes and slides.
Optional further reading: Introductory Chignell, A. 'The Ethics of Belief' LINK Marusic, B. 'The Ethics of Belief' LINK McCormick, M. 'Ethics of Belief' LINK
Optional further reading: Historical Arnold, D. Buddhists, Brahmins, and Belief Booth, A. Islamic Philosophy and the Ethics of Belief Clifford, W. K. ‘The Ethics of Belief’ Chignell, A. ‘Belief in Kant’ Curley, E. ‘Descartes, Spinoza, and the Ethics of Belief’ James, W. ‘The Will to Believe’ Montaigne, M. ‘Apology for Raimond Sebond’ Newman, J. H. An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent SEP entry on Pascal Passmore, J. ‘Locke and the Ethics of Belief’
Week 2 – Contemporary Evidentialism vs. Pragmatism
Required Reading Rinard, S. ‘Against the New Evidentialists’ LINK Shah, N. ‘A New Argument for Evidentialism’ LINK
Optional Further Reading Hiernonymi, P. ‘The Wrong Kind of Reason’ Leary, S. ‘In Defense of Pragmatic Reasons for Belief’ McCormick, M. Believing against the Evidence. McCormick, M. ‘No Kind of Reason is the Wrong Kind of Reason’ McCormick, M. ‘Can Beliefs Be Based on Practical Reasons?’ McHugh, C. ‘The Illusion of Exclusivity’ Parfit, D. ‘State-Given Reasons’ Preston-Roedder, R. ‘Faith in Humanity’ Reisner, A. ‘The Possibility of Pragmatic Reasons for Belief and the Wrong Kind of Reasons Problem’ Schroeder, M. ‘The Ubiquity of State-Given Reasons’
Week 3 – Belief and the Limits of Reason
Required Sylvan, K. and Sosa, E. ‘The Place of Reasons in Epistemology.’ LINK
Optional further reading Kornblith, H. ‘The Role of Reasons in Epistemology’ Srinivasan, A. ‘Radical Externalism’ Sosa, E. ‘Intuitions’ Sylvan, K. ‘Evidence, Virtue, and Beyond’ Sylvan, K. ‘Reasons in Epistemology’
Week 4 – Pragmatic Encroachment
Required Reading Brown, J. “Knowledge and Practical Reason.” LINK Strongly Recommended Reading Stanley, J. and Hawthorne, J. “Knowledge and Action.” LINK
Optional Further Reading Brown, J. “Impurism, Practical Reasoning, and the Threshold Problem.” Brown, J. “Practical Reasoning, Decision Theory, and Anti-Intellectualism.” Brown, J. “Subject-Sensitive Invariantism and the Knowledge Norm for Practical Reasoning.” Fantl, J. and McGrath, M. “Evidence, Pragmatics, and Justification.” Hawthorne, J. Selections from Knowledge and Lotteries. Lackey, J. “Acting on Knowledge.” Stanley, J. Selections from Knowledge and Practical Interests.
Week 5 – Moral Encroachment
Required Reading Moss, S. ‘Moral Encroachment’ LINK
Strongly recommended reading Gardiner, G. ‘Evidentialism and Moral Encroachment’ LINK
Further reading Basu, R. ‘Can Beliefs Wrong?’ Basu, R. and Schroeder, M. ‘Doxastic Wronging’ Clifford, W. K. ‘The Ethics of Belief’ Mitova, V. ‘Why W. K. Clifford Was a Closet Pragmatist’ Pace, M. ‘The Epistemic Value of Moral Considerations...and James’s ‘Will to Believe’’
Week 6 – Authority vs. Freedom and Equality in Matters Doxastic
Required reading Zagzebski, L. Selections from Epistemic Authority LINK-1, LINK-2
Strongly recommended reading Zagzebski, L. Further selections from Epistemic Authority LINK-1, LINK-2, LINK-3
Further reading Arnold, D. Buddhists, Brahmins and Belief Buchanan, A. ‘Political Liberalism and Social Epistemology’ Kant, I. ‘What is Enlightenment?’ Foley, R. Intellectual Trust in Oneself and Others Fricker, E. ‘Testimony and epistemic autonomy’ Popkin, R. ‘The Intellectual Crisis of the Reformation’ Sanger, L. ‘Who Says We Know: On the New Politics of Knowledge’
Week 7 – Epistemic Injustice
Required Reading Fricker, M. Selections from Epistemic Injustice LINK
Strongly Recommended Reading Fricker, M. Further Selections from Epistemic Injustice LINK Optional Further Reading Anderson, E. “Epistemic Injustice as a Virtue of Social Institutions.” Dotson, K. "Conceptualizing Epistemic Oppression." Fricker, M. “Epistemic Oppression and Epistemic Privilege.” Gendler, T. “The Epistemic Costs of Implicit Bias.” Pohlhaus, G. “Relational Knowing and Epistemic Injustice.” Gougen, S. “Stereotype Threat, Epistemic Injustice, and Rationality.”
Week 8 – Ideology
Required Reading Shelby, Tommie. “Ideology, Racism, and Critical Social Theory.” LINK Stanley, Jason. Selection from How Propaganda Works. LINK
Strongly recommended reading Eagleton, T. ‘From Enlightenment to the Second International’ Kennedy, E. ‘Ideology’ from Destutt de Tracy to Marx’ Stanley, J. Selection from How Propaganda Works. LINK-1, LINK-2
Optional Further Reading Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.” LINK Elster, John. "Belief, Bias, and Ideology." LINK Geuss, Raymond. "Ideology." LINK Haslanger, Sally. “Racism, Ideology, and Social Movements.” LINK Haslanger, Sally. "Ideology Beyond Belief." LINK Lippmann, Walter. Selections from Public Opinion. LINK Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich. Selections from The German Ideology. LINK Rosen, Michael. "The Forms of False Consciousness." LINK Srinivasan, A. "Philosophy and Ideology." LINK Weeks 9 and 10 – Problems of the Post-Truth World
Required reading Fuller, S. Post-Truth: Knowledge as a Power Game, Selection. LINK Nguyen, C. T. 'Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles.' LINK Strongly recommended reading Fuller, S. Post-Truth: Knowledge as a Power Game, Further Selections. LINK-1, LINK-2
Further reading Ball, J. Post-Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World Cassam, Q. ‘Epistemic Insouciance’ Davis, E. Selection from Post-Truth: Why We Have Reached Peak Bullshit and What We Can Do about It Lyotard, J. F. The Postmodern Condition Mukerji, N. ‘What is Fake News?’ Rini, R. ‘Fake News and Partisan Epistemology’