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- The Ethics of Belief
- Epistemology
- Moral Philosophy
- Reasons, Rationality, and Ethics
- The Ethics of Belief
- Introduction to Epistemology
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THE ETHICS OF BELIEF
SPRING 2019
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.
Required readings are available for registered
students on this password-protected page.
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'
Marusic, B. 'The Ethics of Belief'
McCormick, M. 'Ethics of Belief'
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’
Shah, N. ‘A New Argument for Evidentialism’
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’
Optional further reading
Buchak, L. ‘Can It Be Rational to Have Faith?’
Kornblith, H. ‘The Role of Reasons in Epistemology’
Plantinga, A. ‘Reason and Belief in God’
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.”
Strongly Recommended Reading
Stanley, J. and Hawthorne, J. “Knowledge and Action.”
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’
Strongly recommended reading
Gardiner, G. ‘Evidentialism and Moral Encroachment’
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
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.
Strongly Recommended Reading
Fricker, M. Further Selections from Epistemic Injustice.
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.”
Stanley, Jason. Selection from How Propaganda Works
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
Optional Further Reading
Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.”
Elster, John. "Belief, Bias, and Ideology."
Geuss, Raymond. "Ideology."
Haslanger, Sally. “Racism, Ideology, and Social Movements.”
Haslanger, Sally. "Ideology Beyond Belief."
Lippmann, Walter. Selections from Public Opinion.
Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich. Selections from The German Ideology.
Rosen, Michael. "The Forms of False Consciousness."
Srinivasan, A. "Philosophy and Ideology."
Week 9 – Problems of the Post-Truth World, Part 1: Bullshit
Required reading
Cassam, Q. ‘Epistemic Insouciance’
Davis, E. Selection from Post-Truth: Why We Have Reached
Peak Bullshit and What We Can Do about It
Strongly recommended reading
Frankfurt, H. On Bullshit.
Cohen, G. A. ‘Deeper into Bullshit’
Further reading
Ball, J. Post-Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World
Carson, T. ‘Frankfurt and Cohen on Bullshit, Bullshitting, Deception,
Lying, and Concern with the Truth of What One Says’
Mukerji, N. ‘What is Fake News?’
Rini, R. ‘Fake News and Partisan Epistemology’
Stanley, J. Selection from How Fascism Works.
Sunstein, C. and Vermeule, A. ‘Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures’
Week 10 – Problems of the Post-Truth World, Part 2: The Commodification of Truth
Required
Lyotard, J. F. Excerpt from The Postmodern Condition’
Fuller, S. ‘On Commodification and the Progress of Knowledge in Society’
Recommended
Roberts, P. ‘Re-Reading Lyotard: Knowledge, Commodification, and Higher Education’
Fuller, S. Post-Truth: Knowledge as a Power Game
Further Reading
Brown, R. Selections from Everything for Sale? The Marketisation of UK Higher Education
Burton-Jones, A. Knowledge Capitalism
Jessop, B. ‘On Academic Capitalism’
Giroux, H. Neoliberalism’s War on Higher Education
Horkheimer, M. and Adorno, T. Selections from Dialectic of Enlightenment
Lawson, S., Sanders, K. and Smith, L. ‘Commodification of the Information Profession’
Nussbaum, M. Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs Higher Education
Rotta, T. and Teixeira, T. ‘The Commodification of Knowledge and Information’
Stiglitz, J. ‘Knowledge as a Global Public Good’
SPRING 2019
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.
Required readings are available for registered
students on this password-protected page.
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'
Marusic, B. 'The Ethics of Belief'
McCormick, M. 'Ethics of Belief'
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’
Shah, N. ‘A New Argument for Evidentialism’
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’
Optional further reading
Buchak, L. ‘Can It Be Rational to Have Faith?’
Kornblith, H. ‘The Role of Reasons in Epistemology’
Plantinga, A. ‘Reason and Belief in God’
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.”
Strongly Recommended Reading
Stanley, J. and Hawthorne, J. “Knowledge and Action.”
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’
Strongly recommended reading
Gardiner, G. ‘Evidentialism and Moral Encroachment’
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
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.
Strongly Recommended Reading
Fricker, M. Further Selections from Epistemic Injustice.
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.”
Stanley, Jason. Selection from How Propaganda Works
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
Optional Further Reading
Althusser, Louis. “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.”
Elster, John. "Belief, Bias, and Ideology."
Geuss, Raymond. "Ideology."
Haslanger, Sally. “Racism, Ideology, and Social Movements.”
Haslanger, Sally. "Ideology Beyond Belief."
Lippmann, Walter. Selections from Public Opinion.
Marx, Karl and Engels, Friedrich. Selections from The German Ideology.
Rosen, Michael. "The Forms of False Consciousness."
Srinivasan, A. "Philosophy and Ideology."
Week 9 – Problems of the Post-Truth World, Part 1: Bullshit
Required reading
Cassam, Q. ‘Epistemic Insouciance’
Davis, E. Selection from Post-Truth: Why We Have Reached
Peak Bullshit and What We Can Do about It
Strongly recommended reading
Frankfurt, H. On Bullshit.
Cohen, G. A. ‘Deeper into Bullshit’
Further reading
Ball, J. Post-Truth: How Bullshit Conquered the World
Carson, T. ‘Frankfurt and Cohen on Bullshit, Bullshitting, Deception,
Lying, and Concern with the Truth of What One Says’
Mukerji, N. ‘What is Fake News?’
Rini, R. ‘Fake News and Partisan Epistemology’
Stanley, J. Selection from How Fascism Works.
Sunstein, C. and Vermeule, A. ‘Conspiracy Theories: Causes and Cures’
Week 10 – Problems of the Post-Truth World, Part 2: The Commodification of Truth
Required
Lyotard, J. F. Excerpt from The Postmodern Condition’
Fuller, S. ‘On Commodification and the Progress of Knowledge in Society’
Recommended
Roberts, P. ‘Re-Reading Lyotard: Knowledge, Commodification, and Higher Education’
Fuller, S. Post-Truth: Knowledge as a Power Game
Further Reading
Brown, R. Selections from Everything for Sale? The Marketisation of UK Higher Education
Burton-Jones, A. Knowledge Capitalism
Jessop, B. ‘On Academic Capitalism’
Giroux, H. Neoliberalism’s War on Higher Education
Horkheimer, M. and Adorno, T. Selections from Dialectic of Enlightenment
Lawson, S., Sanders, K. and Smith, L. ‘Commodification of the Information Profession’
Nussbaum, M. Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs Higher Education
Rotta, T. and Teixeira, T. ‘The Commodification of Knowledge and Information’
Stiglitz, J. ‘Knowledge as a Global Public Good’