Schedule

Learning Modules

  • Module One: Bacon and Descartes on the Method of Science
  • Module Two: Descartes’s Meditations
  • Module Three: John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding Module Four: David
  • Hume’s Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Weekly Schedule

Week 1: Introduction 

Activities:
Aug 23: Students receive welcome announcement with instructions to start the course.
Aug 25: First Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM
Read: Campos, The Rise of Science (password-protected PDF)

Work due:
Aug 29: Discussion board deadline to write personal introduction and reply to at least two mates.

Preparation for next week:
Watch: Greg Ganssle, Argument and Evidence

Watch: 60Second Philosophy, The New Organon Overview

Read: Bacon, Aphorisms Book I: 1-77 from New Organon

Week 2: Bacon’s New Method of Science

Activities:
Sept 1: Zoom class meeting at 11:00 AM – Introduction and Bacon’s New Organon
Read: Campos, Bacon and the New Method of Induction (password-protected PDF)

Work due:
Sept 5: Discussion board deadline

Preparation for next week:
Watch: School of Life, René Descartes

Read: Descartes, Discourse on Method

[Week of September 6: No class due to holidays]

Since there is such a long gap before we continue, I recommend that you read ahead Descartes’s Meditations on First Philosophy.

Week 3: Descartes’s Discourse on Method

Activities:
Sept 13: Zoom class meeting at 11 AM to discuss Descartes, Discourse on Method
Read: Campos, Descartes’s Discourse on Method (password-protected PDF)
Begin work on Short Essay 1, on the method of science

Preparation for next week:
Watch: Stephan Schmid, Descartes’ Cogito Argument

Read: Descartes’s Preliminaries (Preface and Synopsis) to the Meditations
Read: Descartes’s Meditations 1-2

Week 4: Descartes’s Meditations 1-2

Activities:
Watch: Shanti Chu, Meditation 1 and Meditation 2

Watch: Stephan Schmid, Descartes’ Cogito Argument (again)

Watch these videos critically, comparing your own reading of Descartes’s Discourse on Method and Meditations with the explanations and interpretations provided in the videos.

Sept 22: Zoom class meeting to discuss Descartes’s Meditations 1-2
Read: Campos, Descartes’s Meditations 1-2 (password-protected PDF)

Work due:
Sept 26: Essay 1 on the method of science

Preparation for next week:
Watch: Shanti Chu, Meditation 3

Read: Descartes’s Meditation 3

Week 5: Descartes’s Meditation 3

Activities:
Sept 29: Zoom class meeting to discuss Descartes’s Meditation 3
Read: Campos, Descartes’s Meditations 3 (password-protected PDF)

Work due:
Oct 3: Discussion board deadline

Preparation for next week:
Watch: Christopher Anadale, Descartes’s Meditation 4

Read: Descartes’s Meditations 4-6

Week 6: Descartes’s Meditations 4-6

Activities:
Oct 6: Zoom class meeting to discuss Descartes’s Meditations 4-6
Prof. Campos – Modern Philosophy Fall 2021 Course Schedule
Read: Campos, Descartes’s Meditations 4-5 (password-protected PDF)
Read: Campos, Descartes’s Meditation 6 (password-protected PDF)

Work due:
Oct 10: Discussion board deadline

Preparation for next week:
Read: Leibniz, “Meditations on Knowledge, Truth, and Ideas”
Start working on short essay 2

Week 7: Leibniz’s Meditations

Activities:
Oct 13: Zoom class meeting to discuss Leibniz’s Meditations
Work on short essay 2

Preparation for next week:
Re-read: Leibniz, “Meditations on Knowledge, Truth, and Ideas”

Week 8: Leibniz’s Meditations (continued)

Activities:
Oct 20: Zoom class meeting to discuss Leibniz, “Meditations”

Work due:
Oct 24: Short Essay 2

Preparation for next week:
Read: Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Books I and II

Week 9: John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Activities:
Oct 27: Zoom class meeting to discuss Locke’s Essay, Books I and II

Preparation for next week:
Read: Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book IV

Week 10: Locke’s Essay IV

Activities:
Nov 3: Zoom class meeting to discuss Locke’s Essay, Book IV

Work due:
Nov 7: Discussion board post

Preparation for next week:
Read: Leibniz, “Preface” to New Essays Concerning Human Understanding

Week 11: Leibniz’s New Essays

Activities:
Nov 10: Zoom class meeting to discuss Leibniz, “Preface”
Work on short essay 3

Preparation for next week:
Watch: Hidden Figuras, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Watch: SiennaL, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Read: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, “Reply to Sor Philothea” (password-protected PDF)

Week 12: Women, Feminism, and Learning

Activities:
Nov 17: Zoom class meeting to discuss Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, “Reply to Sor Philothea”

Work due:
Nov 21: Discussion board post on Sor Juana’s “Reply”

Preparation for next week:
Finish short essay 3
Watch: School of Life, David Hume

Read: David Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, § 1-3

Week 13: David Hume’s Enquiry § 1-3

Activities:
Nov 24: Zoom class meeting discuss Hume’s Enquiry, § 1-3

Work due:
Nov 28: Short essay 3

Preparation for next week:
Watch: Daniel Greco, Hume’s Skepticism 1

Watch: Daniel Greco, Hume’s Skepticism 2

Read: David Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, § 4-5

Week 14: David Hume’s Skepticism

Activities:
Watch: Daniel Greco, Hume’s Skepticism 1

Watch: Daniel Greco, Hume’s Skepticism 2

Dec 1: Zoom class meeting to discuss Hume’s Enquiry § 4-5

Preparation for next week:
Read: David Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, § 6 and §10

Week 15: Hume on Probability, Beliefs, and Evidence

Activities:
Dec 8: Zoom class meeting to discuss Hume’s Enquiry, § 6 and §10

Work due:
Dec 12: Discussion board post on “predictive coding”

Preparation for next week:
Work on final discussion board post on Hume’s evidentialism

Week 16: Concluding your work

Activities:
Professor Campos available for individual meetings with prior scheduling if you need help with your final assignment.

Work due:
December 17: Discussion board post on Hume’s evidentialism.