Philosophy 680B, Winter, 2006

Rationality

 

Professor: Paul Thagard

Office hours (HH368): Monday, 1-2; Friday, 1:30-2:30; and by appointment.

Email: pthagard@uwaterloo.ca. Phone: extension 3594.

Web page: http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/courses/phil680b.html

Time: Tuesdays, 1:00-3:30, HH 334.

Textbook: A. Mele and P. Rawling, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Rationality.

Assignments: Marks will be based on:.

A final mark for both 680A and 680B will be assigned in April, 2006.

There will be extensive discussion: students should do the assigned readings before the relevant class. This term there will be four presentations by faculty, and four weeks of presentations by students.

Description: This course is concerned with fundamental questions concerning the nature of reason, including theoretical rationality (what to believe) and practical rationality (what to do). The purpose of the course is not only to investigate an important philosophical problem, but also to help students acquire professional skills such as planning projects, making presentations, and developing a research program.

Schedule for Winter, 2006:

 Week  Dates  Topics Readings.
 1 Jan. 3 Organization  
 2 Jan. 10 Economics Mele, chs. 20, 22
 3 Jan. 17 Law Mele, ch. 21
 4 Jan. 24 Faculty DeVidi
 5 Jan. 31 Faculty Orend
 6 Feb. 7 Faculty Thagard
 7 Feb. 14 Faculty Novack
 8 Feb. 28 Students  
 9 Mar. 7 Students  
 10 Mar. 14 Students  
 11 Mar. 21 Students  
 12 Mar. 28 Wrapup  

 

Useful Web sites

Reason and rationality

Why be rational?

Does rationality give us reasons?

Weeks

Week 1: Planning.

Week 2: Economics and Evolution.

Week 3: Law

Reading for week 5: Orend on human rights.

From the Faculty of Arts:

All students registered in the courses of the Faculty of Arts are expected to know what constitutes an academic offense, to avoid committing academic offenses, and to take responsibility for their academic actions.  When the commission of an offense is established, disciplinary penalties will be imposed in accord with Policy #71 (Student Academic Discipline).  For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students are directed to consult the summary of Policy #71 (Student Academic Discipline) which is supplied in the Undergraduate Calendar (p.1:11).  If you need help in learning how to avoid offenses such as plagiarism, cheating, and double submission, or if you need clarification of aspects of the discipline policy, ask your course instructor for guidance.  Other resources regarding the discipline policy are your academic advisor and the Undergraduate Associate Dean.


Computational Epistemology Laboratory.

Paul Thagard

This page updated Jan. 23, 2006.