Philosophy 348
Free Will
Fall 2003
Syllabus

I. Instructor

Richard Feldman
Lattimore 518
x58106
Office Hours: Mon. 3:30-4:30, Fri. 1:00-2:00
E-mail: feldman@philosophy.rochester.edu

II. Course Description

This course will cover classical and recent philosophical literature on free will and related issues. It is an advanced course open only to students with background in philosophy. Assignments, notes, and other information about the course will be posted on the course web page: http://www.ling.rochester.edu/~feldman/philosophy348/index.html

III. Texts

Free Will, edited by Derk Pereboom
Free Will (2^nd edition), edited by Gary Watson

IV. Requirements

1) Participation in class discussions: This class is a seminar in which students are expected to participate actively. This can be done effectively only by students who have done the assigned reading.

2) Homework Assignments: Most weeks during the semester an assignment about the readings for the following week will be made. Ten such assignments will be made. Each student will be required to do only eight. The assignment will require formulating clearly some claim or argument in the reading, clarifying some objection, or responding to some point. We'll often uses responses to these assignments as the basis for class discussions. Typically, the written assignments will require writing no more than one or two pages. Two of the assignments will be slightly longer.

3) Final paper: A final paper will be due shortly after the last class meeting. It is expected, but not required, that the final paper will be based on one of the homework assignments.

V. Schedule (Very Tentative)

Listed below are some of the topics we will discuss and the readings relevant to them. Readings are listed by the book P (Pereboom) or W (Watson) and the article number. A few articles are reprinted in both books. The listing for the Watson book is in parentheses following the listing for the Pereboom book.