Course materials 2015/16
Lecture 8_slidesNew Reading List Software – Talis Aspire
The Philosophy department is trialling the use of a new reading list software for 15/16. While we aim to make sure this list is up to date, it is a transitional year, and so the traditional static reading list on these pages may be more accurate. However, the reading list is also available at: http://readinglists.warwick.ac.uk/modules/ph132.html
Term 2
Course outline (includes reading list)
LECTURE 1: What do we mean by the term ‘freedom’?; the value of freedom; does political freedom require the existence of free will?
Lecture 1 reading material_Machiavelli
LECTURE 2: Hobbes on freedom
Lecture 2_reading material_Hobbes
LECTURE 3: Rousseau on natural freedom; the relation between freedom and independence
Lecture 3_reading material_Rousseau
LECTURE 4: Rousseau on political freedom
Lecture 4_reading material_Rousseau
LECTURE 5: Kant on moral autonomy
Lecture 5 reading material Kant
LECTURE 6: Mill on liberty and the limits of state interference
Lecture 6 reading material Mill
LECTURE 7: Marx on alienation and proletarian freedom
Lecture_7_reading material_Marx
LECTURE 8: Berlin's distinction between negative and positive freedom
Lecture_8_reading material_Berlin
LECTURE 9: Republican freedom
Lecture 9_ reading material_Pettit
Essay Questions (Term 2)
(1) Critically assess Hobbes's claim that freedom consists in nothing more than the absence of physical or legal constraints.
(2) Does Rousseau's social contract successfully explain how human beings can remain free even when they have given up their natural freedom?
(3) Is Kant right to argue that the idea of moral autonomy demands thinking that we enjoy free will?
(4) Does Mill's distinction between actions that harm only oneself and actions that harm others provide a sufficient basis for determining what may or may not count as a legitimate constraint on freedom?
(5) Does Marx demonstrate that alienation and domination in capitalist society serve to make individuals unfree?
(6) Is Berlin right to argue that the 'negative' concept of freedom is the only genuine concept of freedom?
Essay Questions
1. What is Hobbes’ argument against Bramhall’s account of human freedom? Is it compelling?
2. If we assume that freedom is incompatible with determinism, should we give up freedom or should we give up determinism?
3. What is the Consequence Argument for the incompatibility of freedom and determinism? How should we respond to the argument?
4. If you perform an action, have a desire to perform the action, and have a further desire to have this desire, is this enough for you to be morally responsible for performing the action?
5. Can you be morally responsible for an action if you are unaware of some of the factors that influenced you towards performing the action?
6. Can a person with racist beliefs be held morally responsible for holding these views?
Term 1
USEFUL INTRODUCTORY TEXTS
Tom Pink (2004) Free Will: A very short introduction. Oxford Paperbacks.
Useful general collections:
Gary Watson (ed.) (1982) Free Will. Oxford Readings in Philosophy. Oxford: OUP.
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Week 1-2 / Lecture 1-3: HOBBES AND BRAMHALL
Readings:
Hobbes and Bramhall on Liberty and Necessity, Chappell ed., 1999, pp.1-43 , Chappell ed., 1999, pp.1-43
Pink, 'SUAREZ, HOBBES AND THE SCHOLASTIC TRADITION IN ACTION THEORY'
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Week 2 / Lecture 4-: FREEDOM AND DETERMINISM
Readings:
D. Hume, Selections from A Treatise of Human Nature.
Norton, J. (2003) 'Causation as Folk Science', Philosophers Imprint.
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Week 3 / Lecture 5-6-: FREEDOM AND DETERMINISM
Readings:
D. Lewis (1981) 'Are we free to break the laws?', Theoria.
H. Frankfurt (1969) 'Alternate possibilities and moral responsibility', Journal of Philosophy.
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Week 4 -: FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY
Harry Frankfurt (1971) "Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person".
Galen Strawson (1994) "The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility".
Week 4 script
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Week 5 -: PSYCHOLOGICAL LIMITATIONS OF FREEDOM
Week 7 -: FREEDOM TO BELIEVE
Thomas J. Cook (1987) "Deciding to Believe Without Self-Deception".
Pascal Engel (2009) "Epistemic responsibility without epistemic agency".
Week 8 - Art and creativity
Plato, Ion
R. G. Collingwood, excerpts from The Principle of Art
Week 8 slides
Recommended: Christopher Janaway on Ion
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Week 9 - Art and freedom
Friedrich Schiller, excerpts from On the Aesthetic Education of Man
Noel Carroll, 'Art, Creativity, and Tradition'
Grace Paley, 'A Conversation with My Father'
Week 9 slides
Recommended: Patrick Gardiner essay on Schiller
Weeks 8 and 9 essay questions:
1. Explain Collingwood's conceptions of art and craft. Is the making of art more or less free than the making of craft?
2. Argue for or against the following claim: the model of inspiration in Plato's Ion leaves no room for creative freedom.
3. For Schiller, what is the significance for humans of aesthetic play?
4. How do tradition and artistic creativity interact?
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Week 10 - Is 'conscious will' an illusion?
Daniel M. Wegner (2004). Précis of The illusion of conscious will. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27, pp 649-659 doi:10.1017/S0140525X04000159
Eddy Nahmias (2002). When consciousness matters: A critical review of Daniel Wegner's The illusion of conscious will. Philosophical Psychology 15, pp 527-541
Al Mele (2011). Free Will and Neuroscience: Revisiting Libet's Experiments. Youtube video