Philosophy 2503: History of American Philosophy
Oklahoma Baptist University
Spring 2010
Assignment 1 (Due 3/11): Explain the positions of Edwards and Peirce on determinism. How do their views on determinism influence their other philosophical ideas?
Assignment 2 (Due April 1): Explain the differences between James and Peirce with respect to the concept of truth. Be sure to explain Royce’s criticism of James’ conception of truth.
Schedule
All assignments and readings must be completed before the class period on the day they are listed. Unless stated otherwise, bring the completed assignments to class.
George Santayana
4/1
“Skepticism”
“Essence”
Josiah Royce
3/11
“The Temporal and the Eternal”
“The Body and the Members”
William James
3/4
“What Pragmatism Means”
“The Dilemma of Determinism”
Charles Sanders Peirce
2/23
“How to Make our Ideas Clear”
“The Doctrine of Necessity Examined”
2/18
“The Fixation of Belief”
“How to Make Our Ideas Clear”
2/16
“Some Consequences of Four Incapacities”
“The Fixation of Belief”
Jonathan Edwards
2/11
Beauty of the World (Located here if you don’t have the reader.)
The Nature of True Virtue (The entire work is located here. Our reader has excerpts from Chapters 1, 2, and 4.)
2/9
A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections
“A Divine and Supernatural Light”
The Nature of True Virtue 622-623 (Save the passage in the text for Thursday)
Miscellanies 626 and 628
2/4
The Mind 34, 61 (in text), other passages online
Of Being
Original Sin. This is from the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University. Read pages 397-407.
1/27
Freedom of the Will