Philosophy 412 - Advanced Topics in Epistemology

Institution:

Reed College

Subject:

Description:

Analyticity and the A Priori Full course for one semester. Most contemporary work in epistemology has focused on empirical or a posteriori knowledge and the nature of the warrants we need in order to possess it. Traditionally, however, it has been assumed that we can also possess nonempirical or a priori knowledge and warrants. This claim came under intense critical scrutiny in the 20th century with challenges regarding the nature, the scope, and even the possibility of such knowledge. Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in and sympathy for the possibility of a priori knowledge. In this course, we will explore some of the more central moments in this debate, paying particular attention to strategies for explicating and defending the possibility of a priori knowledge by appeal to the notion of analyticity. We will focus on debates about how to draw the distinction both between the a priori and the a posteriori and between the analytic and synthetic-and whether there are ultimately any coherent distinctions to be drawn. We will consider various naturalistic worries about how we could ever learn anything a priori as well as various rationalist arguments that purport to show that appeal to a priori knowledge is unavoidable. Prerequisites: Philosophy 311, or consent of the instructor. Conference. Computation for Philosophers Full course for one semester. A selective survey of computational results and methods that play an increasingly important new epistemological role in philosophical argumentation. Topics covered include: Turing machines, Chomsky hierarchy, run time complexity, Shelling's model, cellular automata, the Game of Life, Tierra, Packard's bugs, and DPD protocells, among others. Prerequisites: Two 300-level philosophy courses, or consent of the instructor. Conference.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.reed.edu

Phone Number:

(503) 771-1112

Regional Accreditation:

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

Calendar System:

Semester

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