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Philosophy 3020 Epistemology Room: 241 Himes Time: 1:40-3:00; T, Th Exam time: Monday, May 8, 5:30-7:30 PM   Instructor: Jon Cogburn Instructor's Office: 312 Coates Instructor's Office Hours: F 2:30-4:30 Instructor's e-mail: joncogburn@yahoo.com   Course's Purpose:   The purpose of this course is to familiarize the student with those key issues in epistemology which (in the instructor's opinion) should be a part of every philosopher's cultural baggage, as well as to provide the student with the tools to continue her own research.   Reading:   All of the course readings are from the following sources. Stephen Cade Hetherington, Knowledge Puzzles: An Introduction to Epistemology (Westview, 1996). Paul K. Moser and Arnold vander Nat, Human Knowledge: Classical and Contemporary Approaches: Third Edition (Oxford University Press, 2003).   Requirements:   The final grade is a function of a take-home midterm exam (40%), and a take-home final exam (60%). Excellent class participation will result in possible bonus of up to 10%.   Take-home exams are not collaborative! Any pooling of cognitive resources, even to the extent of discussing the content of the exams with one another will be considered academic dishonesty. (The instructor realizes this is draconian, but any other policy results in an unfortunate sorites series.)   All papers must fulfill a number of formatting requirements:  (1) They must have one inch margins, (2) they must be typed in 12 point Times or 12 point Times-Roman font, (3) page numbers must be centered at the bottom of the page, (4) papers must be double spaced (with the exception of lengthy passages (longer than two lines worth) of cited material which is one and a half spaced and indented on both sides), (5) papers must be printed out with either an ink jet or laser printer, (6) papers must be stapled together (do not use binders or folders of any sort), and (7) student's name, the date, and the time her course meets must be at the top right hand corner of the first page.  No deviation from these requirements are accepted. The instructor would vastly prefer papers to be justified on both right and left sides. However if you are using a printer in one of the LSU computer labs, such justification sometimes results in spaces between letters. If this is the case, justify left side.   Office Hour Policy:   Students are strongly recommended to make use of the instructor's office hours throughout the semester.    Tentative Schedule:   Note:  This schedule is only tentative.  Any changes will be announced in class, and then updated here on the site.   Week 1 Tuesday, Jan. 17  introduction   Thursday, Jan. 19 KP ch. 1, introducing epistemology. KP ch. 2, truth.   Week 2 Tuesday, Jan. 24 KP ch. 3, belief. KP ch. 4, justification.   Thursday, Jan. 26 KP ch. 5, the gettier problem. HK essay 20, Edmund Gettier, "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge."   Week 3 Tuesday, Jan. 31 HK essay 21, Richard Feldman, "An Alleged Defect in Gettier Counter-Examples." HK essay 22, John Pollock, "The Gettier Problem."   Thursday, Feb. 2 KP ch. 6, surface reliability. KP ch. 7, underlying reliability.   Week 4 Tuesday, Feb. 7 KP ch. 8, causality. Thursday, Feb. 9 KP ch. 9, defeasibility. KP ch. 10, social defeasiblity.   Week 5 Tuesday, Feb. 14 KP ch. 11, false evidence. KP ch. 12, induction.   Thursday, Feb. 16 KP ch. 13, a priori knowledge.   Week 6 Tuesday, Feb. 21 HK essay 23, Clarence Irving Lewis, "A Pragmatic Conception of the A Priori." HK essay 24, Roderick Chisholm, "The Truths of Reason."   Thursday, Feb. 23 HK essay 25, Saul A. Kripke, "A Priori Knowledge, Necessity, and Contingency."   Week 7 Tuesday, Feb. 27 Mardis Gras Holiday--No class Thursday, Mar. 2 KP ch. 14, externalism. KP ch. 15, internalism.   Week 8 march 6-11: midsemester exams period Tuesday, Mar. 7  KP ch. 16, vagueness.   Thursday, Mar. 9 KP ch. 17, fallibilisim.   Week 9 Tuesday, Mar. 14 march 14: mid-semester grades due at noon   Thursday, Mar. 17 KP ch. 18, infallibility skepticism. KP ch. 19, external world skepticism.   Week 10 Tuesday, March 21 Instructor Presenting at University of Central Oklahoma--No class Thursday, March 23 Instructor Presenting at University of Central Oklahoma--No class Week 11 Tuesday, March 28  KP ch. 20, inductive skepticism. KP ch. 21, rule skepticism.   Thursday, March 30 KP ch. 22, regress skepticism. HK essay 33, P.F. Strawson, "Skepticism, Naturalism, and Transcendental Arguments."   Week 12 Tuesday, Apr. 4 HK essay 34, Ernest Sosa, "Philosophical Scepticism and Epistemic Circularity." HK essay 35, Barry Stroud, "Scepticism, 'Externalism', and the Goal of Epistemology."   Thursday, Apr. 6 HK essay 26, William P. Alston, "Concepts of Epistemic Justification."   Week 13   Tuesday, Apr. 11 Spring Break--No class   Thursday, Apr. 13 Spring Break--No class   Week 14 Tuesday, Apr. 18 KP ch. 23, foundationalism. KP ch. 25, coherentism. Thursday, Apr. 20  HK essay 27, Ernest Sosa, "The Raft and the Pyramid: Cohernece versus Foundations in the Thoery of Knowledge."   Week 15 Tuesday, Apr. 25 KP ch. 24, contextualism. HK essay 28, David B. Amis, "A Contextualist Theory of Epistemic Justification."   Thursday, Apr. 27 Instructor Presenting at Central Division APA--No class   Week 16 Tuesday, May 2 HK essay 29, Richard Feldman and Earl Conee, "Evidentialism."   Thursday, May 4 KP ch. 26, pyrrhonian skepticism. KP ch. 27, questioning epistemology. HK essay 30, Stephen Stich, "Reflective Equilibrium, Analytic Epistemology, and the Problem of Cognitive Diversity."   Week 17--Final Exam Period Monday, May 8, 5:30-7:30 PM Tuesday, May 9 Wednesday, May 10 Thursday, May 11 Friday, May 12 Saturday, May 13