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1、8Philosophy308AMERICANPHILOSOPHYSkidmoreCollegeProfessorWilliamLewisFall2010e-mail:wlewis@skidmore.eduTuesday&Thursday3:40-5:30PMLadd216,x5402,officehrs:M/W10-11:30AMCourseDescriptionInhis1837address,"TheAmericanScholar",RalphWaldoEmersonpassionatelyarguesthatAmericanthoughtshouldabandoni
2、tsrelianceonEuropeanphilosophyandthatitshouldreflecttheAmericanexperienceinitsdiversity,originality,andtotality.FollowingEmerson,manyotherAmericanPhilosophershavetakenuphischallengeandhavetriedtoconstructaphilosophythatbothimprovesuponEuropeanmodelsandreflectsAmerica'suniqueness.Necessari
3、ly,improvinguponEuropeanmodelshasmeantnotonlyengaginginacritiqueofthedominantstrainsofModernEuropeanphilosophy,rationalismandempiricism,butalsointheformulationofanewmethodorapproachtophilosophythatsolvessomeoftheirproblems.StartingwithEmersonandcontinuingwithC.S.Peirce,WilliamJamesandJohn
4、Dewey,thiscoursewillexamineahistoryofsuchattempts,theirmethods,andtheirconclusions.Specialfocuswillbegiventoissuesofmetaphysics,logic,mind,andepistemology.Asagroupandasindividuals,wewillalsocriticallyexaminecontemporarythinkerswhoseworkbuildsuponpragmaticinsightsandappliesthemtocontempora
5、ryproblemsinphilosophy,tootherdisciplines,andtolife.Illustration:Child'sfirstencounterwiththecandleflameleftandsecondencounterrightwhichentailsanactiveavoidanceofbeingburned(WilliamJames,PrinciplesofPsychology.NewYork:Holt,1890).8RequiredTextsDescartes,René.MeditationsonFirstPhilosophyDew
6、ey,John.ReconstructioninPhilosophyStuhr,JohnJ.(editor).PragmatismandClassicalAmericanPhilosophyCoursePacket[CP]OptionalTextMenand,Louis.TheMetaphysicalClubClassFormatandExpectationsRunasanadvancedseminar,thiscoursedemandsmuchstudentparticipationandindependentresearch.Itisimperativethatyou
7、bepreparedeachdaytodiscusstheassignedreadingsandtopresentyourresearch.Theclasswillconsistofdiscussionsthataimat:(a)gaininganunderstandingofthetextathand;and(b)applyingtheissues,ideasandconceptsthatthetextsraisetoproblemsandissuesbothcontemporaryandhistorical.Tothise
