Contemporary

Fall 2006

Professor Martinez-Saenz

Office: Hollenbeck 301

Phone: 937 327 7847

Web page: http://userpages.wittenberg.edu/mmartinezsaenz/

e-mail: mmartinezsaenz@wittenberg.edu

Required Texts:

David Edmonds and John Eidinow Wittegenstein’s Poker

Dewey Reconstruction in Philosophy

Lytotard The Postmodern Condition

Pateman Sexual Contract

Mills Racial Contract

West American Evasion of Philosophy

Rawls Justice as Fairness

8/21 Introduction

8/23 “The Historiography of Philosophy: Four Genres” Richard Rorty

8/25 Rorty continued

American Evasion of Philosophy Cornel West (Book Review due October 20, 2006)

8/28 “The Value of Philosophy” Russell E-Reserve

8/30 Ludwig Wittgenstein Selections on E-Reserve

9/1 Wittgenstein continued

(Compare to Kant’s Prolegomena and Groundwork Section 1)

9/4 NO CLASS

9/6 Wittgenstein’s Poker

9/8 Wittgenstein’s Poker

9/11 “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” Willard Van Orman Quine

http://www.ditext.com/quine/quine.htm

9/13 “Ontological Relativity” Quine E-Reserve

9/15 Review

9/18 “Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology: What Is Strong Objectivity?” Sandra Harding in Feminist Epistemologies, Alcoff, Linda (ed) E-Reserve

9/20 “Solidarity and Objectivity” Richard Rorty E-Reserve

9/22 NO CLASS

9/25 “On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme” Davidson E-Reserve

9/27 “Truth and Convention: On Davidson’s Refutation of Conceptual Relativism” Hilary W. Putnam in Relativism: interpretation and confrontation E-Reserve

9/29 Review: Recommended Reading “Is Truth a Goal of Inquiry? Donald Davidson versus Crispin Wright” Richard Rorty

E-Reserve

10/2 “Changing Conceptions of Philosophy” John Dewey in Reconstruction in Philosophy

10/4 “Changed Conception of Experience and Reason” Dewey AND

“The Significance of Logical Reconstruction” Dewey

10/6 NO CLASS

10/9 “Reconstruction in Moral Conceptions” Dewey

10/11 “Reconstruction as affecting Social Philosophy” Dewey

10/ 13 NO CLASS

10/16 FALL BREAK

10/18 No class

10/20 West BOOK REVIEW DUE

10/23 “Chapter 1-7” Lyotard in The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge

10/ 25 “Chapter 8-14” Lyotard

10/27 “Appendix: Answering the Question: What is Postmodernism” Lytotard

10/30 “Truth and Power” Michel Foucault E-Reserve

11/1 Foucault continued

11/3 No class

11/6 “Philosophy and the colonial difference” Mignolo E-Reserve

11/8 “Continental Philosophy and Postcolonial Subjects” Schutte E-Reserve

11/10 No class

11/13 “Why has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Mattes of Concern”Bruno Latour Critical Inquiry, Winter2004, Vol. 30 Issue 2

http://www6.wittenberg.edu/lib/research/ejournals/

11/15 Latour continued

11/17 “Social Criticism without philosophy: an encounter between feminism and postmodernism” Nancy Fraser and Linda Nicholson E-Reserve

11/20 NO CLASS

11/22 NO CLASS

11/27 Rawls Justice as Fairness pp. TBA

11/29 Rawls continued

12/1 Rawls continued

12/6 Pateman Sexual Contract

12/8 Mills Racial Contract

Course Requirements:

Book Review 40 %: You will be expected to write two critical book reviews. Keep in mind the reviews are not supposed to be a synopsis of the text. You are expected to write a critical essay.

All book reviews should make reference to the themes of the course.

Book Review # 1 due October 20, 2006 in class.

American Evasion of Philosophy West

Book Review # 2 due December 6, 2006 in class.

Pateman Sexual Contract OR Mills Racial Contract

Quizzes and Participation 25 % I will post two questions a week. Each student will be responsible for responding to each question. Grades will be assigned in two ways. First, I will evaluate the quality of your initial responses to our questions. Second, I will evaluate how well you are able to engage critically with the responses of your peers. I will post both questions by Friday evening. Question #1 is due Monday in class and Question # 2 is due Wednesday in class. Your answer should be approximately 1 double-spaced typed page.

*If you are absent for more than 8 classes you will receive an “F” for the course.

Participation Breakdown:

Participated in Class Discussions
Showed interest; Listened attentively
Added quality comments to the class
Came to class having done the reading
Thought about and discussed the ideas and issues outside the classroom
Went Beyond the required assignments

Please see guidelines for class discussion at

http://userpages.wittenberg.edu/mmartinezsaenz/index.html

Final Exam 35%: A take-home final will be given and it will be due on December 14, 2006. I will explain the format of the final exam during the first class session.