Syllabus

Reading Schedule

Handouts & Assignments

Study Questions

Paper Topics

Final Exam Study Guide

Internet Links

Here is a brief synopsis of the highlights from the syllabus, but don't take this as a substitute for the entire document, which you will have downloaded. Follow the link to the left for the schedule of readings and assignments.

Instructor Information
Prof. Andrew P. Mills
Office: Towers 323
Office Phone: 823-1368
Winter Quarter Office Hours: M, W, F 1-2 and by appointment.
E-mail: amills@otterbein.edu

Texts
There is one textbook for this class:

Roger Ariew and Eric Watkins (eds), Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources

If you are registered for Philosophy 310, there is an additional required text:

Anthony Savile, Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Leibniz and the Monadology

Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy

Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Hume's Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Berkeley's Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge

Berkeley's Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous

Course Requirements
This is a text-based course, and it is imperative that you do the assigned reading (preferably twice) before coming to class each day.  If you don't do the reading, you will not learn the material, and you will find the lectures much more difficult to follow.  I have provided a number of study questions to help you focus your reading on the important themes.  If I see that students are not doing the reading, I may start having pop reading quizzes.

Because we will be reading these texts very closely, it is imperative that you bring your books to class each day.  There may be times where I ask you to read from the text, or to gather in groups to examine a bit of text, and you need to have your book with you to do this.

The second imperative is that you have an email account, and regular, reliable access to the internet.  Email is the best and quickest way I know of to communicate with all of you, and for you all to communicate with each other.  I will post handouts and assignments and new study questions to the course website, and you should get in the habit of checking it daily.  If you do not have an email account, visit the Information Technology department, and get set up.  It is easy to do, and it is free.

Here's a breakdown of the graded work for the course.  Consult the full version of the syllabus for a complete description of these portions of the course grade.
 

Friday Meetings
On most Fridays during the quarter, the class will split up into two groups: those registered for Phil 210 and those registered for Phil 310.  One of the groups will meet with me in class and the other group will be expected to be working on class topics, studying, reviewing the readings, etc. on their own.  Which Fridays your group needs to be in class is indicated on the Reading Schedule.  In the Phil 310 group we will be dealing in-depth with Leibniz' philosophy as deveoped in his Monadology.  In the Phil 210 group we will pursue in greater depth some of the questions regarding human nature that arise in our discussion of this philosophical period.  Students are, of course, free to come to the other groups' meetings if they want. (That is, students enrolled in Phil 210 can get the extra Leibniz book and come to the Phil 310 meetings. This does not, however, excuse them from attending the Phil 210 meetings.  And similarly for the Phil 310 students.)

There is much more important information on the complete syllabus.  Please download it now, if you haven't already done so!!!!