I taught this course at Monash University between 2013 and 2016 in both live and online formats. It was designed to provide students with a rigorous yet accessible introduction to issues in metaphysics, logic, philosophy of mind, personal identity, and epistemology.

In addition to the primary readings listed below there was a parallel unit reader that provided students with highly accessible introductions to these readings. This course had three short writing assignments, one major writing task, and a final exam. Feel free to request a complete syllabus for this course or my power point slides.

Part 1: Time Travel & Free Will (Weeks 1-2)

1.1. Bradbury, Ray (1953) ‘A Sound of Thunder’ From his The Golden Apples of the Sun, London, pp. 203-215.

1.2. Lewis, David (1976) ‘The Paradoxes of Time Travel’ From American Philosophical Quarterly 13, pp. 145-152.

1.3. Smith, Nicholas (1997) ‘Bananas Enough for Time Travel?’ Excerpts from British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 48, pp. 368-370.

1.4. Grey, William (1994) ‘Some Problems about Time Travel’ Written for this collection, 6 pp.

1.5. Taylor, Richard (1974) ‘Freedom, Determinism and Fate’ Excerpts from Chapters 5 and 6 of his Metaphysics, Second Edition, New Jersey.

1.6. Anscombe, Elizabeth (1971) ‘Causality and Determination’ (Part 2) Cambridge University Press, pp. 22-32.

1.7 Kane, Robert (2007) ‘Libertarianism’ Excerpt from Four Views on Free Will, Oxford University Press.

Part 2: Logic Interlude (Week 3)

2.1. Dowden, Brad (2011) ‘Consistency & Inconsistency’ Ch. 9 of Logical Reasoning, public domain/fair use.

2.2. Dowden, Brad (2011) ‘Claims, Issues, & Arguments’ Ch. 2 of Logical Reasoning, public domain/fair use.

Part 3: Minds & Machines (Weeks 4-6)

3.1. Bisson, Terry (1990) ‘They’re Made Out of Meat’ First published in OMNI, freely available online.

3.2. Descartes, René (1641/1988) ‘What Am I?’ (excerpts from Meditations 2 & 6) From Descartes: Selected Philosophical Writings, trans. Cottingham, Cambridge.

3.3. Turing, Alan (1950) ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’ From Mind Vol. 59, pp. 433-460.

3.4 Searle, John (1980) ‘Minds, Brains and Programs’ From Behavioural & Brain Sciences 3, pp. 417-424.

Part 4: The Self (Weeks 7-8)

4.1. Gibson, William (1988) ‘The Winter Market’ From his Burning Chrome, London, pp. 140-166.

4.2. Locke, John (1694) ‘On Personal Identity’ From Ch. 27 of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, public domain.

4.3. Parfit, Derek (1971) ‘Personal Identity’ From The Philosophical Review Vol. 80, pp. 3-27.

4.4. Williams, Bernard (1973) ‘The Self and the Future’ From his Problems of the Self, Cambridge, pp. 46-63.

4.5. Lewis, David (1976) ‘Survival and Identity’ From The Identities of Persons, A. Rorty (ed.), U. of California Press, pp. 17-40.

Part 5: Knowledge (Weeks 9-11)

5.1. Plato (ca. 380 BCE) ‘Allegory of the Cave’ Excerpt from Republic, public domain, 6 pp.

5.2. Gettier, Edmund (1963) ‘Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?’ From Analysis Vol 23, pp. 121-123.

5.3. Nozick, Robert (1981) ‘Knowledge and Skepticism’ Excerpts from Ch 3.1 of his Philosophical Explanations, pp. 167-178.

5.4. Descartes, René (1641/1901) ‘Of the Things of Which We May Doubt’ Meditation 1 from Meditations on First Philosophy, trans. J. Veitch, public domain.

5.5. Moore, G. E. (1962) ‘Certainty’ From his Philosophical Papers (New York: Collier Books, 1962), pp. 240-6.

5.6. Nozick, Robert (1981) ‘Nonclosure’ Excerpts from Ch 3.2 of his Philosophical Explanations, pp. 204-209.

5.7. Turri, John (2011) ‘Manifest Failure: The Gettier Problem Solved’ Philosophers’ Imprint.