| Week/Dates | Topics | Assigned Readings |
| Week 1: 8/26-8/28 | Course overview The problem(s) of personal identity: motivation, terminology, and methodology |
John Perry, "The Problem of Personal Identity" (PI, 3-12 only) |
| Week 2: 9/4 No class on 9/2 |
The historical background on personal identity: Locke, Reid, Butler, and Hume | Recommended: John Locke, "Of Identity and Diversity" (PI, 33-52); Joseph Butler, "Of Personal Identity" (PI, 99-105); Thomas Reid, "Of Mr. Locke's Account of Our Personal Identity" (PI, 113-118); and David Hume, "Our Idea of Identity," "Of Personal Identity," and "Second Thoughts" (PI, 159-176) -- Locke and Hume are strongly recommended |
| Week 3: 9/9-9/11 | Reductionism(s) in outline | RP, Chapter 10, "What We Believe Ourselves to Be" |
| Week 4: 9/16-9/18 | Q-Memories and the responses to Butler and Reid Against Non-Reductionism The Spectra (or why our identity may sometimes be indeterminate) |
RP, Chapter 11, "How We Are Not What We Believe"; RS DUE Strongly Recommended: Bernard Williams, "The Self and the Future" (PI, 179-198) Weakly Recommended: My article "The Irrelevance/Incoherence of Non-Reductionism About Personal Identity" |
| Week 5: 9/23-9/25 | The Spectra (cont'd) Divided minds and the unity of consciousness My Division and its implications Mark Balaguer Talk, 9/25 |
RP, Chapter 12, "Why Our Identity is Not What Matters" (NOTE: skip section 91, pp. 266-273); RS DUE Recommended: Thomas Nagel, "Brain Bisection and the Unity of Consciousness" (PI, 227-245) |
| Week 6: 9/30-10/2 | Death, Fusion, and Successive Selves SHORT PAPER #1, DUE 10/2 |
RP, Chapter 13, "What Does Matter" (NOTE: skip sections 98-99, pp. 289-298); RS DUE |
| Week 7: 10/7-10/9 | Implications for rationality and morality Introduction to Free Will/Determinism |
Weakly Recommended: My article, "Selves and Moral Units" Watson, "Introduction" (FW, 1-14) |
| Week 8: 10/14-10/16 | Hard Determinism Vrolyk Bioethics Conference, 10/18 |
Paul Holbach, "The Illusion of Free Will"; RS DUE |
| Week 9: 10/21-10/23 | Libertarianism and doing otherwise | Roderick Chisholm, "Human Freedom and the Self" (FW, 24-35); RS DUE Strongly Recommended: Harry Frankfurt, "Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility" |
| Week 10: 10/30 No class on 10/28 |
Soft Determinism, classical and contemporary | Selections from Hobbes (I'll hand this reading out); A.J. Ayer, "Freedom and Necessity" (FW, 15-23); RS DUE |
| Week 11: 11/4-11/6 | The Frankfurtian Revolution | Harry Frankfurt, "Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person" (FW, 81-95); RS DUE |
| Week 12: 11/11-11/13 | Evaluations and free action | Gary Watson, "Free Agency" (FW, 96-110); RS DUE |
| Week 13: 11/18-11/20 | Sanity and freedom Gavin Lawrence talk, 11/20 |
Susan Wolf, "Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility"; RS DUE |
| Week 14: 11/25-11/27 | Reactive attitudes and theoretical irrelevance | Peter Strawson, "Freedom and Resentment" (FW, 59-80); RS DUE |
| Week 15: 12/2-12/4 | Wrapping Up FINAL PAPERS (SHORT AND LONG) DUE 12/4 End-of-semester party, Shoemaker's house, 12/6 |