Heusser Philosophy 100 SG 1b

List of Sample Topics:

First come, first served on individual topics. Unless the philosopher is still alive, you are required to submit at least two internet articles as a citation. You may not recognize all of the following as “philosophers” or “philosophical” theories, but each is influential within philosophy or is otherwise known as a philosopher. You are welcome to choose a different philosopher if you confirm your selection with me first. You might use the Magee text as a source for either Option.

Option 1 Presentations:

Early (Ancient) and Medieval Philosophers (about 6^th Century B.C.E to 15^th Century):

Any Pre-Socratics such as: Sophists, Epicurus: Hedonism, Stoics: Ethical Views, Buddha: Anatta; Hinduism: Maya & Atman; Socrates’ Trial, Plato: Allegory of the Cave and Theory of the Forms, Aristotle: Doctrine of the Mean or Virtue Ethics, Sextus Empiricus: Skepticism, Ockham’s Razor

Modern Philosophers (about 16^th Century to 19^th Century):

Hobbes: Social Contract, Naturalism, or Materialism, Bacon: Idols of the Understanding, Malebranche: Occasionalism, Spinoza: Pantheism, Leibniz: Parallelism, or Pre-established Harmony, or Monads, Locke: Personal Identity, Newton: Laws of Motion or Absolute Space and Time, Berkeley: Idealism, Rousseau: Social Contract, Hume: Is-Ought Problem, Kant: Categorical Imperative, Dostoevsky: the Problem of Evil, Schopenhauer: Pessimism or Will, Hegel: Dialectical Idealism, Karl Marx: Dialectical Materialism, Darwin: Natural Selection, Soren Kierkegaard: The Leap, Neitzsche: Nihilism or Slave Morality or Ubermensch, Mill: Utilitarianism or Method’s for Induction, Thoreau: Transcendentalism, d’Holbach: Illusion of Free Will, Ree: Free Will; Benedict: Cultural Relativism*

Contemporary Philosophers (mostly 20^th Century):

Freud: the Unconscious, Pierce: Belief or Pragmatism, William James: Libertarianism or The Will to Believe, Husserl: Phenomenology, Wittgenstein: Verificationism, Ryle: Category Mistakes, W. D. Ross: Prima Facie Duties, Ayn Rand: Objectivism or Ethical Egoism, Camus: Existentialism, Sartre: Existentialism, B.F. Skinner: Freedom or Behaviorism, Armstrong: Reductive Materialism, Churchland: Eliminativism*, Rawls: Original Position or Veil of Ignorance, Kohlberg: Stages of Moral Development, Gilligan: Care Perspective, Hare: Non-Cognitivism, Gould: Panda’s Thumb, Ayer: Emotivism or Soft Determinism, Kuhn: Scientific Revolutions, Deborah Mathieu: Male Chauvinist Religion, Derrida: Poststructuralism or Deconstruction, Chomsky: Language or anything political, Singer: Animal Equality

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Option 2 Presentations:

Tittle “What if…” Text Topics:

Putnam: Brain in Vat; Russell: 5 Minute Hypothesis; Descartes’ Evil Demon; Descartes’ Wax; Zeno’s Achilles + One more Zeno Paradox; Hume: Constant Conjunction; Molyneux: Blind Man; Hume’s Missing Shade of Blue; James: Way Home; Lyon: Card Predictor; Goldman: Book of Life; Taylor: Ingenious Physiologist; Leibniz: Machine; Kirk & Squire: Zombies; Locke: Inverted Spectrum; Jackson: Mary, the brilliant color specialist; Turing: Imitation Game; Block: Chinese Nation; Searle: Chinese Room; Brain Replacement; Leibniz: King of China; Parfit: Teletransporter; Hobbes: Ship of Theseus; Locke: Prince and Cobbler; Reid: Brave Officer; Aquinas: (2 of) 5 Ways; Lucretius: Spear; Paley: Watch; Hume: Infant, Inferior, or Superannuated Deity; Anselm: Ontological Argument; Guanilo’s Lost Island; Pascal: Wager; Hick: World with Flexible Laws of Nature; Platinga: Curley Smith and Transworld Depravity; Plato: Ring of Gyges; Feinberg: Egoist; Jamieson & Regan: Terrorist Tank; Foot: Gas