Philosophy 394T: Philosophy of Time

Spring 2006. MWF, 11:15-12:05, Herter 113.

Prof. Brad Skow. (follow link for contact information.)


Course Syllabus

Reading Schedule

Final Exam Study Guide


Course Description

This course will survey answers philosophers have given to metaphysical questions about time, and also to questions about time and value, and about time and rationality.

This course has three goals.

  1. To give you a good working knowledge of what philosophers have said about these topics.

  2. To improve your ability to extract arguments from philosophers' writing and evaluate those arguments.

  3. To improve your ability to write philosophy papers.

The course will be a mixture of lecture of discussion, with some class meetings devoted entirely to discussion.

Books

I have ordered copies of the following books at Amherst books:

There is also a course packet, available at copycat print shop in Amherst (ask for CP #88). Other readings are available on the internet (see links on the reading schedule).

Prerequisites

You must have taken two previous philosophy courses. I will presuppose that you have some experience "doing philosophy"---extracting arguments from things we read and evaluating those arguments. (Improving these abilities is goal 2 above.)

Course Requirements

Internet Resources

Jim Pryor's Philosophical Terms and Methods.

The Uncyclopedia's entry on Time is tragically unfunny. Please try to improve it.

Legal

Late work will not be accepted without an acceptable (usually medical) excuse.

If you plagiarize you will receive an "F" in this class and be reported to the dean.

 



Brad Skow | Umass Amherst