Miscellanea

Requirements for Letters of Recommendation

You Are Not My Customer

Joel Feinberg Award

W. T. Stace, The Snobbishness of the Learned (1936)

Brand Blanshard, On Philosophical Style (1954)

Elizabeth Garrett, The Socratic Method (1998)

Which College Majors Pay Best?

Full Disclosure for Student Borrowers

How to Make Law School Affordable

The Lawyer Glut

UTA Pre-Law Center

Studies Find More Students Cheating, with High Achievers No Exception

Apostrophes

Joel Feinberg, Doing Philosophy: A Guide to the Writing of Philosophy Papers, 3d ed. (2005)

William J. Bennett and David Wilezol, "Is College Worth It?" (2013)

Logic (PHIL 2311)

Handouts:

* * * Items Below This Line Are Not Yet Posted * * *

Syllabus

Validity and Truth

Truth, Validity, and Soundness

Truth, Validity, and Soundness (Solutions)

Validity, Truth, Knowledge, and the Good Life

Exercises, Part I

Exercises, Part II

Refutation by Logical Analogy

Sample Examination Exercises 1

A Typology of Statements

Comparing Statement Forms

Truth Tables

Brainteasers

The Reductio ad Absurdum

Basic Argument Forms

Sample Examination Exercises 2

A Proof That Keith (Your Humble Professor) Is God

Logical Systems

Symbolization and Translation Exercises (Solutions)

Rules for Removing and Introducing Quantifiers

Sample Examination Exercises 3

Conditional Statements

A Typology of Arguments

A Dialogue with Beau

Elegant and Inelegant Proofs

Two Interesting Proofs

Inconsistency, Validity, and Unsoundness

More on Consistency and Validity

Symbolization and Translation Exercises

Required Book:

Stan Baronett, Logic: An Emphasis on Formal Logic, 2d ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), ISBN 978-0-19-994126-1

Miscellanea:

Forthcoming

Ethics (PHIL 2312)

Handouts:

Syllabus

Act-Utilitarianism

Formulations of Utilitarianism

Basic Argument Forms

Validity and Truth

How to Criticize (and Defend) a Normative Ethical Theory

Sample Examination Exercises

Normative Ethical Theories 1

Normative Ethical Theories 2

Retributivism

Primitive Rule Utilitarianism (PRU)

Keith Burgess-Jackson, "Taking Egoism Seriously"

Sacrificial Dilemmas

Ryan Wagoner, "Know Your Alcohol Limit," The Shorthorn, 6 March 2013

Baier's Argument Against Ethical Egoism

Kant Flowchart

Kant Flowchart (Simplified Version)

Kant's Four Examples

Normative Ethical Theories (Moral Code)

Ross's Prima Facie Duties

Rules

Ross's Theory

* * * Items Below This Line Are Not Yet Posted * * *

Required Book:

Fred Feldman, Introductory Ethics (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1978), ISBN 0-13-501783-1

Encyclopedia Entries:

Roger Crisp, "Ethics," Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Miscellanea:

Fred Feldman

Heroism

Seminar in Research Methods and Philosophical Writing (PHIL 3307)

Handouts:

Syllabus

Readings and Assignments

Required Book:

Philosophy of Religion (PHIL 3316)

Handouts:

* * * Items Below This Line Are Not Yet Posted * * *

Syllabus

Reading List

A Taxonomy of Religions

Anselm's Ontological Argument

Anselm's Ontological Argument (Diagram)

The Reductio ad Absurdum

Gaunilo's Criticism of Anselm's Ontological Argument

Refutation by Logical Analogy

Arguments A Priori and A Posteriori

Aquinas's Third Way

Lecture Notes on Clarke

Rowe's Argument from Evil

Study Questions, Midterm Examination

Daniel C. Dennett, "The Bright Stuff" (2003)

Pascal's Wager

Study Questions, Final Examination

Readings:

Saint Anselm, Proslogion, Preface and Chapters 1-4 (ca. 1078)

Gaunilo, In Behalf of the Fool, Chapters 5-6 (ca. 1078)

Saint Anselm, Anselm's Apologetic, Preface and Chapters 1-3 (ca. 1078)

Keith Burgess-Jackson, "Anselm, Gaunilo, and Lost Island," Philosophy & Theology 8 (spring 1994): 243-9

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica (ca. 1274)

Samuel Clark[e], A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God (1705)

William L. Rowe, "The Cosmological Argument," Noûs 5 (February 1971): 49-61 (available through JSTOR)

William Paley, Natural Theology, 2d ed. (1802)

David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 2d ed. (1779)

R. G. Swinburne, "The Argument from Design," Philosophy 43 (July 1968): 199-212 (available through JSTOR)

Carl R. Kordig, "A Deontic Argument for God's Existence," Noûs 15 (May 1981): 207-8 (available through JSTOR)

Christopher New, "Antitheism: A Reflection," Ratio, n.s., 6 (June 1993): 36-43

David M. Holley, "Should Believers Be Interested in Arguments for God's Existence?" American Philosophical Quarterly 20 (October 1983): 383-9 (available through JSTOR)

David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 2d ed. (1779)

William L. Rowe, "The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism," American Philosophical Quarterly 16 (October 1979): 335-41 (available through JSTOR)

Richard Swinburne, "Natural Evil," American Philosophical Quarterly 15 (October 1978): 295-301 (available through JSTOR)

William L. Rowe, "Friendly Atheism Revisited," International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 68 (December 2010): 7-13 (available through UTA Library, Springer Standard Collection)

Antony Flew and Gary Habermas, "My Pilgrimage from Atheism to Theism: A Discussion Between Antony Flew and Gary Habermas," Philosophia Christi 6 (winter 2004): 197-211

Mark Oppenheimer, "The Turning of an Atheist," The New York Times (4 November 2007)

Blaise Pascal, Pensées (ca. 1660)

Ian Hacking, "The Logic of Pascal's Wager," American Philosophical Quarterly 9 (April 1972): 186-92 (available through JSTOR)

W. K. Clifford, "The Ethics of Belief," Contemporary Review 29 (January 1877): 289-309

William James, "The Will to Believe," The New World 5 (June 1896): 327-47

H. H. Price, "The Problem of Life After Death," Religious Studies 3 (April 1968): 447-59 (available through JSTOR)

Richard Robinson, "Religion," sec. 2.8 in An Atheist's Values (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964), 113-57

William Lane Craig, "The Indispensability of Theological Meta-ethical Foundations for Morality," Afterall.net (November 1996)

Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668 (1984)

Anthony O'Hear, "Science and Religion," The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 44 (September 1993): 505-16 (available through JSTOR)

Encyclopedia Entry:

Eleonore Stump, "Philosophy of Religion," Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Miscellanea:

Adherents.com

Thomas Nagel, "The Fear of Religion," review of The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins, The New Republic 235 (23 October 2006): 25-9

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

Pascal's Wager

Antony Duff, "Pascal's Wager and Infinite Utilities," Analysis 46 (March 1986): 107-9 (available through JSTOR)

Jeff Jordan, "Duff and the Wager," Analysis 51 (June 1991): 174-6 (available through JSTOR)

James Franklin, "Two Caricatures, I: Pascal's Wager," International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 44 (October 1998): 109-14 (available through JSTOR)

Philip L. Quinn, "The Recent Revival of Divine Command Ethics," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 50 (autumn 1990): 345-65 (available through JSTOR)

Zoroastrianism in the News

William Kingdon Clifford (1845-1879)

William James (1842-1910)

Saint Anselm (1033-1109)

Ontological Arguments

Gaunilo

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Cosmological Argument

J. L. Mackie (1917-1981)

William Paley (1743-1805)

Teleological Arguments for God's Existence

Knowing the Universe in Detail

Moral Arguments for the Existence of God

Alvin Plantinga

The Epistemology of Religion

The Problem of Evil

John Hick

Theodicy

William L. Rowe

Antony Flew

Basil George Mitchell

Theology & Falsification: A Golden Jubilee Celebration

David Hume (1711-1776)

Miracles

A Free-for-All on Science and Religion

Richard Swinburne

Immortality

Religious Diversity (Pluralism)

Biomedical Ethics (PHIL 3319)

Handouts:

Syllabus

Reading List

Locating Philosophical Essays Online Via the UTA Library

Hippocrates, "Oath"

James Rachels, "Active and Passive Euthanasia" (1975, 1997)

Questions About Active Voluntary Euthanasia (AVE)

Lecture Notes on James Rachels, "Active and Passive Euthanasia" (1975, 1997)

Study Questions, First Examination

Anti-Abortion and Pro-Choice Arguments

Model Essay

Grading

The Duty to Die

Study Questions, Second Examination

Study Questions, Third Examination

Abortion and Infanticide

* * * Items Below This Line Are Not Yet Posted * * *

Miscellanea:

Hippocrates

Nathan I. Klinge, "The Rod of Asclepius" (2008)

In re Quinlan, 70 N.J. 10, 355 A.2d 647 (1976)

Roger Collier, "American Medical Association Membership Woes Continue" (2011)

William Neuman, "Citing Hazard, New York Says Hold the Salt" (2010)

Grammar

Group Appointments with Doctors

John Hardwig, "Going to Meet Death: The Art of Dying in the Early Part of the Twenty-First Century," The Hastings Center Report 39 (July-August 2009): 37-45

David A. Asch, Ralph W. Muller, and Kevin G. Volpp, "Conflicts and Compromises in Not Hiring Smokers," The New England Journal of Medicine 368 (11 April 2013): 1371-3

Jonathan V. Last, "America's Baby Bust," The Wall Street Journal (12 February 2013)

Philosophy of Law (PHIL 3320)

Handouts:

Syllabus

Reading List

Lecture Notes on Kerr, "How to Read a Legal Opinion"

Study Questions, First Examination

Levinson et al. on Torture

Lecture Notes, Katko v. Briney (Iowa 1971)

Study Questions, Second Examination

Hernandez v. Robles (2006) (Flowchart)

Husak et al. on Drug Legalization

Texas Penal Code

Study Questions, Third Examination

George Sher's Argument Against the Decriminalization of Narcotics

* * * Items Below This Line Are Not Yet Posted * * *

Encyclopedia Entries:

Beverley Brown and Neil MacCormick, "Philosophy of Law," Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Kenneth Einar Himma, "Philosophy of Law," The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Miscellanea:

Orin S. Kerr

Lon L. Fuller (1902-1978)

Steven M. Wise

Bonnie Steinbock

Antonin Scalia, John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer

Michael Bayles

Sanford Levinson

Henry Shue

Richard H. Weisberg

Eric Posner

Adrian Vermeule

Robert E. Goodin

Martha Nussbaum

Joel Feinberg (Obituary)

Joel Feinberg (Encyclopedia Entry by Keith Burgess-Jackson)

Douglas Husak

George Sher

* * *

Sue Russell, "Animal Research's Changing Equation" (19 December 2011)

Sue Russell, "Should Animals Be Considered People?" (20 December 2011)

Sue Russell, "Five Orcas, Five Slaves or Five Persons?" (2 February 2012)

Michael Todd, "'Orcas as Slaves' Argument Sinks" (9 February 2012)

Melody McDonald, "Chronic Drunken Drivers Leave a Trail of Tragedy on Texas Roads" (12 April 2010)

Cigarette Health Warnings, United States Food and Drug Administration

UTA, Clearing the Air on Campus

H. L. A. Hart (1907-1992)

Ronald Dworkin (b. 1931)

Antonin Scalia (b. 1936)

Martin Luther King Jr (1929-1968)

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

Arthur Ripstein

Gerald Dworkin

Timeline of the War on Terror

Torture Memo

Waldron v. Yoo

Richard A. Posner, "The Supreme Court, 2004 Term—Foreword: A Political Court," Harvard Law Review 119 (November 2005): 31-102

Legal Information Institute (to have Supreme Court syllabi e-mailed to you as they are released, click on "liibulletin" on the left of the site and subscribe to the service)

Robert P. George, "What Is Law? A Century of Arguments," First Things 112 (April 2001): 23-9

Keith Burgess-Jackson, "Teaching Legal Theory with Venn Diagrams," Metaphilosophy 29 (July 1998): 159-77

Frederick Schauer, "(Re)taking Hart," review of A Life of H. L. A. Hart: The Nightmare and the Noble Dream, by Nicola Lacey, Harvard Law Review 119 (January 2006): 852-83

John Rawls et al., "Assisted Suicide: The Philosophers' Brief," The New York Review of Books 44 (27 March 1997)

Washington v. Glucksberg, 117 S.Ct. 2258 (1997)

Rumsfeld v. FAIR, 547 U.S. ___ (2006)

Keith Burgess-Jackson, "Our Millian Constitution: The Supreme Court's Repudiation of Immorality as a Ground of Criminal Punishment," Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy 18 (2004): 407-17

Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003)

Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 (2003)

Mark Tushnet, "Survey Article: Critical Legal Theory (Without Modifiers) in the United States," The Journal of Political Philosophy 13 (March 2005): 99-112

Social and Political Philosophy (PHIL 3330)

Handouts:

Syllabus

Reading List

Economic Justice

Rawls on Procedural Justice: A Flowchart

Rawls's Two Principles of Justice

Chandran Kukathas and Philip Pettit, "John Rawls: A Theory of Justice"

William Voegeli, "Not Leveling with Us," Claremont Review of Books 12 (summer 2012): 23-30

Normative Ethical Theories 1

Normative Ethical Theories 2

Study Questions, Midterm Examination

Model Essays

Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism (2005)

See here for the official PBS website.

Jason Jung, "Peter Singer Reflects on a Decade at Princeton," The Daily Princetonian (26 October 2009)

Study Questions, Final Examination

Required Book:

John Arthur and William H. Shaw, Justice and Economic Distribution, 2d ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1991), ISBN 0-13-514241-5

Encyclopedia Entries:

David Miller, "Political Philosophy," Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Alex Moseley, "Political Philosophy," The Internet Enyclopedia of Philosophy

Julian Lamont, "Distributive Justice," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Owen McLeod, "Desert," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The Moral and Political Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes (PHIL 6389)

Handouts:

Syllabus

Required Books:

A. P. Martinich, Hobbes: A Biography (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999)

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, rev. student ed., ed. Richard Tuck, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, ed. Raymond Geuss and Quentin Skinner (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) (Note: There are many editions of Leviathan, which was first published in 1651. You must purchase this edition, because I will be referring to it by page throughout the semester. If you have a different edition, you will not be able to follow the discussion.)

Gregory S. Kavka, Hobbesian Moral and Political Theory, Studies in Moral, Political, and Legal Philosophy, ed. Marshall Cohen (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986)

Miscellanea:

A. P. Martinich

Richard Tuck

Gregory S. Kavka

Popular References to Hobbes:

A. O. Scott