Earlham College, Spring Semester 2001-2002
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 11:00-11:50. Carpenter 323
Instructor: Ferit Güven
Office: Carpenter 328
Office Hours: Monday, Friday 1:00-2:00 and by appointment
Office Phone: 983-1399 (voice mail),
e-mail: guvenfe@earlham.edu
web page: http://www.earlham.edu/~guvenfe/
Teaching Assistant: Sina Kramer; e-mail: kramesi@earlham.edu

Course Description: The aim of this course is to introduce you to Kant's philosophy.  In order to achieve this goal, we will read his major work, Critique of Pure Reason, in its entirety.  This is a difficult text, and the task of reading it in one semester will be challenging.  The Critique of Pure Reason is one of the most important works in the history of philosophy.  It synthesizes the problems of modern philosophy and paves the way for 19th Century Philosophy, and frames important problems of Contemporary Philosophy.  Therefore, reading this work will not only be philosophically rewarding and pleasurable, but also it will enable us to understand contemporary philosophical problems in a deeper way.

Required Text: Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason, trans. Werner S. Pluhar, (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1996).
I have also ordered Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics.  This is a short piece that addresses some important issues dealt with in Critique of Pure Reason. You are encouraged to consult this work whenever you encounter difficulties in the Critique of Pure Reason.
Those of you who can read German are encouraged to consult the German original of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kritik der reinen Vernunft.(Hamburg: Felix Meiner, 1971).   I will put this book on reserve.

Course Requirements:
This course will be conducted in a seminar format.  Therefore, attandance and participation are an important dimension of the course and your grade.  I expect you to come to class prepared and ready to participate, i.e., having read the text carefully, and ready to raise and answer questions.  With a difficult text like the Critique of Pure Reason, you may find participation difficult at first.  However, keep in mind that participation is supposed to help you to understand the text, rather than simply demonstrate that you understood it.  Therefore, you should raise questions and try to answer them even if, and especially when, you are not sure about the text and do not feel confident that you have understood it.
If you miss more than six classes you will fail this course regardless of your grade.

You are required to write 4 short explication papers and 2 longer papers.  Short papers will be limited to explaining the text in your own words.  I will give you specific questions concerning the part of the text we read. These papers will be 2-5 pages long.  There will be no extensions for these papers and late papers will not be accepted.
The longer papers will answer more general questions about the Critique of Pure Reason.  These papers will be 5-8 pages long.  I will also provide paper topics and guidelines for these papers.

Each week two students will work together in order to prepare a class presentation.
These presentations will introduce us to the reading for the day, raise questions concerning the reading, and explain how it relates to previous readings.
I will give you specific guidelines for this assignment once we start these presentations.

There will be no final examination.

Your grade will be calculated according to the following distribution:
Short Papers 10% each= 40%
Long Papers 20% each= 40%
Attandence, Participation and Class Discussion= 20%

In order to pass the course you must fulfill all the requirements.

Calender:
The pages cited for a given day will be covered that day.  You must read these assignments in advance and be prepared to discuss them in class.
CPR refers to the Critique of Pure Reason.

Week 1: Introduction to the course; Prefaces of the Critique of Pure Reason
January 16: No Reading
January 18: CPR, pp.  5-40

Week 2: Introduction to CPR & Transcendental Aesthetic
January 21: CPR, pp. 43-68
January 23: CPR, pp. 43-68
January 25: Transcendental Asthetic, CPR, pp. 71-87

Week 3: Transcendental Aesthetic
January 28: CPR, pp. 71-87; 87-104
January 30: CPR, pp. 87-104
February 1: CPR, pp. 5-104, Review; 1st Short Paper due

Week 4: Transcendental Logic; Analytic of Concepts
February 4:  CPR, pp. 105-129
February 6: CPR, pp. 129-150
February 8: CPR, pp. 105-150 Review

Week 5: Transcendental Deduction in the B-edition; Transcendental Deduction in the A-edition
February 11: CPR, pp. 175-203
February 13: CPR, pp.  150-174, Review
February 15: CPR, pp.  150-203, Review; 2nd Short Paper due

Week 6: Analytic of Principles, Schematism; Axioms and Anticipations
February 18: CPR, pp. 204-219
February 20: CPR, pp. 220-247
February 22: Mid-semester Break

Week 7: Analytic of Principles, Analogies, Postulates
February 25: CPR, pp. 247-282
February 27: CPR, pp. 283-302
March 1: CPR, pp. 240-302, Review
 

Week 8: Phenomena and Noumena; Transcendental Dialectic
March 4: CPR, pp. 303-322 [323-345]
March 6: CPR, pp. [323-345] 346-379
March 8: CPR, pp. 303-379, Review, 3rd Short Paper due

Week 9: Transcendental Dialectic, Paralogisms
March 11: CPR, pp. 380-441
March 13: CPR, pp. 380-441
March 15: CPR, pp. Review, First Long Paper due

March 18, March 20, March 22, Spring Break

Week 10: Transcendental Dialectic, Antinomy of Pure Reason
March 25: CPR, pp. 442-485
March 27: CPR, pp. 442-485
March 29: CPR, pp. 442-485, Review

Week 11: Antinomy of Pure Reason
April 1: CPR, pp. 486-517
April 3: CPR, pp. 517-559
April 5: CPR, pp. 486-559 Review, 4th Short Paper due

Week 12: The Ideal of Pure Reason, Appendix to the Transcendental Dialectic
April 8: CPR, pp. 560-572 [572-616]
April 10: CPR, pp. 617-662
April 12: CPR, pp. Review

Week 13: Transcendental Doctrine of Method
April 15: CPR, pp. 663-727
April 17: CPR, pp. 663-727
April 19: CPR, pp. 663-727, Review

Week 14: Transcendental Doctrine of Method
April 22: CPR, pp. 727-774
April 24: CPR, pp. 727-774
April 26: CPR, pp. 727-774, Review

Week 15:
April 29: CPR, pp. Review
May 1:   CPR, pp. Review, Second Long Paper Due