Earlham College, Spring Semester 2002-2003
Tuesday, Friday 1:00-2:20. Carpenter 320
Instructor: Ferit Güven
Office: Carpenter 331
Office Hours: Wednesday 11-12, Friday 11-12 and by appointment
Office Phone: 983-1399 (voice mail),
e-mail: guvenfe@earlham.edu
web page: http://www.earlham.edu/~guvenfe

Course Description: The general aim of this course is to introduce you to Kant's critical philosophy.  In this course we will read his major work, Critique of Pure Reason in its entirety.  The Critique of Pure Reason is one of the most important works in the history of philosophy.  It synthesizes the problems of modern philosophy, 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 larger context.

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 Kritik der reinen Vernunft, (Hamburg: Felix Meiner, 1971).   This book is on reserve at the Lilly Library.

Course Requirements:  This course will be conducted in a seminar format.  Therefore, attandance and participation are important dimensions 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.

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 3-5 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%
Presentation= 10%
Attandence and Participation= 10%

Any student with a documented disability (e.g., physical, learning, psychiatric, vision, hearing etc.) who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must contact the instructor and Disability Services Office (Academic Support Services) at the beginning of the semester. Accommodation arrangements must be made during the first-two weeks of the semester.

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
January 17: No Reading

Week 2: Prefaces of the Critique of Pure Reason& Introduction to CPR
January 21: CPR, pp. 5-40
January 24: CPR, pp. 43-68

Week 3: Transcendental Aesthetic
January 28: CPR, pp. 71-87
January 31: CPR, pp. 87-104;

Week 4: Transcendental Logic; Analytic of Concepts
February 4:  CPR, pp. 105-129
February 7: CPR, pp. 129-150; 1st Short Paper due

Week 5: Transcendental Deduction in the A-edition; Transcendental Deduction in the B-edition
February 11: CPR, pp. 150-174
February 14: CPR, pp. 175-203;

Week 6: Analytic of Principles, Schematism; Axioms and Anticipations
February 18: CPR, pp. 204-247
February 21: Mid-semester Break

Week 7: Analytic of Principles, Analogies, Postulates; 2nd Short Paper due
February 25: CPR, pp. 247-282
February 28: CPR, pp. 283-302

Week 8: Phenomena and Noumena; Transcendental Dialectic
March 4: CPR, pp. 303-322 [323-345]
March 7: CPR, pp. [323-345] 346-379

Week 9: Transcendental Dialectic, Paralogisms
March 11: CPR, pp. 380-441
March 14: CPR, pp. 380-441; First Long Paper due

March 18-March 21: Spring Break

Week 10: Transcendental Dialectic, Antinomy of Pure Reason
March 25: CPR, pp. 442-485
March 28: CPR, pp. 442-485

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

Week 12: The Ideal of Pure Reason, Appendix to the Transcendental Dialectic
April 8: CPR, pp. 560-572 [572-616]
April 11: CPR, pp. 617-662

Week 13: Transcendental Doctrine of Method
April 15: CPR, pp. 663-727
April 18: CPR, pp. 663-727;  4th Short Paper due

Week 14: Transcendental Doctrine of Method
April 22: CPR, pp. 727-774
April 25: CPR, pp. 727-774

Week 15:
April 29: CPR, Review
May 2:   CPR, Review, Second Long Paper Due