Platonism and Naturalism
Philosophy 288

Fall 1996

Professor

Edward N. Zalta, Consulting Associate Professor, Philosophy Department
Office: Cordura 202 (Campus Dr. and Panama)
Phone: 723-0488
Mailbox: Ventura Hall (Campus Dr. and Panama)
Hours: ... and by appt.
E-mail:

Class Meetings

Friday: 10:00-11:55 in Cordura 104

Required Reading

Selected Articles (see Schedule and Bibliography)
Principia Metaphysica

Course Requirements

1 term paper
1 seminar presentation

Notes

  1. The seminar presentation consists of a short introduction to the readings assigned for that day.
  2. Not all the works found in the Bibliography will be discussed during the seminar. However, in your term paper, it would be wise to demonstrate familiarity with those works in the Bibliography relevant to your topic (if there are such).
  3. There are books on Reserve in Tanner which may prove to be useful resources.

TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE

September

27
Introduction to the Topics

October

4
Anti-Nominalism:
Burgess (1983), (1990), Rosen (1993)
11
Naturalized Platonism:
Quine (1951/1980), Maddy (1989), Armstrong (1978), Quine (1995)
18
Problems with Naturalized Platonism:
Benacerraf (1965), Benacerraf (1971), Balaguer (1994)
25
Property Theory:
Bealer (1979), Swoyer (2 forthcoming articles), Menzel (1986)

November

1
Structuralist Philosophy of Mathematics:
Resnik (1981), Resnik (1982), Shapiro (1983), Shapiro (1989)
8
Platonist Epistemologies:
Balaguer (1995), Resnik (1989)
15
Fregean Platonism:
Frege (1884), Wright (1983) (Tanner Reserve), Hale (1987) (Tanner Reserve)
22
Platonized Naturalism:
Linsky and Zalta (1995)

December

6
Nominalism Again:
selections from Burgess and Rosen (1997)

Bibliography

Books on Reserve in Tanner Library