Philosophy 290-1

Spring 2006

Number Title Instructor Days/time Room
290-1 Leibniz Warren W 4-6 234 Moses

We will begin by quickly going through the “Monadology,” which gives an overview of Leibniz’s philosophical system. The rest of the seminar will focus mostly on the New Essays on Human Understanding, a work in which Leibniz presents his philosophical views on the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and metaphysics, in a detailed response to Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding. We will be especially interested in Leibniz’s views about knowledge and representation, and in the significance, for the development of Kant’s thought, of Leibniz’s complex and interconnected views about apperception, perception, concepts, thought, reflection, memory, and innate ideas.

Required Texts: Leibniz, New Essays on Human Understanding, ed. by Remnant and Bennett (C.U.P.) Leibniz, Philosophical Essays, ed. by Ariew and Garber (Hackett)

Recommended Texts: Leibniz, Leibniz’s Monadology, ed. by Nicholas Rescher (Pittsburgh U.P.) Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, (O.U.P.) Robert McRae, Leibniz: Perception, Apperception, and Thought (U. of Toronto Press)
Mark Kulstad, Leibniz on Apperception, Consciousness, and Reflection (Analytica)