Inside, Outside
Above or Below
But Seldom On The Surface
(Does That Not Seem Strange?)
“Knowledge, Truth, and Fiction”
Philosophy 195
(Special Topics)
Monday & Wednesday
(And a Couple of Fridays)
4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Maginnes 102
Prof. Michael Mendelson
Lehigh University
Summer I, 2013
“It’s always show time at the edge of the stage”
Inside, Outside
Above or Below
But Seldom On The Surface
(Does That Not Seem Strange?)
“Knowledge, Truth, and Fiction”
Philosophy 195
(Special Topics)
Monday & Wednesday
(And a Couple of Fridays)
4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Maginnes 102
Prof. Michael Mendelson
Lehigh University
Summer I, 2013
A Description
There has historically been a widespread conviction that “philosophy”
involves the pursuit and, ideally, the acquisition of “knowledge” (whatever
that might be taken to be) and that “knowledge” is intimately connected to
“truth” (whatever that might be taken to be). Interestingly, both among those
regarded as “philosophers” and those regarded as “non-philosophers,” one
also finds the recurring conviction that what we call “fiction,” while, strictly
speaking, involving that which is “not true,” is nonetheless capable of
revealing some kind of deep “truth” that yields an equally deep kind of
“knowledge.”
And so there are questions: just what kind of “knowledge” is being
sought, and are there different notions of “knowledge” –conflicting or
consistent- at work here? Needless to say, the same questions need to be
asked with regard to “truth.” And, of course, how can “fiction,” while
presumed to be that which is literally “not true,” nonetheless yield “truth”?
And then there are those seemingly ubiquitous spatial metaphors as to
where we are to look for what we are trying to find: sometimes it is “above,”
and we are “below”; sometimes we are told that we need to go “below”;
sometimes we are “inside” and need to get “out”; sometimes are told that we
get too caught up on what is “outside” and we need to go “in.”
Over the course of our meetings, we will pursue these issues and
questions via a variety of sources, some of a relatively straightforward
philosophically textual nature, and some a bit more oblique –poetry, novels,
cinema, and music (both classical and contemporary). This course is suitable
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either as a first foray into philosophy or as a complement to something you
may have previously done in the field. -And, perhaps, as a prelude to
something you might want to do in the future….
Some Texts
Plato, The Allegory of The Cave, trans. Benjamin Jowett, P & L Publications
2010, ISBN 978-452-80088-2 (pbk)
Descartes, Discourse On Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, trans.
Donald E. Cress, 4th ed., Hackett 1998, ISBN-13: 978-0-87220-420-1
(pbk)
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, ed. Donald J. Gray, Norton Critical Editions,
2nd ed., W.W. Norton 1992, ISBN 978-0-393-95804-1(pbk)
Ludwig Wittgenstein, On Certainty, eds., G.E.M. Anscombe and G.H. von Wright,
trans. Denis Paul and G.E.M. Anscombe, Blackwell 1975, ISBN 978-006311-6940-6 (pbk)
Patrick McGrath, Constance: A Novel, Bloomsbury 2013, ISBN 978-1-60819943- 3 (hdbk)
The Requirements
Postings On Course Site Discussing and Responding To One Another Regarding
A Proposed Topic Arising From Each Meeting (approx. 350 words each)
[20%]
Midterm Take-Home Examination On Topics Selected From The Meetings
[35%]
Final Take-Home Examination On Topics Selected From The Meetings [45%]
Attendance (It Goes Without Saying, Though A Conspicuous Lack Thereof Will
Not Help Your Cause)
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The Festivities
I. Entering The Fray
Meeting I
Wednesday, 22 May, 2013
[Course Introduction and Overview; Philosophy As A “Reflective, Critical,
Conceptual Activity”; The Diversity of Approaches To Philosophy; A
Surprisingly Common Set of Spatial Metaphors.
Movie: Edward Scissorhands, Tim Burton (Dir.), 1990]
II. Being Inside and Below and Glancing Outside and Above
Meeting II
Wednesday, 29 May, 2013
[Plato, Allegory of the Cave; Some Bach, Some Beethoven, Some Mozart; Movie:
Ghost Dog: The Way of The Samurai, Jim Jarmusch (Dir.), 1999]
Meeting III
Friday, 31 May, 2013
[Plato, Allegory of The Cave (cont.); Some Music (TBD); A Movie (TBD)]
III. “In,” Then “Up,” Then “Down,” Then “Out”
Meeting IV
Monday, 3 June, 2013
[Descartes, Discourse On Method; Some Music (TBD); A Movie (TBD)]
Meeting V
Wednesday, 5 June, 2013
[Descartes, Meditations, “Letter,” “Preface,” “Synopsis,” “First Meditation,” and
“Second Meditation.”; Music/Poetry (TBD); Movie (TBD)]
Meeting VI
Friday, 7 June, 2013
[Descartes, Meditations, “Third” through “Sixth”; Music/Poetry (TBD); Movie
(TBD)]
-MIDTERM EXAMINATION TOPICS DISTRIBUTED-
IV. Going “In” Then “Down” For Sub-Terrainian Adventures
Meeting VII,
Monday, 10 June, 2013
[Carroll, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland; Music/Poetry (TBD); Movie (TBD)]
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Meeting VIII
Wednesday, 12 June, 2013
[Carroll, Through The Looking Glass; Music/Poetry (TBD); Movie (TBD)]
-MIDTERM EXAMINATION DUE IN CLASSV. Inspecting The Texture of the Surface
Meeting IX
Monday, 17 June, 2013
[Wittgenstein, On Certainty; Music/Poetry (TBD); Movie (TBD)]
Meeting X
Wednesday, 19 June, 2013
[Wittgenstein, On Certainty; Music/Poetry (TBD); Movie (TBD)]
VI. And Just Where Might This Be?
Meeting XI
Monday, 24 June, 2013
[McGrath, Constance: A Novel; Poetry/Music (TBD); Movie (TBD)]
Meeting XII
Wednesday, 26 June, 2013
[McGrath, Constance: A Novel (cont.);
Movie: Dead Man, Jim Jarmusch (Dir.) 1995]
-FINAL EXAMINATION TOPICS DISTRIBUTED-
FINAL EXAMINATION DUE:
Sunday, 30 June, 2013
12:00 Noon
Department of Philosophy
15 University Drive
Policy On Academic Dishonesty:
Don’t even think about it. Seriously. If you think I’m joking, read the relevant sections of the
Lehigh Student Handbook.
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