Course

Knowledge, Reason & Experience

Faculty
Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
Philosophy
Course Code
PHIL 1103
Credits
3.00
Semester Length
15
Max Class Size
35
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Typically Offered
To be determined

Overview

Course Description
What if anything do we really know? How do we know it? When do we really have knowledge as opposed to mere belief or opinion? This course will consider these questions in the context of traditional philosophical problems about the nature and possibility of personal, religious, metaphysical, scientific, and logical knowledge. Ideas of philosophers such as Plato, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, James, and Wittgenstein will also be considered. Students will be given the opportunity to develop self reflectively their own positions on matters which may be of philosophical concern to them, such as scepticism, free will, or religious knowledge. PHIL 1103 will serve as a foundation for further work in philosophy and is highly recommended as an elective for students in all other areas.
Course Content

A.  At least three of the following areas:

1.  The nature of reason, the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning, and the nature of the scientific method.
2.  The nature of knowledge and belief, including rationalist and empiricist approaches (e.g., Plato, Hume, Russell).
3.  Foundational and non-foundational views about the nature of knowledge and belief, and about the difficulties they face (e.g., Descartes, Wittgenstein, Bonjour).
4.  Different theories of truth, such as correspondence, coherence, pragmatic, and semantical (e.g., Locke, Blanchard, Quine, Tarski).
5.  Metaphysical, scientific, existential, phenomenological, religious, personal and other possible approaches to truth, knowledge, and belief (e.g., Sartre, Heidegger, Polyani).

B.  Sample illustrative problems (three or more, at least one in depth, may be integrated with the presentation of the  above theory):

1.  The problem of scepticism, generally, or of the knowledge of the external world, of other minds, of the self, of God, or spiritual reality (e.g., Nagel, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Descartes, Kant, Russell).
2.  The challenges to foundationalism and coherentism and possible solutions (e.g., Wittgenstein, Bonjour, Rorty).
3.  How we can have knowledge of universals and/or of abstract ideas (e.g., Plato, Russell, Wittgenstein, Locke, Berkeley, Hume).
4.  How we can have knowledge of the self or of the person, of consciousness, of the relation of mind to body, and/or in moral matters (e.g., Locke, K. Campbell, Nagel).
5.  How we can have knowledge of human nature and how this relates to our scientific understanding of the world (e.g., Plato, Nagel, Stevenson).
6.  How we can have knowledge or belief in free will, and how this relates to our scientific understanding of the world (e.g., Sartre, Nagel, Williams).
7.  How we can have knowledge or belief about God or about religious experiences, and how this relates to our scientific understanding of the world (e.g., Hume, Kant, James).

Learning Activities

The course will employ a variety of instructional methods to accomplish its objectives, including some of the following:

 

Lecture and discussion, approximately two hours of each per week - perhaps also including some smaller group work.

Means of Assessment

Evaluation will be based on course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with Douglas College policy. The instructor will provide a written course outline with specific criteria during the first week of classes.

 

An example of a possible evaluation scheme would be:

 


              

Tests, quizzes and short assignments  20% - 50%
Written class presentations, essays, essay exams       20% - 60%
Intructor's general evaluation
(e.g., participation, attendance, homework,
extra-credit, group work)
  0% - 20%
Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of the course the successful student will be able to:

 

  1. Reason and reflect philosophically upon traditional and contemporary philosophical viewpoints about topics covered.
  2. Explain the basic philosophical problems about the nature of reason, truth, knowledge, belief and experience.
  3. Contrast and compare traditional and contemporary philosophical perspectives on specific topics covered in the course.
  4. Systematically formulate and present their own thinking on specific topics covered in the course.
Textbook Materials

Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students

 

Texts will be updated periodically. Typical examples are:

 

SAMPLE TEXTS (similar texts and/or more than one text may be used with permission of the Department):

Bernecker, S. & Dretske, F. Knowledge: Readings in Contemporary Epistemology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

 

Moser, P.K. & Nat, A. V. Human Knowledge: Classical and Contemporary Approaches, 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

 

Pojman, L. The Theory of Knowledge: Classical and Contemporary Readings, 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2003.

Requisites

Prerequisites

No prerequisite courses.

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer Details for PHIL 1103
Athabasca University (AU) AU PHIL 2XX (3)
Capilano University (CAPU) CAPU PHIL 102 (3)
College of the Rockies (COTR) COTR PHIL 102 (3)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) KPU PHIL 1100 (3)
Langara College (LANG) LANG PHIL 1101 (3)
Okanagan College (OC) OC PHIL 1XX (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) DOUG PHIL 1103 (3) & DOUG PHIL 1152 (3) = SFU PHIL 100 (3) & SFU PHIL 203 (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU PHIL 100 (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU PHIL 2140 (3)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) DOUG PHIL 1102 (3) & DOUG PHIL 1103 (3) = UBCO PHIL 111 (3) & UBCO PHIL 121 (3)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) DOUG PHIL 1103 (3) & DOUG PHIL 1151 (3) = UBCO PHIL 111 (3) & UBCO PHIL 121 (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) Any 2 of DOUG PHIL 1102 (3) or DOUG PHIL 1103 (3) or DOUG PHIL 1151 (3) or DOUG PHIL 1152 (3) or DOUG PHIL 2250 (3) or DOUG PHIL 3300 (3) = UBCV PHIL 100 (6)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC PHIL 1XX (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV PHIL 120 (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC PHIL 1XX (1.5)
Vancouver Island University (VIU) VIU PHIL 111 (3)

Course Offerings

Summer 2023

CRN
Days
Dates
Start Date
End Date
Instructor
Status
CRN
22217
Wed
Start Date
-
End Date
Start Date
End Date
Instructor Last Name
Hadley
Instructor First Name
Jade
Course Status
Waitlist
Max
Enrolled
Remaining
Waitlist
Max Seats Count
35
Actual Seats Count
36
-1
Actual Wait Count
3
Days
Building
Room
Time
Wed
Building
New Westminster - South Bldg.
Room
S1802
Start Time
12:30
-
End Time
15:20