General Information

Contact Info

Professor: Abe Stone ( abestone@ucsc.edu¹)
Office: Cowell Annex A-106
Phone (office): 459-5723
AIM: abestone3
Website: http://people.ucsc.edu/~abestone/courses
Office hours: Mon. 2-3pm, Thurs. 11am-noon, or by appointment.

Teaching Assistants:

Andrew Delunas (adelunas@ucsc.edu)
sections: Wed. 8:00am (Soc Sci 2 165); Fri. 11:00am (Soc Sci 2 167).

Ben Roome (broome@ucsc.edu)
sections: Mon. 7:00pm (Soc Sci 2 165); Tues. 7:30pm (Soc Sci 2 159).

Course Requirements

Participation in discussion sections (approximately 10% of grade). ``Metaphysics exercises'' (kind of a take-home quiz), due in class most days (all exercises together, approximately 35%; graded heavily on a curve). (Exercises due Thurs., Jan. 11, Tues., Jan. 16 Thurs., Jan. 18, Tues., Jan. 23, Tues., Jan. 30, Thurs., Feb. 1; Thurs., Feb. 8; Tues., Feb. 13; Thurs., Feb. 15; Tues., Feb. 20; Thurs., Feb. 22; Tues., Feb. 27; Thurs., Mar. 1; Tues., Mar. 6; and Tues., Mar. 13.) One short paper (2-3 pages), due in class, Tue., Feb. 6 (approximately 20%), and one longer paper (4-6 pages), due Tue., Mar. 20, in my office, by 5pm (approximately 35%). Please also e-mail me copies of your papers (in whatever format you find convenient).

Texts

Descartes, Selected Philosophical Writings, tr. J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff and D. Murdoch (Cambridge).

Leibniz, Philosophical Essays, ed. R. Ariew and D. Garber (Hackett).

Spinoza, The Ethics, Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect, and Selected Letters, tr. S. Shirley, ed. S. Feldman (Hackett).

The above texts should be available at the Literary Guillotine. Readings not from texts on the above list are available on e-reserve.

Footnotes

...mailto:abestone@ucsc.edu¹

Please feel free to contact the instructor and/or your TA with questions about the substance of the course (philosophical issues, questions about the meaning of the texts, questions about paper topics, etc.). On administrative issues (grades, lateness/extensions, due dates, section times, etc.) please try your TA first.