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Northern Illinois University

David Buller

Special Topics: Truth

PHIL 691, Section 1
Spring 2009
TuTh 3:30-4:45, DuSable 474

Course Description Course Requirements Required Texts
Course Schedule Presentation Rubric Essay Rubric

Course Description

A survey of contemporary debates regarding the nature and significance of truth.

Course Requirements

  1. The reading requirement: Each student is required to complete each reading assignment prior to the class period for which it is assigned and to come to class prepared to discuss it.
  2. The presentation requirement: The class will be divided into teams of two students each. Each team will be responsible for leading three class sessions. The teams are to meet in advance of scheduled class sessions, discuss the assigned reading together, and work together on the preparation and delivery of the material for the assigned class. As part of the preparation, each team will meet with me for approximately one hour several days prior to the scheduled class. Presentations will constitute 50% of the final grade; the two highest presentation grades will each constitute 20% of the final grade, and the lowest presentation grade will constitute 10% of the final grade.
  3. The essay requirement: Each student is required to submit a 3500-word term paper, on a topic to be mutually agreed to by the student and instructor. This paper is due no later than Thursday, May 7, at 4:30 p.m. The term paper will constitute 50% of the final grade.

Plagiarism Statement: “The attempt of any student to present as his or her own work that which he or she has not produced is regarded by the faculty and administration as a serious offense. Students are considered to have cheated, for example, if they copy the work of another or use unauthorized notes or other aids during an examination or turn in as their own a paper or an assignment written, in whole or in part, by someone else. Students are guilty of plagiarism, intentional or not, if they copy material from books, magazines, or other sources without identifying and acknowledging those sources or if they paraphrase ideas from such sources without acknowledging them. Students guilty of, or assisting others in, either cheating or plagiarism on an assignment, quiz, or examination may receive a grade of F for the course involved and may be suspended or dismissed from the university.” Northern Illinois University Graduate Catalog

Required Texts

Paul Horwich, Truth, 2nd edition
Michael P. Lynch, ed., The Nature of Truth: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives
Michael P. Lynch, True to Life: Why Truth Matters
Additional Articles and Book Chapters

Course Schedule

(click here for a printable schedule):

Assigned readings are to be completed for the date indicated. All assigned articles are in Lynch, The Nature of Truth, except for the three linked entries, which are available by password.

Tu 1-13 Introduction
Th 1-15 Peirce, “How to Make Our Ideas Clear,” and Putnam, “Two Philosophical Perspectives”
Tu 1-20 James, “Pragmatism’s Conception of Truth”
Th 1-22 Russell, “William James’s Conception of Truth,” in Philosophical Essays (London: Longmans, 1910), pp. 127-149 (Nagashima & Rohrs)
Tu 1-27 Blanshard, “Coherence as the Nature of Truth” (Babb & Delorenzo-Breed)
Th 1-29 Russell, excerpt from “On the Nature of Truth,” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 7 (1906-1907), pp. 28-49, and “Truth and Falsehood” (Vernon & Walsh)
Tu 2-3 Dummett, “Truth” (Chapman & Rough)
Th 2-5 Horwich, Truth, chap. 1 (Karlberg & Vassend)
Tu 2-10 Horwich, Truth, chap. 2, §§ 1-4, 6, and 8-9 (Gin & Jacobs)
Th 2-12 Horwich, Truth, chap. 3 (Haney & O'Grady)
Tu 2-17 Horwich, Truth, chap. 4 (Bowman & Chambliss)
Th 2-19 Horwich, Truth, chap. 5 (Hobbs & Steele)
Tu 2-24 Horwich, Truth, chap. 7 and Conclusion (Nagashima & Rohrs)
Th 2-26 Grover, “The Prosentential Theory” (Babb & Delorenzo-Breed)
Tu 3-3 Devitt, “The Metaphysics of Truth” (Chapman & Rough)
Th 3-5 Putnam, “The Face of Cognition” (Gin & Jacobs)
Tu 3-10 NO CLASS
Th 3-12 NO CLASS
Tu 3-17 Davidson, “The Folly of Trying to Define Truth” (Karlberg & Vassend)
Th 3-19 Rorty, “Pragmatism, Davidson and Truth,” in Objectivity, Relativism, and Truth: Philosophical Papers, Volume 1 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 126-150 (Haney & O'Grady)
Tu 3-24 Wright, “Minimalism, Deflationism, Pragmatism, Pluralism,” §§ 1-2, and Truth and Objectivity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992), pp. 12-24 (Hobbs & Steele)
Th 3-26 Wright, “Minimalism, Deflationism, Pragmatism, Pluralism,” § 3 (Bowman & Chambliss)
Tu 3-31 Wright, “Minimalism, Deflationism, Pragmatism, Pluralism,” §§ 4-5 (Vernon & Walsh)
Th 4-2 Rorty, “Is Truth a Goal of Inquiry? Donald Davidson Versus Crispin Wright” (Chapman & Rough)
Tu 4-7 Horwich, Truth, Postscript (Nagashima & Rohrs)
Th 4-9 Lynch, True to Life, Introduction and chaps. 1-2 (Gin & Jacobs)
Tu 4-14 Lynch, True to Life, chaps. 3-4 (Bowman & Chambliss)
Th 4-16 Lynch, True to Life, chap. 5 (Babb & Delorenzo-Breed)
Tu 4-21 Lynch, True to Life, chap. 6 (Hobbs & Steele)
Th 4-23 Lynch, True to Life, chap. 7 (Vernon & Walsh)
Tu 4-28 Lynch, True to Life, chap. 8 (Haney & O'Grady)
Th 4-30 Lynch, True to Life, chap. chaps 9-10 and Epilogue (Karlberg & Vassend)