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Calendar

PHIL 317, History of American philosophy, Fall 2026

9/18

This coming week we have our first in-person session. See the description for notes. You want to have read both of the following:

Know enough about these texts that you’ll be prepared to write on them in class.

9/11

Let me put up front two things work-wise you should have on your mind:

  • You have a commentary due September 18th, a week from today, and
  • We have our first in-person meeting on September 24th, which is two weeks from yesterday.

For the first, see the general description of my expectations for commentaries. For the second, see the instructions for the 9/24 session. Write (or, better yet, post on Discord) with any questions.

This coming week I want to think about a certain tension in early American thinking about rights, and I want to think about it in reference to two writings by Thomas Jefferson—in fact, two of the ‘Queries’ from his Notes on the State of Virginia.

  • In Query XVIII, Jefferson discusses the institution of slavery
  • In Query XIV, Jefferson is discussing the laws and then suddenly launches on a tirade against black talent

In the back of your mind, you might consider a popular conception (misconception?) of Jefferson as having a certain idealistic view about equality and the universality of natural rights, and having the merely practical blemish or imperfection—perhaps one you might put down to ‘the spirit of the times’—of having kept slaves himself. I think if you can manage to distinguish between the morality of the slave trade (which Jefferson openly detests) and the morality of slavery itself, you might see that Jefferson manages to think of these as separate moral concerns. And then all appearance of a ‘tension’ between Jefferson’s, say, philosophical beliefs and his actions should, I think, vanish. But that is just my read of the matter. Work through those two excerpts from Notes on the State of Virginia and see what you come up with.

Be sure also to consider, in connection with Query XIV:

One thing that I think stands as an open question is just what the relation is between slavery and the culture of taste. I’ve posted excerpts from Simon Gikandi’s Slavery and the Culture of Taste for your consideration, if you’re interested in the question the way I am. We could put the question narrowly like this: Why, and in what way, does disparaging Wheatley matter to Jefferson? She published a book of poetry in 1773 and very quickly felt into obscurity, dying a decade latter. Jefferson wrote the Notes in the 1780s, around the time she died. What does Jefferson get out of mocking her poetry? (The editors of the Notes think, too, that he deliberately misspells her name.) I ultimately find Gikandi more suggestive and less conclusive than my tastes, as it were—but that might be more a fact about our different disciplines and the things we study. Gikandi’s view, in short, is that the rise of the notion of taste requires obscuring enslavement as one of its conditions of possibility. Some of the excerpt there traces the history of thinkers being racist in weird ways, including Jefferson (and including Jefferson’s mentions of Wheatley). See Gikandi for more context and discussion.

9/4

Next week three readings to consider:

That first commentary is due two weeks from today. The first thing you should be thinking about is: Which two readings are you interested in writing about? That’s all you probably need to do for now.

If you’re wondering how to hand commentaries in: You can email your commentaries to me or you can bring a hard copy to the 9/24 session. (Remember that you have a ten-day grace period.)

8/29

Okay, I made peace with Edwards and we are going to read excerpts from The Nature of True Virtue, but I’ve shortened the excerpt from the first chapter (finding beauty is loving God) to just a few pages and included chapter 3, which has my favorite little bit in which Edwards describes punishment as beautiful. I want to think about how that challenges and complicates the view we foregrounded in Roelefs and Kant, that the aesthetic describes a way in which we find and forge community. So, next week, after you’ve worked through A Divine and Supernatural Light:

We do want to have in mind commentaries that are due in about a week and a half (soon!); I’ll discuss those soon.

8/28

Two things to do:

  1. Check out the syllabus and see the videos in the 8/26 entry below for a review of the course basics.
  2. Read Jonathan Edwards’ A Divine and Supernatural Light.

That’s it for now. I had initially slated a second Edwards reading for this week, but a little Edwards goes a long way; I’ve made the other Edwards reading optional. I have some more exciting ideas about what we can think about before next week; I’ll post an update soon on what else to work through this week.

8/26

I’ve got three videos up that hopefully answer most of your questions about the course.

  • The first video discusses the calendar (the page you are looking at right now) and ways of reaching me and staying up to date on material for the course
  • The second video discusses the course outline: where the readings are, how to read them, how to make use of my notes.
  • The third video discusses the syllabus: assignments, grading, policies relating to that, and so on.

This is the best time of the semester to get questions relating to this sort of thing answered. Watch the videos, poke around on the site, and write me (or the rest of the class, through Discord) with any remaining questions.

8/24

Welcome to the fall semester!

A couple of things you might take note of sooner rather than later:

  1. Figure out how to get in touch with me. Reach me over email, on Discord, on Zoom, and during my office hours.
  2. Check out the syllabus. Pay special attention to the assignment structure, and be sure to get your questions answered now.
  3. Find the readings for this week (week 1) on the course outline: a little orientation to the main questions of the semester.
  4. Figure out how you’re going to keep on top of material and assignments over the course of the semester. Some things to keep in mind:
    • I’m going to edit this page about once a week with a general overview of what’s going on.
    • I’ll post more frequent updates on the Discord server, which might be an (or another) reason for following what’s going on there.

See how much you can figure out on your own; Wednesday I’ll post a video running through some of the basic info. Shoot me an email or DM on Discord with any questions in the meanwhile.