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"The consideration of substance," Leibniz remarks, "is of the greatest importance and fruitfulness for philosophy"; and he claims that failure to understand the nature of substance is the cause of Descartes' errors and Spinoza's paradoxes. Admittedly, Descartes' distinction between thinking and extended substance, Spinoza's identification of substance with God, Malebranche's and Bayle's occasionalist account of finite substances, Leibniz's doctrine of the trans-temporal identity of substances, and Locke's notion of substance as the "we know not what" support of qualities, all are central puzzles in early modern people. The purpose of the seminar is explore these puzzles and their effect on discussions of God, individuation, freedom, and causation.

Instructor: Dr. Stephen H. Daniel
Office hours (Bolton 302-B): Tuesday & Thursday 11:00-2:00
Phone: 979-845-5619 (office), 979-846-4649 (home)
E-mail: sdaniel@people.tamu.edu

Course website: http://people.tamu.edu/%7Esdaniel/661sy10c.html

Students with disabilities are guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please contact the Department of Student Life, Disability Services, Cain Hall B118, or call 845-1637.

Students are bound by the Aggie honor code not to lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do. Using notes during a quiz or test, submitting another someone else's work as one's own (e.g., plagiarizing from the Internet), copying from another student's test, or modifying a previously graded test to improve the grade are acts of scholastic dishonesty. If you violate the code, you will fail the course; no second chances. For more on cheating and plagiarism, see http://www.tamu.edu/ aggiehonor/.