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Readings

This section includes both the required and recommended readings for the course. Available below are readings by topic.

Required Texts

Amazon logo Sainsbury, R. M. Paradoxes. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN: 0521483476.

Amazon logo Rucker, R. Infinity and the Mind. New Haven, CT: Princeton University Press, 2004 or 2005. ISBN: 0691121273.

Readings by Topic

SES # TOPICS READINGS
1 Introduction No required readings. Just show up.
2-3 Zeno

Sainsbury. Chapter 1.

If you're up for a fun (and very short) philosophy read, you can check out: Parsons, Josh. "The Eleatic hangover cure." Revised in 2006. Originally published in Analysis 64, no. 4 (2004). (This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.PDF)
4-6 Infinity

Required Reading

Rucker. Chapter 1. (No need to feel guilty if you skip the last three sections: Infinity in the Mindscape, The Absolute Infinite, and Connections.)

Recommended Reading

For those of you who want to go through the proofs, I also recommend:

Fraenkel, A. Set Theory and Logic. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1966, section 3.
7-9 The Higher Infinite

Required Reading

Rucker. Chapter 2.

Recommended Reading

Rucker. Excursion I.
10-11 Set Theory

Required Reading

Sainsbury. Section 5.1.

Recommended Reading

Rucker. Chapter 5.
12-13 Vagueness

Required Reading

Wright, Crispin. "Language-mastery and the sorites paradox." In Truth and Meaning: Essays in Semantics. Edited by Gareth Evans and John Henry McDowell. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1976, pp. 223-247. ISBN: 0198245173. Reprinted in Vagueness: A Reader. Reprint ed. Edited by Rosanna Keefe and Peter Smith. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999, pp. 151-173. ISBN: 0262611457.
14-15 Newcomb's Puzzle

Required Reading

Sainsbury. Chapter 3.

Recommended Reading

Lewis, David. "Prisonsers' Dilemma Is a Newcomb Problem." Philosophy and Public Affairs 8, no. 3 (Spring 1979): 235-240.

———. "Causal Decision Theory." Philosophical Papers. Vol. 2. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1986. ISBN: 0195036468. (difficult reading)
16-17 The Liar Paradox

Required Reading

Sainsbury. Sections 5.2 through 5.9.

Recommended Reading

Tarski, Alfred. "The Semantic Conception of Truth: and the Foundations of Semantics." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 4, no. 3 (March 1944): 341-376.
18-19 Computability

Recommended Reading

Boolos, George S., John P. Burgess, and Richard C. Jeffrey. Computability and Logic. 4th ed. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2002, chapters 3 and 4, pp. 23-44.
20-21 Backward Induction and Common Knowledge

Required Reading

Carroll, John. "The Backward Induction Argument." Theory and Decision: An International Journal for Methods and Models in the Social and Decision Sciences 48, no. 1 (February 200): 61-84.
22-23 Godel's Theorem

Required Reading

Rucker. Excursion II.

Recommended Reading

For those who want to have a look at the proofs (very difficult - but this is, after all, MIT):

Mendelson, Elliott. Introduction to Mathematical Logic. 4th ed. London, UK: Chapman & Hall, 1997, Chapter 3. ISBN: 0412808307.
24-27 Godel's Theorem (cont.)

Required Reading

Sainsbury. Chapter 3.

Recommended Reading

Lewis, David. "Prisonsers' Dilemma Is a Newcomb Problem." Philosophy and Public Affairs 8, no. 3 (Spring 1979): 235-240.

———. "Causal Decision Theory." Philosophical Papers. Vol. 2. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1986. ISBN: 0195036468. (difficult reading)