Fate, Time, and Language. The Philosophy of David Foster Wallace

David Foster Wallace (1962–2008) has been one of the most talented writers of his generation. His novels The Broom of the System (1987) and Infinite Jest (1996), together with his numerous short stories, are considered among the best fiction works of the twentieth century. However, few know that David Foster Wallace was also a brilliant philosophical mind. While majoring at Amherst College in English literature, David submitted an honor thesis at the Philosophy Department. This philosophical work of him has recently been published, and Wallace's thesis is what this course is about.

Wallace became interested in the so-called Taylor's problem. Taylor was a notable philosopher that in 1962 published a provocative article on fatalism. Taylor's point was to demonstrate how from six commonly-accepted assumptions on how we understand language it is possible to derive fatalism, a view according to which there is no room for human freedom. Under fatalism, what is about to happen in the future is not really up to us, and all people can do is nothing but to go with the flow over which they enjoy absolutely no influence.

Wallace was a brilliant student who got entangled with the Taylor's problem. He found deeply disturbing that such a strong conclusion could be derived by Taylor just from considerations about language and logic. Wallace was portrayed as an exceptional student who combined raw analytical horsepower with an indefatigable work ethic. His thesis is a fascinating and lucid attempt to debunk Taylor's argument. In this course we will cover the Taylor's problem, the literature on it, and David Foster Wallace's take on the problem.