FUNDAMENTALS OF PHILOSOPHY,
INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY Fall
2008
Dr. Christine A. James
PHIL 2010
C Fundamentals of Philosophy CRN 80755
MWF 11:00am-11:50am in WH 104
This syllabus is available online, and may
be updated, at http://teach.valdosta.edu/chjames/FUNDAMENTALSOFPHILOSOPHYFall2008.htm
Office: 110 Ashley Hall
Office Hours: TR
9:15am-11:00am, MW 3:15pm-4:45pm and after classes and by appointment as
needed.
Telephone:
259-7609
Mailbox: Philosophy Department Office
Fax: 259-5011
E-mail address: chjames@valdosta.edu
Course content: This course
provides an introduction to philosophy, giving a basic understanding of the
various areas and specializations within philosophy. Our readings come from various approaches
(theories of knowledge, social and political philosophy, ethics, feminist theory) and from various time periods in the
history of philosophy (from classical philosophers like Socrates to
contemporary philosophers who are still living, like Daniel Dennett and Rita
Manning). This is a reading intensive
course, so it will require you to read, think about, and write about a
considerable amount of material.
Requirements:
Class participation and attendance, two written examinations, two
papers, various WebCT Vista assignments and
discussions. Pop Reading Quizzes may
also be given during the semester.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Philosophy courses at
http://www.valdosta.edu/academic/VSUGeneralEducationOutcomes.shtml
The Learning Outcomes for PHIL 2010
are:
1. To understand the distinctions among the various sub-fields of philosophy, including epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics as comprising basic branches of the discipline.
2. To recognize how philosophical inquiry applies to ‘real-world’ circumstances and to individual reflection on the meaning of life.
3. To become conversant with the history of philosophy. The course emphasizes Western philosophy in particular, including such significant developments as empiricism, materialism, idealism, rationalism, pragmatism, and existentialism.
4. To recognize and define different world views, adopting a reasonably viable one and justifying it in a philosophically informed way that emphasizes critical reasoning and argument.
5. To demonstrate the ability to discuss, in both oral and written discourse, the philosophical issues explored in the course.
6. To be familiar with what academic philosophy is, and to understand how it can be applied to daily life as well as specific careers.
Members of the faculty in Philosophy and Religious
Studies have verified that these outcomes are in line with the outcomes of the
course as it is taught at peer institutions in the State System of Georgia.
These
course-specific learning outcomes contribute to the departmental
1. To encourage an understanding of central issues, topics and
philosophers in the history of philosophy, from the ancient to the modern
periods.
2. To develop students’ abilities to think, write, and speak
critically and logically.
3. To enable students to challenge their own ideas and to develop
self-understanding in the context of a diverse range of ideas which inform
contemporary controversies and social conflict.
4. To enable students to engage in independent philosophical
research, and to be responsible for communicating their understanding of the
issues researched and developed, including a working familiarity with current
research methods.
5. To incorporate philosophical positions in oral and written
6. To critically outline and analyze a philosophical question.
Required Texts:
Fifty Readings in Philosophy, Donald C.
Abel, ed. (You should have the third
edition, which is the enhanced Fifty Readings Plus, it includes information on
how to access additional materials online.)
Be sure to do the reading before the class for which it is
assigned. Please bring the relevant book(s) and/or article(s) with you to
class, along with a designated notebook and some pens.
(In addition,
Philosophy and Religious Studies faculty encourage you to use Andrea A.
Lunsford, St. Martin’s Handbook, 5th ed. which was required in ENGL 1101
and 1102 courses. These books are available for purchase at the VSU Bookstore.
The
How grades will be calculated:
A =
100 - 90% Class
participation, attendance = 20%
B =
89 - 80% 2
Exams at 20% each = 40%
C =
79 - 70% 2
Papers at 20% each = 40%
D =
69 - 60% Total
= 100%
F =
59 - 0%
Please note that I am not obligated to
accept late work or to allow “make up” work after the date an assignment or
exam or paper is completed by the other members of the class.
I also make no promises about extra credit
items, although I will routinely announce events on campus that can result in
some extra credit points for you.
Exams and Papers: The exams in our class will be “short answer” written exams. Usually I ask six questions and a complete
answer should be no less than four complete sentences. These exams are “objective” in the sense that
the answers can be directly related to class discussions and the textbook.
http://teach.valdosta.edu/chjames/PHIL2010PaperHandout.htm
Here are some extra links, if you would like to use outside sources and secondary source material:
http://books.valdosta.edu/gal1.html (click on “Full Text Journal Title
List”) and
http://www.valdosta.edu/library/learn/guides/philosophy.shtml
The direct link for the database (Academic
Search Complete)
http://www.galileo.usg.edu/express?link=zbac (Click on Academic Search Complete to open the first page with the search box.)
Attendance Policy: I do care that
you attend class regularly. As you know,
VSU policy is that missing 20% of class meetings results in an automatic grade
of “F”. Faculty can also institute added
attendance policies in their syllabi. Our class will have a 10% rule for
absences. You can miss up to 10% of the
class meetings with no grade penalty.
10% of our 30 class meetings is 3.
On absence number 4, your final grade for the course will be reduced by
one whole letter grade; on absence number 5, your final grade for the course
will be reduced by two whole letter grades; on absence number 6, you will
automatically fail the course. Be
considerate of your fellow students – don’t be late, and don’t leave your cell
phones and pagers on. Note that if you
are regularly late to class, or leave class early, I will begin to count each
as an absence. Please note that this
policy makes no distinction between excused and unexcused absences.
Special Needs:
Students requiring classroom accommodations or
modification because of a documented disability should discuss this need with
me at the beginning of the semester. If
you are such a student, but you are not registered with the Access Office, you
should contact them too. Students
requesting classroom accommodations or modifications because of a documented disability
must contact the Access Office for Students with Disabilities located in room
1115 Nevins Hall. The phone numbers are 229-245-2498 (voice) and 229-219-1348 (tty).
Participate!
Once you
arrive at class, make an effort to get involved in the conversation. Don’t
hesitate to ask questions if you need clarification or would like more
information: if you are confused, it is likely that others are too! The
participation percentage you receive will depend on a variety of factors,
including (but not limited to) the frequency and helpfulness of your
contributions to class discussions and the care you take when peer editing.
Pop
Reading Quizzes:
If I
notice that there are many students who are not keeping up with the reading, I
may periodically administer reading quizzes in class. These will not be
announced in advance. No “make-up” quizzes will be given, and a missed quiz
will result in a grade of zero. These
quizzes are a solid reward for attending class, participating, and keeping up
with the readings.
Online Discussions:
During
certain weeks of the semester, you also will be expected to participate
regularly in on-line discussions using WebCT Vista.
Use this opportunity to comment on the week’s readings, ask questions, raise
objections, and respond to what others have written or said in class.
To use
To log in
to Vista and the course “shell,” go to the VSU homepage and click on the words WebCT Vista in the upper right-hand corner.
Your username and password are the same as for your BlazeNet
e-mail account. For instructions on getting started, go to: http://www.valdosta.edu/vista
When
posting in an online bulletin board, like those in the Discussion area of WebCT Vista, you must (1) post at least one original
message of your own, (2) read all the messages posted by others, and (3)
respond substantively to at least one
message from another student. Your postings are due the same day as the
readings are listed in the schedule below (i.e., no later than
Your
first message on a given topic should be about 200 words in length. That is
roughly the length of two medium-sized paragraphs (e.g., this one and the
next). Your second (response) posting can be about half that length, but it
should be substantive (i.e.,
involving serious content). Try not to simply repeat what others have said
already. Additional postings can be as long or as short as you desire. Be sure
to give the first message an interesting title in the “Subject” line. This will
help alert the rest of us as to what it will be about.
When you
are ready to respond to someone else, do so by opening their message and
hitting the “Reply” button. This will create a “thread” that others can add on
to. Keep in mind that although it is fine to disagree with what someone else
has said, it is important to do so in a way that is polite and constructive. If
someone says something that makes you angry, pause and take a breath before
firing off a reply! You can preview your message before you send it, but once
you have hit “Post,” your message will no longer be editable.
Academic
Honesty:
Members
of the
http://www.valdosta.edu/academic/AcademicHonestyPoliciesandProcedures.shtml
http://www.valdosta.edu/academic/documents/ReportofAcademicDishonesty.doc
E-Mail:
VSU
policy mandates that all official communication by e-mail take place through
VSU e-mail accounts or through the WebCT Vista Mail
tool. Please check your VSU
(@valdosta.edu) e-mail account regularly.
Note: This
syllabus is not a legal contract; the content of this course is subject to
revision by the professor.
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Schedule
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|
8/18 M |
Introduction to the class. Syllabus First reading together: Academic
Integrity http://teach.valdosta.edu/chjames/acin.htm http://teach.valdosta.edu/chjames/acin.doc http://teach.valdosta.edu/chjames/acin.pdf For the next class, read the textbook’s
Preface, Intro, and reading #1 in Ch. 1. (Each date in the class after this one
assumes that you will have read that day’s assigned discussion reading before
class.) What is Philosophy? Do Philosophy majors get jobs related to
that major? Here are two pages to answer
that: |
|
8/20 W |
Discussion of Philosophy and Plato's Euthyphro,
which is |
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8/22 F |
Discussion of Plato, and Russell,
“Problems of Philosophy: The Value of Philosophy” which is reading #2. |
|
8/25 M |
Discussion of Plato, King and the Value of
Philosophy, |
|
8/27 W |
Review day, Plato’s Republic |
|
8/29 F |
FIRST EXAM |
|
9/1 M |
No class, Labor Day |
|
9/3 W |
Today, begin to post in the online WebCT
Vista Discussion board for our class.
Topics will be listed in the class, under the Discussion tool link. http://www.valdosta.edu/vista Begin Theories of Knowledge (Epistemology), introducing Descartes and Locke. |
|
9/5 F |
Discussion of Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, #13,
and Locke, An Essay Concerning Human
Understanding, #14 |
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9/8 M |
Discussion of |
|
9/10 W |
Video presentation and discussion on
Williams syndrome (social knowledge) |
|
9/12 F |
Discussion of Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, #16 (We will
have class today.) |
|
9/15 M |
Discussion of Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, #17 |
|
9/17 W |
Discussion of Kant, Hume, the problem of
induction and philosophy of science |
|
9/19 F |
Discussion of Peirce, Fixation of Belief, #18 and Discussion of Puhakka,
Invitation to Authentic Knowing, #19
(Dr. James will be in |
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9/22 M |
(Dr. James will be in |
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9/24 W |
(Dr. James will be in |
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9/26 F |
(Dr. James will be in |
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9/29 M |
Help with papers. |
|
10/1 W |
FIRST PAPER DUE TODAY Be ready to discuss your papers in class. |
|
10/2 F |
Begin Ethics,
Chapter 6; Discussion of Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, #34 |
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10/4 M |
Discussion of Kant, Metaphysics of Morals, #36 |
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10/6 W |
Discussion of Mill, Utilitarianism, #37 Are you anticipating having a job interview? Here’s a document that might help! http://teach.valdosta.edu/chjames/jobsearch.pdf http://teach.valdosta.edu/chjames/jobsearch.doc |
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10/10 F |
Discussion of Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, #48 |
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10/13 M |
No Class,
Fall Break |
|
10/15 W |
Discussion of Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism, #40 |
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10/17 F |
Discussion of Rachels, The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, #41 |
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10/20 M |
Discussion of Manning, Just Caring, #42 |
|
10/22 W |
Begin Social
and Political Philosophy Discussion of Hobbes, Leviathan, #44 |
|
10/24 F |
Discuss Hobbes, Leviathan, and Locke's Second
Treatise, #45 |
|
10/27 M |
Discussion of Rawls, A Theory of Justice, #50 |
|
10/29 W |
Discussion
of Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the
Rights of Woman, #48 |
|
10/31 F |
SECOND PAPER DUE Be ready to discuss your paper in class. |
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11/3 M |
Discussion of Free Will and Determinism http://teach.valdosta.edu/chjames/Determinism.doc Discussion of d'Holbach, System of Nature, #28 and Hospers, |
|
11/5 W |
Discussion
of James, #30 Amélie |
|
11/7 F |
Discussion
of |
|
11/10 M |
Discussion
of Stace, #32 The Matrix |
|
11/12 W |
The
Matrix |
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11/14 F |
The
Matrix |
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11/17 M |
Discussion
of Holmstrom, #33, Thank You For Smoking |
|
11/19 W |
“
continue discussion of Holmstrom and advertising
and free will, habits |
|
11/21 F |
“
continue discussion of Holmstrom and advertising
and free will, habits |
|
11/24 M |
Discussion
of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and The Pali Canon, eastern ideas on free will |
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11/26 W |
(Dr. James will be in |
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11/28 F |
(Dr. James will be in |
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12/1 M |
Eastern notions of free will, karma,
dharma |
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12/3 W |
Discussion
of Daniel Dennett, Review of Free Will and Determinism readings |
|
12/5 F |
Free
will, religious beliefs, evolution and intelligent design theory |
|
12/8 M |
Last
official class meeting, review for Final Exam |
The last official class day for all Fall Semester classes is
Monday 12/8.
FINAL EXAM:
For classes that normally meet MWF at 11:00, the Registrar has set
the official exam time for Friday, December 12 at 12:30pm in the usual room.
If you are not sure about how the final exam times are assigned
for your other courses, use this link, and check the Final Exam Schedule here:
http://www.valdosta.edu/it/eas/sis/documents/Fall2008FinalExamSchedule.pdf
Special Pilot Project: Online Course Evaluations
This course is part of a pilot project this
semester, testing a new online Student Opinion of Instruction (SOI) form. Student evaluations are extremely important
in helping faculty members plan and revise their courses. Rather than completing these evaluations
during class time, students will need to access evaluation forms via BANNER and
complete them in a period from November 24-December 8, 2008 (the last class
day). You will only complete evaluations
online for the classes that are part of this pilot project; other classes may
still require you to complete a scantron form in
class. Please take the time to complete
this important evaluation (or opt out of providing an evaluation) during the
designated period. If you do not do so,
you will not be able to access the grade for this class, scheduled to be posted
on December 15, 2008.
The Administration has not yet set up the online forms, and Dr.
James will update the class with instructions when they are available.
Tips for doing well in Philosophy classes, adapted from a handout
by Robert Scott
1.
Read text with a pencil, underline the important ideas and key concepts.
Write down technical ideas, key terms, key distinctions between two terms,
definitions, diagrams, etc. to help you remember them.
2. Write questions or reactions you have to the
text in the margin of the book. Ask
about these questions in class, and keep them in mind, since they may provide
good points to make about that author in papers you will write for class.
3.
Read ahead to see the ultimate objectives of the chapter and of the
individual readings. Keep in mind the
overall picture of the chapters given in the introductory sections to each
chapter in the book.
4.
Work with the new terminology frequently, and try to apply it to
situations outside of class. I would
recommend flash cards to help you memorize the meanings of new terms quickly.
5.
For longer readings, be sure to review the reading as a whole after you
have read it section-by-section. What
was the main question the author wanted to address? What were the answers? What
concepts were used to make the points?
6.
When confronted with a difficult reading or question, break it down into
parts, and into individual ideas. This
will at least help to clarify the question, even if it might not give the
answer. And for philosophy, clarifying
the question is really half the battle!
7.
Ponder an unsolved problem and return to it every so often to see if it
will give. Inspiration may happen at an
unexpected time, and the subconscious mind does work on problems even when we
aren't consciously aware of it.
8.
Begin work on all the class tasks early, and spread out your work over
time so as to maximize your chances for comprehending the readings accurately,
memorizing the information, and grappling with the questions for papers.
9. If
you do need to meet with an instructor outside of class, be sure to have your
questions for the instructor planned out ahead of time, to make the meeting as
productive as possible.
10.
Always think about the philosophical issues for yourself, rather than
waiting to be told what to think or believe.
11.
Study for all exams on a daily basis, for at least a week before the
exam date. You will need to know who said what, from memory.
12. Try
to anticipate the questions that will be asked on an examination
beforehand. Questions may come from the
readings or from lectures and class discussions, but in either case, certain
terms and concepts will be emphasized more than others.
13.
Listen carefully to different points of view, and actively respond (when
you read, when you are in class, and when you write your philosophy papers)!
14.
Philosophy involves skills, like learning to appreciate a good debate,
learning to imagine the world differently than we assume it to be, and
appreciating the world with a sense of wonder.
(1) A really great website for students about how to write
academic papers is maintained by the Dartmouth Writing Program:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/toc.shtml
In addition to lots of helpful general information, it has
special pages on "Writing the Religion Paper" and "Writing the
Philosophy Paper."
(2) A great website that explains the importance of
critically evaluating web resources -- always a problem area for students – is
maintained by Robert Harris:
http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it.htm
(3) A third thing I'm planning to do this semester is to
require students to own a copy of the