FUNDAMENTALS
OF PHILOSOPHY, INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY Spring
2007
Dr. Christine A. James
80605 PHIL
2010 D Fundamentals of Philosophy MW 5:00pm-6:15pm
WH 104
This
syllabus is available online, and may be updated, at http://teach.valdosta.edu/chjames/FUNDAMENTALSOFPHILOSOPHYspring2007.htm
Office: 110 Ashley Hall
Office Hours: MTW
10:30am-12:00pm, in between 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, and two papers.
Pop Reading Quizzes may also be given during the semester.
Required Texts:
Fifty Readings in
Philosophy,
Donald C. Abel, ed. (Most students
will have the second edition with the gray cover. It is alright with me if you have the first
edition with the black cover, but do look carefully for readings that have
moved to a different order in the text.)
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. (required in ENGL 1101 and
1102).
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
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).
LEARNING OUTCOMES: By the end of the semester,
1. You will be able to understand the distinctions among the various sub-fields of philosophy, including epistemology, metaphysics, and ethics as comprising basic branches of the discipline.
2. You will be able to recognize how philosophical inquiry applies to ‘real-world’ circumstances and to individual reflection on the meaning of life.
3. You will 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. You will be able 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. You will be able to demonstrate the ability to discuss, in both oral and written discourse, the philosophical issues explored in the course.
6. You will be familiar with what academic philosophy is, and you will 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.
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:
(Special Thank You to
Richard Amesbury and other faculty members who teach using WebCT
Vista, and the eCore staff!)
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 and the
help pages at http://www.valdosta.edu/vista/guides/start/index.shtml
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
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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1/8 |
Introduction
to the class. 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: |
|
1/10 |
Discussion
of Philosophy and Plato's Euthyphro, which is |
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1/15 |
No
class, Martin Luther King Jr. Day |
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1/17 |
Discussion
of Plato, and Russell, “Problems of Philosophy: The Value of Philosophy”
which is reading #2. |
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1/22 |
Discussion
of Plato, King and the Value of Philosophy, |
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1/24 |
Review day, Plato’s Republic |
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1/29 |
FIRST EXAM |
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1/31 |
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. |
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2/5 |
Begin Theories of Knowledge (Epistemology), introducing Descartes and Locke |
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2/7 |
Discussion
of Descartes, Meditations on First
Philosophy, #13, and Locke, #14 |
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2/12 |
Discussion
of Locke, An Essay Concerning Human
Understanding, #14 |
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2/14 |
Video
presentation and discussion on Williams syndrome (social knowledge) Discussion
of |
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2/19 |
Discussion of Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, #16 |
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2/21 |
Discussion of Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, #17 |
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2/26 |
Discussion of Peirce, Fixation of Belief, #18 |
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2/28 |
Discussion
of Puhakka, Invitation
to Authentic Knowing, #19 Help
with papers. |
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3/5 |
FIRST PAPER DUE TODAY Be ready to discuss your
papers in class. |
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3/7 |
Begin
Ethics, Chapter 6; Discussion of Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, #34 |
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3/12, 3/14 |
No
class, Spring Break Week |
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3/19 |
Discussion
of Kant, Metaphysics of Morals, #36 |
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3/21 |
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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3/26 |
Discussion
of Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil,
#48 |
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3/28 |
Discussion of Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism, #40 |
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4/2 |
Discussion of Rachels, The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, #41 |
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4/4 |
Discussion of Manning, Just Caring, #42 |
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4/9 |
Begin
Social and Political Philosophy Discussion of Hobbes, Leviathan, #44 |
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4/11 |
Discuss Hobbes, Leviathan, and Locke's Second Treatise, #45 |
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All
students are encouraged to attend the Council on Undergraduate Research
Symposium in the Bailey Bio Chem Building
Auditorium on the night of April 12 and all day on April 13. |
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4/16 |
Discussion of Rawls, A Theory of Justice, #50 |
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4/18 |
SECOND PAPER DUE Be ready to discuss your paper in class. |
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4/23 |
Discussion
of Free Will and Determinism http://teach.valdosta.edu/chjames/Determinism.doc Discussion of d'Holbach, System
of Nature, #28 and Hospers, |
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4/25 |
Discussion
of Holmstrom, James, and other readings in
determinism |
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4/30 |
On this date the senior philosophy and religious studies students will be presenting papers in West Hall 104. |
The last official class day
for all Fall Semester classes is Monday 4/30.
FINAL EXAM:
For classes that normally meet
at
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 on page 3 of the Registrar’s Fall 2006 Guide
document:
http://www.valdosta.edu/eas/sis/guides/RG_Spring_07.pdf
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
Dr. Richard Amesbury