Final Exam

Just a reminder that the final exam is Monday, December 20th, at 11:00 a.m. in our normal classroom. You'll have 50 minutes to take it.

After that, we're done! Then, time to enjoy your break. COMMENCE WINTER-TIME ENJOYMENTATIONALIZING...NESS.

Group Presentation Research

Here are some helpful starter links on your topics for your group presentations. I don't expect you to read them all, but you should at least browse them to see what you might be interested in specifically regarding your topic.

Team Personal Identity (1st on Wednesday, 12/8/10)
[intermediate] [advanced] [summary of "A Dialogue on Personal Identity & Immortality"] [identity in general] [Ship of Theseus] [personal identity & ethics]
Anthony, Eric, Karly, Matt C., Richard, Viviana

Team Meaning of Life (2nd on Wednesday, 12/8/10)
[intermediate] [religion links] [Camus's "Myth of Sisyphus"] [Nagel's "The Absurd"] ["Love and Death"] [42?]
Chloe, James, Kassandra, Kelsey, Sam, Sierra

Team Ethics (to be specified) (3rd on Wednesday, 12/8/10)
Alicia, Austin, William

Team Confucius (1st on Monday, 12/13/10)
[intermediate] [advanced] [The Analects (free online translation)] [What is De? (part 1) (part 2)] [Neo-Confucianism] [Chinese ethics] [Confucius from a Japanese perspective]
Brian, Delilah, Kevin, Matt E., Michael, Zach

Team Immortality (2nd on Monday, 12/13/10)
[death] [resurrection] [summary of "A Dialogue on Personal Identity & Immortality"]
Lisa, Melissa, Remy, Sung

Team Aristotle (1st on Wednesday, 12/15/10)
[read excerpts from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: pages 269-277 of the textbook] [intermediate] [advanced] [Aristotle's virtue ethics (intermediate) (advanced)] [virtue ethics] [Aristotle's ethics (audio)] [Aristotle on happiness (audio] [Aristotle on virtues (audio)]
Katherine, Lexis, Marissa, Olivia

Team Faith and Reason (2nd on Wednesday, 12/15/10)
[intermediate] [nonevidentialism] [evidentialism: intermediate, advanced] ["Believing Without Evidence"] ["The Ethics of Belief"] ["The Will to Believe"] [Flew, Hare (reply), & Mitchell (summary)] [lots of links]
Dana, Dawn, Josh, Nancy, Robin

Group Presentations

Here are the group assignments. If you're not in a group yet, let me know as soon as possible so we can get you in one.

Team Personal Identity (1st on Wednesday, 12/8/10)
Anthony, Eric, Karly, Matt C., Richard, Viviana

Team Meaning of Life (2nd on Wednesday, 12/8/10)
Chloe, James, Kassandra, Kelsey, Sam, Sierra

Team Ethics (to be specified) (3rd on Wednesday, 12/8/10)
Alicia, Austin, William

Team Confucius (1st on Monday, 12/13/10)
Brian, Delilah, Kevin, Matt E., Michael, Zach

Team Immortality (2nd on Monday, 12/13/10)
Lisa, Melissa, Remy, Sung

Team Aristotle (1st on Wednesday, 12/15/10)
Katherine, Lexis, Marissa, Olivia

Team Faith and Reason (2nd on Wednesday, 12/15/10)
Dana, Dawn, Josh, Nancy, Robin

Also, I mentioned this in class, but just in case...

Attendance is mandatory for the group presentations on Wednesday (12/8/10), Monday, (12/13/10), and Wednesday (12/15/10). It's the only time I'll be a stickler for it. Basically, I want you to show respect for the other groups presenting.

If you don't attend on either the days your group isn't presenting (and your absence isn't excused), your own personal presentation grade will drop. Each day you don't attend will lower your grade by a full letter grade.

One last thing: be sure to keep the presentations under 15 minutes. A 10-minute presentation is ideal, so we can have time for a short question-and-answer session afterwards.

Midterm

Just a reminder: the midterm will be held on Friday, November 5th. It's worth 20% of your overall grade. There will be a review in class on Wednesday. It will cover the topics we discussed in class so far:

• philosophy in general
• doing philosophy
• understanding and evaluating arguments
• types of arguments: deductive, example, analogy, causal, authority
  
• what is knowledge?
• Plato on knowledge vs. true belief
  
• skepticism (specifically external world skepticism)
  
• Descartes battling skepticism
• Descartes's certainty: his arg that "I exist"
  
• Nick Bostrom's simulation arg for skepticism
• God stuff
• The cosmological argument, specifically:
• Aquinas's "first cause" version of the argument
  
• The abductive version of the "first cause" argument
  
• Aquinas's "contingency" version of the argument
  

BE THERE.

Religion Journal Guideline

Here is a guideline for the next big assignment: the journal you have to keep during our discussion of God.

Worth: 15% of your overall grade

Due Date: the beginning of class on Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

Assignment: The assignment is to keep a journal during our section on philosophy of religion. I want you to write several short journal entries about the various arguments for and against the existence of God. We’ll be going over all these arguments in class during the next few weeks. Each entry should be around two paragraphs long.

This assignment is a chance for you to do philosophy. I want you to demonstrate that you understand what we are reading and discussing. (Present each argument in your own words.) In addition to this, I want you to critically evaluate each argument we read and discuss. (Are any premises questionable? Does the argument provide enough support for its conclusion?) It is also a chance for you to give your opinion on these arguments, and defend your opinion with good reasons.

You should have the following journal entries, in this order:

1) Your first entry on your thoughts about God before discussing any of this stuff in class. Do you think there is a God? Why or why not?

2) An entry explaining and evaluating the cosmological argument (Aquinas reading).

3) An entry explaining and evaluating the design argument (Hume reading).

4) An entry explaining and evaluating the problem of evil argument (Sober, Augustine, and Hick readings).

5) A final entry where you discuss your thoughts about God after reading these philosophers and discussing this in class. Has your opinion about God changed? Have your reasons for your opinion changed?

The journal does not have to be typed. There is no length requirement. (Again, the suggestion is around two paragraphs per journal entry.)

Paper #1 Guidelines

(Want tips on writing a philosophy essay? Check out here and here!)

New Due Date: at the beginning of class on Wednesday, October 13th, 2010 Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

Worth: 50 points (5% of final grade)

Assignment: Write an argumentative essay on external world skepticism: the claim that we do not know anything about the physical world beyond our immediate sense experiences. In particular, choose one of the topics below. Papers must be typed, and must be between 300-600 words long. Write down the word count on the first page of the paper.

Possible Paper Topics
1. Criticize skepticism of the external world. Describe what you take to be the best argument for external-world skepticism. Then evaluate this argument. Exactly how is this argument bad? Be specific: what is/are its flaw(s)? How can we avoid giving in to the skeptic’s arguments that we don’t know anything about the world?
[NOTE: For this option, you don’t have to present a positive argument for the existence of the external world. Just explain why the skeptical argument you focus on is bad.]

2. Tell me why you’re not a skeptic: Present and defend an argument for the claim that we can know that there is an external world beyond our sense experiences. Be sure to consider and respond to objections to your argument that a skeptic would likely offer.

3. Defend external-world skepticism. Present an argument for external-world skepticism. Then consider and respond to objections to this argument. Pay special attention to your conception of knowledge: defend the conditions you believe are required for knowledge.

4. Explain and evaluate Nick Bostrom’s argument in “Do We Live in a Computer Simulation?” Do you think Bostrom makes a good case for external-world skepticism? Why or why not? Be sure to fully explain your evaluation of his argument, and defend your opinion.

5. Write something else on skepticism. (Sean must approve this topic by Wednesday, October 6th.)

Quiz

The quiz will be held at the beginning of class on Wednesday, September 30th. You'll have 25 minutes to take it, and it's worth 10% of your overall grade.

The quiz is on our tiny textbook (A Rulebook for Arguments). There will be a section on evaluating deductive arguments, and a section on evaluating the other kinds of arguments (example, analogy, authority, cause). Basically, the quiz will look a lot like the group work we've done in class so far.

Email Subscription

So why does this course have a blog? Well, why is anything anything?

A blog (short for “web log”) is a website that works like a journal – users write posts that are sorted by date based on when they were written. You can find important course information (like assignments, due dates, reading schedules, etc.) on the blog. I’ll also be updating the blog throughout the semester, posting interesting items related to the stuff we’re currently discussing in class. You don't have to visit the blog if you don't want to. It's just a helpful resource. I've used a blog for this course a lot, and it's seemed helpful. Hopefully it can benefit our course, too.

Since I’ll be updating the blog a lot throughout the semester, you should check it frequently. There are, however, some convenient ways to do this without simply going to the blog each day. The best way to do this is by getting an email subscription, so any new blog post I write automatically gets emailed to you. (You can also subscribe to the rss feed, if you know what that means.) To get an email subscription:

1. Go t0 http://2010cccphilosophy.blogspot.com.

2. At the main page, enter your email address at the top of the right column (under “EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION: Enter your Email”) and click the "Subscribe me!" button.

3. This will take you to a new page. Follow the directions under #2, where it says “To help stop spam, please type the text here that you see in the image below. Visually impaired or blind users should contact support by email.” Once you type the text, click the "Subscribe me!" button again.

4. You'll then get an email regarding the blog subscription. (Check your spam folder if you haven’t received an email after a day.) You have to confirm your registration. Do so by clicking on the "Click here to activate your account" link in the email you receive.

5. This will bring you to a page that says "Your subscription is confirmed!" Now you're subscribed.

If you are unsure whether you've subscribed, ask me (609-980-8367; slandis@camdencc.edu). I can check who's subscribed and who hasn't.

Course Details

Introduction to Philosophy
Camden County College, Blackwood Campus
Philosophy 101, Section 01
Fall 2010
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 11:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.
Madison Hall, Room 311

Instructor: Sean Landis
Email: slandis@camdencc.edu
Phone: 609-980-8367
Course Website: http://2010cccphilosophy.blogspot.com
Office Hourse: by appointment

Required Texts
A Rulebook for Arguments, 3rd Edition, Anthony Weston (RA)
Classics of Western Philosophy, 7th Edition, Steven M. Cahn (CWP)

About the Course
This course is designed to introduce students to philosophy. Throughout the semester, we will explore a handful of classic philosophical questions: What is knowledge, and what can we know? What evidence is there regarding the existence of a God? Do humans have free will? What does it mean to say that one thing is morally right and another is morally wrong?

In examining these issues, it is my hope that we can also develop the skills of doing philosophy—understanding philosophical arguments, evaluating the quality of such arguments, and developing good arguments of our own on philosophical topics. Our main goal is for each of us to come to appreciate the value of sitting and thinking. Long, careful, systematic, detailed thought is a great tool for increasing understanding on complex topics.

Grades
900-1000 points = A
800-899 points = B
700-799 points = C
600-699 points = D
below 600 points = F.

Quiz 100 points
Midterm 200 points
Final 250 points
Fun Fridays 50 points total
2 Short Papers 50 points each (100 points total)
Journal 100 points
Group Presentation 150 points
Attendance/Participation 50 points

Quiz: There will only be one quiz, held at the end of arguments section of the course. The quiz will last about 25 minutes, and be held at the beginning of class on the scheduled day.

Exams: There will be a midterm and a final exam. The midterm tests everything covered during the first half of the course, and will last the full period (50 minutes) on the scheduled day. The final exam is cumulative—that is, it tests everything covered throughout the whole course. The final will last 50 minutes, and will take place during finals week.

Fun Fridays: There will be 4 in-class graded assignments scheduled on some Fridays during the semester.

Papers: There will be 2 papers (about 2 pages long each), the first on our section on knowledge, and the second on our section on ethics.

Journal: Each student will keep a journal during our section on the existence of God and free will.

Group Presentation: There will be a group project presented in front of the class toward the end of the semester. Each group of 3 to 6 students will research a topic in philosophy not discussed in class, and present a 10- to 15-minute lesson on it to the rest of class.

Attendance/Participation: Most of this will be based on your attendance. If you’re there every class, you’ll get full credit for your attendance grade. In addition, there will be a lot of informal group work throughout the semester in which students get together to analyze the readings or philosophical issues being discussed in class. Group work can impact your grade.

Extra Credit: I like giving extra credit! I’ll be giving some official extra credit assignments throughout the semester. I’ll also be offering some extra credit points more informally during class time. Remind me about this if I slack off on dishing out extra credit points.

Classroom Policies
Academic Integrity: Cheating and plagiarism (using someone else’s words or ideas in a paper or assignment without giving credit to the source) will not be tolerated in the class. Students found guilty of either will definitely fail the exam or assignment—and possibly the entire class. FYI: I’m pretty good at catching plagiarists. I recommend not trying it!

Excused Absences: Make-up exams, quizzes, in-class projects, and oral reports will only be rescheduled for any excused absences (excused absences include religious observance, official college business, and illness or injury – with a doctor’s note). An unexcused absence on the day of any assignment or test will result in a zero on that assignment or test.

Disability Accommodations: If you have special requirements let me know as soon as possible so we can make all necessary arrangements.

Important Dates
August 31: Last day to drop a course & receive a 100% refund.
September 15: Last day to drop a course & receive a 50% refund.
September 22: Last day to sign up to audit a course.
December 3: Last day to withdrawal from Fall Classes.

Course Schedule

*This schedule is tentative and will probably change a lot*

Sept. 1—3: Intro to Class/Arguments
Wednesday: Introduction to Class (no reading)
Friday: Doing Philosophy (no reading)

September 6—10: Arguments
Monday: LABOR DAY (no class)
Wednesday: Understanding Arguments (RA Chapters 1 & 2)
Friday: Types of Arguments (RA Chapters 3 & 4); group work

September 13—17: Arguments
Monday: Evaluating Arguments (RA Chapter 4 & 5); group work
Wednesday: Deductive Arguments (RA Chapter 6)
Friday: Deductive Arguments (RA Chapters 6); group work

September 20—24: Arguments
Monday: Fallacies (RA Chapter 10)
Wednesday: Fallacies & Biases (handout: Metacognition); group work
Friday: FUN FRIDAY #1: Biases (no reading)

September 27—October 1: Knowledge
Monday: QUIZ #1; Intro to Knowledge (no reading)
Wednesday: Defining Knowledge | Plato’s Account (handout: Plato)
Friday: Skepticism (CWP 482-483, 490-496)

October 4—8: Knowledge & Existence of God
Monday: Skepticism | Descartes’ Meditations One and Two (CWP 482-483, 490-492); group work
Wednesday: Descartes’ Meditations Two (CWP 429-496)
Friday: God | Intro to Philosophy of Religion (handout: Lawhead)

October 11—15: Existence of God
Monday: Cosmological Argument | Aquinas: Summa Theologiae Question 2 (CWP 440-441, 450-453)
Wednesday: PAPER #1 due; Cosmological Argument (no new reading); group work
Friday: Cosmological Argument | Which Is Weirder? (no new reading)

October 18—22: Existence of God
Monday: Design Argument | Hume II & V in Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (CWP 862-867, 873-875)
Wednesday: Design Argument | (no new reading); group work
Friday: FUN FRIDAY #2: Proof

October 25—29: Existence of God
Monday: Design Argument | Chance vs. Design (no new reading)
Wednesday: Review for Midterm (no reading)
Friday: MIDTERM

November 1—5: Existence of God
Monday: Problem of Evil | Intro (handout: Sober)
Wednesday: Problem of Evil | Augustine: Books 1, 2, & part of 3 in On Free Choice of the Will (CWP 357-369)
Friday: Problem of Evil | Hicks (handout: Soul-Building)

November 8—12: Existence of God & Free Will
Monday: Problem of Evil | wrap-up (no new reading)
Wednesday: Free Will | Freedom vs. Determinism (handout: Nagel)
Friday: Free Will | Maimonides The Guide of the Perplexed
(CWP 434-439)

November 15—19: Free Will & Ethics
Monday: Free Will | Aristotle: Book III in On the Soul
(CWP 223-227)
Wednesday: Free Will | Determinism (handout: Hospers)
Friday: FUN FRIDAY #3 | Practical Ethics; Aristotle Book II of Nicomachean Ethics (CWP 269-275)

November 22—26: Ethics
Monday: Ethics | Virtue Ethics: Aristotle Book III, Chapter 1 in Nicomachean Ethics (CWP 275-277)
Wednesday: Journal due; Ethics | Utilitarianism: Mill part of Chapter 2 in Utilitarianism (CWP 1060-1063)
Friday: THANKSGIVING BREAK (no class!) (woo?)


November 29—December 3: Ethics
Monday: Ethics | Evaluating Utilitarianism (handout: Rachels)
Wednesday: Ethics | Kant 1st section in Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals (CWP 984-991)
Friday: Ethics | Evaluating Kantian Ethics (handout: Rachels)

December 6—10: Ethics/Group Presentations
Monday: preparation for presentations (no reading)
Wednesday: group presentations
Friday: FUN FRIDAY #4 | Importance

December 13—19: Group Presentations & Review
Monday: group presentations
Wednesday: group presentations
Friday: PAPER #2 due; review for Final Exam

December 22: Final Exam
Monday: FINAL EXAM (11:00-11:50 p.m.)