PHIL& 101 – Intro to Philosophy Syllabus
Fall Quarter 2011
Instructor: W. Russ Payne
E-mail: wpayne@bellevuecollege.edu
Phone: (425) 564-2079
Office location: R 230 M
Course location: C168
Course time: 11:30 – 12:20 daily
Item no: 1904 (section E)
Office Hours: 12:30 – 1:20 Monday – Thursday
Website: http://facweb.bcc.ctc.edu/wpayne/
Philosophy department’s web site: http://bellevuecollege.edu/philosophy/
Course Information
The range of questions that philosophers investigate is perhaps as diverse as can be found in the empirical sciences. We will cover a broad range of topics including but not limited to the nature of mind and consciousness, free will and determinism, knowledge and skepticism and the nature of morality. We will read a broad range of classic and contemporary philosophers. No text purchase is required for this course. All readings will be available free online or on the website for this course.
In case you are considering majoring in philosophy, you should be prepared to answer you parents and friends when they ask what you plan to do with a philosophy degree. Tell them you plan to live well and make a living. Tell them that philosophy majors earn more than any other arts and humanities major and more than most social science majors (the exceptions being the dark arts of economics and political science.)
http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/degrees.asp
Of course, you might find philosophy enjoyable even if you are already anxious to go into Management Information Systems or Aerospace Engineering.
Course Outcomes
The official outcomes for this course are as follows:
Some unofficial commentary: People come in all kinds of different. What you get out of studying philosophy depends as much on who you are and how you’ve experienced the world so far as anything I or any other philosopher can tell you. Philosophy provides rich intellectual (and emotional and spiritual) nourishment. But to commit to specific outcomes about what you will understand or be able to do at the end of this course is analogous to a gardener saying plant here and you’ll get a nice zucchini. But maybe you are a rose, not a zucchini.
According to Socrates, the point of doing philosophy is the leading of the examined life. But the examined life is not a bit of knowledge or a specific skill or ability that can be captured in any sort of course outcome. Leading the examined life does involve applying one’s capacity for reason to better understanding one’s own nature as a human being and the nature of the world. But given our unique backgrounds, talents and limitations, there is no saying just what route your examined life will take or what perspectives it will open up for you. The real outcomes for studying philosophy can only be identified after the fact. For me to specify the outcomes for your study of philosophy up front would amount to stating the moral of your story without having read it (much less lived it). One shudders at the arrogance of it.
Though Socrates was among the founders of philosophy as an academic discipline (and I’m not so sure he’d be happy about that) this hardly gives him the final say about the point of doing philosophy. My motivation for doing philosophy has never been quite so noble as attaining enlightened self-awareness or acquiring wisdom. I’ve simply found the problems of philosophy to be amusing and absorbing. Finding the interplay of philosophical ideas amusing and absorbing is the course outcome I’d most sincerely wish for you.
How Outcomes will be
met
A good deal of reading and writing and lots of conversation
Course Requirements:
Your grade in this course will be determined by your performance on a variety of assignments and assessments. There will be short comprehension quizzes on the reading assignments, brief essay assignments that may ask you to reflect on ideas from the reading or explain arguments offered by the philosophers we will read. Most assignments and assessments will be fairly brief, but a few (2 or 3) will be more involved tests including multiple choice, true false, short answer and essay questions.. Assignments and assessments will have deadlines. I need to adhere to deadlines in order to get timely feedback to the class.
Essay questions and brief essay assignments will typically be graded on a 10 point scale with 9 or 10 point scores representing the A to A- range, 8 point scores representing B work, 7 point scores representing C work and so forth. My deliberations for letter grades for the course start with a 10% scale where point totals above 90% are A range, 80% to 89% are B range and so forth. But I may adjust the scale for final grades based on the overall performance of the class.
Philosophy is done by critically questioning ideas and arguments. This course will include lots of discussion both as a class and in smaller groups of students. Your participation is part of the course and so attendance is expected. Absences in excess of 10 over the course of the quarter will result in an automatic lowering of your course grade (one letter grade for every 3 absences beyond 10).
Secrets to success
Stay active and engaged. Being active starts with keeping up with the reading and being present and engaged in class. Being engaged with the material will show in your writing and participation in discussion. I will be encouraging scholarship and looking for evidence of it and the intellectual maturity scholarship brings. Well-intentioned contributions in class can help you significantly. Inappropriate or disrespectful behavior may adversely affect your grade in the course. You should consult the BC course catalog for information on grading standards at this institution. http://bellevuecollege.edu/about/publications/catalog/
Maintaining a good learning environment will be your responsibility as well as mine. Philosophy is best learned through actively engaging in discussion of the issues. You may have strong feelings about some of the issues we will discuss. This is fine and it will present no problem so long as we all make respect for each other a guiding principle of our inquiry. While the experience will be new to many of you, talking about the existence of God or the nature of morality with people that disagree with you can actually be fun. Keep in mind that what matters most in philosophy is that we do a good job at evaluating the reasons for and against the views we consider. And we can do a good job at this quite independent of our feelings about those views. That we all end up agreeing is not essential to a fruitful philosophical dialogue. That we are amicable and gracious towards one another is.
Philosophy does involve the critical examination of ideas. Of course, there is generally little to be gained by criticizing people. So keep your critical focus on ideas and lines of reasoning. If one of your ideas draws some critical attention, you should (a) remember that it is an idea or argument that is being critically examined, not you, and (b) be flattered that someone considers your idea or argument worthy of careful attention. Approach discussions with humble good humor and don’t be shy.
I take a dim view of cheating and plagiarism. Write your own stuff. I have a duty to report cheating, plagiarism and other conduct that is destructive to the course to administration and student services. I would appreciate not having to act on that duty.
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Inclusion
We value our different backgrounds at
Division Statements
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Information about
A good resource for Plagiarism is the Writing Lab: http://bellevuecollege.edu/writinglab/Plagiarism.html
Student Code
“Cheating, stealing and plagiarizing (using the ideas or
words of another as one’s own without crediting the source) and
inappropriate/disruptive classroom behavior are violations of the Student Code
of Conduct at
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