Introduction to Philosophy

HUM 127 0G1 MW 9:30-10:45 Room:  2812

 

Instructor: Professor Thomas Bowen

Office: DP 2831

Office Phone: (847) 376-7084

Division III Office and Phone: DP 2430, (847) 635-1950

Email: tbowen@oakton.edu

Homepage: http://www.oakton.edu/user/~tbowen/

 

I.          Course Course Course

            Prefix         Number      Name                                             Credit                Lecture            Lab

            HUM           127             Introduction to Philosophy                     3                      3            0
                 

II.         Prerequisites

None

III.        Course (Catalogue) Description:

Course focuses on the most fundamental questions that human beings have always asked. Topics include a critical examination of theories about reality and truth, moral values and social justice, personal identity and free will, aesthetic values, and systems of religious beliefs.  IAI H4 900

IV.        Learning Objectives: After completing this class, students will be able to do the following:

a.    Identify philosophical problems and concepts.

b.    Outline at least four selected philosophical approaches to these problems.

c.    Analyze philosophical texts.

d.    Apply the methods of critical analysis used by philosophers to a variety of topics.

e.    Evaluate criticisms from a variety of perspectives of the philosophical arguments and positions they study, both orally and in writing.

f.    Develop and debate alternative arguments and approaches both orally and in writing.

g.    Integrate the philosophical approaches to thinking about their own lives.

h.    Derive ethical implications from the philosophical theories covered and apply them at the personal, national, and global levels.

i.      Demonstrate an awareness of the rich diversity of global philosophical traditions.

j.     Exhibit values related to teamwork and collaboration, fostered by the pedagogy of shared-inquiry and critical dialogue appropriate to the humanities and philosophy.

 

V.         Academic Integrity

Students and employees at Oakton Community College are required to demonstrate academic integrity and follow Oakton’s Code of Academic Conduct. This code prohibits:

 

·            cheating,

·            plagiarism (turning in work not written by you, or lacking proper citation),

·            falsification and fabrication (lying or distorting the truth),

·            helping others to cheat,

·            unauthorized changes on official documents,

·            pretending to be someone else or having someone else pretend to be you,

·            making or accepting bribes, special favors, or threats, and

·            any other behavior that violates academic integrity.

 

There are serious consequences to violations of the academic integrity policy. Oakton’s policies and procedures provide students a fair hearing if a complaint is made against you. If you are found to have violated the policy, the minimum penalty is failure on the assignment and, a disciplinary record will be established and kept on file in the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs for a period of 3 years.

 

Details of the Code of Academic Conduct can be found in the Student Handbook.

VI.        Outline of Topics (See Attached “Schedule of Readings” for Dates)

1.     What is Philosophy?

a.     Critical Thinking and Argumentation

b.    Asking Questions and Living

c.     Socrates: The Paragon of Philosophers (for Western Cultures, for the most part…)

2.     Reason, Faith, and Questions

a.     Can Reason Prove God’s Existence?

b.    Science and Religion

c.     Reason and Faith

3.     Reason and the World

a.     Epistemology: Skepticism and Foundations (Descartes)

b.    Rationalism

c.     Empiricism

d.    Pragmatism

e.     Darwinian Logic

4.     Examining Ourselves:

a.     Mind and Body

b.    Personal Identity

c.     Race, Ethnicity, Sexuality and Gender

d.    Freedom and the Will (Can we do what we want?)

5.     Living an examined life

a.     Ethics and Moral Responsibility

b.    Moral Theories

c.     Living Well (A life worth living…)

 

VII.       Methods of Instruction

As a thematic introduction to philosophy, this course will depend a great deal on short lectures, careful discussion of the readings, and in class group work and student presentation.

 

VIII.      Course Practices Required (Graded Work) Your grade in this class will depend upon the following work (see “Other Course Information” for additional course practices and information about course requirements and see “Methods of Evaluating Student Progress” for a break down of grade percentages.)

 

1.     Participation and In-Class Work. There are two core reasons why participation for this class is essential: (a) basic information provided by the short lectures; and, (b) important skills and exercises in thinking that require students to participate (actively engage in) discussion of the readings due for each class.

Useful discussion requires at least two essential factors: first, students need to be present in class, and second, students must be conversant with the material. Thus, students are expected to have completed all of the readings on the date they are due and be ready to discuss them.

Your discussion grade will depend on two factors: (a) short, in class assignments –these may be short quizzes or small group discussion; and (b) your participation in class discussion.

 

Please note: you will receive an “F” for participation for any class from which you are absent (again, independently of the reason for your absence).

 

2.     Analysis and Response Papers. These are short (2-4 pages) essays written in response to specific questions or issues raised over the course of the semester. There is no pre-determined number of ARPs—however; you can expect to write at least 4 over the course of the semester and no more than 6.

 

Each ARP must meet the minimum standards for college writing (see below), develop and defend a thesis and make specific reference to the texts and material of the course. Assuming the above requirements are met, each ARP will be graded according to the following general criteria:

 

A: The essay demonstrates both a strong understanding of the material and an ability to ask useful and critical questions about the reading, suggest interesting possibilities or avenues of investigation, and is able to combine different aspects of the material together in interesting and new ways.

B: The essay demonstrates a good understanding of the material, can identify the main themes and issues that need to be explored or questioned, and can provide some reasonable reflections on the material’s implications or presuppositions.

C: The student shows a competent understanding of the material and can ask interesting questions about the reading. They are able to compare and contrast different aspects of the material.

D: The student is having real difficulty understanding and articulating their understanding of the material.

            F: The assignment is not done, or the assignment is totally wrong.

 

3.     Exams. There will be four short exams given over the course of the semester. These will follow the end of a thematic unit. These exams will be short-answer and short essay exams (no matching or multiple choice questions).

 

IX.        Instructional Materials

 

Waller, Bruce, Consider Philosophy (New York: Prentice Hall, 2011)

 

This book is “packaged” with access to the MyPhilosophyLab hosted by Pearson Publishers (http://www.myphilosophylab.com/). You will be given a login ID and password, and should register for this class. We will talk about this during class.

This website will provide additional READING MATERIAL that you will need to access online (from home or school) and some additional EXERCISES and DISCUSSION venues which we will use in this class.

 

X.         Methods of Evaluating Student Progress

 

            Participation and In-class work               20%

            Analysis and Response Papers              40%

            Exams  4 @ 10% each                           40%

 

Grading Scale: 91% - 100% = A // 81% - 90% = B // 71% - 80% = C // 61% - 70% = D // below 61 = F

 

XI.        Other Course Information

 

  1. General Writing Guidelines for the Course

1.     All writing work for this class, unless it is done in class, must be typed. No writing assignments that are not typed will be accepted.

2.     You cannot email me your writing assignments without prior approval. Any emailed assignments without prior approval will not be credited.

3.     Writing assignments may have slightly different requirements that will be spelled out when assigned.  However, the following points are required for any written work you turn in to me:

                                  i.    All writing should be college level—few to no grammatical mistakes. (Use spell-check, use the grammar-check. Watch out for run-on sentences. Each paragraph should have a point or thesis. If you don’t know this stuff, go to the Writing Center or talk to me.)

                                 ii.    All writing should be double-spaced with one inch margins. Your name should appear in the top left hand corner with the course name, date, etc.

                                iii.    The essay should begin with a thesis statement—and the body of the essay should establish or work out the thesis.

                                iv.    Avoid flowery language and filler. Don’t start anything you write for me with something like: “Plato was an important philosopher” or “Aristotle was a really important philosopher.” These kinds of sentences merely take up space. They do nothing to advance your ideas or your thesis. Remember your primary audience (ME).

                                 v.    All quotes and paraphrases should be properly cited. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE!

 

  1. Re-writing the ARP assignments

It is possible for students to re-write any ARP that they have already turned in on time (or, according to other arrangements). In fact, I strongly recommend that you take the opportunity to re-write any of the assignments. However, there are few basic rules that must be followed—no exceptions will be allowed to these rules.

    1. You can only re-write assignments that have been turned in on time. No late assignments can be re-written.
    2. Re-writes cannot be emailed to the professor under any circumstances.
    3. You must meet with the professor before engaging in any re-writes—you cannot merely turn in a re-write without having talked with me: it will not be accepted. (It doesn’t have to be a long meeting, and I am available—and, believe me, I can probably help.)
    4. When you turn in your re-writes, they must be accompanied by both:

                                          i.    The original essay with my comments and grade

                                         ii.    A short paragraph or page long description of what you did when you re-wrote the paper and why you did it.

    1. You cannot re-write if all you are going to do is correct grammatical or spelling mistakes. While it is true that such mistakes can impact your grade, they should not be made to begin with, and so you cannot turn in the same paper with only grammatical editing. You can only re-write papers that require some amount of change to the basic content. More specifically, you can re-write papers in order to:

                                          i.    Strengthen its organization and the presentation of content (provide a thesis, paragraphs that have appropriate structure—i.e. advance the thesis, etc.);

                                         ii.    Clarify its main points;

                                        iii.    Strengthen its argumentation or fix flawed arguments;

                                        iv.    Add new arguments that better and more concisely establish your thesis.

    1. There is no specific time-limit on turning in re-writes. However, any re-writes you want included in your final grade must be given to me no later than December 6th (12/6/2006). Please note this carefully.
    2. PLEASE NOTE: merely re-writing a paper does not guarantee that your grade will improve—the paper itself must also improve.

 

  1. Late Assignments

1.     It is important to remember that there are no excused absences from this class. Whatever the reason for missing the class, if you are not in class, then you cannot earn the credit.

2.     Writing assignments may only be turned in late with prior permission from the instructor or for a truly good reason—note, late writing assignments cannot be re-written.

3.     Writing assignments cannot be emailed to me without prior discussion—do not simply turn in writing assignments through email without showing up for class and expect that I will take the assignment. I will not.

4.     The mid-term can be taken up to one week late. However, you must make the arrangements to take the exam, and you will suffer at 10% penalty unless other arrangements have been made with the instructor. The final will be given during the LAST WEEK of class—so, there will not be time to take it late!

 

  1. Extra-Credit

Extra-credit may be offered throughout the semester. However, there is no set number of extra-credit assignments nor is the professor under any obligation to offer extra-credit assignments. There will be some extra-credit offered to help make up for missed attendance points, particularly for those who have to miss a day due to religious observances.

 

  1. A Brief note on Grading

You can expect that I will return your work to you within one-week of your turning it in to me. If it takes longer than that, I will let you know before hand. Further, I will be as clear as possible about why you received the grade you did for any assignment (including your participation and discussion grade). If at any time you are unsure of why you received the grade you did, please do not hesitate to consult with me.

 

  1. Disabilities

If you have a documented learning, psychological, or physical disability you may be entitled to reasonable academic accommodations or services. To request accommodations or services, contact the ASSIST office in the Learning Center. All students are expected to fulfill essential course requirements. The College will not waive any essential skill or requirement of a course or degree program.

F. Discrimination. The Oakton Community College Catalog states: Oakton Community College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, or marital status in admission to and participation in its educational programs, activities and services, or employment practices.  The College does not tolerate sexual harassment or sexual assault by or of its students or employees.
In keeping with this policy of tolerance and non-discrimination, in this class all of us (myself included) should strive to listen and give careful consideration to all ideas expressed in class, especially those that are different from our own, without attacking or demeaning the people who have those views.  We should also strive to avoid using insulting terms or telling offensive jokes when talking to or about individuals or groups.