Introduction to Philosophy

Humanities 127…..MWF 8:00…..3 Credits…..No Prerequisites…..Fall, 1999

Dr. Hollace Graff

Course Description

This course provides discussion of knowledge, ethics, aesthetics, and metaphysics as exemplified by leading philosophers.

 

Learning Objectives

After completing this course, the student will be able to

a) identify certain problems with which philosophy deals,

b) explain the answers which selected philosophers (both ancient and modern) have given to these problems,

c) begin to formulate with some degree of philosophical rigor the philosophy which guides his or her own life,

d) be familiar with the development of philosophy as a discipline,

e) exhibit curiosity about basis questions and assumptions of one’s own and others’ philosophies,

f) apply philosophical reasoning to issues outside the classroom.

 

Academic Integrity

The very nature of higher education requires that students adhere to accepted standards of academic integrity. Therefore, Oakton Community College has adopted a Code of Academic Conduct and a statement of Student Academic Integrity. These may be found in the Student Handbook. You may also find a summary of the Code of Academic Conduct in the College Catalog. Among the violations of academic integrity listed and defined are: cheating, plagiarism, falsification and fabrication, abuse of academic materials, complicity in academic dishonesty, falsification of records and official documents, personal misrepresentation and proxy, and bribes, favors, and threats.

It is the student’s responsibility to be aware of behaviors that constitute academic dishonesty.

Pursuant to the due process guarantees contained in the Policy and Procedures on Student Academic Integrity, the minimum punishment for the first offense for a student found in violation of the standards of academic integrity is failure in the assignment. In addition, a disciplinary record will be established and kept on file in the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs for a period of three years.

 

Instructional Materials

The text for this course will be Does the Center Hold? An Introduction to Western Philosophy by Donald Palmer. If you don’t have a sense of humor, you may not like this book. We may go through the material more slowly and not read all the pages listed below. In addition to this main text, I will ask you to read some  selections from various philosophers whose works are available on the Internet at Epistemelinks.com. and elsewhere.  You could also purchase Pojman's Classics of Philosophy in order to read the other works I'll be assigning.

 

Outline of Topics and Class Schedule

 

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
August 23

Syllabus Distributed

 Socrates.jpg (8143 bytes) August 25

Focus on   Chapter 1, "What Are We Doing in This Class?"

 plato.jpg (26597 bytes) August 27

Continue Chapter 1
August 30

Discussion of  Plato's Apology

 arist.jpg (7832 bytes) September 1

Focus on Chapter 2, "Truth is Beauty, Beauty is Truth: Rationalist Epistemology"

 September 3

Study Guide for the First Quiz distributed

Discussion of selections
from Descartes' Meditations
September 6

Labor Day

No class

 September 7 September 8

Descartes continued

Small groups on the argument for the existence of God in the Third Meditation

 desca.jpg (9437 bytes) September 10

Descartes continued
September 13

 

Quiz # 1

Chapter 3, "What You See Is What You Get: Empiricist Epistemology"

John Locke

 locke.jpg (7712 bytes) September 15

 

 

George Berkeley

 berkeley.jpg (3501 bytes) September 17

 

 

David Hume
September 20

Focus on Chapter 5, "Mount Olympus, Mount Moriah, and Other Godly Places: Philosophy of Religion"

Arguments for the existence of God

 September 21 September 22

 

Discussion of selections from Hume's Dialogues on Natural Religion

 kant.jpg (6578 bytes) September 24

 

Small groups on arguments for atheism
September 27

Study Guide for Quiz # 2 distributed

Feuerbach and Marx

 kierk.jpg (8455 bytes) September 29

Freud

 freud.jpg (8099 bytes) October 1

Debate on Kierkegaard

 
October 4

Quiz # 2

 Sartre.jpg (6780 bytes) October 6

Chapter 7, "Thou Shalt Be Perfected: Ethics"

 kant.jpg (6578 bytes) October 8

Plato's ethics
October 11

Plato's ethics

 October 12 October 13

Kant's ethics

 Mill.jpg (4485 bytes) October 15 

Study Guide for Quiz # 3 distributed
October 18

 

Discussion of selections from Mill's Utilitarianism

 IRIGARAY.GIF (31485 bytes) October 20

 

Journal Check-Up.....Extra Credit for handing in your journal on this day

 

 October 21 October 22

Quiz # 3

Chapter 8, "Different Strokes for Different Folks: Critiques of Traditional Ethical Theories"

Hume on ethics
October 25

Relativism

 October 26 October 27

 

Deep Ecology

 Pumpkin3.wmf (10380 bytes) October 29

Small groups

Study Guide for Quiz # 4 distributed
November 1

 

 

 November 2 November 3 hobbes.jpg (6756 bytes) November 5

Quiz # 4

 

Focus on Chapter 9, "Let Them Eat Cake: Political and Social Philosophy"

Thomas Hobbes
November 8

John Locke

 locke.jpg (7712 bytes) November 10

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

 Mill.jpg (4485 bytes) November 12

Small Groups on Mill's conception of liberty
November 15

Robert Nozick

 November 16 November 17

John Rawls

Study Guide for Quiz # 5 distributed

 Marx.jpg (6832 bytes) November 19

 

Discussion of selections from Marx's Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844
November 22

Karl Marx continued

 November 23 November 24

 

 Maplelf.wmf (6200 bytes) November 26

No class

Thanksgiving Break
November 29

Quiz # 5

Chapter 10, "But Is It Art? Philosophy of Art".....parts on Marx and Freud

 November 30 December 1

 

 plato.jpg (26597 bytes) December 3

 
December 6

 

 freud.jpg (8099 bytes) December 8

 

 December 9 December 10

Journals due
December 13

Final Exam

 December 14 December 15

Last Class

 

Methods of Instruction

There will be lecture and discussion during every class. About three times a month we will break down into small groups for discussion. These groups will present brief reports to the class.

" The value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its very uncertainty. The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or consent of his deliberate reason. To such a man the world tends to become definite, finite, obvious; common objects rouse no questions, and unfamiliar possibilities are contemptuously rejected. As soon as we begin to philosophize, on the contrary, we find that even the most everyday things lead to problems to which only very incomplete answers can be given. Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts it raises, is
able to suggest many possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of custom. Thus, while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things are, it greatly increases our knowledge as to what they may be; it removes the somewhat arrogant dogmatism of those who have never traveled into the region of liberating doubt, and it keeps alive our sense of wonder by showing familiar things in an unfamiliar aspect. "   Bertrand Russell in Problems of Philosophy

 

Course Requirements and Methods of Evaluation

1. There will be five short quizzes. These quiz will consist mostly of matches, short-answer questions, and short essays.  f you miss a quiz, you may make it up by coming to my office before the next class. If you need to make up a quiz later than this, the quiz will be an essay exam. The quizzes will be worth 30% of your final grade. If you have read the material and attended class, they will be easy.

2. You will keep a philosophical journal that will be worth 30% of your final grade. In this journal you will record your reactions to the assigned readings and your responses to questions that I pose in class. The journal should not consist of notes or summaries of the readings. Your journal should demonstrate that you have and critically considered all the assigned material. I will be happy to read and evaluate your journal at any time, and I will collect your journal sometime during the semester in order to give you an indication of what your grade would be if you continued doing the same level of work for the rest of the semester. Your final journal should be about 20 type-written pages. The journal must be handed in for the last time on November 29. If you hand it in on time, you will get another extra participation point.

3. There will be a final examination that will cover the material for the entire course. Part of this exam will be essay, and part will be similar to the quizzes. It will be worth 20% of your final grade.

4. 20% of your grade will be based on class participation. You can’t participate if you are not in class. Two-thirds of this total will be based on attendence and general participation in discussions, and one-third will be based on small group participation

5. My office is 2807, and my office phone is 635-1919. Please feel free to stop by to discuss any of the course material with me, and be sure to see me if you are having any difficulties with the course.

My office hours are as follows:

 

 
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
7:30 Office Hours 2807 Office Hours
Room 2807		 Office Hours 2807 Office Hours
Room 2807
8:00 Office Hours 2807 Office Hours 2807  

Sometimes in my office
8:30
9:00
9:30 Global Society/Ethics
Room 2836		 Global Society/Ethics
Room 2836
10:00
10:30
11:00 Logic,
Room 1605		 Logic,
Room 1605		 Logic,
Room 1605
11:30
12:00 Honors Ethics,
Room 2735		 Honors Ethics,
Room 2735
12:30 Faculty Meetings Medical Ethics Faculty Meetings
1:00
1:30 Office Hours
2807
2:00 Faculty Meetings Seminar on Teaching and Ethics
2:30 Sometimes in my office
3:00
3:30
4:00      
4:30        
  • Author: Hollace Graff,
    Oakton Community College
    Last Updated: September 20, 1999
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