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PHL 1003C Introduction to Philosophy
This syllabus is for two
sections
|
CRN 91293 MW 04:00 pm-05:21 pm RC 309 |
CRN 91214 M 5:30 pm-8:11 pm RC 314 |
Dr. Christian Perring, Department of Philosophy, Dowling College
Fall 2010
E-mail: perringc@dowling.edu [All email to me should have "PHL1003" in the subject line]
Office Phone: 244-3349
Office: 330B RC (next to the computer lab)
Student Hours: MW 100-230PM, Tuesday 300-600PM, or by appointment
Required Textbook: The Philosopher's Way: Thinking Critically About Profound Ideas (3rd Edition) by John Chaffee (Prentice Hall 2010) ISBN-13: 9780205776993
NOTE: You have to have the THIRD EDITION of this book, from 2010.
In this course, we will cover Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
Reading assignments: The reading is listed in the syllabus below. You must do the reading before that week. You should be familiar with the main ideas in each assigned chapter, and you should make notes of those parts that are hard to follow.
Tutorials: All students will meet with me for at least 1 one-on-one tutorials in my office to discuss their papers and how their semester is going.
Plagiarism detection and prevention: All papers should be submitted via Turnitin.com in MS Word or RTF. I will give you information about how to use Turnitin.com. Note that I view any form of academic dishonesty very seriously, and if I find that you have engaged in any significant form of plagiarism or cheating I will fail you in this course and report my action to the Dean of Students.
Attendance: Attendance is required. You need to be in the classroom by the start of the class period, when I will take attendance. If you are late, you only get half-credit for attendance that day. If you are late to class, you need to speak to me at the end of class to explain why you were late and ask me to record your presence on my roster. If you need to miss a class, you should notify me by phone or email before the class. If you are ill and see a medical professional, or you have an unavoidable legal obligation, you should show me some documentation as evidence. Your attendance grade will suffer significantly if you miss classes without excuse. If you miss classes, you should write a 600 word summary of the reading assigned for that class, or arrange some alternative make-up work. If you miss more than 5 classes without excuse, you will fail the course.
Email and Blackboard: You should check your Dowling email account at least twice a week. (You can have all your Dowling email forwarded to a different account if you want.). You should also check the Blackboard site for the course at least once a week.
Participation: You should participate in class discussion, both answering questions that are put to the class, raising questions when you do not fully understand an idea or a part of the text, or what someone in the class says. There is a Blackboard site for this course, and you can also participate and discuss issues there.
Papers. First paper will be at least 800 words. Second paper will be at least1200 words. They should use APA formatting. The paper should focus on critically examining arguments. The scholarly references should be used in a way that helps your paper. It is important that you write in clear English with no grammatical or spelling errors. Good writing style will be rewarded.
Missed Tests. If you miss a test, you get zero credit for it, and there is no option of make ups, whatever, your excuse. There will be 3 tests, and the lowest grade will be dropped.
Late Papers. Late papers will be penalized, 1% for each day late. No excuses will be accepted. You should start early on your papers and have them close to finished a few days before they are due.
Personal Reflections: These should be at least 400 words, in grammatical English. They will not be graded, but I will give you some feedback on them. You either get credit for them or you don't. They are not meant to be academically challenging, but are meant to give you the opportunity to link the topics of the class to your own life and ideas you have about how best to make decisions. It is up to you how much of your own personal experience you include, but you are encouraged to do so link your own life with philosophical discussions.
Classroom Etiquette. The central point about the classroom is that it is a community where we come together to help each other. At a bare minimum, you should not interfere with the learning of other students. You should aim to help other students learn, and to get help from your professor and other students. So you should not distract other students or the professor. All cell phones ringers should be turned off and you should never talk on your cell phone in class. You should never text in class. You should not eat any food in class, especially food that others will notice through sound or smell. You should turn up on time to all classes. You are free to express your views and question the views of others, including your professor, and you can be passionate about your opinions. However, you must always treat others in the class with respect; you can criticize the views and arguments of others, but you cannot criticize them as persons. You should also make sure you are not dominating classroom discussion to the exclusion of other class members.
Email Etiquette. For guidelines about what format to use when emailing your professors, check the webpage here.
Effort. Your effort will be rewarded in this course. You will have the opportunity to get bonus points for making a serious effort and applying yourself to the work. The more you consistently try, even when you have problems along the way, the more you will succeed. I will measure your effort by your being ready in the classroom at the start of class, your participation in class or on the Blackboard Discussion Board, your coming to my Student Hours to discuss your work, and your working hard to make changes on your draft paper to create a strong final paper.
Academic and Personal Problems. If you have problems that cause you to be late with work or to miss a number of classes, please stay in communication by phone, email, or by meeting with me in person. I will be willing to work with you and sort out a way for you to still stay in the class and get a fair grade. If you miss a number of classes or fail to hand in work on time but don't give me any explanation then you risk failing the class. Most people experience some sort of crisis during their college career, and you need to find ways to make sure that such problems don't ruin your college career.
Keeping Copies of Your Work. It is your responsibility to keep copies of all your work in this course until your final grade is submitted. You need to keep copies of your work in at least 3 different places, because all storage methods are fallible. Floppy disks are very unreliable and I recommend you don't use them. If you do use them, back them up every day. Better methods of storage are writable CDs, flashdrives or jumpdrives, zip-drives, hard disks, and emails to yourself with your work attached to the emails. You can also use free online backup programs such as Mozy. It can be a good idea to print out your work and keep a hard copy. But remember that no method of data storage is perfect, which is why you should keep your work stored in at least 3 separate places.
Final Deadline: All work is due by December 15. I will submit final grades to the Registrar on December 17. You must make sure that you have given me:
· a draft version of your final paper
· electronic copies of all the papers via Blackboard or Turnitin (do NOT email me your paper)
· If required, proof that you consulted with a writing tutor.
If I don't have all of these, you will fail the course.
Grading.
Reflections: 10%
Effort: 10%
In Class Quizzes: 10%
Tests: 25%
Paper 1: 15%
Paper 2: 30%
Schedule
|
Date M/W 400pm class |
Date M 530 pm class |
Topic |
Reading |
Work Due |
|
9/1 |
|
Introduction |
|
Self-Info |
|
9/8 |
|
What is Philosophy? |
Ch 1 |
|
|
9/13 |
9/13 |
|
Ch 1 |
|
|
9/15 |
|
|
Ch 1 |
|
|
9/20 |
9/20 |
|
Ch 1 |
|
|
9/22 |
|
Socrates |
Ch 2 |
Reflection 1 |
|
9/27 |
9/27 |
|
Ch 2 |
|
|
9/29 |
|
|
Ch 2 |
|
|
10/4 |
10/4 |
|
Ch 2 |
|
|
10/6 |
|
|
|
Test 1 |
|
10/11 |
10/11 |
Identity and Consciousness |
Ch 3 "Diving Bell and the Butterfly" |
Reflection 2 |
|
10/13 |
|
|
Ch 3 |
|
|
10/18 |
10/18 |
|
Ch 3 |
|
|
10/20 |
|
|
Ch 3 |
First paper due |
|
10/25 |
10/25 |
|
Ch 3 |
|
|
10/27 |
|
Freedom |
Ch 4 "Run Lola Run" |
Reflection 3 |
|
11/1 |
11/1 |
|
Ch 4 |
|
|
11/3 |
|
|
Ch 4 |
|
|
11/8 |
11/8 |
|
Ch 4 |
|
|
11/10 |
|
|
|
Test 2 |
|
11/15 |
11/15 |
Knowledge |
Ch 5 "The Matrix" |
|
|
11/17 |
|
|
Ch 5 |
|
|
11/22 |
11/22 |
|
Ch 5 |
Draft of final paper due |
|
11/29 |
11/29 |
Reality |
Ch 6 |
|
|
12/2 |
|
|
Ch 6 |
|
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12/6 |
12/6 |
|
Ch 6 |
Final paper due |
|
12/8 |
|
|
Ch 6 |
|
|
12/13 |
12/13 |
|
|
Test 3 |