PHIL 2010 Syllabus

7/29/2019 PHIL 2010 Syllabus

1/6

P H I L 2 0 1 0 ( F O R M E R P S T 1 1 0 1 ) F A L L 2 0 1 1

Introduction to Philosophical Analysis

Dr. Michael Hoffmann

Focus

Philosophical analysis refers to questions that are somewhat more fundamental than those

you would encounter in other disciplines or in your everyday life. Questions like: How do we

think? How should we think? What are the conditions of rational reasoning, discourse, and

deliberation? What is reality? What is truth? What is knowledge? What is science? What is an

argument? What is justice? How to organize societies and design policies? How should we

act? And above all: How to represent and discuss all these problems?

This class is an invitation to start thinking seriously about some of these questions. We will

read large parts of the book Introducing Philosophyby Robert C. Solomon, but the primary

focus in this class will be on presentations and debates. The goal is to dophilosophy, and to

develop the skills we need to do it efficiently and effectively. If you like it, you might consider

getting a Minor in philosophy here at Georgia Tech. As we say on our homepage at philo-

sophy.gatech.edu: Studying philosophy improves your abilities to think and communicate,

and to acquire a breadth of understanding about the world, science, society, and yourself that

can inform your judgment and how you shape the world long after graduation.

New Ways of learning

The purpose of this course is twofold: first, to provide an overview of the main methods,

problems, and approaches developed and discussed in philosophy's 2500 years old historyand, second, to train certain skills that are crucial for a self-determined and responsible life:

critical reading, thinking, public speaking, debate, and writing. You will gain valuable experi-

ences in presenting information, arguments, and constructive criticism in an academic con-

text, both in speech and in writing.

Readings

Book to buy at the Engineers Bookstore or Barnes & Nobles:

Solomon, R. C. (2008). Introducing Philosophy: A Text with Integrated Readings. 9th edition. New

York: Oxford University Press. Please purchase only THIS 9 th edition; we need refer to thesame pages.

Additional readings

(most of them can be downloaded from our course page at https://t-square.gatech.edu,

folder Resources. The rest is available on reserve in the library):

1 / 6


2/6


Economist. (2006). Liberalism and neurology. Free to choose? Modern neuroscience is eroding

the idea of free will. The Economist, Dec 19th.

Schick, T., & Vaughn, L. (2009). Doing Philosophy: An Introduction Through Thought Experi-

ments. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Grading

Attendance

Since you will learn mainly by our class discussions, attendance is mandatory. There will be

30 class meetings over the whole semester. Independently of the points you can get in the

other areas, you will get an F if you attend less than 20 meetings, and nothing better than a

C if less than 24. Please sign the attendance list that will be available during the first 5 to 10

minutes. From week 4 onward, we will have two presentations and debates in each class

meeting. If you come late to class, you have to wait outside until the first presentation is fin-

ished, because otherwise you would disturb your classmates in their presentations. In this

case, you will not be allowed to sign the attendance sheet.

Task Description Max.

points

Participa-

tion

10% of your final grade will depend on the amount and quality of your contri-

butions to our class discussions over the whole semester. Your contributions

are essential for this seminar-style class. In order to make quality contributions,

you need to come to class well-prepared, that is, you have to do all the readings

that are listed in the Schedule before you come to class.

10

Presenta-

tions and

discussions

Each student will be asked to give two prepared presentations on a short sec-

tion of the book (one alone and the other in a group of three). Each prepared

presentation should last approximately 8-10 minutes (you will be cut off after 10

mins). After that, you will lead a class discussion about your presentation. The

topics of the presentations are listed in the Schedule. You have to sign up in T-

Square for each of the two presentations under Section Info.

If you do not show up for a presentation for which you signed up, you MUST

have a replacement ready to take the spot, or else you will fail that assignment.

The task of the prepared presentations is to present the content of the assigned

reading in the context of the problems discussed in the respective chapter.Please use the Tools that are listed in the corresponding section below, espe-

cially the Tips for presentations. You can use the questions Solomon formu-

lates in the textbook to organize your presentation, and to identify the main

points. Evaluation criteria: Structure; clarity in presentation and discussion; get-

ting to the main points of the section; role in the chapter.

NOTE: Not everybody will be able to sign up for a presentation because we have

16

2 / 6


3/6


fewer presentation spots than students in class. If you are not able to sign up for

one or for both presentations, you can submit one or two alternative essays

which may not cover the same section as the essay described below or your

other presentation. All alternative essays are due Nov. 22th.. Maximum: 8

points each pres. or essay.

Questions Two impromptu questions.The task is to react to a presentation by asking a

more complex question that refers to at least two different topics or problems

of the presentation. The challenge is here to learn how to react spontaneously in

a concise way; that means to indicate in advance how many issues you plan to

raise, and then to present your questions so that the problems you are referring

to become clear, without confusing everybody. It is not sufficient to ask simply a

question about the reading. You need to react to the presentation. These ques-

tions have to be asked spontaneously directly after the presentation. Each

presentation will be followed by two questions before we open up the class dis-

cussion. You have to sign up in T-Square under Section Info for two ques-

tions, each related to a different presentation. Maximum 3 points each.

6

Homework,

first version

You will find in T-Square under Assignments 4 homework assignments that

are due 10 minutes before class starts at the day that is specified in the

schedule by a number-combination indicating week and version number . Only

T-Square submissions are accepted, but you should save copies on your own

computer. You can save your work in T-Square (do that when you leave your

computer for a while because otherwise you might lose what your wrote), but

you have to click submit before the deadline. Multiple submissions are pos-

sible before the deadline. The system will not accept late submissions! The pur-

pose of these homework assignments is to intensify your preparation for our

class discussions. I will not evaluate your first version. But you have to write at

least half a page of reasonable text. You will get for each of these first versions 4points (if complete and reasonable).

16

Homework,

second

version

What I will evaluate, however, is the quality of your revision of your first ver-

sion, especially the progress between first and second version (max. 6 points

each). You should do these revisions immediately after class, but you can submit

these second versions within 9 days after the class discussion. Only T-Square

submissions are accepted.

Only excellent submissions will get the maximum of 6 points. Evaluation criteria

are clarity; precision; structure; improvements in comparison with the first ver-

sion regarding clarity, structure, and new arguments; explicit references to our

class discussion and to the readings. Please note that an improvement is not ne-

cessarily longer than the original version, rather the opposite. Clarifying thestructure of your argument and focusing on the essential points is mostly better

than making things more complex. You are supposed to re-writeyour answers,

not simply adding stuff.

24

Essay You have to submit one essay in T-Square under Assignments. The essay is

due September 20th. It should be approximately 3 pages (aim for 2.5 pages), in

Times New Roman 12 point font, with 1 inch margins on all sides, and double-

10

3 / 6


4/6


spaced. Write your name on top of the paper, save the document either in

Word, pdf, or StarOffice, and submit it in T-Square as an attachment to your as-

signment.

Please feel encouraged to meet me outside of class to discuss your essay, and

to seek assistance in making your ideas clear. Remember, plagiarism in anyform is not acceptable. See the section Academic Honor Code below.

The essay is about the section of the textbook that you will present individually

in the second block of presentations starting at September 27th. My feedback on

this essay should help you to clarify your understanding of the text for your

presentation. The goal of this essay is the same as that of the presentationto

present the content of the assigned reading in the context of the problems dis-

cussed in the textbook. But keep in mind that in an essay we use a completely

different formatto communicate our ideas. My evaluation criteria a described in

the document Tips for presentations.

Test On October 27th, there will be a test about the entire epistemology section. You

can use the textbook and your notes.

8

Final Covers both the section on ethics and on justice. You can use the textbook and

your notes.

10

Grading system

At the end, all your points will be transformed in letter grades according to the usual scheme:

90-100 = A; 80-89 = B; 70-79 = C; 60-69 = D; 0-59 = F.

Tools (available in Resources in T-Square):

Tools for Philosophy. A document that lists encyclopedias (books and online) that can

help if you have problems with philosophical terminology.

Tips for presentations

Internet Resources available at http://philosophy.gatech.edu.

AGORA-net: Participate Deliberate! At http://agora.gatech.edu/.

Schedule

Week Date Ass.

due!

Theme Readings

1 Aug 23

Aug 25

Introduction, planning

Free will and determinism Schick & Vaughn, 188-193;

Economist

4 / 6
http://philosophy.gatech.edu/http://philosophy.gatech.edu/http://agora.gatech.edu/http://agora.gatech.edu/http://philosophy.gatech.edu/


5/6


Week Date Ass.

due!

Theme Readings

2 Aug 30 2.1.

Sept 1

Branches of philosophy; conceptual analysis

Group projects: Argument Mapping withAGORA athttp://agora.gatech.edu/.

Schick & Vaughn, pp. 2-27

Bring laptop!!

3 Sept 6 3.1

Sept 8 2.2

Logic: The art of arguing

Metaphysics: Introduction and Greek I; Greek II

Schick & Vaughn, 28-43

Solomon 41-47; 47-55

4 Sept 13

Sept 15 3.2.

Metaphysics:Asia I; Asia II

Metaphysics:Plato I; Plato II

Solomon 55-59; 59-64

Solomon 65-71; 71-78

5 Sept 20 Essay

Sept 22

Metaphysics: Aristotle; Descartes

Epistemology: Russell + Plato; Descartes I

Solomon 78-85; 85-92

Solomon 184-190; 190-195

6 Sept 27

Sept 29

Epistemology: Descartes II; Locke I + Leibniz

Epistemology: Locke II; Berkeley

Solomon 195-201; 201-205

Solomon 206-213; 213-221

7 Oct 4 7.1.

Oct 6

Epistemology: Hume (no presentation)

Group projects on Hume, bring laptop

Solomon 221-235

Solomon 221-235

8 Oct 11 8.1.

Oct 13

Epistemology: Kant (no presentation)

Group projects on Kant, bring laptop

Solomon 235-243

Solomon 235-243

9 Oct 18

Oct 20 7.2.

GT Fall break

Group presentations on Hume and Kant Solomon 221-243

10 Oct 25 8.2.

Oct 27 Test

Epistemology: Relativism; Feminism

on epistemology

Solomon 266-271; 271-278

11 Nov 1

Nov 3

Ethics: Intro. to morality; Is morality relative?

Ethics: Egoism and altruism; Selfishness

Solomon 457-461; 461-465

Solomon 465-472; 473-478

12 Nov 8

Nov 10

Ethics: Morality as virtue I; as virtue II

Ethics: Morality + sentiment; Practical reason I

Solomon 478-483; 483-492

Solomon 492-499; 499-505

13 Nov 15

Nov 17

Ethics: Practical reason II; Practical reason III

Ethics: Bentham's Utilitarianism; Mill's Util.

Solomon 505-509; 509-514

Solomon 514-518; 518-527

14 Nov 22 Alt.

Essay

Nov 24

Justice: Introduction and Plato; Aristotle

GT School Holiday

Solomon 551-557; 557-560

5 / 6
http://agora.gatech.edu/http://agora.gatech.edu/http://agora.gatech.edu/


6/6


Week Date Ass.

due!

Theme Readings

15

16

Nov 29

Dec 1Dec 6

Dec 8

Justice: Hume and Mill; Social contract I

Justice: Social contract II; Soc. Contr. III (Rawls)Just.:Soc. Contr. IV+Feminism; Rights+freedom

Justice: Disobedience+anarchism; Right to eat

Final on ethics and justice

Solomon 560-566; 566-572

Solomon 572-579; 579-583Solomon 583-587; 588-595

Solomon 595-601; 601-605

E-mails

Make sure that you receive e-mails sent to your GT e-mail address because this is the only

one that I can use to contact you. This is also important for your group work. You can contact

each other by using the E-mail function in T-Square. Click on Sections to see everybodywho signed up for a certain presentation. Check your e-mail regularly.

Academic Honor Code

Based on GTs Honor Advisory Council recommendation I would like to clarify the following

points: You are allowed (and encouraged) to work together with other students on assign-

ments and the essays, as long as you write up and turn in your own solutions. Submitting any

work other than your own is a violation of the Academic Honor Code. Quoting other authors,

of course, is common scientific practice. However, you have to make absolutely clear what are

your own formulations, and what those of others. You can quote the texts of our seminar in

short form (e.g. Solomon, p. 52). Other sources have to be listed under References. Plagi-arism will be dealt with according to the GT Academic Honor Code. Note that plagiarizing is

defined by Websters as to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own :

use (another's production) without crediting the source.

For any questions involving these or any other Academic Honor Code issues, please consult

me or www.honor.gatech.edu.

Contact

Feel free to contact me if there are any problems you would like to discuss. My office hours

are Thursday from 3 to 4 pm or by appointment. The office is located in the basement of theDM Smith Building, room 004. My phone number is 404-385-6083. The easiest way to con-

tact me is by e-mail: [email protected]. Enjoy the class, and let me know if there any

problems!

6 / 6

Documents

PHIL 2010 Syllabus