Pl 258 Philosophy and Culture TR 1:45-3:00 ALC 215
Instructor: Tom Duggan Carroll Hall 229 303-458-3512
Office Hours: MW 2-3, TR 3:00-4:15, F 2-3 by appointment
Home: 5108 Beach Court, Denver, CO 80221 303-477-2131
Text:
Philosophy: an Introduction through Literature, ed. by Lowell Kleiman and Stephen Lewis
Course Description:
“Philosophy and Culture” is one of the themes that the philosophy department selected two years ago to diversify our offerings at the introductory level in philosophy. Your present instructor was assigned the task of producing a course description and offering the first course under this title. The present course is the third time (and featuring the third text) that this course is being offered at Regis. The original purpose of the course was to show the relationship between the culture of philosophy and the culture from which various philosophers emerged in order to investigate the ways in which a philosopher is on the one hand a product of his/her culture and on the other hand the ways in which that philosopher transcends and changes the culture to which s/he belongs. This inquiry raises interesting questions. What is the role of philosophy vis a vis a particular culture? Are the subject matter, method, and goal of philosophy privileged in such a way that philosophy stands apart from the culture that it finds itself in and has the obligation and prerogative of standing in judgment on the methods and conclusions of its culture? Or is philosophy just another cultural activity, a form of literature, a story, set of social practices, group of activities and writings which compete with alternative social practices and stories for the attention of human beings? These are the questions that this course would like to raise in dialogue with young minds who are just beginning to become critically aware of the stories that their culture tells and indeed that they tell with their own lives.
The difficulty is that no text has been written with this course description in mind. Consequently, your instructor has chosen the most contemporary text available that is also in conversation with the stories that our culture has inherited from the past. This, nevertheless, puts a bigger burden on instructor and students alike to direct the discussion toward responding to the questions that the course was designed to address. Preparation for and participation in the discussion on the part of the student, therefore, is vital to the success of the course and to student achievement.
Course Requirements:
This is not a lecture course, though the instructor is responsible for providing the philosophical background necessary for identifying and responding to the issues that emerge from the texts we will be reading. Even though the class is large in size, the hope is that everyone’s critical skills will be enhanced by the contributions of each member of the class. Accordingly, each student will be expected to be familiar enough with the reading assignments to raise questions and make comments and evaluations about the material under discussion. Attendance and participation is thus a crucial component of the course.
In order to stimulate thinking and to provide some continuity, an entrance slip (a brief comment, question, or piece of analysis or evaluation typed single space before class) or an exit slip (comment on an issue during or at the end of class—hand written in ink) will be due each class or at least once each week.
In addition three longer (one and one half to three single spaced pages) will be due during the course of the semester. These papers will represent mastery of a block of material and will be analytical and critical as well as constructive (representing the student’s own position on the issue) in nature. The exact topics of the papers will be determined on the basis of the discussions that emerge from the students’ encounter with the materials of the
course. The first outside written assignment will occur around Feb. 12, the second around Mar. 24, and the final in-class writing assignment will be held Apr. 30, at 8:00 in this classroom.
Grading: The outside class papers will constitute the centerpiece and weightiest third of the student’s final grade. The sum of the entrance and exit slips will constitute another, less weighty third, and attendance and participation will constitute the final third. After two unexcused absences, the grade for this component will be reduced one letter mark for every subsequent absence. Eight such absences will result in a failing grade for the course. The instructor must be notified in advance if assignments will be handed in late. Late assignments will be lowered one letter grade for each day the assignment is late. If a student is not in class on the day when graded papers are handed back, the student may pick up her/his paper from the instructor’s office during office hours. A request for a grade of “incomplete” must be cleared with the instructor ahead of time and then submitted in writing to the instructor.
Grading scale: score appearing at top or bottom of paper
6 (A++) Not only fulfills assignment competently but is exceptionally well written and creatively insightful
5 (A) Fulfills assignment competently and intelligently such that reader can progress through paper smoothly
4 (B) Capable paper with a noticeable flaw either in clarifying major conceptions, supplying supporting evidence and exemplification, making inferences, or in failure to correct mechanical problems that hinder reader's progress through the paper.
3 (C) In the ballpark, but more than one major deficiency.
2 (D) Deficiencies outweigh mastery of material.
1 (F) Seriously flawed. Unacceptable.
Key to margin numbers:
1 good insight, distinction, clarity of definition
2 concept vague, distinction inappropriate, needs further clarification
3 connection with previous thought well made
4 connection not clear
5 concept well applied, supported, exemplified
6 concept not well supported, exemplified
7 good generalization or summary
8 generalization or summary weak or absent or needed
9 spelling and punctuation, misused word problem
10 grammar or sentence structure difficulty
Students with a documented disability should notify the instructor and contact Joie William, Regis’ director of Disability Services, located in Room 118B of the Life Directions Center. On the basis of her suggestion, appropriate accommodations will be made for those students.
The Writing Center, Loyola 1, is recommended as a valuable resource for organizational, structural, and grammatical difficulties that a student may find with her/his paper. The personnel there are student friendly and extremely helpful. Please use this resource rather than relying on a friend or the word processor for advice.
Schedule (subject to revision):
Jan. 13 intro; 15 Araby p. 6; 20 Plato p. 181; 22 Descartes p. 29; 27 Rorty p.75; 29 In a Grove p.85; Feb. 3 Austin p. 102; 5 Peirce p. 115; 10 review; 12 The Metamorphosis p. 147; 17 Ryle p.185; 19 Locke p.193; 24 Hume p. 186; 26 Zemach p. 224; Mar. 10 Guest of the Nation p. 250; 12 Mortimer p. 267; 17 Mill p. 280; 19 Ayer p. 305; 24 Duggan; 26 The House of Morgan p. 359; 31 Plato p. 373; Apr. 2 JJC Smart p.411; 7 Fisk p. 416; 9 Little Bessie p. 429 and Job p. 433; 14 Aquinas 499; 16 Anselm p.484; 21 Homnick and Hook p. 462; 23 summary
Last day to drop course: T Jan. 20
Last day to withdraw from course: Mar. 20