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Introduction to Philosophy develops problem-solving and critical-thinking skills by examining discussions about knowledge, reality, God, freedom, ethics, political obligation, and the philosophy of art.
This course has twelve sections, each with about 26 students. All students meet together on Monday and Wednesday. On Friday they meet at various times in their sections to watch a video on material covered in the textbook and lectures and to discuss and take a quiz on that material. Philosophy graduate teaching assistants direct these Friday sessions.
Text: Does the Center Hold? (2nd ed.) by Donald Palmer (1995). Pages listed below should be read prior to each class. Video numbers refer to episodes from The Examined Life (Intelecom, 1999) that will be shown in class.
To see class notes for each class, click on the topic for that day.
| Class date | Topic | Reading assignment (Palmer text)/Video |
| Aug. 28 | Beginning of Philosophy; Areas of Philosophy | 1-26 |
| Aug. 30 | Socrates | 26-37 |
| Sept. 1 | Discussion/quiz | Video 1 |
| Sept. 4 | Plato | 38-49 |
| Sept. 6 | Descartes | 49-72 |
| Sept. 8 | Discussion/quiz | Video 12 |
| Sept. 11 | Locke and Berkeley | 74-90 |
| Sept. 13 | Hume, Positivism | 90-103 & video 13 |
| Sept. 15 | Discussion/quiz | Video 14 |
| Sept. 18 | Kant and Truth | 103-108, video 16 |
| Sept. 20 | Dualism and Behaviorism | 110-27 |
| Sept. 22 | Discussion/quiz | Video 3 |
| Sept. 25 | Mind-Brain Identity | 128-34 |
| Sept. 27 | Pluralism and objections | 134-43 |
| Sept. 29 | Discussion/quiz | Video 6 |
| Oct. 2 | Test 1 | |
| Oct. 4 | God: ontological & cosmological arguments | 145-59 |
| Oct. 6 | Discussion/quiz | Video 10 |
| Oct. 9 | God: teleological argument & atheism | 159-74 |
| Oct. 11 | Will to Believe & mysticism | 174-87 |
| Oct. 13 | Discussion/quiz | Video 11 |
| Oct. 16 | Kierkegaard | 187-97 & video 26, pt. 1 |
| Oct. 18 | Determinism & indeterminism | 200-214 |
| Oct. 20 | Discussion/quiz | Video 8 |
| Oct. 23 | Libertarianism & Existentialism | 214-36 & video 26, pt. 2 |
| Oct. 25 | Greek virtue ethics, egoism, relativism | 238-51, 285-91 |
| Oct. 27 | Discussion/quiz | Video 21 |
| Oct. 30 | Hedonism, utilitarianism, deep ecology | 252-65, 299-310 & video 19 |
| Nov. 1 | Kant & challenges to morality, feminist critique | 265-85, 291-99 |
| Nov. 3 | Discussion/quiz | Video 20 |
| Nov. 6 | Test 2 | |
| Nov. 8 | Political philos: Plato & Hobbes | 313-27 |
| Nov. 10 | Discussion/quiz | Video 23 |
| Nov. 13 | Locke & Rousseau | 327-41 |
| Nov. 15 | Mill & Marx | 341-55 |
| Nov. 17 | Discussion/quiz | Video 24 |
| Nov. 20 | Minimal State & Liberalism | 355-67 |
| Nov. 22 | Art: Plato to Marx | 370-91 & video 25 |
| (Nov. 24) | (Thanksgiving holiday) | |
| Nov. 27 | Art: Marcuse to Wittgenstein | 391-417 |
| Nov. 29 | Test 3 | |
| Dec. 1 | Human nature: discussion/quiz | Video 2 |
| Dec. 4 (redefined day) | Meet with Friday sessions to review for final exam | |
| Dec. 13 (Wednesday) | Final exam 10:30 |
Office (Bolton 302 B) hours: Monday and Wednesday 1:00-4:00
Phone: 845-5619 (office), 846-4649 (home)
Email: sdaniel@unix.tamu.edu
Web site: people.tamu.edu/~sdaniel/251sy00c.html
Grades/Tests: The final grade is based equally on the three tests and the cumulative score of your 12 best (out of 13) Friday quizzes. After taking the tests and quizzes, you can elect to take the final exam to improve your grade, but the final exam is completely optional. The final exam grade will be used to calculate your final grade only if it improves your semester average. If you take the final exam, it cannot make your semester average drop.
The exam, tests, and quizzes are comprised of true/false, multiple-choice questions, some of which can be found at the course website. Quizzes occur in the last eight minutes of Friday classes, during which students in small groups can discuss the questions before individually selecting answers. Only your best 12 quizzes (of 13 total) will be used to calculate your cumulative quiz score, so if you miss a quiz (for any reason) it automatically counts as your freebie. If you miss more than one quiz because of a university-excused absence, you should notify me and I will give you an extra quiz later in the semester. Missing a test is more serious than missing a quiz. Any student who has to miss a test should contact me to schedule to take the test before the next class meeting. Class attendance can significantly affect your performance on tests and quizzes, but there is no specific grade for attendance as such.
The final exam is cumulative (i.e., covers the material from the entire semester) and counts for 1.5 times the weight of each of the tests and the quiz average. If you are satisfied with your grade after the third test and all the quizzes, then you do not have to take the final. If, on the other hand, you are willing to do the extra work necessary to do well on the final, the rewards can be substantial. For example, suppose you make scores of 70 on the three tests and your cumulative quiz score is 80. Your course average would then be 72.5 (a low C). You decide to take the final and get a 72. Since the 72 is worth 1.5 times the other tests, the calculation for your grade would be: 70+70+70+80+108=398 w 5 = 79.6 (which rounds to a B for the course). Or suppose your test grades are 68, 78, and 88, and your quiz total is a 78. Your average for the course would be a 78 (C for the course). Then you get an 88 on the final. By making that extra effort at the end of the semester, you would then have the following: 68+78+88+78+132=354 w 4 = 88.8 (which, from my perspective is close enough for an A). [My general rule of thumb is that if a person makes an effort and gets within a point or a point and a half of a letter grade, that is good enough. But this point-and-a-half rule applies only to students who take the final.] So such a person would have gotten a D, a C, and a B on the tests, a C on the quizzes, and a B for the final, only to end up with an A for the course! Makes you think about taking the final, doesn't it?
Test Formats: The three tests and final exam are objective-format (true-false, multiple choice) scan-tron tests. To take them you need the narrow green 882 forms that can be purchased at various bookstores and copy centers. You do not need scan-tron forms for the weekly quizzes.
Past test questions on Philosophy in General and Socrates (Chapter One)--updated. Past test questions on Epistemology: Rationalism, Plato, and Descartes (Chapter Two)--updated. Past test questions on Epistemology: Empiricism, Kant, Positivism, Objections (Chapter Three)--updated. Past test questions on Ontology, Mind-Body (Chapter Four)--updated.
Past test questions on Philosophy in General, Socrates, and Plato. Past test questions on Philosophy of Religion. Past test questions on Epistemology (Theory of Knowledge). Past test questions on Metaphysics. Past test questions on Freedom, Determinism, and Existentialism. Past test questions on Ethics. Past test questions on Social-Political Philosophy and Aesthetics.
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