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Syllabus for Philosophy 251: Introduction to
Philosophy
Fall 2006, Dr. Stephen H. Daniel
Introduction to Philosophy develops problem-solving and critical-thinking skills by examining ideas about religious belief, God, freedom, human nature, reality, knowledge, ethics, and political obligation.
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 discuss material covered in the textbook and lectures and take a quiz on that material. Philosophy graduate teaching assistants direct these Friday sessions.
Text: Philosophical Questions (2005) by James Fieser and Norman Lillegard. You can get the book for a special course price of $35 at local bookstores (the MSC Bookstore or Traditions). Ask for Philosophy 251.501-512 (Daniel); the special book number (ISBN) for the course text is 9-7801-9532-3498. Whatever you do, don't pay the list price of $75 for the textbook.
- Pages listed below should be read before each class.
- To see the PowerPoint slide summaries for each class, click on the topic for that day. It might be useful to print out summaries before class so that you do not have to write down that material during class and can simply add your comments to those notes. [Note: to be able to view the slides, you have to have a PowerPoint reader installed on your computer. You can get a free read-only version of PowerPoint at the Microsoft download site, or you can purchase the full Microsoft Office software (which includes PowerPoint, Word, and Excel) from A&M's Student Computer Sales for $15.]
- Part of your grade is based on short answers you give to
the "Ask Yourself" questions on the textbook readings. There are 674
such questions, and for every three
questions for which you give a satisfactory answer, you receive one
point. That means you can accummulate a total of 225 points for your
answers. There are no specific days when you are required to turn in
answers, but the more satisfactory answers you turn in, the higher your
grade will be. Also, you must turn in at least 75 answers for "Ask
Yourself" questions by mid-semeser or you will lose 25 points.
Answers on any particular day's reading must be given to your teaching
assistant in that
day's class.
|
Class Date |
Topic |
Reading Assignment |
"Ask Yourself" Questions |
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|
Pages in Textbook |
Numbered
Questions |
|
Aug. 28 |
2-12 |
1-10 |
|
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Aug. 30 |
|
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1-36 |
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Sept. 1 |
Friday Discussion | |
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Sept. 4 |
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37-57 |
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Sept. 6 |
|
68-82 (skip 52-68) |
78-88
(skip 58-77) |
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Sept. 8 |
Friday Discussion/Quiz |
|
|
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Sept. 11 |
|
83-99 |
89-108 |
|
Sept. 13 |
|
99-114 |
109-24 |
|
Sept. 15 |
Friday
Discussion/Quiz
|
|
|
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Sept. 18 |
|
116-37 |
1-21 |
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Sept. 20 |
|
137-56 |
22-47 |
|
Sept. 22 |
Friday
Discussion/Quiz
|
|
|
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Sept. 25 |
The Self as Self-chosen |
164-87 (skip 156-64) |
57-95
(skip 48-56) |
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Sept. 27 |
|
202-21 (skip 187-202) |
114-40
(skip 96-113) |
|
Sept. 29 |
Friday
Discussion/Quiz
|
|
|
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Oct. 2 |
|
|
1-33 |
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Oct. 4 |
|
248-58, 282-92 (skip 258-82) |
34-49,
79-92 (skip 50-78) |
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Oct. 6 |
Friday
Discussion/Quiz
|
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Oct. 9 |
|
292-314 |
93-121 |
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Oct. 11 |
Mid-semester exam |
||
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Oct. 13 |
Friday Discussion/Quiz: Minds and Language | ||
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Oct. 16 |
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316-34 |
1-27 |
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Oct. 18 |
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334-60 |
28-60 |
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Oct. 20 |
Friday
Discussion/Quiz
|
||
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Oct. 23 |
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360-83 |
61-94 |
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Oct. 25 |
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383-405 |
95-128 |
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Oct. 27 |
Friday
Discussion/Quiz
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Oct. 30 |
|
405-21 |
129-47 |
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Nov. 1 |
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422-39 |
1-16 |
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Nov. 3 |
Friday Discussion/Quiz | ||
| Nov. 6 |
Egoism and Reason | 440-60 |
17-47 |
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Nov. 8 |
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461-89 |
48-92 |
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Nov. 10 |
Friday Discussion/Quiz | ||
| Nov. 13 |
Moral Duty | 489-510 |
93-115 |
| Nov. 15 |
Consequentialist Ethics | 510-26 |
116-36 |
| Nov. 17 |
Friday Discussion/Quiz | ||
| Nov. 20 |
Political Authority | 538-61 (skip 528-38) |
13-40 (skip 1-12) |
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(Nov. 22) |
(Class cancelled for Thanksgiving travel) |
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(Nov. 24) |
(Thanksgiving holiday)
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Nov. 27 |
561-77
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41-59
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Nov. 29 |
|
602-616 (skip 577-602) |
94-115 (skip 60-93) |
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Dec. 1 |
Friday
Discussion/Quiz: Political Authority (Pufendorf-Locke) & Rawls
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Dec. 4 (redefined Friday) |
Friday Discussion/Quiz: Nozick, Sandel, Mill, & Feinberg |
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Dec. 12 (Tuesday) |
Final exam 10:30-12:30 |
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Grades/Tests:
- The mid-semester and final exams, each composed of 25 true/false and 25 multiple choice questions, are worth 100 points each. (Links to sets of past test questions are listed below.) Each of the 13 Friday quizzes is worth 7 points (total: 91 points). For every three (out of the 674) "Ask Yourself" questions for which you give a satisfactory answer, you receive one point (total possible: 225 points). The total number of possible points for the course is thus 516. For an A in the course, you need 338 points, a B 300 points, a C 262 points, and a D 224 points. You must turn in at least 75 answers for "Ask Yourself" questions by mid-semester or you will lose 25 points.
- Sometimes the answer to an "Ask Yourself" question is as simple as a one-word fill-in-the-blank; other times, the question has several parts, each of which needs to be answered. Most questions need no more than a two or three sentence answer. Never answer a question with simply a yes or no: for such questions, explain why you answer the way you do.
- To see how much of a difference turning in answers to the questions can make, consider the following. Suppose you make a 75 on both the mid-semester and final exams and accumulate 76 points for your Friday quizzes. Also suppose you turn in the minimum 75 answers to the "Ask Yourself" questions (to avoid the 25 point penalty) and get full credit for only 60 of them (which is worth 20 points). Your point total would be 245, a D in the course. Suppose, however, you read the assignments, turn in answers, and regularly get full credit for those answers (remember, not every answer you turn in is guaranteed to be correct: you might receive no or only partial credit for your answers). To get 100 points, you have to get full credit for 300 answers. As noted above, there are 674 questions, so it is possible for you to accumulate as many as 225 points. Even if you turn in satisfactory answers for only half of the questions in the readings (a total of 337 questions worth 112 points), your overall point total will be 338, an A for the course. Thus C's on the exams and a low B for the quizzes can be transformed into an A for the course by someone who is diligent in reading the text and answering the questions correctly.
- Remember: your answers to "Ask Yourself" questions must be turned in to your teaching assistant in the Monday or Wednesday lecture class in which we are discussing that day's assigned material. You must also turn in at least 75 answers to "Ask Yourself" questions by October 9.
- Each Friday the discussion will focus on the topics covered in the text and lectures. In the last ten minutes of the class you will be given a short quiz containing seven true-false/multiple-choice questions. You can discuss your answer with other students but you will not be able to consult your notes. The total for those quizzes counts for roughly 24% of the course grade.
- If you miss a Friday quiz because of a university-excused absence, you should notify your teaching assistant who will arrange for you to take a make-up quiz. No one who arrives more than 15 minutes late for class on Friday will be allowed to take the quiz in that session. However, if you notify your TA beforehand, you can go to one of the other discussions led by your TA and take the quiz then. (If your TA has no other later sessions, you can sit in on another TA's session as long as you notify the other TA before the session begins about your attendance for that day alone.) You should therefore learn the times and locations of your TA's other sessions on Friday:
- 9:10, section 502, Craig Gonzales, Civil Engineering (CE) 136
- 9:10, section 506, Heinrik Hellwig, Heldenfels (HELD) 119
- 9:10, section 507, Kyle Mask, Military Science (MILS) 316
- 10:20, section 504, Heinrik Hellwig, Heldenfels (HELD) 121
- 10:20, section 508, Kyle Mask, Military Science (MILS) 316
- 10:20, section 511, Jake Greenblum, Military Science (MILS) 216
- 11:30, section 503, Craig Gonzales, Civil Engineering (CE) 134
- 11:30, section 505, Heinrik Hellwig, Heldenfels (HELD) 119
- 12:40, section 509, Craig Gonzales, Civil Engineering (CE) 136
- 12:40, section 512, Jake Greenblum, Langford Architecture Center (ARCC) 307
- 1:50, section 501, Kyle Mask, Heldenfels (HELD) 121
- 1:50, section 510, Jake Greenblum, Chemical Engineering (CHEN) 102
- Class attendance can significantly affect your performance on tests and quizzes, but there is no grade for attendance as such. However, if your name is called in a Monday or Wednesday class and you are not there, you lose five points.
- Missing the
mid-semester exam is more serious than missing a quiz. Any student
who has to miss the mid-semester exam should contact Prof. Daniel to
schedule to take the test within the next two days (before your
class on Friday). Of
course, if you miss the final exam, you should contact Prof. Daniel to
take the exam immediately; otherwise, you will receive no credit for
the exam.
Test Formats: The mid-semester and final exams 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 or blue books for the weekly quizzes. Also, when turning in your test in the classrom, you must know your section number so that you can place your test in the correct pile.
How to do well: Read the text, outline it using both the "Summing Up" discussions at the end of each chapter and parts of chapters. In making your outline, also use the PowerPoint presentations and the "Student Resources" information provided by the textbook publisher (click here) cited below. Of course, attend class and study the practice questions on the website. For each chapter you should combine all your notes in an outline that is structured based on answering these four questions about the philosophers or philosophical positions we study:
- What is the basic position or claim being made?
- What are the arguments provided to support that position or claim?
- What objections can be raised against the position or claim?
- What replies can be given to defend the position or claim against these objections?
You should consult with the professor or teaching
assistants
as often as possible to make sure you are understanding the material.
Do not
wait until the day before a test to begin to do your outline. This is
not the
kind of course for which you can cram and expect to do well on tests.
Take
advantage of our office hours!
The publisher of the textbook also has practice questions, outlines, and other "Student Resources" at its Fieser/Lillegard textbook Companion Site. Just click here.
- Click here to see the course promotion presentation (music from CBS Survivor).
- To check your final exam grade and overall course grade, log intoWebCT Vista.
Past
test questions on Philosophy in General and Socrates
Past
test questions on Human Nature & Mind-Body
Past
test questions on Reality/Freedom-Determinism/Time
Past
test questions on Philosophy of Religion
Past
test questions on Knowledge
Past
test questions on Social and Political Philosophy
Past
test questions on Aesthetics (Philosophy of Art) & the Meaning of
Life
Send Dr.
Daniel a message: sdaniel@people.tamu.edu
Dr. Daniel: Office
Hours (
Phone: 845-5619 (office),
846-4649 (home)
E-mail: sdaniel@people.tamu.edu
Web:
people.tamu.edu/~sdaniel/251sy06c.html
Graduate Teaching Instructors:
- Craig Gonzales--sections 502, 503, 509. Office:
- Heinrik Hellwig--sections 504, 505, 506. Office: Bolton 307. Office hours: Tuesday 2-5 p.m., or by appointment. Office phone: 862-6973. Email: h-hellwig@people.tamu.edu
- Kyle Mask--sections 501, 507, 508.
Office:
- Jake Greenblum--sections 510,
511, 512. Office:
Students with disabilities are guaranteed a
learning
environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their
disabilities.
If you believe you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please
contact the Department of Student Life, Disability Services, Cain Hall
B118, or call 845-1637.
Students are bound by the Aggie honor code not to cheat. Using notes during a quiz or test, submitting another student's work as one's own, copying from another student's test, and modifying a previously graded test to improve the grade are acts of scholastic dishonesty. For more on cheating and plagiarism, see http://www.tamu.edu/aggiehonor/acadmisconduct.htm.