Syllabus for Philosophy 251.501-509: Introduction to Philosophy
Fall 2007, Dr. Stephen H. Daniel

Introduction to Philosophy develops problem-solving and critical-thinking skills in the context of discussions of God, religious belief, human nature, reality, freedom, knowledge, ethics, political obligation, and the meaning of life. Students will learn how to (1) analyze the major arguments traditionally proposed concerning these topics, (2) evaluate objections raised against those arguments, and (3) formulate replies to those objections through interactive exercises in class and writing assignments outside class.

This course has nine sections, each with about 24 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 short quiz on that material. Philosophy graduate teaching assistants direct these Friday sessions.

Text: Problems from Philosophy by James Rachels (McGraw-Hill, 2005). Our copy of the text (ISBN 978-007-816048-6) is sold in a plastic wrapper. This packet includes a coupon for $7 off of the $13 charge for using CPS-RF units ("clickers") in the class. If you buy the text used or do not have the coupon, you must pay $13 when you enroll in the class at www.einstruction.com (details about how to do that are given below).

• Pages listed should be read before class.
• The (relatively optional) reading summary/responses must be submitted to your teaching assistant on that day at the beginning of class or prior to class by email attachment.

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 Enterprise 2007 software (which includes PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and Access) from A&M's Computing and Information Services for $20.]

Class Date	Topic	Reading Assignment
		Pages in Textbook	McGraw-Hill PowerWeb location*
Aug. 27	Introduction & Evaluating Arguments	vii-viii, 197-205
Aug. 29	Socrates	1-9
Aug. 31	Friday Discussion/Practice Quiz
Sept. 3	God and Design	10-22
Sept. 5	God as First Cause	22-28
Sept. 7	Friday Discussion/Quiz
Sept. 10	Evil and God	29-40
Sept. 12	Kierkegaard: "The Absolute Paradox"	Reading	Reading #9
Sept. 14	Friday Discussion/Quiz
Sept. 17	Immortality	41-55
Sept. 19	Personal Identity	56-68
Sept. 21	Friday Discussion/Quiz
Sept. 24	Body-Mind Dualism/Immaterialism	69-79
Sept. 26	Functionalism/Intentionality	80-86
Sept. 28	Friday Discussion/Quiz
Oct. 1	Brains/computers	87-98
Oct. 3	Newall: "Philosophy of Mind"		Newall: Philosophy of Mind
Oct. 5	Friday Discussion/Quiz
Oct. 8	Mid-semester exam
Oct. 10	Against Free Will	99-116
Oct. 12	Friday Discussion/Quiz
Oct. 15	Free Will	117-24
Oct. 17	Freedom: compatibilism	124-32
Oct. 19	Friday Discussion/Quiz
Oct. 22	Knowledge: foundationalism	133-41
Oct. 24	Knowledge: idealism, realism	141-52
Oct. 26	Friday Discussion/Quiz
Oct. 29	Hume: knowledge/cause		Reading #15 (see * below)
Oct. 31	Griffiths: "Feminism, Feelings, and Philosophy"		Reading #24 (see * below)
Nov. 2	Friday Discussion/Quiz
Nov. 5	Ethics and Objectivity	153-69
Nov. 7	Nietzsche: "Beyond Good and Evil"		Nietzsche: Beyond Good & Evil
Nov. 9	Friday Discussion/Quiz
Nov. 12	Ethics and Religion	170-78
Nov. 14	Utilitarianism and Kant	178-85
Nov. 16	Friday Discussion/Quiz
Nov. 19	Wolgast: "World of Social Atoms"		Wolgast: "A World of Social Atoms"
(Nov. 21)	(Class cancelled for Thanksgiving travel)
(Nov. 23)	(Thanksgiving Friday, holiday)
Nov. 26	Meaning of Life	186-96
Nov. 28	Taylor: "Meaning of Life"		Taylor: "The Meaning of Life"
Nov. 30	Friday Discussion/Quiz: on text discussion of meaning of life
Dec. 3 (redefined Friday)	Friday Discussion/Quiz: on Taylor reading
Dec. 11 (Tuesday)	Final exam 10:30-12:30

*For readings, go to the McGraw-Hill PowerWeb Location (http://www.dushkin.com/powerweb) and use "articles" for both your username and password. In the "Select a Title" box, scroll down to "PowerWeb--people." When that page comes up, look under the "Readings" heading and click on "Contents" and scroll down to the appropriate numbered reading. For example, the reading for Oct. 29 is #15, An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding by David Hume. You can view the reading in either an Acrobat (preferred) or HTML format simply by clicking on appropriate link.

Grades:  This course aims to develop a student's familiarity with philosophic concepts and arguments and to help a student express philosophic insights in writing. Accordingly, there are four categories of assignments:

• Mid-semester and final exams: each consists of 25 true/false and 25 multiple choice questions: 100 points each
• Beginning Sept. 7: 13 Friday quizzes: six questions (T/F, multiple choice) each worth 1 point (total: 78 points)
• Beginning Sept. 5: "clicker" responses to two questions per class, two points each (4 points x 23 classes = 92 points)
• Beginning Aug. 29: summary/responses on daily readings (each worth 5 points). You are required to turn in summary/responses for at least five Monday-Wednesday classes (three no later than Oct. 3; two after Oct. 8) (total: 25 points). For every required summary/response you fail to turn in, you lose four points. Additional summary/responses count as extra points. There are 25 Mon/Wed classes, so you can pick up an additional 100 points for the semester by submitting more summary/responses.
  

Total for the course: 495 possible points. For an A, you need 350 points, a B 312, a C 274, a D 236.

To see how much difference turning in extra summary/responses can make, consider the following. Suppose you make a 78 (C) on both the mid-semester and final exams and accumulate 60 points on Friday quizzes (C), 72 points on Mon/ Wed clicker questions (C), and 20 points on the five required summary/responses (B). Your total would be 308, a C for the course. If you had turned in one more summary/response and gotten 4 points, you would get a B for the course; and if you had turned in 11 more summary/responses and gotten 4 points (a B) on each, you would have 352 points (A). In this latter case you would have an A because of your summary/responses, even though you got only Cs on exams and quizzes and Bs on your summary/responses. If you are going to read the material anyway, why not write a summary/ response? You will understand the material better, improve your writing ability, and pick up points in the process.

Exams: the mid-semester and final exams are objective-format (true-false, multiple choice) scan-tron tests. For them you need the narrow green 882 forms that can be purchased at bookstores and copy centers. You do not need scan-tron forms or blue books for the Friday weekly quizzes. When turning in your test in the classroom, you must know your section number so that you can place your test in the correct pile. 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 class on Wednesday). If you miss the final exam, contact Prof. Daniel to take the exam immediately; otherwise, you receive no credit for the exam.

Quizzes: Friday discussions focus on topics covered in the text and lectures. In the last five minutes of Friday sessions you will be given a short quiz containing six true-false/ multiple-choice questions. You can discuss your answer with a small group around you, but you will not be able to consult your notes. If you miss a Friday quiz because of a university-excused absence, notify your teaching assistant so that he can 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 on a rare occasion you miss your regularly scheduled Friday class, you can go to another discussion led by any of the TAs and take the quiz then. In such circumstances, notify the TA before the session begins about your attendance for that day. The times and locations of Friday sessions are the following:

9:10, sec. 502, Ty Camp, Heldenfels 119

9:10, sec. 506, Michael Long, Blocker 138

9:10, sec. 507, Benjamin Craig, Zachry 105A

10:20, sec. 504, Benjamin Craig, Heldenfels 119

10:20, sec. 508, Ty Camp, Blocker 138

11:30, sec. 503, Ty Camp, Heldenfels 119

11:30, sec. 505, Benjamin Craig, Thompson 121

12:40, sec. 509, Michael Long, Heldenfels 120

1:50, sec. 501, Michael Long, Blocker 155


Clickers: Our class is large (185 students), so we will be using “clickers” in Monday and Wednesday sessions to provide each student a chance to engage personally in discussions and get immediate feedback on the material. The clickers (also known as CPS-RF units) look like cell phones and can be purchased at bookstores for $20 and used in other courses in the University. You have to set up an account with the clicker company (einstruction.com) only once, but you have to enroll separately in each course that uses clickers. Normally, clicker enrollment costs $13 per course, but students who purchase our text (Problems from Philosophy by James Rachels) in a plastic wrapper will find therein a $7 discount coupon off the $13 enrollment charge. After a student spends $39 for such enrollments, he or she will have no charges for subsequent enrollments. For instructions on how to set up an account and enroll for clicker use in the course, follow these instructions:

1. Get a clicker (specifically, the 18-button “RF” version); make sure it has batteries
2. Go to www.einstruction.com to create an account online. Click on the Students button at the top left of the window, select Texas A&M University, click Choose Site
3. If this is your first time to use CPSOnline, enter the serial number that appears on your clicker’s screen when you turn on your pad; then click Create Your Account. If you have used CPSOnline before, sign in on the left.
4. Create a CPSOnline Username and Password and fill in your contact information using your first and last names as they are listed in Texas A&M University records. Your student ID is your nine-digit numerical University Identification Number (UIN); do not insert any spaces or dashes when entering the number. Your username and password should be the same as those you use to access your WebVista account. Click Submit to create your account.

You’ve now created a CPSOnline account. You can use your CPSOnline username and password to login anytime to CPSOnline. Now you can enroll your pad in your Intro to Philosophy class.

1. Click Yes to enroll immediately in your class.
2. Enter your Philosophy Class Key (I32378C317) in the space provided. (Note: that is an “I” at the beginning of the key, not a 1.) If you have a McGraw-Hill code for the $7 discount, enter it in the Code box. If you do not have a discount code, you can still enroll (for $13 or for free if you have already paid $39 for previous course enrollments).
3. Read the Student Refund Policy and check the box indicating that you agree with the policy.
4. Click Submit and choose your payment options (credit card or check). Click Continue.
5. Fill in your billing information and click Continue.
6. To join an additional CPSOnline class, click the Enroll in a class button from the main menu.
7. Once you have finished enrolling in all of your classes, click Log Out. So that CPSOnline properly records your information, log out of CPSOnline.

NOTE: If you enroll in more than one class using CPS, your response pad may have a different assigned number for each class. Note your assigned response pad number after you enroll for each class, and use the reminder emails from eInstruction to keep track of your information. In the case of Introduction to Philosophy, your assigned number will be between 1 and 200.

Summary/responses are to be 150-200 word essays on the assigned reading for the day. For readings up to Sept. 26, your essay should identify the primary claim or thesis defended by the author and indicate the arguments provided to support that claim. For readings from Oct. 1 to Oct. 31, you should identify the fundamental claim, indicate supporting arguments, and point out objections that can be raised against those arguments. For readings from Nov. 5 to Nov. 28, you should identify the fundamental claim, supporting arguments, and objections to those arguments, and provide replies that can be given to defend the position or claim against those objections—again, all in 150-200 words.

How to do well: Read the text, outline it using the PowerPoint presentations, and consult as many resources as you can find. Of course, attend class. 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!

• Click here to see the course promotion presentation (music from CBS Survivor).
• To check your final exam grade and overall course grade, log into WebCT 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 Truth

Past test questions on Ethics

Past test questions on Social and Political Philosophy

Past test questions on Aesthetics (Philosophy of Art) & the Meaning of Life

Go to Dr. Daniel's Home Page

Send Dr. Daniel a message: sdaniel@people.tamu.edu

Dr. Daniel: Office Hours (Bolton 302-B): Monday & Wednesday 4:15-5:30
        Phone: 845-5619 (office), 846-4649 (home)
        E-mail: sdaniel@people.tamu.edu
        Web: people.tamu.edu/~sdaniel/251sy07c.html

Graduate Teaching Instructors: (all three have their office hours on Mondays and Wednesdays 1:00-2:30)

• Ty Camp—secs. 502, 503, 508; Bolton 305e; 862-6976; t-camp@people.tamu.edu

• Benjamin Craig—secs. 504, 505, 507;  Bolton 311; 845-0489; b-craig@people.tamu.edu

• Michael Long—secs. 501, 506, 509; Bolton 306; 862-6972; m-long@people.tamu.edu

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 lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do. 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/.