In Introduction to Philosophy you will develop the critical-thinking skills needed to write and speak effectively about the nature of human existence, freedom, knowledge, reality, religious belief, ethics, and social justice. This means being able to identify issues, explain the reasoning behind philosophical positions and arguments, evaluate objections raised against those arguments, formulate replies to those objections, and indicate how the problem-solving strategies developed in various areas of philosophy relate to one another.

Course Structure: The course is aimed at enhancing your ability to write and speak about philosophical issues. The best way to achieve these ends is through practice. Accordingly, in Monday and Wednesday sessions you will be expected to have read assignments before class and to have written answers to questions about the reading that are posted on the course website. [You can send drafts of your answers to your TA (teaching assistant) for feedback before class.] In class Dr. Daniel will outline the issues at hand and you will share your written answers with others in small groups. After the group discussions, the class as a whole will address still unresolved questions raised in the groups.

Friday sessions are different. They focus on a question posted on the website that combines elements from the Monday and Wednesday classes. Your TA will identify the issues to be addressed in answering the question, and you will discuss (first in a small group, then with the whole class) what a good essay response to the question should contain. In the last 20 minutes of class, you will write a short essay (without relying on notes) that answers the question. If you miss a Friday class with a university-approved excuse, you must come write your essay during the office hours held by Dr. Daniel or one of the TAs before the following Friday.

During the semester you will have three brief (less than 10 minute) individual oral quizzes to demonstrate your verbal ability to discuss material recently covered in the course and. You can take your quizzes with Dr. Daniel or any of the TAs during their office hours. The first quiz must be completed no later than Oct. 2, the second no later than Oct. 30, and the third no later than Dec. 1. Time slots fill up quickly, so schedule your quizzes early.

• Friday short essays: at the end of each Friday class, you will write a short essay (without relying on your notes) about that week’s material. Beginning on Sept. 5, each essay will be worth up to 5 points and will be graded according to how well you:

1.    identify precisely what the philosophical issue is and different positions or strategies adopted to address it

2.   explain the reasoning and arguments given to support those positions

3.   raise objections to each of those arguments

4.   formulate replies to those objections, indicating how defenders of the positions can reply to the objections

5.   relate the various topics of the essay to one another and other topics raised in the course

• Oral Quizzes: your oral quizzes are evaluated based on the same five criteria used in the Friday short essays. You can get up to 3 points for your performance regarding each of the five criteria, which means that you can get up to 15 points per quiz. Dr. Daniel and the TAs encourage you to schedule practice oral quizzes.

• Essay exams:

• The mid-semester exam has three essay questions, each worth 10 pts. The exam will not be given in class. Instead, you will submit answers (no more than 300 words for each question) as an attachment emailed to your TA no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 10. Questions for the exam will be available on Oct. 6.
•  The final exam will be administered in our regular classroom on Dec. 9. It will have four essay questions (each worth 10 pts). The questions will be available on Nov. 24.
• If you miss the deadline for submitting answers to the mid-semester exam, or miss the final exam for a university excuse, contact Dr. Daniel immediately.

If on a rare occasion you miss your regularly scheduled Friday class, you can take part in another discussion led by any of the TAs. In such circumstances, notify the TA before the session begins about your attendance so that you can be added temporarily to a group. The times and locations of Friday sessions are as follows:

9:10, sec. 501, Michael Deem, Zachry 105D 9:10, sec. 504, David Wright, Zachry 128A 9:10, sec. 507, Marzena Plizga, Zachry 104A 10:20, sec. 502, Michael Deem, Zachry 128D 10:20, sec. 505, Marzena Plizga, Zachry 119A 10:20, sec. 508, David Wright, Zachry 105C 11:30, sec. 503, Michael Deem, Zachry 105A 11:30, sec. 506, David Wright, Engineering-Physics 215 12:40, sec. 509, Marzena Plizga, Zachry 227A

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. If you violate the code (e.g., by plagiarizing something from the Internet), you will fail the course; no second chances. For information on cheating and plagiarism, go to http://www.tamu.edu/aggiehonor/.

Class meeting	Topic	Assigned Reading	Reading Questions
Aug. 25	Introduction
Aug. 27	Thinking Philosophically	4-17	Questions on thinking philosophically
Aug. 29	Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Sept. 1	Socrates: method	44-63	Questions on Socratic method
Sept. 3	Socrates: trial & legacy	63-87	Questions on Socrates' trial and legacy
Sept. 5	Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Sept. 8	Self: Plato & Descartes	94-115	Questions on the self: Plato & Descartes
Sept. 10	Self: Locke-Kant, materialism	115-31, 141-46	Questions on the self: Locke, Kant, materialism
Sept. 12	Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Sept. 15	Determinism & Compatibilism	158-82	Questions on determinism & compatibilism
Sept. 17	Libertarianism & Wm. James	182-95	Questions on Libertarianism & James
Sept. 19	Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Sept. 22	Sartre, feminism, & freedom	195-218	Questions on Sartre, feminism, and freedom
Sept. 24	Reality: Plato & Aristotle	222-42	Questions on Plato & Aristotle
Sept. 26	Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Sept. 29	Knowing reality: Descartes	242-61	Questions on Descartes' epistemology
Oct. 1	Knowing reality: Locke	268-88	Questions on Locke's epistemology
Oct. 3	Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Oct. 6	Knowing reality: Berkeley & Hume	288-304	Questions on epistemology: Berkeley & Hume
Oct. 8	Kant's constructivism	305-26	Questions on Kant's epistemology
Oct. 10	Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Oct. 10	Mid-semester exam due by 5:00 p.m.		Mid-semester exam questions (posted on Oct. 6)
Oct. 13	Why adopt religious beliefs?	344-60	Questions on religious belief
Oct. 15	Rational arguments for God	378-90	Questions on rational arguments for God
Oct. 17	Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Oct. 20	Evil & Religious Faith	391-401	Questions on evil & religious faith
Oct. 22	Ethical values & relativism	412-30	Questions on ethical values & relativism
Oct. 24	Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Oct. 27	Ethical absolutism & egoism	430-47	Questions on ethical absolutism & egoism
Oct. 29	Against egoism; religious ethics	447-67	Questions on objections to egoism & religious ethics
Oct. 31	Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Nov. 3	Virtue ethics	474-86	Questions on virtue ethics
Nov. 5	Duty ethics	486-500	Questions on duty ethics
Nov. 7	Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Nov. 10	Utilitarianism	500-513	Questions on utilitarianism
Nov. 12	Existential ethics	518-36	Questions on existential ethics
Nov. 14	Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Nov. 17	Political philosophy: Plato & Hobbes	554-74	Questions on Plato & Hobbes
Nov. 19	Political philosophy: Locke & Rawls	574-88	Questions on Locke & Rawls
Nov. 21	Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Nov. 24	Justice: J. S. Mill	599-608	Questions on Mill
(Nov. 26)	(Thanksgiving Travel Day)
(Nov. 28)	(Thanksgiving Holiday)
Dec. 1	Redefined Friday discussion		Weekly short essay question
Dec. 9 (Tuesday)	Final Exam  10:30-12:30		Final exam questions (posted on Nov. 24)

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