Introduction to Philosophy

Philosophy 150 A

Introduction to Philosophy

Instructor: Dr. Michael B. Smith

Spring 2006

Meeting times: T H 3:30-4:45

Room: EVA 119

Office: Eva 102A; Tel. 4068; Hours: M 8-8:50, 10-11:50; T 8-9:30, 11:00-11:50; W 8-8:50, 10-11:50; F 8:00-8:50; and by appt.

E-mail: msmith@berry.edu

TEXT

Donald Palmer, Looking at Philosophy: The Unbearable Heaviness of Philosophy Made Lighter (Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing, 2001, 3rd Ed.)

OBJECTIVES FOR THE COURSE

1. To acquaint students with prominent historical and contemporary questions in philosophy.

2. To expose students to the writings of the most influential historical and contemporary

philosophers.

3. To engage students in discussion of the questions studied.

4. To encourage disciplined and reflective speculation and writing on philosophical problems.

5. To instruct students on the main schools, periods and tendencies in the development of Western philosophy from the sixth century B.C.E. to the present.

SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS

1. Tuesday, January 10. Introduction to the course. What is philosophy? The benefits you may reap from this course.

2. Thursday, Jan.12. Preface, Intro., The Pre-Socratics. Thales. Read to p. 15.

3. Tuesday, Jan. 17. Read to p. 29. Discussion of Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides.

4. Thursday, Jan. 19. Read to p. 43. Zeno, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Leucippus, Democritus.

5. Tuesday, Jan. 24. Read to p. 54. The Athenian Period. The Sophists: Protagoras, Gorgias, Thrasymachus, Callicles, Critas. Socrates.

6. Thursday, Jan. 26. Read to p. 68. Plato.

7. Tuesday, Jan. 31. Read to p. 86. Aristotle.

8. Thursday, February 2. Read to p. 99. The Hellenistic and Roman Periods. Epicureanism, Stoicism, Neoplatonism.

9. Tuesday, . Feb. 7. Read to p. 117. Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy. (5^th through 15^th centuries.) Augustine, the Encyclopediasts, John Scotus Eriugena.

10. Thursday, Feb. 9. Read to p. 138. Muslim & Jewish philosophers, Faith and Reason, Universals, Thomas Aquinas.

11. Tuesday, Feb.14. Read to p. 149. Ockham, Renaissance Philosophers.

12. Thursday, Feb. 16. Read to p. 168. Continental Rationalism and British Empiricism. Descartes.

13. Tuesday, Feb. 21. Read to p. 184. Hobbes, Spinoza, Leibniz

14. Thursday, Feb. 23. Read to p. 206. Locke, Berkeley, Hume.

15. Tuesday, Feb. 28. Read to p. 222. Kant.

16. Thursday, March 2. Midterm.

17. Tuesday, Mar. 7. Post-Kantian British and Continental Philosophy. Hegel, Schopenhauer. Read to p. 242.

18. Thursday, Mar. 9. Kierkegaard, Marx. Read to p. 266.

(Spring Break)

19. Tuesday, Mar. 21. Read to p. 275. Nietzsche.

20. Thursday, Mar. 23. Read to p. 293. Bentham, Mill, Frege.

21.Tuesday, Mar. 28. Read to p. 308. Pragmatism, the Analytic Tradition, and the Phenomenological Tradition and its Aftermath. (The 20th century.) James, Dewey.

22. Thursday, Mar. 30. Read to p. 321. The Analytic Tradition: Moore, Russell.

23. Tuesday, April 4. Read to p. 339. Logical Positivism: Wittgenstein.

24. Thursday, Apr. 6. Read to p. 361. Quine. Husserl, Heidegger.

25. Tuesday, Apr. 11. Read to p. 375. Sartre.

26. Thursday, Apr. 13. Read to p. 390. Saussure, Lévi-Strauss, Lacan.

27. Tuesday, Apr. 18. Read to p. 398. Derrida, Irigaray.

28. Thursday, Apr. 20. (a) Discussion of final exam topics. (Final Exam to be held in science building computer lab)

BASIS FOR GRADING

1. 10% ----Attendance and oral participation (5% each).

2. 25% ----One 50-minute exam (midterm). It will be made up of 10 questions, of which you are to answer 7. The questions will draw on a combination of factual/historical information and a grasp of some of the more salient concepts discussed in class. (The Midterm exam date is Thursday, Mar. 2.)

3. 25%----Occasional daily quizzes. These quizzes are designed to check students’ comprehension of the daily reading assignments. They will be multiple choice or true/false questions, and will be given at the beginning of class. Approximately six quizzes will be given, and the lowest grade will be dropped.

4. 40% A final exam, covering the 19^th & 20^th centuries, essay in nature. You choose one out of three questions.

Final Exam: Tuesday, April 25, 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.

# posted by Michael @ 5:51 PM