Philosophy 100W: Intro to Philosophy [Writing Intensive]
Spring 2009, Section 2: Calhoun Hall 203
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 11:10am-12noon

Instructor: Ted Parent
Email: ted.parent@vanderbilt.edu
Cell phone: 919-260-4897; Office: Furman Hall 115
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 10:00am-11:00am, and by appointment.

Philosophy is an ancient discipline that addresses basic, yet difficult and important questions such as “What acts are morally right?,” “What do I really know, if anything?”, “Does God exist?”, and “Does freewill exist?” Philosophy considers the arguments for proposed answers to such questions, and attempts to evaluate these arguments in an especially systematic and exacting manner. As William James once said, philosophy is “a particularly stubborn attempt to think clearly” about some of the most fundamental issues we face as human beings.

Goals of the Course:
(a) To get acquainted with some of the core issues within philosophy.
(b) To improve one's skill at reading texts with greater attention to detail.
(c) To become a practitioner of philosophic thinking, a style of thinking that emphasizes clear and rigorous argumentation, so as to maximize the acuity of your judgments in philosophy and elsewhere.

Texts:
Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates, trans. G.M.A. Grube; Hackett 1981.
Descartes, René. Meditations on First Philosophy. trans. Donald Cress; Hackett 1993.
Williams, Clifford. Free Will and Determinism, A Dialogue, Hackett 1980.
Selected Readings on OAK

Course Assignments:
(1) Three Papers (no minimum length; maximum length is 5 pages) are due throughout the semester (see schedule below). For each paper, you will first be required to turn in a draft before you submit the paper in its final form. Failure to submit a draft will drop your score on the paper a full letter-grade. Each paper is worth 25% of your final grade.
(2) Two Critiques. These will be comments and suggestions written by you on a classmate's work. Each critique will be worth 12.5% of your final grade.

No late assignments accepted. If you are unwilling to abide by this policy, please drop the course.

N.B. Excellent or poor participation/attendance will also affect your final grade. In extreme cases, poor attendance will result in an automatic ‘F’ for the course, regardless of your performance on the assignments.

Tentative Schedule

Preliminaries

WEEK ONE
Jan 7 Introductory session.
Jan 9 Arguments and argument fallacies [refer to handouts].

WEEK TWO

Jan 12, 14 Arguments and argument fallacies (cont’)

Topics in Moral and Political Philosophy

Jan 16 Shafer-Landau, “Ethical Subjectivism” [on OAK]. (Read only the

first half on normative subjectivism.)

WEEK THREE

Jan 19, 21 Subjectivism (cont’)

Jan 23 Plato, Apology

WEEK FOUR

Jan 26 Apology (cont’)

Jan 28, 30 Plato, Crito

WEEK FIVE

Feb 2 Crito (cont’)

Feb 4, 6 Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail [on OAK]

Metaphysics: Free Will and Determinism

*WEEK SIX

Feb 9, 11, 13 pp. 1-20 Feb 11: Draft of Paper One due

Feb 13: First Critique due

WEEK SEVEN

Feb 16, 18, 20 pp. 21- 30 Feb 16: Final Draft of Paper One due

WEEK EIGHT

Feb 23, 25, 27 pp. 31-48

WEEK NINE

Mar 2, 4, 6 SPRING BREAK

WEEK TEN

Mar 9, 11, 13 pp. 49-58

WEEK ELEVEN

Mar 16, 18, 20 Frankfurt, “Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person”

[on OAK]

WEEK TWELVE

Mar 23, 25, 27 In-Class Writing Workshops Mar 23: Draft of Paper Two due

René Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy

WEEK THIRTEEN

Mar 30 Meditation One Mar 30: Final Draft of Paper Two due

Apr 1, 3 Meditation Two

WEEK FOURTEEN

Apr 6 Meditation Three

Apr 8, 10 Meditation Four

WEEK FIFTEEN
Apr 13 Meditation Five

Apr 15, 17 Meditation Six Apr 17: Draft of Paper Three due

WEEK SIXTEEN

Apr 20 Concluding session. Apr 20: Second Critique due

Final Draft of Paper Three due at 5pm on Monday, Apr 27^th in Furman Hall 115.
Early submissions appreciated. Thanks.