Philosophy 101:
Syllabus
FALL 2023 - DR. KEITH KORCZ
Course Details:
PHIL 101 What Is Philosophy? Section 001
3 credit hours
no prerequisites Meeting Times: MWF 11:00 – 11:50
How To Contact Professor Keith Korcz:
You are supposed to have questions! Ask them! In addition to class, here are some good times to do so: My office is in H. L. Griffin Hall, rm. 563. My office hours are MW 12:00 – 1:00, 2:15 – 4:15, Th 12:00 – 3:00, F 12:00 – 1:00. We can also meet at other times by arrangement - just ask. Another good way to contact me (or ask questions) is by e-mail at keithk@louisiana.edu. My office phone number is (337) 482-6806.
Required Texts:
1. Stephen Law, Believing Bullshit, (Prometheus, 2011), ISBN: 978-1616144111.
2. Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, Edited by Andrew Bailey, tr. by Ian Johnston (Broadview Press 1646/2013), ISBN: 9781554811526.
(Note: there are a lot of editions of the Meditations out there. Be sure to get this one! It is the best one, and the one we’ll be using in class. It’s also very inexpensive!)
3. Course Pack.
The course pack is available only via Moodle (https://moodle.louisiana.edu/).
Your Course Objectives:
This course is designed to give you an opportunity to acquire, at an introductory level, an understanding of:
(1) the subject-matter of philosophy, and an appreciation of its value,
(2) how philosophy is done, along with some basic logic, critical thinking, and research skills,
(3) how to develop and evaluate philosophical reasoning,
(4) how philosophical ideas develop over time as philosophers interact with, critique, and build on the work of other philosophers,
(5) some philosophical reasoning about several different important issues,
and to
(6) help you develop more advanced reading, writing, and note-taking skills, and to
(7) help you to demonstrate awareness of diverse historical and cultural perspectives and their significance in the past or for the present.
Achieving Your Course Objectives:
Exams: There will be three in-class exams, the two during the semester each worth 25% of your course grade, and the cumulative final exam worth 30% of your course grade. The in-class exams will consist primarily of short answer and multiple-choice questions. However, all make-up exams will be primarily essay. The exams will cover both lectures and assigned readings (material in lectures and assigned readings will not always overlap). All exams are closed book/closed note. The exams are designed to help you achieve all of the course objectives.
Paper: You will also write a paper, to be completed in two drafts, worth 20% of your course grade. You will critique a provided article, and then present and argue for your own view. The paper must be approx. 5 - 7 pages in length, and will be described in more detail on a separate handout. This assignment is designed to help you achieve course objectives 2, 3, 5, and 7.
Required Extra-Credit: (1) Find a source that documents the benefits of studying philosophy for a career and summarize its key points. Worth up to 10 points. Details will be given later on a separate handout. This assignment is designed to help you achieve course objective 1. (2) Complete an appeal to experts argument and document your findings, as described in class. Worth up to 30 points. Details will be given later on a separate handout. This assignment is designed to help you achieve course objective 2.
Reading and In-Class Note Taking: Though not separately counted for points, these are essential to achieving objectives 1 – 6, and especially objective 7. You should complete each of the readings before they are discussed in class. Some of the readings are difficult, and you may find that you need to re-read them after they have been discussed in class in order to fully understand them. Don’t assume that because something is written, it’s true – maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Try to understand and then evaluate claims using the reasoning techniques we’ll discuss. I’ll provide lots of examples of this in class.
Grading:
The course grades will initially be determined according to the standard scale, i.e., 90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, 60-69% = D, 59% and below = F, and then may be modified as follows: Course grades might be curved, but, if so, the curve would not be such that any student's grade is lowered. Such factors as improvement over the length of the course, class participation, attendance, etc., may be taken into consideration, especially where doing so may improve a borderline grade. You must complete all course assignments (namely all exams, both drafts of the paper and the required extra-credit assignments) to receive a passing grade (i.e., a grade other than F, NC or U).
Class Policies:
Missing Class: If you must miss class, for whatever reason, it is your responsibility to get class notes from another student. If you wish your absence to be excused, promptly provide me with an appropriate excuse, e.g., illness requiring medical attention, participation in certain university-sanctioned events, dangerous weather, etc. We cover something important every day, so for every five unexcused absences or partial absences, your course grade will be dropped by a letter grade. Skip class, and you won’t pass!
Missing Assignments: If you miss an assignment due date, you must notify me within one week of either the due date or the cessation of a medically documented persistent vegetative state in order to make up the assignment. Missed assignments can be made up for full credit only if an appropriate excuse is promptly provided. An unexcused late assignment will be dropped 2/3 of a letter grade per day it is late.
Classroom: In class discussions, it is perfectly fine to disagree with your classmates or myself, but you should do so respectfully and with reasoning. Philosophy is all about intellectual controversy! However, disruptive or persistent distracting behavior (e.g., use of phones, frequent tardiness or leaving class early, excessive talking, etc.) may result in your being dropped from the class, at my discretion. On those very rare occasions where you absolutely must arrive late to class, see me at the end of class so I can mark you present.
Ethics Policy: All assignments for this class must be completed individually, and any instance of academic dishonesty (e.g., cheating, plagiarism, furnishing false information regarding absences, etc.) will be sufficient to fail the course.
Unauthorized Websites: Neither lectures nor any class materials may be posted on the internet or otherwise published. Students who rely on internet sites (other than my own, listed below) or search engines for class notes, quizzes, study guides, etc., tend to do poorly in my classes. Such sites are often unreliable, and they prevent you from acquiring valuable note-taking, study, and learning skills that you will need after you graduate.
University Policies: Be sure you are familiar with all university policies described in the UL Lafayette Undergraduate Bulletin and Code of Student Conduct.
Disability Accommodations:
Students needing academic accommodations for a disability must first be registered with the Office of Disability Services (ODS) to verify the disability and to establish eligibility for accommodations. Students may call 337-482-5252 or visit the ODS office in the Conference Center/Agnes Edwards Hall, room 126 (the ODS website address is: https://disability.louisiana.edu/). Once registered, students should then schedule an appointment with the professor to make appropriate arrangements. If your needs are not being met for any reason, inform the instructor and ODS as soon as possible so that we may rectify the problem.
Some Helpful Tips For A Successful And Happy Course Experience:
1. On class evaluations, students often state that they would tell friends planning to take my classes that good class attendance and good class notes are essential to doing well on the exams.
2. I strongly recommend taking advantage of the following resources I have created for you! My Philosophy 101 Home Page contains links to an on-line syllabus, study aids, links to sites relevant to the course, and other resources you will find helpful.
My How To Survive Your First Philosophy Class pages contain useful information about what I look for when grading assignments, how to study for my exams, reading philosophy, taking notes, doing research in philosophy, etc.
My home page contains links to all my course home pages, extensive links pages on philosophy, general research, fun sites, and lots of other information.
All of these resources are linked from the course home page at: https://userweb.ucs.louisiana.edu/~kak7409/101Home.html.
A Moodle page for the course will be activated at the beginning of the semester. You’ll be able to contact each other and download the course pack here (https://moodle.louisiana.edu/).
3. Philosophy differs from other disciplines, and it’s common to have difficulties figuring it all out. If you are having difficulty with course material or assignments, let me know so I can help you out!
Emergency Evacuation Procedures:
A map of this floor is posted near the elevator marking the evacuation route and the Designated Rescue Area. This is an area where emergency service personnel will go first to look for individuals who need assistance in exiting the building. Students who may need assistance should identify themselves to the teaching faculty.
Course Calendar and Planned Reading Assignments
NOTE:
(1) Assignment due dates, topics, readings, and procedures, are tentative and may change at my discretion. However, we can negotiate due dates for assignments if most students in the class prefer a change.
(2) Follow where we are on the list of topics in class, and try to read ahead a bit.
(3) The course pack is only available on Moodle (https://moodle.louisiana.edu/).
Section I. The Heart of Philosophy: Logic, Truth, and Reason
Topic 1: Is Truth Objective?
Course Pack: “Is Truth Relative?” by John Messerly; Stephen Law, Believing Bullshit: Chapter 3 “Going Nuclear”.
Monday, September 4 – Labor Day – No Classes.
Topic 2: What Is Philosophy?
Course Pack: “Philosophy and Reason” by Keith Allen Korcz, “Appeals to Experts” by Keith Allen Korcz.
Required extra-credit assignment #1 due: Friday, Sept. 1.
Topic 3: Thinking Critically
Course Pack: “What Is Post-Truth?” by Lee McIntyre; Stephen Law, Believing Bullshit: “Introduction” p. 9-19 only, Chapters 5 “I Just Know”, 6 “Pseudoprofundity”, and 7 “Piling Up The Anecdotes”.
Required extra-credit assignment #2 due: Friday, Sept. 15.
Section II. Pathways & Implications: The Historical Development of Philosophical Ideas
Topic 4: Starting Point: Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy
Rene Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy: p. 1 – 89.
Exam #1: Friday, Sept. 22
Topic 5: Pathway 1: The Mind/Body Problem (Philosophy of Mind)
a. The 17th Century:
Course Pack: Correspondence Between Descartes and Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, selection from The Search After Truth by Nicolas Malebranche, selection from A New System of Nature by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, selections from the works of Margaret Cavendish.
Thursday, Oct. 12 – Friday Oct. 13 – Fall Holiday – No Classes.
First draft of paper due: Friday, October 11, at the beginning of class.
Monday, October 16 – Advising for SP24 begins.
b. The 18th & 19th Centuries:
Course Pack: selection from A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge by George Berkeley, selection from “On the Hypothesis That Animals are Automata, and Its History” by T. H. Huxley.
c. The 20th & 21st Centuries:
Course Pack: excerpt from “The Causal Closure of the Physical and Naturalism” by David Papineau, “Note for Wilson’s Paper” by Dr. Keith Korcz, “Mind-Brain Interaction and Violation of Physical Laws,” by David L. Wilson, “Against Cartesian Dualism,” by Jaegwon Kim.
Exam #2: Friday, November 3.
Topic 6: Pathway 2: Personal Identity (Metaphysics)
a. The 17th & 18th Centuries
Course Pack: selections from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke, selections from Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man by Thomas Reid, “Of Personal Identity” by Joseph Butler, “Of Personal Identity” by David Hume, “Of Identity and Difference” by Thomas Hobbes.
b. The 20th & 21st Centuries
Course Pack: “Clinical Cases and Metaphysical Theories of Personal Identity” by Gabriel Andrade, “Consciousness, Personal Identity and Immortality” by Amy Kind.
Topic 7: Life After Death: Implications of Solutions to the Mind/Body Problem and the Question of Personal Identity (Philosophy of Death)
Course Pack: “Life After Death and the Devastation of the Grave” by Eric T. Olson.
Topic 8: Does Knowledge Require Certainty? Implications of Skepticism (Epistemology)
Course Pack: “The Infinite Regress Argument” by Richard Feldman.
Section III. A Miscellany: (Some of) Philosophy’s Greatest Hits
Topic 9: Pseudoscience and the Demarcation Problem (Philosophy of Science)
Course Pack: “Why Trust Science?” by Jack Lyons and Barry Ward; Stephen Law, Believing Bullshit: Chapter 2 “’But It Fits’ and the Blunderbuss”; Course Pack: “Science versus Pseudoscience” by William D. Gray; “Motivated Rejection of Science” by Stephan Lewandowsky and Klaus Oberauer.
Topic 10: Is Morality Relative? (Ethics)
Course Pack: “Moral Relativism” by Keith Korcz.
Final draft of paper due: Friday, November 17, at the beginning of class.
Topic 11: The Ethics of Abortion (Applied Ethics)
Course Pack: “I Was Once a Fetus: That is Why Abortion Is Wrong” by Alexander Pruss; “A Defense of Abortion” by Judith Jarvis Thomson.
Thursday, Nov. 23 – Friday Nov. 24 – Turkey Time – No Classes.
Topic 12: Do Supernatural Phenomena Occur? (Metaphysics)
Course Pack: “Of Miracles” by David Hume.
Topic 13: Does God Exist? (Philosophy of Religion)
Stephen Law, Believing Bullshit: “Introduction, Appendix B” p. 20-32 and Chapter 1 “Playing the Mystery Card”.
Last Day Of Classes: Friday, December 1.
Wednesday, December 6: Study Day.
Final Exam: Tuesday, December 5, 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm, in regular classroom.
