| Week / Day |
Activity / Assignment |
| WEEK 01 |
|
| Text URL |
http://getsyllab.us/ |
| Lecture Day (8/23) |
Introduction – Syllabus – Blackboard – House of Life |
| Discussion Board |
Open a thread to introduce yourself, declare your philosophical interests, and share a philosophical belief that you hold (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). |
| WEEK 02 |
|
| Text URL |
Hobbes Leviathan, Ch XIII |
|
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/hobbes/leviathan-c.html |
|
Locke Two Treatises, Bk 2, Ch 8 |
|
http://www.lonang.com/exlibris/locke/loc-208.htm |
|
Rousseau Social Contract, Bk 1, Ch 6 |
|
http://www.constitution.org/jjr/socon_01.htm#006 |
|
Kant Science of Right, Private Right, Sec 6 |
|
http://philosophy.eserver.org/kant/science-of-right.txt |
|
Rawls Theory of Justice |
|
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/original-position/ |
|
Pateman Sexual Contract |
|
http://books.google.com/books?id=jH2KPvZF1L0C |
|
Mills Racial Contract |
|
http://www.uic.edu/classes/phil/phil104/the_racial_contract_ii.htm |
| Lecture Day (8/30) |
Philosophy in everyday life. Exploring the idea of a Social Contract. |
|
What is a Social Contract? What are the terms of the contract, what assumptions do we make, and how do we know? In the various approaches to social contract theory, we find philosophy at work in everyday discussions about human nature, knowledge, reality, freedom, and responsibility. We will briefly survey a few significant models of the social contract as we examine our own beliefs. |
| Discussion Board |
Read Hobbes’ “Leviathan” (Chs. XVIII & XIV) and select a few sentences that express the key ideas. In one paragraph, present the quotes as you explain how they express the key ideas of the text. In a second paragraph, evaluate the quotes using your own examples and reasons. You may select an alternative reading from the links provided. |
| WEEK 03 |
|
| Text URL |
http://moonchalice.com/emerson_oversoul.htm |
|
http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil.html |
| Lecture Day (9/6) |
Emerson on “The Oversoul” (1841) and Thoreau on “Civil Disobedience” (1849) with references to Transcendental traditions in Hinduism, Confucianism, and Kant |
| Discussion Board |
After reading Emerson’s “The Oversoul” or Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” login to our Blackboard forum and open a thread to quote one or two significant sentences from the text; in one paragraph, discuss why the sentences are significant for understanding the text; then, in a separate paragraph, discuss your own evaluation of the sentences with fresh examples and reasoning (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). Assessment: 20 points for presentation of quotes; 20 for critical evaluation; 10 for discussion replies. |
| WEEK 04 |
|
| Text URL |
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01a.htm#p41 |
|
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/ph/phba.htm |
| Lecture Day (9/13) |
The Human Condition in Modern Times: Marx’s “History: Fundamental Conditions” (1846) with reference to Hegel’s “Lordship and Bondage” |
| Discussion Board |
After reading Marx’s “History: Fundamental Conditions” or Hegel’s “Lordship and Bondsman” login to our Blackboard forum and open a thread to quote one or two significant sentences from the text; in one paragraph, discuss why the sentences are significant for understanding the text; then, in a separate paragraph, discuss your own evaluation of the sentences with fresh examples and reasoning (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). Assessment: 20 points for presentation of quotes; 20 for critical evaluation; 10 for discussion replies. |
| WEEK 05 |
|
| Text URL |
http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=2523&C=2399 |
|
http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=2512&C=2383 |
| Lecture Day (9/20) |
Faith and Individualism in Modern Times: Kierkegaard’s “What Then Must I Do? Live as an ‘Individual’” (1846) |
| Discussion Board |
After reading “What then Must I Do? Live as an ‘Individual’” login to our Blackboard forum and open a thread to quote one or two significant sentences from the text; in one paragraph, discuss why the sentences are significant for understanding the text; then, in a separate paragraph, discuss your own evaluation of the sentences with fresh examples and reasoning (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). Assessment: 20 points for presentation of quotes; 20 for critical evaluation; 10 for discussion replies. |
| WEEK 06 |
|
| Text URL |
http://www.bartleby.com/130/ |
| Lecture Day (9/27) |
Mill ‘On Liberty’ (1869) with some background in Utilitarianism |
| Discussion Board |
After reading ‘On Liberty’ login to our Blackboard forum and open a thread to quote one or two significant sentences from ‘On Liberty’; in one paragraph, discuss why the sentences are significant for understanding Mill; then, in a separate paragraph, discuss your own evaluation of the sentences with fresh examples and reasoning (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). Assessment: 20 points for presentation of quotes; 20 for critical evaluation; 10 for discussion replies. |
| WEEK 07 |
|
| Text URL |
http://www.peirce.org/writings.html |
| Lecture Day (10/4) |
Peirce on ‘Fixation of Belief’ (1877) and ‘How to Make our Ideas Clear’ (1878) with background on the logic of evolution. |
| Discussion Board |
After reading either ‘Fixation of Belief’ or ‘How to Make our Ideas Clear’ login to our Blackboard forum and open a thread to quote one or two significant sentences from the text; in one paragraph, discuss why the sentences are significant for understanding Peirce; then, in a separate paragraph, discuss your own evaluation of the sentences with fresh examples and reasoning (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). Assessment: 20 points for presentation of quotes; 20 for critical evaluation; 10 for discussion replies. |
| WEEK 08 |
|
| Text URL |
http://des.emory.edu/mfp/james.html#will |
| Lecture Day (10/11) |
James on ‘The Will to Believe’ (1896) |
| Discussion Board |
After reading ‘The Will to Believe’, login to our Blackboard forum and open a thread to quote one or two significant sentences from the text; in one paragraph, discuss why the sentences are significant for understanding James; then, in a separate paragraph, discuss your own evaluation of the sentences with fresh examples and reasoning (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). Assessment: 20 points for presentation of quotes; 20 for critical evaluation; 10 for discussion replies. |
| WEEK 09 |
|
| Text URL |
http://www.readcentral.com/chapters/Jane-Addams/Democracy-and-Social-Ethics/003 |
| Lecture Day (10/18) |
Evolutionary Progress in the “Charitable Effort” of Jane Addams (1902) |
| Discussion Board |
After reading ‘Charitable Effort’, login to our Blackboard forum and open a thread to quote one or two significant sentences from the text; in one paragraph, discuss why the sentences are significant for understanding the text; then, in a separate paragraph, discuss your own evaluation of the sentences with fresh examples and reasoning (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). Assessment: 20 points for presentation of quotes; 20 for critical evaluation; 10 for discussion replies. |
| WEEK 10 |
|
| Text URL |
http://www.archive.org/details/IAndThou_572 |
| Lecture Day (10/25) |
Martin Buber’s “I and Thou” (1923) |
| Discussion Board |
After reading Part One of “I and Thou,” login to our Blackboard forum and open a thread to quote one or two significant sentences from the text; in one paragraph, discuss why the sentences are significant for understanding the text; then, in a separate paragraph, discuss your own evaluation of the sentences with fresh examples and reasoning (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). Assessment: 20 points for presentation of quotes; 20 for critical evaluation; 10 for discussion replies. |
| WEEK 11 |
|
| Text URL |
http://books.google.com/books?id=8p0UmbBg78IC |
| Lecture Day (11/01) |
Alain Locke’s “Values and Imperatives” (1935) |
| Discussion Board |
After reading “Values and Imperatives,” login to our Blackboard forum and open a thread to quote one or two significant sentences from the text; in one paragraph, discuss why the sentences are significant for understanding the text; then, in a separate paragraph, discuss your own evaluation of the sentences with fresh examples and reasoning (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). Assessment: 20 points for presentation of quotes; 20 for critical evaluation; 10 for discussion replies. |
| WEEK 12 |
|
| Text URL |
http://www.mkgandhi.org/swarajya/coverpage.htm |
| Lecture Day (11/08) |
Gandhi’s “Hind Swaraj” (1938) |
| Discussion Board |
After reading a chapter from “Hind Swaraj,” login to our Blackboard forum and open a thread to quote one or two significant sentences from the text; in one paragraph, discuss why the sentences are significant for understanding the text; then, in a separate paragraph, discuss your own evaluation of the sentences with fresh examples and reasoning (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). Assessment: 20 points for presentation of quotes; 20 for critical evaluation; 10 for discussion replies. |
| WEEK 13 |
|
| Text URL |
http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/philosophy/existentialism/debeauvoir/ambiguity-2.html |
| Lecture Day (11/15) |
An Existentialist approach to “Personal Freedom and Others” by Simone De Beauvoir (1948) |
| Discussion Board |
After reading “Personal Freedom and Others,” login to our Blackboard forum and open a thread to quote one or two significant sentences from the text; in one paragraph, discuss why the sentences are significant for understanding the text; then, in a separate paragraph, discuss your own evaluation of the sentences with fresh examples and reasoning (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). Assessment: 20 points for presentation of quotes; 20 for critical evaluation; 10 for discussion replies. |
| WEEK 14 |
|
| Text URL |
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ari_ayn_rand_man_rights |
|
http://www.marcuse.org/herbert/pubs/60spubs/67dialecticlib/67LibFromAfflSociety.htm |
| Lecture Day (11/22) |
Rand on “Man’s Rights” (1963) v Marcuse on “Liberation from the Affluent Society” (1967) |
| Discussion Board |
After reading the selections from Rand and Marcuse login to our Blackboard forum and open a thread to quote one or two significant sentences from the texts; in one paragraph, discuss why the sentences are significant for understanding the text; then, in a separate paragraph, discuss your own evaluation of the sentences with fresh examples and reasoning (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). Assessment: 20 points for presentation of quotes; 20 for critical evaluation; 10 for discussion replies. |
| WEEK 15 |
|
| Text URL |
http://www.vipassana.com/resources/8fp0.php |
|
http://www.plumvillage.org/mindfulness-trainings.html |
| Lecture Day (11/29) |
Buddhism of “The Noble Eightfold Path” by Bhikkhu Bodhi (1984) and “The 14 Precepts of Engaged Buddhism” by Thich Nhat Hanh (1987) |
| Discussion Board |
After reading the selections by Bhikkhu Bodhi and Thich Nhat Hanh login to our Blackboard forum and open a thread to quote one or two significant sentences from the texts; in one paragraph, discuss why the sentences are significant for understanding the text; then, in a separate paragraph, discuss your own evaluation of the sentences with fresh examples and reasoning (due Thurs). Support your classmates by replying to at least two threads (due Mon). Assessment: 20 points for presentation of quotes; 20 for critical evaluation; 10 for discussion replies. |
| WEEK 16 |
|
|
Final Exercise |
| Topic |
Social Contract: Positions, Assumptions, and Challenges |
| Discussion Board (12/6) |
In this exercise please present a six paragraph discussion that will (1) introduce the concept of social contract by means of one traditional text — such as Hobbes, Locke, etc. — with careful citation of key quotes; (2) focus on one key assumption that either explicit or implicit in the traditional theory that you introduced, giving evidence for why it appears to be an assumption; (3) introduce another text that would challenge the assumption presented in the second paragraph above, presenting quotes and citations of the challenging text; (4) show how you critically resolve the dispute between the competing claims of the second and third paragraphs; (5) explaining how this review of the theory of social contract and its assumptions points to your own distinctive view of what the social contract is; and (6) illustrating how your view of the social contract would affect analysis of a contemporary issue in society. YOU MAY EXPLORE A DIFFERENT TOPIC THAN THE SOCIAL CONTRACT, BUT PLEASE TEND TO THE FORM OF ANALYSIS (POSITION, ASSUMPTION, COUNTER-ASSUMPTION, RESOLUTION, REVISED POSITION, APPLICATION) Assessment: 25 points per paragraph plus 25 points for sum of parts. |
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