FORUM POSTS	Due before Sunday 11:55pm each week	10% of grade
FIRST MIDTERM EXAM	Begins: Monday, January 30 at 3:30pm Ends: Wednesday, February 8 at 7pm	30% of grade
SECOND MIDTERM EXAM	Begins: Wednesday, February 15 at 3:30pm Ends: Thursday February 23 at 7pm	30% of grade
FINAL EXAM	Begins: Wednesday, March 15 at 3:30pm Ends: Thursday, March 23 at 5pm	30% of grade

WHAT PHILOSOPHY IS: Philosophy is an attempt to come to a systematic understanding of the objective world through the use of reason. The philosophical approach is assumes a commitment to follow the truth wherever it leads, however uncomfortable it may make us and in spite of what we may wish to be true. It strives for logical consistency and agreement with empirical evidence.

WHAT PHILOSOPHY IS NOT: Philosophy is not about exploring your "personal beliefs." Nor is it about your feelings (please avoid the phrase "I feel" when expressing your point of view in the classroom or online forums, as hopefully what you have to say is based on more than your subjective emotional state). Philosophy is not about your identity, your gender, your culture or your "race." It's not about "how you were raised." Please avoid referring to these things in class unless they have some direct bearing on the issue at hand. Although there is an historical tradition associated with philosophy, it is not primarily about history, and even though understanding their historical or cultural context may help us understand the ideas of particular philosophers, it is the ideas themselves with which philosophy is concerned.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF WOMEN AND NON-WESTERN CULTURES: There were few women philosophers of note until the beginnings of the feminist movement in the 19th century. This was true of most other academic or otherwise, due to the institutionalization of pre-modern gender roles. Because this is a survey class concerned major figures and concepts in metaphysics, we may not be reading any women philosophers. This should in no way be seen as casting aspersions on women as a class of people, but to arbitrarily select a female author based purely on her gender, regardless of objective merit, intellectual influence or contribution to the field, would be an act of sexism and educational malpractice. Along those same lines, for various complex historical and cultural reasons, philosophy emerged and flourished in the West and is the heritage of Western Civilization. It uniquely sowed the seeds for the scientific and industrial revolutions in Western Europe, leading to our modern technological world (as well as providing the political concepts on which the United States was founded). Although we will discuss some Eastern traditions, the character of Eastern philosophy is very different from Western philosophy and treated covered in more depth in our religion courses. The wisdom traditions of other civilizations, particularly indigenous cultures, are covered in history and cultural anthropology courses.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: The objectives are this course are for students to (1) come to a clearer understanding of epistemological issues through the study of classical and contemporary theories (2) acquire some factual knowledge about the history of philosophy and important philosophical thinkers (3) come to their own conclusions about which theories are best or most likely to be true, even if those conclusions are of a tentative nature (4) acquire critical and analytical reasoning skills along the way (5) apply conclusions about the nature of knowledge to their present way of assessing evidence and worldviews.

HYBRID INSTRUCTION (CRN 31068): A hybrid class is a combination of traditional classroom and online instruction. Hybrid students are required to attend classroom sessions MW 2-3:20 in Building 4/Room 253 and participate in an online forum.

ATTENDANCE POLICY FOR HYBRID STUDENTS: It will be very difficult to succeed in this class without regular attendance. Some material may appear on the exams which is not covered in the text, and students with sporadic attendance almost always do poorly on exams. After the first week, do not burden the instructor with messages about absences of one or two class days due to illness or other contingencies. With upwards of 160 students per term and the rate of absenteeism being what it is, such "courtesy" calls or emails are a nuisance. On the other hand, if you must be absent for more than a week due to serious illness, military service, business travel, family emergency, and so on, don't hesitate to contact me if you must take an exam at a later date or require other help. If you don't require special accommodation, please simply download the podcast and check for any new announcements or handouts on Moodle. Note: There will be no class Monday, January 16 (Martin Luther King Day) and Monday, February 20th (Presidents' Day). The entire campus will be closed.

If you are sick, please stay home and rest. Coming to class sick will prolong your own illness and infect others. Also, please refrain from visiting my office if you still have flu or cold symptoms; it is a small, confined space and I do not want to contract your illness. You can reach me by phone during office hours if you need to speak with me or send a Moodle message or email.

ONLINE STUDENTS (CRN 31080): Online students are required to listen to podcasts (audio recordings) of classroom sessions, uploaded by evening each class day. They are expected to keep up with the pace of the class and listen to the previous podcast by the time the next one is made available. As with any class, students are encouraged to take notes while listening. Not listening to the podcasts is equivalent to not attending a regular classroom section and expecting to pass simply by reading the textbook. Some material will be covered in class sessions which may not be in the text but will be tested on.