KEEPING
UP WITH THE COURSE: Please make sure that your
email address is up to date and enabled in Moodle in
order to be notified of important announcements or
personal messages from me. It is also recommended that
you log into the course at least twice a week to make
sure you don't miss any announcements or messages, to
read the assignments, watch course videos (if in the
online section and not watching live on Zoom), take
the weekly quizzes and prepare for exams. It may help
to choose a regular days, e.g. Wednesdays and
Saturdays, to log in. Logging in at least twice a week
will help keep you engaged in the course and makes it
less likely that you will fall behind and miss exam
deadlines and end up receiving a poor grade,
withdrawing or failing the course. This can be a
special problem for hybrid students, who will
sometimes attend class faithfully but forget about the
required online work until the next class meeting,
when the deadlines for it have already passed.
COMPLETION TRACKING: Use completion tracking to
make sure you complete assignments on time. The
syllabus, readings and videos must be marked done
manually. The forums must also be marked done
manually, since only the Odd or Even group will be
posting in any given week. Feel free to mark a forum
as done after you post, but don’t forget to read any
remaining posts there afterward. If it’s not your week
to post, wait until the deadline has passed and you
have read all the posts in the forum before marking it
as done. The quizzes and exams are automatically
marked done after you have taken them. Weekly quizzes
can be taken every 24 hours until the Sunday deadline
but will be marked done after one attempt.
THIS IS AN ADULT
LEARNING SPACE: Expect to come into contact with ideas
with which you disagree and to have your beliefs challenged.
Students will be treated as mature, responsible adults,
capable of engaging in adult conversations which may touch on
topics such as race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, sexual
relations, cultural differences, morality, politics and
religion.
It is a prerequisite of this course that you
possess, or be willing to develop, the ability to discuss
controversial issues in a calm, rational and respectful
manner. Disruptive behavior,
including snide, rude, sarcastic, disrespectful,
insulting or offensive comments in class or the
Zoom chat will not be tolerated.
If you have difficulty handling such material, you may want
to consider taking another course. For help with
post-traumatic stress or emotional fragility, please contact
the Counseling
Center. If you would like to improve your
tolerance for subject matter and ideas you may currently find
distressing or offensive, I encourage you to remain in the
class but with the understanding that
thinking about,
discussing and critically evaluating this material in a
mature and responsible manner is a course requirement.
ACADEMIC FREEDOM OF THE INSTRUCTOR: "The professional
freedom of faculty includes
the right to explore and
discuss controversial issues and divergent points of view,
including
evaluating, criticizing, and advocating their
point of view concerning the policies and programs of the
college..."-- Collective Bargaining Agreement between
the Lane Community College Educational Association and Board
of Education, Section 15.3. According to this section of the
faculty contract, the instructor is free not only to discuss
contentious, hot-button issues which have the potential to
offend you, but to approach them from viewpoints which diverge
from the mainstream and deviate from what you might consider
"acceptable" opinion. Academic freedom is essential to
fostering robust discussion of intellectual issues and the
social progress that results from such discussions. Before
reacting in knee-jerk fashion to an idea, please try to
remember that what offends our sensibilities is often a
product of our culture, mass media, upbringing, peer group and
personal history rather than any quality intrinsic to the idea
itself. Also keep in mind that these things change over time.
Many ideas that were considered dangerous, controversial or
offensive in the past are now part of the unquestioned status
quo. Your job as a thinking person is to sort feeling from
fact and to separate rationality and morality from cultural
prejudice and personal bias. This type of
self-examination
is a big part of what it means to be a
philosopher.
Faculty have wide discretion in how they treat
academic subjects in the classroom. Although this class
will explore a diversity of opinions,
some ideas will be
emphasized over others. Beliefs which enjoy
institutional support from the college may be singled out for
scrutiny, as explicitly allowed in Section 15.3 above. Ideas
which predominate in academic culture and the social sciences
or among college students may face special criticism, while
minority
or neglected viewpoints may be given special consideration.
This is because thinking critically is
most important
when it comes to beliefs you are likely to have
uncritically
adopted (or dismissed) due to various dominant social
influences.
Considerations of "balance" in this course are
approached from the institutional level. So, for
example, if the college as an institution and the majority of
courses favor or promote one view on a controversial issue,
this class may balance that out by emphasizing an opposing
view.
The instructor attempts to give the best argument for many
different views.
Just because an argument in favor of a
particular view is given in class, podcasts, the text or
other external resources does not necessarily mean that it
is the instructor's view on the subject. In fact, you
may notice that the instructor will make arguments for views
which are logically incompatible with one another. Therefore,
it makes no sense to assume that every time a view is being
presented, the instructor believes it and is attempting to
persuade you to accept it.
It is up to you to sort through
the competing claims and arguments presented in this class
and decide for yourself which views to accept.
If you disagree with or take offense at any of the views
expressed in this class by the instructor or in course
materials (1) try to keep an open mind (2) reflect on
why
you find certain beliefs or opinions vexing or upsetting and
use this as an opportunity for self-exploration, to practice
self-management skills and to develop your capacity for
tolerance of ideas which differ from your own (3) remind
yourself that emotions are an unreliable guide to objective
reality and that the feelings we associate with certain ideas
are often accidents of birth, culture and personal experience
(4) keep in mind that
exploring or
understanding
an idea isn't the same as
approving of or
accepting
it (5) Remind yourself that you live in a liberal, pluralistic
society and a republic in which many different views may be
held and expressed without fear of reprisal. Remind yourself
also that having the freedom to express
your views is
only possible because of a culture of liberty and tolerance in
which others are free to express
theirs, and (6)
engage the instructor in civil discussion or debate in class
sessions (in the case of face-to-face classes) or privately in
office hours.
Another relevant section of the faculty contract is Section
16.3, Civic Life, which states, "
Each faculty member is
also a citizen of his or her nation, state and community;
and when he or she speaks, writes or acts as such shall be
free from institutional censorship." This means that
faculty have an absolute
right to express themselves outside the
classroom without fear of retribution from the
Administration. Therefore, if you encounter the
instructor outside the classroom, acting in his capacity as a
private citizen, you should recognize that
his views do
not necessarily represent those of the college and that
the college recognizes his right to speak, write
and act according to the truth as he sees it and the
dictates of his own conscience.
ACADEMIC FREEDOM OF STUDENTS: "Each faculty member is
entitled to and responsible for protecting freedom in the
classroom in discussion and presentation of subject matter."
-- Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Lane Community
College Educational Association and Board of Education,
Section 15.2. Voicing an opinion that differs from that
expressed by the instructor in face-to-face sessions, Zoom
discussions, online forums will never be penalized, though
there may be occasions when debate must be curtailed in the
interest of adequately covering course material. Please feel
free to continue these discussions in the instructor's office
hours.
The instructor encourages the voicing of dissenting
opinions, especially on controversial issues and when backed
by convincing reasons and supporting evidence. This
enlivens class, provides an alternative viewpoint, fosters
critical thinking and may end up enlightening the instructor,
who occasionally realizes he has been wrong. Please couch
dissenting opinions in a constructive and respectful manner in
order to keep the exchange of ideas civil.
USE OF HUMOR: The instructor frequently employs humor
to lighten the mood as well as to illustrate points, add color
and make learning fun. This should in no way be interpreted as
disparaging any individual or group. Students will always be
treated with the utmost respect and will never be mocked or
ridiculed.
CONCERNS: I want this class to be a positive learning
experience for you. If, at any time, you have a concern,
grievance or complaint about the course,
please speak with
me about it directly in office hours or via Moodle
message. You have my personal guarantee that I will hear you
out, reflect carefully on what you have to say and that it
will have no bearing on your grade. Because the class uses
objective testing (with a record of scores on the server), you
have additional protection. My only request is that, if I have
some feedback for you, you consider it in the same spirit. I'd
rather correct any problems than have you be disgruntled for
the rest of the term (which is likely to negatively affect
your performance in the class) only to complain about it in
student evaluations. Why not alert me to a problem when I can
actually do something about it? In the unlikely event that you
remain dissatisfied, you can still take your concerns to the
Dean of the
Social
Science Division. I am a reasonable, fair and kind human
being and care about my students, so I'm sure we will be able
to work something out. The Dean's first suggestion will
probably be that the three of us meeting to discuss the issue.
He is a busy man doing important work for the college. Why not
see if we can work things out between us first? Addressing any
concerns early, honestly and directly will result in a better
outcome for both of us.
WHAT PHILOSOPHY IS: Philosophy
is the attempt to come to a systematic understanding
of the objective world through the use of reason. The
philosophical approach 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 the empirical evidence. Philosophy is about
asking questions, especially questions no one else
wants to ask. Philosophy even questions the
unquestionable, including things considered to be
"common sense," such as the existence of an external
world of matter, free will, God, the soul, an
afterlife the existence of universal, objective moral
values (or perhaps the unquestionable certainty of our
age is the dogma that morality is culturally relative
or completely subjective). Philosophy uses conceptual
analysis as its primary tool. Properly analyzing
concepts requires the rigorous definition of terms, so
the precise use of language is very important to
philosophers, or at least to the good ones. This goes
all the way back to Socrates. Fuzzy language evinces
fuzzy thinking.
WHAT PHILOSOPHY IS NOT:
Philosophy is not about exploring your "personal
beliefs." Nor is it about your feelings, as reality is
not based on your subjective emotional state.
Philosophy is not about your identity, your sex, your
gender, your sexual orientation, your culture or your
"
race."
When engaging in philosophical discourse, avoid
prefacing statements with "As a woman, BIPOC,
Christian, member of the LGBTQ+ community, etc.), as
philosophy is about universal truths that apply to
everyone equally, regardless of identity. Philosophy
is not about your faith or "how you were raised."
Avoid
thinking in these terms and using subjective
phrases like "personally" and "in my personal
opinion" when doing philosophy. Philosophy (and
indeed all academic discourse) is about your
impersonal
opinion, i.e. your opinion backed by reasons and
evidence. 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 until the beginning
of the feminist movement in the 19th century. This was
true of most other academic fields due to the
institutionalization of pre-modern gender roles.
Because this is a survey class concerned with major
historical figures and basic concepts in metaphysics,
we won't be reading many women philosophers. This
should in no way be seen as casting aspersions on
women as a class of people.
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 subsequent industrial revolutions in
Western Europe, leading to our modern technological
world. It is important to understand that "Western" is
just a conventional term for ideas which first emerged
in Western Europe. An idea's place of origin or the
particulars of the person who first developed or
expounded it has nothing whatever to do with its truth
value or importance in increasing human understanding.
Newton and Leibniz discovered calculus around the same
time and each accused the other of stealing his
discovery. Yet calculus is neither essentially a
British idea nor a German idea, nor is it a European
or "white male" idea. Who was first to discover it,
where he lived and the details of his ancestry and
nationality are irrelevant to the validity and
usefulness of calculus. So it is with all intellectual
discoveries and theoretical innovations, including
those concerning the nature of reality.
COURSE OUTCOMES:
Upon
successful completion of this course, the student will
be able to:
- Explain the concepts of truth, reality and
knowledge, the relationship between metaphysics
and epistemology, and the challenges posed by
relativism and skepticism.
- Identify notable figures in metaphysics and
their contributions to the field.
- Explain concepts embedded in primary source
material.
- Apply conceptual analysis to the relationship
between matter and consciousness, life after
death, free will, the existence of God and the
meaning of life in the context of both Eastern and
Western philosophical traditions.
- Examine their own beliefs in the light of
various metaphysical theories.
- Apply conceptual analysis to contemporary
problems and issues, such as whether criminals
ought to be blamed and punished or rehabilitated
or whether God and an afterlife are required to
give life meaning.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
WEEKLY
QUIZZES
|
Due
each Sunday before 11:59pm
|
20% of
grade
|
ATTENDANCE/SUMMARIES
|
Hybrid
students attend each Tuesday 2-3:50
Online students watch live or view the
recordings posted each Tuesday evening
and submit a 250-350 word summary before
Sunday 11:59pm
|
20% of
grade
|
| FIRST
MIDTERM EXAM |
Opens: Monday of Week 4
Closes: Monday of Week 5
|
20% of grade
|
SECOND
MIDTERM EXAM
|
Opens:
Tuesday of Week 7
Closes: Tuesday of Week 8
|
20%
of grade
|
| FINAL EXAM |
Opens: Thursday of
Week 10
Closes: Thursday of Final Exam Week |
20% of grade
|
READING: It is important to read the
material in order to perform well in on exams.
LECTURE/DISCUSSION (IN PERSON OR RECORDED): It
is important to attend class, if in the hybrid
section, or to watch the recordings of these class
sessions uploaded to Moodle Tuesday evenings, if in
the online section. Class lecture and discussion will
help you understand the readings, especially primary
source material, which can sometimes be rather sense
and complex.There may be material on the exams which
is covered in these sessions that is not explicitly
stated or covered in the text. You will need to log
into your Lane Google account in order to access the
videos. They may take a minute to load, especially if
you are on a slow connection. You may want to pause
the video to jot down notes or click the gear icon to
increase the playback speed, and you can turn the
captions off or on by clicking the "CC" icon. Click
the rectangle on the lower right to go full screen.
For live interaction with the instructor, online
students can watch the class as it occurs on Zoom and
ask questions there or attend office hours on Zoom or
in person in CEN 410J.
ATTENDANCE (Hybrid Students Only): Hybrid
students sign an attendance roster that circulates at
the beginning of the first hour and near the end of
the second hour of class to receive credit for this
grade category, receiving credit for one week's
absence. If you are sick, please stay home to rest and
avoid infecting others. Message the instructor for
making up absences beyond the one free absence you are
allowed and watch the video uploaded to Moodle. If you
have to leave early, talk to the instructor during the
break about signing the second roster early, assuming
you'll be there for most of the hour.
LECTURE SUMMARIES (Online Students Only):
Online students must either watch the lecture live on
Zoom or watch the recording uploaded that evening and
submit a summary of the lecture before
Sunday
11:59pm. Summaries must be
250-350 words in
length and summarize the main ideas of class,
optionally adding a few brief comments. It will help
to take some notes while watching, but your summary
should be in written in complete sentences. Write in
block format, spacing between paragraphs with no
indenting, like this syllabus. Make sure to summarize
class as a whole, just not a small segment of it. Give
yourself enough time to watch the entire recording and
to write your summary before the deadline. Proofread
your work before submitting it. If I find
misspellings, run-on sentences, sentence fragments,
comma splices, missing words, grammatical errors,
usage errors, vague language or other issues, I may
take off points
. Late submission is
blocked.
Lecture summaries will be awarded a grade of "10"
(full credit) to "0" (no credit). Your lowest score
will be dropped. Please note that I have the grade
book set to ignore empty grades. Therefore,
if you
miss the deadline, it won't show up in your grade
until the end of the term. At that time, any of
the ten weekly summaries you didn't do will be counted
as a zeros. I have the "ignore empty grades" setting
on now to give you a meaningful and accurate
assessment of your grade "thus far,"
assuming you
complete the assignments.
QUIZZES: There are ten weekly quizzes based on
that week's reading and videos plus any other material
linked in Moodle for that week. Some of these
questions may appear again on the midterm exams and
final. Quizzes are due every Sunday before 11:59pm.
Late
submission is blocked. The Syllabus Quiz from
the first week will also count towards your total
score for quizzes. The lowest of these eleven quiz
scores is dropped.
You should attempt each
quiz until you get all of the questions right.
There is a
waiting period of 24 hours between
attempts, so do the reading and take the quiz
early to maximize your chances of getting 100%. Make
sure to review the answers on your last attempt, as
they will only be available before the deadline. After
that you will see only your score. If you miss the
deadline, you'll get a zero.
EXAMS: Exams
cannot be taken at home. Most students will be
taking their exams at Instructional
Testing Services, located in
CEN 311
on the Main Campus in Eugene. Students may also take
their exams at the
Cottage
Grove Center or
Florence
Center. Students who will be taking the course
from elsewhere will need to arrange a proctor; email
online@lanecc.edu for more
information.
If you have a Letter of Accommodation
from the Center
for Accessible Resources and
would like to take your exams there,
please message me or see me after
class or in office hours.
Exams are taken via Moodle but with a setting which
restricts access to LCC testing centers or approved
proctors. You will have about a week to take each
exam. Opening and closing times for each exams are
listed in the table above and may also be seen by
clicking on the exam name in the main course view in
Moodle. Hours for
Instructional
Testing Services may be found on their
web page. For
the
Cottage
Grove Center, email
cg@lanecc.edu or
call (541) 463-4202 for hours. Proctored testing at
the
Florence
Center is by appointment only. If you live in
Florence, please call (541) 997-8444 to schedule your
exams there.
For Exams taken
at Instructional
Testing Services on the Main Campus, you
must arrive at least half an hour before closing,
though
it is recommended you give yourself at
least an hour for each exam. You will need a
government issued
photo I.D., such as a
state-issued driver's license, state-issued I.D. card,
passport or "green card." You will need to know your
L
Number and MyLane PIN to log into Moodle. You
will also need to know the course number, my name
(both at the top of this syllabus) and whether you're
taking the First Midterm Exam, Second Midterm Exam or
Final Exam. If English is your second language,
dictionaries will be on hand for you to use. If your
native language isn't a common one, please contact
Instructional
Testing Services ahead of time to make sure they
have your language. Unfortunately, you are not allowed
to use your own paper or electronic dictionary. During
the exam you may use a 3 x 5 note card (both sides) or
a piece of paper measured with a ruler and cut to the
same size.
The exam format will be multiple choice and true/false
questions.
The final will not
be comprehensive.
To prepare for the exams, go
over the study questions at the end of each
section and make sure you can answer each of
them. If you don't know the answer to a
particular question, search the relevant section
of the online textbook and your notes from the
lectures for the answer. You may even want to
write out the answers to help you study for the
exams or even do so as you move through the
course. If you are unsure of the answer to a
question, you can ask it in class (if it is
about the current week's reading) or send me a
Moodle message or come by office hours to ask.
You will have about a week
to take each exam. The opening and closing times
of exams are listed in the table above, in the
course outline below and in the Weekly Outline
in Moodle. Clicking on any exam in the main
course view in Moodle will also show you the
exact opening and closing dates and times as
well, along with the chapters and weeks it
covers. There is no time limit, but once you
start the exam, you must finish it, and you must
also finish it before the testing center closes
that day.
Once you take your exam, you
will immediately receive your score as well as be able
to see the questions you missed along with the correct
answers. Please give yourself time to review the exam
right after you take it, as
you will not be
able to review your exam from home. Since
the midterms cover different subject matter and
the
final is not comprehensive, you won't be tested
on the same material again.You are, however,
encouraged to see what you missed and view the correct
answers for your own personal knowledge and
edification.
EXAM DEADLINE POLICY:
Since you will have at least a week to take each exam,
you will be expected to meet the deadline. However,
you may contact the instructor via Moodle message (
not
email) to request an extension on the midterm exams
before
the deadline without penalty. Please
include
the class, the exam and the
date to which you would like it extended
in your message. The Final Exam deadline cannot be
extended, as it is
Thursday of Final Exam Week
and on Thursday night or Friday morning, I will be
determining course grades. If you miss the
deadline for the final due to some unforeseen
circumstance or emergency situation, contact the
instructor via Moodle message ASAP.
PENALTIES FOR CHEATING: Students caught
cheating on an exam will be given an
F in the course.
GRADING:
Moodle will tell you your grade based
on the assignments completed so far. Anything
you don't complete will be converted to a zero
near the end of the term. Make sure to complete
all of the quizzes and exams by the deadlines!
Attendance points for missed classes for hybrid
students will be taken off as we go, but points
for missed summaries from online students won't
show up until the end of the term.
At the end of the term, the class will be graded on
the following absolute scale, with course totals rounded
up to the nearest whole number:
| A+ 97% -100% |
A 93% - 96%
|
A- 90% - 92% |
| B+ 87% - 89% |
B 83% - 86% |
B- 80% - 82% |
| C+ 77% - 79% |
C 73% - 76% |
C- 70% - 72% |
| D+ 67% - 69% |
D 63% - 66% |
D- 60% - 62% |
| |
F 0% - 59% |
|
EARLY OUTREACH AND REFERRAL (EOR) PROGRAM: At Lane
Community College, we want every student to be successful.
The Early
Outreach and Referral (EOR) Program is a campus-wide
effort to support students early in the term when they first
begin experiencing difficulty in a class. If I see you are
having difficulty in this class (ex. missing classes,
missing assignments, and/or receiving low test or assignment
scores) I may refer you to our Early Outreach Specialist.
Once referred, the Early Outreach Specialist will follow up
with you by phone or email to find out how to best support
you by connecting you with necessary resources and helping
you develop and implement a success plan, which may include
individual tutoring or other services. Please respond to
these messages. Outreach specialists have helped many
struggling students succeed. Let them help you.
QUESTIONS: If you have a particular issue from the
readings or lectures which you would like to explore,
discuss or perhaps debate in more depth than is practical in
Moodle messages, please visit me during my office hours or
make an appointment to see me in person or on Zoom.
TECHNOLOGY
USE AND HELP: This is an online course.
It requires you to use (but not necessarily own) a
computer, laptop, netbook or tablet or smart phone with access to the
internet. Laptop
and Chromebook loans are available through the Student
Help Desk (SHeD). The
syllabus, schedule, announcements, supplementary
material and resources, quizzes, exams and grades
are all distributed via Moodle. Contact
the Student
Help Desk (SHeD) or call them at 463-3333 for
assistance with all of your technology-related
questions.