PHILOSOPHY 101
intro to
philosophy
Dr. James
Hatley
Office: Philosophy House, 1st
Floor
Phone: (67)7-5072
Office Hours: Tues/Wed, 3-5 pm.
URL: http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~jdhatley/
COURSE
DESCRIPTION
Philosophy, unlike the other disciplines at a university,
does not concern itself so much with a specific subject matter as with the
issue of what it means whatsoever to be a thinking being in the flesh. In a
sense all disciplines are part of philosophy. Many fields trace their lineage
back to philosophical thought--for instance, questions associated with the
study of Physics were first posed by the early philosophers of ancient
But beware of the following paradox! In attempting to know
oneself, one may find oneself even more in question. Philosophy not only
answers questions but also shows how each answer leads to further questions.
Often Philosophy's most important feature is to make a question even more
questioning, more disconcerting. Philosophy is, as Socrates argues, thinking
about one's thinking in all the dimensions in which thinking occurs. To know oneself
is not to know an object, an inert thing, but to be taken up in the active
questioning of the meaning of one's own existence and the existence of all
other beings. To ask questions about one's death or one's actions or one's
suffering is to engage oneself more deeply in living one's life. Philosophy
does not abolish mystery but brings us more intensely, more concretely, more
knowlingly and more wonderously into its presence.
In this class, we will be disconcerting ourselves in
relation to several fundamental questions: 1) How might I live an examined
life? 2) Is there a limit to what can be forgiven? 3) Is my self an
illusion? 4) How might I offer compassion to all other living beings? 5)
Do I need power in order to be real? 6) What does it mean to be a
finite creature living in space and time? 7) Can guilt illuminate
my life? 8) Can I change who I am?
In pursuing these questions, we will turn not only to the
Greek and Judeo-Christian traditions of thought, but also to that of Buddhism.
We will also turn to our contemporary society in order to test the ideas we
learn from these traditions.
Finally, this course has been enriched and is being offered
for four credits. At
This means a significant amount of work is to be pursued by
the student outside of class times, including reading extra texts, attending
cultural events and writing additional assignments. You will also be expected to work with your
fellows in fulfilling these additional requirements. Failure to accomplish this additional work
for the class will result in a much lower grade with the possibility of your
not passing the course. But the upside
is one additional credit toward your goal of graduating. A series of four-credit courses will mean
fewer overall courses will be needed in order to graduate and will allow you to
focus more fully on the courses you do take..
TEXTS
Books
The Sunflower
Siddhartha
Ethics and College Student Life: A Case Study
Approach
Films
American History X
Dead Man Walking
Web Texts
Allegory of the
Cave (Plato)
Apology
(Plato)
"A
Father in Auschwitz's Quandary"
Philosophy in Prison: Prison Power Prison Life
World Prison
Redemption
"Existence
precedes Essence” (Sartre)
“All Existence
is Encounter” (Buber)
Cultural
Events Calendar
GRADING
10 Weekly Essay Reading Questions 20%
1st Expert Presentation Question: Apology 05%
2nd Expert Presentation Question: Prison Life
World 05%
1st Response: When I Left the Cave 15%,
Assignment I
2nd Response: Socratic Voices in American
History X 16%, Assignment II
3rd Response: Conversations with a Murderer
21%, Assignment III
Case Study I in Ethics 05%
Case Study II in Ethics 05%
Cultural Affairs Series: Four Solo or Two Group Reports 08%
CLASS
ATTENDENCE:
Class attendance and participation in discussions are also
required. You have five automatic absences for which no excuse is needed. No
further absences, excused or unexcused will be accepted. After five absences, your
final grade will be affected. Not turning in any assignment (by the semester's
end) will mean you will receive an F for the course! Put in other terms: If you
fail to turn in even one assignment for this course you will not pass it.
WRITTEN WORK
In-Class Writing: In addition
to the writing assignments listed below, there will be in-class writing
assignments, often to be done in conjunction with small group discussions. For
this reason among others, your attendance is important!
Response Papers are
the principal manner in which your grade will be determined. These will consist
of three-page essays in which you will respond thoughtfully to a question
pertaining to what we have been reading and discussing in class. A response
paper should make use of citations from the text(s) appropriate to the question
to be answered. In a response paper you are to give reasons for any position
you take. The question "Why?" should always be in the back of your
mind as you write.
Individual Presentation Questions: You will be assigned to an expert for two readings during
the semester—once in regard to The Apology and once in regard to the
prison webtext readings. You are to serve as an expert on the assigned
reading during the time it is being discussed in class. To this end, you will
bring in one question based on the reading to ask a group of students you will
be assigned at the beginning of class. One of these students will then explain
your questions to the entire class, when we return from small group discussions
to a group of the whole. You will hand
in this question to me on a piece of paper with you name on it. After our
in-class discussion, you will write a two-three paragraph answer to your
question and turn it in the week after we are through with the assigned
reading.
Case Studies in
Ethics: Twice during the semester you will read and then write out
with two other students three typewritten pages providing your reflections on
an ethical case assigned to your group from Ethics
and College Student Life. The
reflections will be prompted by the questions provided after each case study.
Weekly
Cultural Affairs Series Reports: During this class, you are required to attend two events that are part of the cultural affairs series on campus, if you attend with a small group of other students. You will meet afterward with the students to discuss what you have learned. If you choose to work alone, then you will attend four events. For each student in a group, you will write at least one page discussing at least one important idea you learned, or one important critical perspective you attained at the event. So a group of three students must write three typewritten pages for one installment of this assignment. Students can attend an event in groups no larger than four students! Part of the work of a student group is not only to write their pages but to discuss with one another their thinking about the event. You are encouraged to engage in a community of conversation
HONOR CODE: Each
written assignment should be accompanied by the following statement, dated and
signed by the student: “This assignment was written entirely by me
in my own words, except for quotations from and references to another person’s
work, which I have been careful to point out.
I have in no way made use of the words or ideas of other persons without
attribution.”
COURSE OBJECTIVES
a) To learn some distinguishing characteristics of Greek
and Judeo-Christian thought.
b) To learn elements of other cultural traditions.
c) To follow an argument in a discussion.
d) To follow an argument in a philosophical text.
e) To recognize the presuppositions one brings to a philosophical discussion
and to reflect upon the worthiness of these presuppositions.
f) To use a philosophical position in order to understand and question your own
life-experiences.
g) To write an organized and reflective argument that takes a philosophic
position.
WEEKLY
TOPICS, WRITING ASSIGNMENTS,
WEEK ONE (9/3, 4)--Putting my World into Question.
Discussion of Case Study 4.1 from Ethics and
Lecture and Discussion: Toleration and Critical Engagement
WEEK TWO (9/8-11)--Is There a Limit to Forgiveness?
Reading: The Sunflower, pp. 1-99. Background
Materials for The Sunflower
Weekly Reading Questions I: Reading Questions
for The Sunflower
Simon Wiesenthal Center Website United
States Holocaust Memorial Genocide Watch Genocide Resources
WEEK THREE (9/15-18)--Reflecting on Arguments for and against
Forgiveness
First Ethics Case Study Groups Assigned: 4.3-4.14
Bring Ethics
and College Student Life to class!
Reading: The
Sunflower: Selections from Alan Berger, Robert Coles, Matthew Fox, Rebecca
Goldstein, Harold Kushner, Deborah Lipstadt The Dalai Lama, Primo Levi,
Terrence Prittie, Albert Speer, Andre Stein, Desmond Tutu, Harry Wu.
Weekly
Aitia: Responsibility for Sweatshops
WEEK FOUR (9/22-25)--Living an Examined Life?
Viewing: American History X
Weekly
DUE 9/24, 25: FIRST RESPONSE
PAPER: One Moment in my Life when I left
the Cave. Assignment
WEEK FIVE (9/29-10/2)--Living an Examined Life?
Discussion of Part Two (Experts: Students with Last Names
beginning with H-M) of Apology: How should we be careful for our souls?
Weekly
WEEK SIX (10/6-9)--Living an Examined Life?
Discussion of Part Three (Experts: Students with Last Names
beginning with N-Z) of Apology:
How should we live and die?
Enrichment: THE
ETHICIST
Weekly
WEEK SEVEN (10/13-16)--How might I Live with Compassion for all
Living Beings?
Due
10/13,14: First Ethics Case Study Exercises and Discussion
Due
10/15, 16: First Set of Cultural Affairs Series Reports: (2 Solo or One Group)
Second Ethics Case Study Groups Assigned: 3.1-3.13
Bring Ethics
and College Student Life to class!
Power Point Presentation: Wabi-Sabi
Eating with Grace Art
Critiquing Techno-Materialist Consumption
Tich Nhat
Han's Reflection about Compassion for all other Living Beings
Buddhism's
Core Doctrines
Website on Buddhist
Doctrines
Mountain Rivers Zen Monastary
WEEK EIGHT (10/20-23)--Is my Self an Illusion?
Weekly
Reading Questions VI: On Siddhartha
Buddhist
Meditations for Activists
WEEK NINE (10/27-30)—Do I need Power to be Real?
Reading: Prison Power
(Experts: Students with Last Names beginning
with N-Z) Free Will
Viewing: Boston Public (On
the "N" Word)
Weekly
Due
10/29, 30: 2nd Response Paper
WEEK TEN (11/3-6)—Doing Time and Being in Time
Reading: Prison Life
World (Experts: Students with Last Names
beginning with H-M)
Weekly Reading Questions VIII: 1) What is "lived time"?
In answering, given an example. 2) What happens to the
prisoner's
embodiment--how she or he exists as a body--during incarceration? 3) How might a prison be a
"penitentiary"?
WEEK ELEVEN (11/10-13): Atheistic Existentialism in Anguish,
Forlorness and Despair
Reading: Existence
Precedes Essence Additional Reading on Religion and Atheism
Weekly
WEEK TWELVE (11/17-20): Theistic Existentialism in the I/Thou
Encounter
Reading: Prison
Redemption (Experts: Students with Last
Names beginning with A-G); All Existence is
in Meeting
Weekly
WEEK THIRTEEN (11/24,25): NO CLASSES: PAPER
IN TAMPA, FL
WEEK FOURTEEN (12/1-4): IS THE MURDERER TO BE REDEEMED?
FILM VIEWING: DEAD MAN WALKING
An Example
of Reconciliation with a Murderer
Sister Helen
Prejean Interview
WEEK FIFITEEN (12/8-11):
Due 12/10,11: Second Ethics
Case Study Exercises and Discussion
FINALS WEEK
DUE by NOON at Philosophy House on TO BE DETERMINED:
1) 2nd Set of Cultural Affairs Series Reports (Two Solo or
One Group); AND 2) THIRD RESPONSE
PAPER: “Conversations with a Murderer: Does Poncelot’s Guilt Illuminate his
Life? Assignment