Intro
to Philosophy
This course is a one-year course designed to give the students a broad introduction to the theories, ideas and contemporary issues confronted by philosophy and philosophical thought. The primary objectives of the course are to improve thinking skills, and to expose the students to a variety of ways at looking at everyday, common occurrences and problems.
Philosophy is about everyday
life. Philosophy is a subject that is very relevant,
and gives us the grounding for how we view and interpret the world. Every discipline and ideology has a
philosophy. Most individuals have a
philosophy that guides them through moral choices, personal crisis, shapes
their beliefs about what is true or false, and helps them make some sense of
the world. We often dont think of
ourselves as doing philosophy when we are thinking about those things, but
thats what were doing.
What
we will do in this class is learn what some other people think about these
types of issues, and see how it affects our own points of view. You may learn some philosophy you totally
agree with, or passionately disagree with, or some youre just not sure about. You may find your beliefs totally confirmed
by what you encounter or you may begin to doubt some of what you thought. All of that is the process of doing
philosophy, of engaging in dialog with other philosophers. Its part of the process of keeping yourself
mentally fit. You wouldnt expect to
get better at basketball or soccer, or guitar or dance, without practice. Philosophy is the practice of thinking.
By
June, I dont expect we will have answered all (or any) of the questions
confronted in this syllabus. The
important part of the class is to ask the questions, and learn how to ask them
with more clarity and understanding.
Philosophy is an interrogative activity. Its interactive. Its
not easy. But its great fun!
Primary text: Philosophy and Contemporary Issues (PACI) Burr and Goldinger, Eds., Prentice-Hall, 2000. We will use this book most of all, but there will be additional readings along the way.
Films: Many films explore philosophical issues that help us better understand our topics, particularly for visual learners. Here are the ones we will watch:
12 Monkeys The Thin Red Line
The Truman Show Judgement at Nuremberg
Inherit the Wind Blade Runner
What
is an argument? How are words sometimes
used to confuse? What intellectual
tools can we use to separate good arguments from bad? How can we apply logic to our thinking? How can we overcome paradox?
Readings: Excerpts from Patrick Hurley, Logic
and William Grey, Thinking Critically
Richard
Hanley, Temporal Distortions
Richard
Jonathan Harrison, Dr. Who and the Philosophers
David
Lewis, The Paradoxes of Time Travel
Film:
12 Monkeys
Do we have free will? What is personal responsibility? Can humans be controlled? What is the responsibility of criminals? Is there such a thing as fate?
Readings: PACI: Plato, Robert Blatchford, Corliss Lamont, W.T. Stace, B.F.
Skinner, Joseph Wood Krutch, Clarence Darrow, C.S. Lewis, Harrison, Richard
Taylor
Film: The
Truman Show
Does God Exist? If God is good, why does evil exist? Is it rational to believe in God? Does science make it hard to believe in God? Can we be good without God?
Readings: PACI: A. Cressy Morrsion,
Darrow, D.E. Trueblood, Lewis, Bertrand Russell, B.C. Johnson, John Hick, W.K.
Clifford, William James, Leo Tolstoy, Steven M. Cahn
Classic
Arguments for the existence of God
Huston
Smith, Do Drugs Have Religious Import?
Film: Inherit
the Wind
What is morality? Should we be moral? Are ethical values relative? How should we behave? Should we help others? Is it moral to have an abortion?
Readings: PACI: Stace, Harry Browne, Jeremy Bentham, R.M. MacIver, Garrett Hardin, Peter Singer, John T. Noonan, Judith Jarvis Thomson, Michael Levin, William F. Baxter
Biblical Excerpt: The Sermon on the Mount
Freidrich Neitzsche, The Christian Transvaluation of Values.
Film: Crimes and Misdemeanors
Unit Five: State
and Society
What is democracy? How should society be organized? What is the limit of individual freedom? How much control should a state have over us?
Readings: PACI: Sidney Hook, Alexis De Tocqueville, Ayn Rand, Kai Nielsen, Murray N. Rothbard, Helen E. Longino, Jan Narveson, Szasz, Gerald Dworkin, Morton D. Davis, Anthony Downs
United States v. One Book Entitled Ulysses
Herbert Marcuse, The New Forms of Control
Sidney Hook, Review of Marcuse
Unit Six: Justice
and Peace
Is war inevitable? Are humans aggressive by nature? Is there such a thing as a just war? Is there such a thing as a war crime? Is civil disobedience moral? Are citizens morally obligated to serve in the military?
Readings: Aldous Huxley, The Wish for War
Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, Why War?
Herbert Butterfield, Tragic Conflict
Abraham Lincoln, The Scourge of War
Plato, The Origin of War
Tolstoy, The Idea of Cause
Emery Reeves, What is War?
E.E. Cummings, plato told
Anthony Storr, Aggression is an Instinct
Richard E. Leakey, Aggression is not an Instinct
Freud, Humans are Born Violent
Rene Dubos, Culture has Generated Violence
Howard Zinn, Just and Unjust War
Michael Walzer, Excerpts from Just and Unjust War
Arnold Toynbee, Mylai was a War Crime
Martin Gershen, Mylai was not a War Crime
Shigetoshi Iwamatsu, Hiroshima Was a War Crime
Paul Fusell, Hiroshima Was Not a War Crime
Molly Harrower, Could you commit a War Crime?
Plato, Crito
Zinn, The Perils of Plato
Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience
Gandhi, Excerpts from The
Words of Gandhi
Martin Luther King, Excerpts from Why We Cant Wait
Greg Whitlock, Malcolm X and Dr. King on Violence
Robert Paul Wolff, Four Questions on the Draft
Abe Fortas, The Limits of Concientious Objection
Mark E. Thompson, Why Peace Movements are Needed
Ed Fredericks, Peace Movements Can Lead to War.
ENDC, Peace Movements are Necessary for Survival
James Clotfeller, Why Peace Movements Fail
Films: The Thin Red Line, Judgement at Nuremberg
Activity: The War Crimes Tribunal
Unit Seven: Mind
and Body
What is a mind? Are minds distinct from the body? Do other minds exist? Do we have a soul? What is personal identity? Can a machine think?
Readings: PACI: Hugh Elliot, C.E.M. Joad, A.A. Luce, John Hospers, Derek Parfit and Godfrey Vessey, Christopher Evans, Jenny Teichman, Durant Drake, John Searle
Film: Blade Runner
Unit Eight:
Knowledge and Science
What is reality? What can we be sure of exists? How valuable is our scepticism? How do we know things? What are the limits of our knowledge?
Readings: PACI: Rene Descartes, Freidrich Paulsen, David Hume, Iriving M. Copi, Morris Cohen and Ernest Nagel, Duane T. Gish, A. David Kline, William Poundstone, Sextus Empiricus
Russell, Appearance and Reality
Plato, Theaetetus
LSD: Lettvin vs. Leary
Henry Sidgwick, Address to the Society of Psychical Research
Hereward Carrington, The Meaning of Psychical Research
Daniel Cohen: ESP: Science or Delusion?
Gray, Excerpts from Thinking
Critically
Film:
The Matrix
Course
Requirements:
1. You will be required to keep up on the readings. There are many of them, but you must come prepared to participate in class. If speaking up in class intimidates you, please do your best not to be afraid. I want all students to feel comfortable. Feel free to engage each other, but no personal attacks or condescension will be tolerated.
2. You will also be required to keep a journal on all your reading assignments. Your journal will be turned in for a grade at the end of each quarter. Journals help keep your readings focused, and prove that you are doing them. I will discuss the journal at length on the first day of class.
3. You will also be required to write a number of short papers (2-3 pages) throughout the school year. The criteria for the papers will be discussed at length well before the first one is due.
4. There will also be three team debates on a philosophical issue. Everyone will have a chance to participate.
5. Primary and secondary commentaries: Every person will have a chance to write a primary commentary on a philosophical subject. Their paper will then be distributed to the class. We will discuss it after we read it, and you will have a chance to defend it. Then, another classmate will respond to your paper (secondary), wherein we shall distribute it to the whole class, and discuss it while the author defends it. Every one will get a chance to write a primary and secondary commentary. Sorry, no one gets to respond to him or herself.
6. During Unit Six (Justice and Peace), the entire class will participate in a role-play: The War Crimes Tribunal. This is intended to help us understand the philosophical issues regarding War and Justice.
Honors Students will also be required to write a 7-10 page paper on any philosophical subject. This will be due the day of the final, and presented to the class.
Level One Students will have a take home exam, due on the day of the final. You are expected to come on the day of the final and listen to the papers being presented.
It is my hope, however, that all students will take the class for honors credit, since all will have to work hard, and you might as well get a grade that pumps up your GPA. If you are going to take the class, I recommend taking it for honors credit. The choice, of course, is yours.
Midterm (for all): An oral-visual presentation on a philosopher or philosophical idea of your choice.
This course will not be a breeze, but it will be rewarding. I am confident that you will become much better thinkers, and your view of the world will no doubt become very different. Moreover, you will have a tremendous advantage over your peers when you arrive at college; very few will have the benefit of a yearlong course to improve and strengthen their thinking. You will be a better paper writer, better at class discussion, and a more acute critical thinker. All of these skills will not only be valuable at college, but in life as well.
This is the only course for high school students like this in the entire state of Connecticut! Take advantage of this opportunity!
What you can expect from me:
7 Lessons delivered with great enthusiasm
7 A variety of classroom activities
7 All the extra help you want
7 Abject silliness
7 Lots of tea drinking
Welcome aboard! I promise this will be unlike any class you have ever taken!