Calumet College of St. Joseph

Great Philosophical Ideas

Term: Summer, 2001-2002 (013)

Course Number: PHL 200A Great Philosophical Ideas

Instructor: Dr. Edward C. Stibili

Office: 523

Office Phone: 219-473-4284

E-mail: estibili@ccsj.edu

Office Hours: Before and after class

Course Time: TR 9:00-12:00p, Room 308

Course Description: This course is both an historical treatment of philosophers and an analysis of their original literature. Students will read about the life and times of the leading ancient and contemporary philosophers and will analyze the major philosophical problems raised by these philosophers and their solution to them.

Prerequisites: None

Learning Outcomes/Competencies: Students in this course will review the history of philosophy from ancient times to the present and will focus on the ideas and writings of some of the major philosophers.

Textbook: Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins, A Short History of Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Learning Strategies: This course will be based on classroom lectures and discussions. The textbook will provide background information to the lectures. Visual aids will be used as appropriate.

Assessment:

1. Class attendance and participation: 20% of grade

2. 4 unit examinations: 20% each for a total of 80% of grade

Extra points: Additional optional questions will be built into the four unit examinations. Optional questions can be used only by students who take the unit examination at the scheduled time.

Class Policy for Assignments: Students should stay current with the readings assigned in the course outline.

Grading scale:

A: 96-100; A-: 91-95; B+: 87-90; B: 84-86; B-: 81-83; C+: 77-80; C: 74-76; C-: 71-73; D+: 67-70; D: 64-66; D-: 61-63; F: 60 and below.

Class Policy on attendance: Students will lose two points for each missed class, unless absent for appropriate medical reasons. Such absences will require the doctor's signed note.

Class Policy on Electronic Devices: Students should b considerate of others in the classroom.

Course Outline/Class Dates/Topics/Assignments:

Part One: The Search for World Order: Ancient Philosophy

Tuesday April 30: Introduction; The Pre-Socratics, text, pp. 1-22, 25-43

Thursday May 2: Socrates, text, pp. 43-49

Tuesday " 7: Plato, text, pp. 49-56

Thursday " 9: Aristotle, text, pp. 56-68

Part Two: God and the Philosophers: Religious and Medieval Philosophy

Tuesday May 14: Unit examination; St. Augustine, text, pp. 121-129

Thursday " 16: St. Anselm and Peter Abelard, text, pp. 142-145

Tuesday " 21: St. Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus and William of Ockham, text, pp. 145-149

Part Three: Between Science and Religion: Modern Philosophy and the Enlightenment

Thursday May 23: Unit examination; René Descartes, text, pp. 175-186

Tuesday " 28: John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume, text, pp. 194-199

Thursday " 30: Immanuel Kant, text, pp. 205-214

Part Four: From Modernism to Postmodernism: The Twentieth Century

Tuesday June 4: Unit examination; Soren Kierkegaard, text, pp. 226-228

Thursday " 6: Ludwig Feuerbach and Karl Marx, text, pp. 228-230

Tuesday " 11: Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, text, pp. 279-282

Thursday " 13: Unit examination