Calumet College of St. Joseph

SYLLABUS FOR GREAT PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS

 

 

Term: Summer 2002 (2001-3) - April 30, 2002 – July 30, 2002)

Course Number: PHIL 200X

Instructor: Dr. Eugene Finnegan

Office: 503

Office Phone: 219-473-4252

E-mail: efinnegan@ccsj.edu

Home Phone: (708-720-1177l)

Office Hours: Tuesday and Wednesday - 2:00 - 5:00 PM

 

 

Instructor Background:           

BA in philosophy and history - Loyola University, Chicago

MBA in marketing - Loyola University, Chicago

MA in theology - Louvain University, Belgium

STD in theology - Trier University, Germany

CCSJ - Director of Religious Studies

CCSJ - Coordinator of Philosophy

CCSJ - Director of Assessment

CCSJ - Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

 

 

Course Time: Tuesdays 7:00PM – 10:00PM

 

 

Course Description: This course is both an historical treatment of philosophers and an analysis of their original literature. Students will study ancient and modern philosophers and analyze major philosophical issues.

 

 

Prerequisites: English 103 and 104

 

 

Textbook:

A Short History of Philosophy – Robert C. Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins (Oxford - 1996)

 

            Class notes

 

Learning Outcomes/ Competencies:

Students in this course will:

  1. Gain basic linguistic knowledge of the great philosophical problems via lectures and reading about and of the various philosophical authors.
  2. Comprehend the meaning of the great philosophical authors via lecture, reading, discussion, and weekly writing assignments.
  3. Apply their acquired knowledge and comprehension to their own situations via weekly writings and discussions.
  4. Analyze the value of the various philosophical solutions from their perspective and that of others via discussion and writing.
  5. Synthesis the various views in a group project.
  6. Evaluate the whole process via weekly use of the minute papers at the end and beginning of every class.

 

 

Learning Strategies: (Lectures, reading, thinking, discussions, questions, weekly writing assignments, projects, minute papers, quizzes, and final examination.)

 

 

Learning Tools

1 – Textbook

2 – Lectures

3 – Questions

4 – Discussions

5 – Minute papers

6 – 250 word written responses

7 – Group Project

9 – Written answers to the Midterm and Final examination

 

 

Student Exercises

1 – Read and think critically about the assigned philosophical texts.

2 – Be on time and actively listen attentively to lectures.

3 – Present and ask thoughtful questions.

4 – Be prepared to engage in intelligent discussion.

5 – Take minute papers seriously.

7 – Do the Group project, the midterm and the final examination

Assessment:

Accumulative Grade development

1) Questions                       10 * 3 points     = 30 points

2) Group Project                 1 * 20                = 20 points

3) Mid term                         1 * 25                = 25 points

4) Final                               1 * 25                = 25 points

Total                                                          = 100 points

 

 

1)       Questions – You will write a one page (250 words) personal essay on what you liked or disliked about one on the sub headings in the chapters.

2)        Group Project  - two or three students will join to do a 10 page (2500 word essay) on one of the philosophers in the biographical chronology on pages xiii-xvii.

3)       Mid Term – Units I and II – page 1-174

4)       Final – Units III and IV – pages 175- 304

 

 

Format Rubrics for Written Assignments

1)       Name, Date, Course, and Question

2)       Double spaced, New Times Roman, font 12

3)       Use complete sentences in your paragraph writing

4)       Be precise and answer the specific questions that is asked

5)       Have a beginning, an end, and a middle

6)       Be clear and coherent

7)       Be grammatically correct

8)       Correct length

 

 

Class Policy for Assignments:

All papers are due on the assigned day.  All late papers receive an automatic deduction:

1)       Questions lose 1/2 a point;

2)       Projects lose 1 point;

3)       Tests lose 3 points;

4)       Absence lose 1 point;

5)       On time - gain 1/2 point.

 

 

Grading Scale:

A - 96-100%      A- - 90-95%       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: 59% and below.

 

 

Class Policy on Attendance:

Show up for class and listen attentively.   Missing a class more than three (3) times shows a lack of concern and attention.  Therefore you will be dropped from this class.  Please be on time as a courtesy to all your classmates.

 

 

Class Participation:

At the end of every class you will writer one thing that you learned and one question that you have that day's class in a "Minute Paper".  We will begin the next class with a discussion of your questions.  You may ask questions at any time.  Please be respectful of someone else's opinion if it differs from yours.

 

 

Center for Academic Excellence:

Tutoring assistance is free to all students of Calumet College of St. Joseph. Call the Center for Academic Excellence (CAE), to make an appointment at 473-4287. The Center has experienced and well-trained tutors in most subject areas to help students who are struggling in a course or who are doing well and would like to do better. Regular weekly tutoring sessions are likely to improve your grade.

 

 

Statement of Plagiarism:

If an instructor or other Calumet College of St. Joseph personnel find that a student has plagiarized or been involved in another form of academic dishonesty, the instructor or other personnel may elect to bring the matter up for judicial review. The maximum penalty for any form of academic dishonesty is dismissal from the College. The procedures for judicial review are listed under the section of CCSJ handbook that addresses student grievances. (Academic Planner 2001/2002 p.27)

 

 

Citation Guidelines:

Calumet College of St. Joseph adheres to citation guidelines as prescribed by the particular discipline (i.e., MLA, APA, and Chicago Manual of Style or Turabian.).  All of these guidelines are available in the Calumet College of St. Joseph library or bookstore.  These texts outline how to cite references from a variety of sources, including electronic media.


Course Outline: - Class Dates:  Topics/Assignments:

April 30                                    INTRODUCTION and SYLLABUS

                                                What Gives Life Meaning?

                                                What is the Value of Philosophy?

                                                What is the Best Approach to Philosophy?

 

May 7                           PART 1 - The Search for World Order

 - Ancient Philosophy(1-77)

The Axial Period and the Origins of Philosophy (1-7)

The “Miracle” of Greece (7-11)

The Meaning of Creation: Cosmogony and the Origins of Philosophy (11-22)

                                    Vedas and Vedanta: Early Philosophy in India (22-25)

The First Greek Philosophers (25-29)

Pre-Socratic Philosophers (29-39)

Question 1 due – pages 1-6 – Axial Period

 

May 14                                     Sophists (39-43)

Socrates (43-49)

                                    Plato – Metaphysician or Sublime Humorist (49-56)

                                    Question 2 due – page 43-49 – Socrates

 

May 21                                     Aristotle – Philosopher’s Philosopher(56-67)

                                                Footnote to Plato and Aristotle (67-68)

Tough times – Stoicism, Skepticism, and Epicureanism (68-74)

Mysticism and Logic in Ancient India (74-77)

                                    Question 3 due – pages 49-55 – Plato

 

May 28                         PART 2– God and the Philosophers

 – Religious and Medieval Philosophy (79-174)

Religions and Spirituality (81-84)

Wisdom of the East (84-99)

                                    Religions of the Book (100-104)

Origins of Judaism (105-110)

Greek Jews (111-113

Birth of Christianity (114-117)

Development of Christianity (118-121)

                                    Question 4 due – pages 56-67 – Aristotle

                                   


 

June 4                                      Neo-plationism and Christianity (121-122)

St. Augustine (122-125)

Eastern and Western Christianity (126-128)

                                                Rise of Islam (129-132)

Mysticism (133)

Persia (134-138)

Judaism in the middle ages (139-141)

                                    Question 5 due – pages 122-126 – St. Augustine

 

June 11                                    The God question - Anselm, Abelard, Aquinas (142-147)

Late Scholasticism (147-148)

                                                Alchemists (149-151)

Non-western philosophy  (152-153)

Religious Reformation (154-159))

Counter Reformation (160-162)

Renaissance (163-164)

Undiscovered Worlds (167-174)

                                    Question 6 due – pages 142-147 – Thinking God

 

June 18                       PART 3 - Science and Religion

- Modern Philosophy and the Enlightenment

- Knowledge – What is Knowledge? (175-242)

How Do We Acquire Knowledge?

How is Truth Established?

What is the Function of Art?

                                    Question 7 due – pages 180-186 – Descartes

 

June 25                                    TEST ON PART I AND PART II

                                    Science, Religion, and the Meaning of Modernism (175-179)

Rene Descartes (180-185)

                                                Spinoza – Leibniz – Pascal – Newton (186-191)

Enlightenment (192-193)

 

July 2                                       Locke – Hume – Empiricism (194-198)

                                                Adam Smith – Voltaire – Rousseau – Revolution (199-204)

Group Project due

 

July 9                                       Immanuel Kant – Hegel  (205-220)

                                                Rationalism and Romanticism – Schopenhauer

Kierkegaard - Feuerbach – Marx – Mill – Darwin – Nietzsche

                                    Question 8 due – pages 205-213 – Kan

 

July 16                         PART 4 Values – What are Good Values?

- From Modernism to Post Modernism

- Twentieth Century (203-304)

`                                               What is Basic in Ethics?

What is Freedom?

What is Political Philosophy?

What is Social Justice?

                                                Century of Horrors – Rejection of Idealism

Frege – Russell – Husserl (243-252)

                                                                Limits of Rationality – Freud – Wittengenstein (253-258)

Question 9 due – pages 259-263 - Pragmatism

 

July 23                                     Pragmatism - Philosophy of Process - Unamuno and Croce – Heidegger - Tragic Sense of Life – Positivism (259-278)

                                                Existentialism – Camus – Sartre – Beauvoir (279-304)

 Women and Gender Philosophy – Postmodernism

                                    Question 10 due – pages 286-291 - Feminism

 

July 30                                                 Final Exam on Parts 3 and 4

 

 

Withdrawal from Classes Policy:

After the last day for class changes has passed (see College calendar), students may withdraw from a course in which they are registered with permission from the faculty member conducting the course. A written request detailing the reason(s) for the withdrawal must be filed with the Registrar. Written request for withdrawal must be received by the Registrar by the last day of classes prior to the final examination dates specified in the catalogue. Written requests may be mailed to the Registrar or faxed to the College fax number 219-473-4259. Students are to make note of the refund schedule when withdrawing from courses. The request is forwarded to the faculty member, who makes the final determination to accept or deny the request. If the request is honored, the student will receive notification of official withdrawal; if denied, the notification will indicate why the withdrawal is disallowed. Note: Degree Completion Division (DCD) students should consult the DCD Student Handbook for information on DCD withdrawals.

 

An official withdrawal is recorded as a "W" grade on the student's transcript. Dropping a course without written permission automatically incurs an "F" grade for the course (see Refund Schedule).