Philosophy 100, Introduction to Philosophy Shoreline Community College Meets 8:30 – 9:20 A.M. Daily, Room 1805
Instructor: Dr. Linda Warren Office Hours: Daily, 12:30-1:20 Daily, Foss 5368, or by appointment. Telephone: 206-546-6987 Email: lwarren@ctc.edu
Course Description: This historical overview course presents philosophy as something political and ethical that we do in everyday life. This is in contrast to the idea that philosophy is merely reflection, or a contemplative project, aimed toward a better understanding of ourselves and our world. As a philosophical political and moral agent, we put whatever understanding we have gained through our reflection into action.
We will do philosophy self-consciously through a process of thought, reflection, speech, and action. This will be a project-oriented class so that we can learn and do philosophy by applying our thinking to our projects. Students and teacher, working together, will develop strategies and actions which reach out into our diverse communities (queer and straight, feminist and womanist, people of color and white, Native American and immigrant, and so on), in order to better understand ways of thinking which might contribute to positive transformations of our world and our lives.
Will readings from Plato to contemporary philosophers (Patricia Hill Collins, Ward Churchill, etc.) assist students in formulating their own ways of thinking about the historical philosophical issues presented? Our approach to doing philosophy will put these authors into historical context.
Course Objectives:
* Articulate different philosophical theories of epistemology, ontology, politics, and ethics.
* Analyze and evaluate philosophical arguments.
* Construct arguments using techniques of critical thinking.
* Identify philosophical assumptions, values, and theories expressed by worldviews from other cultures.
* Critically respond to the different philosophical theories and values encountered in the course.
Required Text: Voices of Wisdom: A Multicultural Philosophy Reader, 5th ed., Gary E. Kessler, Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2004. Available at Shoreline Community College bookstore (other edition(s) may be available; most editions will be acceptable, although when articles are missing from your edition, it will be your responsibility to borrow a text for that reading). The text will probably not be available at the SCC bookstore until Thursday or Friday, September 27th or 28th.
Course Outline: (Schedule is tentative and subject to change. Guest speakers to be announced. Generally, lectures will be in the order of the authors/handouts listed below.)
Week One, September 24: Read hand-out, Paulo Freire: "Pedagogy of the Oppressed." Also read 2.4 Socrates, The Apology, pp. 40-55. Also read pp. 2-15. Video.
Week Two, October 1: Read 4.5 Plato: Crito, pp. 164-172 and 4.6 Martin Luther King, pp. 172-183. Also read 4.7 Ward Churchill, pp. 183-195. Video: “Spirit of Crazy Horse.” (Reading quiz #1).
Week Three, October 8: Read 4.3 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: Manifesto, pp. 141-152. Read handout: John Stuart Mill, "On Liberty." Video. Handout. (2-page paper due).
Week Four, October 15: Also read 3.2 Immanuel Kant: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, pp. 94-101, pp. 81-88 and 3.3, John Stuart Mill: pp. 88-96.
Week Five, October 22: Read 2.2 The Buddha and the Middle Way, pp. 26-29. Also read 2.5 Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, pp. 55-65. Hand-out, Sarah Hoagland: Lesbian Ethics. Video. (Reading quiz #2).
Week Six, October 29: (Topic: Are We Free?) Robert Blatchford: Not Guilty, handout; 9.3 Jean-Paul Sartre: Existentialism (We Are Free), pp. 419-427. Handout. Video. (2-page paper due).
Week Seven, November 5: Read 6.3 Descartes: Meditations I and II, pp. 259-267; 6.7 Patricia Hill Collins: Toward an Afro centric Feminist Epistemology, pp. 289-300. Video. (Reading quiz #3).
Week Eight, November 12: Read 8.3 Platonic Dualism, pp. 375-384. Handout(s). Group project presentations begin. November 12 is Veterans Day holiday.
Week Nine, November 19: (Topic: Who Am I?) Read 11.2 There Is No Self, pp. 474-479. Read 11.5 Gloria Anzuldua, pp. 495-502. Read 11.6, Deirdre McCloskey, pp. 503-508. Handout. Guest speaker. (2-page paper due). November 22, 23 is Thanksgiving Holiday.
Week Ten, November 26: (Topic: Integrating the Self and Social Justice?) Review for final quiz. Additional handout(s) may be available.
Week Eleven, December 3: Last day of instruction is December 5. Final quiz on December 5. During regularly scheduled finals week, student interviews will be scheduled as needed at the scheduled final time. A final will not be given December 7, 10, 11—instead your final quiz on December 5 will count as the final.
Course Requirements: Group project. Three 2-page papers. Philosophy journal based on class and readings. Group and individual reading quizzes. Final examination/quiz.
Grading: 15% on group project. 20% on class journal and class discussion. 25% on 2-page papers. 20% on reading quizzes. 20% on the final.
Reading quizzes: Reading quizzes will be based on all readings and class discussions, guest speakers, videotapes, etc. prior to the day the quiz is taken. There will be both individual and group quizzes. Use the questions for discussion in your text as a guide for your reading quizzes. Also, additional questions will be devised by the instructor and given in class a few days prior to the reading quizzes.
Class Journal Assignment: Keep a class content journal (beginning Wednesday of the first week, Monday through Friday thereafter) based on your reflections on readings, class discussions, videotapes, and guest speakers. Please do not give me details about your missing breakfast, parking problems, etc., unless you are utilizing your everyday problems to illustrate the philosophical concepts studied in the course. The journal will be due on Friday of weeks three, five, seven, and ten. The journals may be notebooks or separate sheets of paper bound with a staple, etc. All entries done for the quarter will need to be re-submitted Friday of week ten.
Group Project Suggestions: Oral histories. Video documentary work. A combination of photography and taped interviews. Performance art. In addition, we can work together to create other possibilities. I will meet with your group both inside and outside the classroom, as requested. I will also assist with equipment, transportation, or any other needs students may have. In other words, it will not be necessary to purchase equipment. We will work collectively and pool our resources as a group.
Presentations may begin as early as week five of the quarter. Please inform the instructor if you wish to prepare your presentation for that week. Presentations will be scheduled from week four to week ten. Projects may include visits to various community organizations. If there are any problems of transportation or access, please bring this to the instructor's attention. Some class time may be used for this group work.
Weather: Students will be informed of any adjustments or changes in the outline/schedule necessitated by inclement weather and/or other extreme circumstances.
Cheating and Plagiarism: The following two concepts should convey to you a precise definition of what is meant by cheating and plagiarism. Cheat: To practice fraud or act dishonestly. Plagiarize: To appropriate and pass off, as one's own, the writings, ideas, etc of another. Consequences: Anyone caught cheating will be asked to leave the classroom and will receive a "0" for that quiz.
Note: If you need course adaptations or accommodation in the classroom because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information to share with your instructor, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please inform your instructor.
