PHIL 251: Introduction to Philosophy

Sections 501-512, Spring Semester 1998

Instructor: Robin Smith Information: Where and When:
  • Lecture:
    MW 10:20-11:10,
    Zachry 102
Discussion Sections and Their Teaching Assistants
501, 503, 509 502, 504, 506 505, 507, 510 508, 511, 512
Joe Kallo
Office: Bolton 302C
Office Phone: 862-1435
Office hours:
MW 12:00-2:00		 Daniel Mittag
Office: Bolton 302E
Office Phone:862-6979
Office hours:
M 12:00-:2:00,
Th 10:30-12:00		 Michael Pace
Office: Bolton 303
Office Phone: 845-7780
Office hours:
MW 9:00-10:00,
T 11:30-12:30		 Brian Tomlinson
Office: Bolton 304
Office Phone: 845-7846
Office hours:
MW 1:00-2:30
Th 2:00-4:00

This syllabus was last updated Feb. 4, 1998

Text

Joel Feinberg, Reason and Responsibility: Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy, Ninth Edition (1996). Wadsworth Publishing Company ISBN/ISSN: 0-534-25986-3, Price: US $58.95

Computer/Internet Resources.

There are lots of those for this course: Some more details and a little help are also available.

The format of this course.

This is a large lecture course with weekly discussion sections. The lectures are Monday and Wednesday, 10:20-11:10 AM. Discussion sections meet on Friday at a variety of times (find yours here). Each discussion section is led by a Graduate Assistant. The Graduate Assistants and I will be collaborating on designing exams for the course, and your section leader will have the primary responsibility for grading your work (though I will review grades).

Each week, you will be assigned one or more readings from the text. In the lectures, I (and various other faculty from the Department, so that you can have both the benefit of their greater expertise on various subjects and some relief from listening to, and looking at, me) will try to provide some background for the week's readings and focus on some of the problems that they raise. The discussion section will then take the week's lectures as a point of departure and explore the problems raised by the readings in greater depth.

Exams and grading policies.

There will be three one-hour exams in this course (the last of which will take place at the scheduled final exam time). Each of these will count for 25% of your grade. In addition, you will receive a grade on your participation in classroom discussion, which will count for another 25%. Exams will typically consist of two to four essay questions and several short-answer questions.

I do not keep a formal record of attendance in Monday/Wednesday lectures, but you are expected to attend. You are responsible for knowing what is said in class.

Participation in discussion sections is a required part of this course. Your Section Leader (Teaching Assistant) will be responsible for assigning you a grade based on your overall participation, and this counts for 25% of your course grade.

If you really are prevented from taking an exam for reasons outside your control, and if you give me a good account of those reasons (including University-approved absences), then I will make arrangements for an alternative exam time. However, it is your responsibility to tell me about this as soon as you can. If you're ill, that means the first day you return to class. If it's a University-approved absence, then let me know beforehand.

Academic Honesty and Its Opposite.

Academic dishonesty includes not only getting someone else to do your work (with or without their knowledge) but also knowingly doing someone else's work for them. This applies to take-home assignments as much as to in-class work. Under Texas A&M's policies, students guilty of academic dishonesty may receive lowered grades and other more severe penalties. For more details, see Section 20 of the Texas A&M University Regulations.

Back to the beginning

What we'll cover, and how to study it.

This is an introductory course in philosophy, a subject with a name you may find imposing, or mysterious, or ridiculous. You might expect us to begin with a concise definition of philosophy and proceed to the details. However, such definitions are not really very useful, and in any event it is veryhard to find one that most philosophers will agree on. Therefore, we will start with a brief overview of some of the questions that philosophers have dealt with during the past 2500 years or so and a thumbnail sketch of the history of the subject. After that, we'll proceed to a more detailed study of several philosophical issues. It's much easier to understand what philosophy is about if you first have several examples to consider.

It is important to understand that philosophy is really an activity. Philosophers do hold opinions (sometimes quite a variety of them) on the questions they study, but you can't study philosophy just by collecting and memorizing those opinions. What makes them philosophical is the reasons philosophers give for those opinions. In fact, much of the value of studying philosophy is learning how to understand, evaluate, and criticize those reasons. 'Knowing the answers' is not the point of this course: knowing the reasons behind the answers is.

To use a term philosophers are fond of, what this course is about is philosophical arguments. In the sense I mean, an argument is not a verbal disagreement or a heated dispute (though philosophers do engage in that), but rather an instance of reasoning. We will have more to say about what reasoning is, and how to understand, analyze, and evaluate arguments, as the course proceeds.

If you find yourself having trouble with the material, ASK FOR HELP EARLY. If you wait until April to try to catch up, don't expect me not to say I told you so, because I just did, and so I will. Your Section Leader has office hours for this purpose.

Back to the beginning

What use is it?

Obviously, philosophers think philosophy is valuable just because of the questions with which it deals. However, I'd hazard a guess that most of you won't decide to pursue academic careers as philosophers, and therefore you may be asking yourself, "Why am I here?" Leaving aside the question whether that is itself a philosophical question (which might be a philosophical question), there are several other ways the study of philosophy might be useful.

First, and of greatest general importance, philosophy stresses clarity of thought and reasoning. Many people who major in philosophy find that this is of great value to them later in life, regardless of their occupation.

Philosophy is also frequently chosen as a major by those interested in certain specific careers. The most common of these is law, which is by far the commonest career choice of philosophy majors. Seminaries and theological schools also sometimes suggest philosophy as an appropriate background.

Finally, this course may give you some better insight into many of the important political, cultural, and ethical issues that arise in life. Don't expect this course to provide you with answers; it may, however, give you a little help in understanding the questions and looking for answers on your own. Follow this link for more comments about why anyone would major in philosophyh.

Back to the beginning

The Schedule for the semester.

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