Phil 11

Introduction to Philosophy

Summer 2024

Course Description

This class will introduce you to a wide range of philosophical problems. We will typically take contemporary, real-world issues as our starting point; as it happens, such issues often lead to traditional philosophical problems. Questions we will consider include: Am I the same person I was last year? What do our social identities—our genders, ethnicities, and so on—mean? Are we living in a computer simulation? When is work meaningful? Should we be giving all our money away?

Through thinking about these problems, you will develop a number of skills that matter in philosophy and elsewhere: reading and critically engaging with difficult texts; challenging basic assumptions; analyzing concepts, drawing distinctions, and forming and assessing arguments. The class is reading and writing intensive. Even though most of the readings and writing assignments are short, you will be called upon to practice extremely careful and precise reading and writing.

This class is asynchronous, which means that there are no (online or in-person) classes. All the work for the class is to be done in your own time.

Course Goals

In this class, you will learn to:

•     Read and critically engage with difficult texts

•     Charitably reconstruct and assess arguments

•     Construct clear and persuasive arguments

•     Challenge your basic assumptions, beliefs, and values

•     Develop and respond to objections to philosophical views

•     Analyze concepts and draw helpful distinctions

•     Apply philosophical tools to contemporary problems

•     Effectively and concisely communicate complex ideas in writing

You will also acquire some basic concepts in philosophy and become familiar with the main sub-fields of philosophy. I hope, also, that you acquire a taste for philosophical questioning, feel compelled by the questions we discuss, and choose to take further philosophy classes. :)

Schedule of Topics and Readings

Readings in italics are guides to different key philosophical skills. Reading these is crucial to doing well in this class.

Course Requirements

The course grade depends heavily on your weekly work, which is worth 54 points total (i.e., the majority of your grade). The final and midterm together are worth the remaining 46 points.

Weekly Workflow

After the first week, when everything will be due on Friday, here is the weekly structure of the class:

Rubrics and instructions for assignments Weekly work

These assignments will be available every week, but you only need to complete (approximately) 9 weeks   for full credit. Specifically, you need to complete 9 short writing assignments, 18 reading annotations, and 18 video quizzes. Use this wisely: I recommend aiming to do all assignments, and using this as leeway for when life happens. If complete all the assignments, your best scores will count toward your final grade

and you will get 1 point of extra credit.

• Reading (9 points available, 0.5. per article): I expect you to annotate the texts using

Hypothesis, a program for collective study. This lets you view others’ annotations, upvote your favorites, and comment on others’ annotations.

o  These annotations are graded on a Pass-Fail basis. For a pass (full points), you should   write at least 2 annotations, and at least one of these should be in the second half of the text. Each annotation should be a sentence that shows some thinking (i.e., not just ‘Great!’ or ‘I disagree!’). These are due on Tuesday.

• Video quizzes (9 points available, 0.5 per quiz): Each week, the instructor will post 2 short videos (5-10 minutes each) about the main themes in the reading. They will include 2-4 embedded True-False or Multiple Choice questions. Answers are to be automatically graded for correctness. Each quiz is worth 0.5 points in total. These are due on Friday.

• Short writing assignments (36 points available, 4 per assignment): Each week, the instructor   will post a short writing assignment (these must be between 200 and 400 words, around 1 page double-spaced). These are due on Friday. The format will vary: you might be asked to reconstruct an argument, object to a point in the reading, apply the material discussed in a real-world setting, put forward your own view, and so on. These will be graded based on the rubric below.

o 4 points: fully addresses all parts of the prompt. Concise, clearly written, and specific. Shows engagement with at least one of the texts for the week.

o 3 points: addresses the full prompt and is mostly relevant to the topic, but some points    may be poorly or insufficiently articulated, or may not show engagement with any of the texts for the week. Or: is at the level of a 4, but over the 400-word word limit.

o 2 points: addresses at most half the prompt well (at 4-point level); or addresses the full prompt, but it is unclear, fails to provide an argument and shows significant confusion  about major points.

o 1 point: addresses at most half the prompt and it is unclear, fails to provide an argument and shows significant confusion about major points.

o 0 points: unintelligible and unrelated. Midterm and Final

Papers (and outlines) should be submitted with no identifying information (i.e. your name should be nowhere in the PDF) through Canvas by the due date (midnight of the day listed). Below is roughly what each letter grade means. Note that ‘+’ grades will be assigned for fine-tuning.

A: Fully answers the question in a concise and convincing manner. Provides a strong argument, with a clearly stated, relevant thesis, a transparent argument structure, and compelling premises. Considers objections and makes a persuasive effort to address them. Writes clearly, in plain language, and uses terminology in a precise manner. Shows insight by going beyond examples, views, or objections discussed in class.

B: Answers most of the question. Provides a solid argument, with a clear thesis, mostly transparent

argument structure, and relevant premises, though the argument may have some significant gaps.

Displays understanding of the topic by considering other views, though perhaps without articulating

points independently or while showing confusion about some significant point. Writes mostly in a clear manner, though there might be inaccuracies that compromise the points made.

C: More-or-less off-topic and unclear. Fails to provide an argument and shows significant confusion about major points.

D and below: scarce evidence of effort or understanding along all dimensions.

F: dishonest work.

Lateness policy

If handed in late, assignments will automatically be downgraded 10% per day. After 10 days, no late assignments are allowed. Note that you can miss one full week of weekly assignments (that’s why you only need to hand in 9 weekly writing assignments instead of 10, etc.). I recommend that you save this   leeway for potential emergencies/illness/mental health days.

For the midterm and final papers, you can request penalty-free extensions. These must be granted at least 4 days before the due date, by emailing your TA. If handed in late without discussing this with your

TA first, late papers will be docked 10% per day. Until late assignments are graded, you will see a “0” on Canvas, as I’ve set it to auto-populate a score of 0 into every missing assignment once the due date has passed. Late assignments will be graded when we have time, within 2 weeks of submission; your grade will change then.

If you have a serious, unavoidable emergency (e.g., the death of a close family member, serious illness, etc.), email me and we will figure out an accommodation.