PHIL241-
Social and Political Philosophy 1
Dr William
Wringe Dr
Sandrine Berges
The unexamined life
is not worth living.
But what is goodheartedness, refinement, or genius to me, when the
person who has these virtues tolerates slack feelings in his faith and
judgments and when he does not account the desire for certainty as his inmost
craving and deepest distress - as that which separates the higher human beings
from the lower.
Important Note:
Download this page and bring a copy to class.
Check the Notice Board below every week!
Links
Objectives
Guarantee and Disclaimer:
These
objectives may seem daunting. Remember that you're not meant to be able to do
all these things at the beginning of the course: it's our job to teach them to
you! We can guarantee that if you work reasonably hard and come to us when you
have a problem, you will go quite a long way towards achieving these
objectives. If you don't do the work, however...
Critical Thinking
One
of the main purposes of this course is to develop your critical thinking
skills. This includes analysing philosophical texts, putting forward your own
arguments orally and in writing, and responding to the arguments of other
students.
Doing Philosophy
You
will learn to recognise philosophical questions, to put forward reasoned
answers to them, and to assess other people's answers (famous philosophers' and
other students'!).
You
should develop an ability to read reasonably long philosophical texts in depth,
i.e. you should be able to answer the following questions for most parts of the
text:
1. What is the thesis?
2. How is it being argued?
3. How does it contribute to the author's main conclusion?
4. What problems are there in this passage?
5. What do I think?
Writing
You
should be able to write clear and well structured philosophical papers of some
length (2500 words) in which you:
1. identify a philosophically interesting thesis and defend it by argument
2. identify possible objections to your arguments/thesis and reply to them
3. use examples
effectively.
Class Participation
You
should be prepared to:
1. discuss the texts after reading them
2. identify problems in a text and ask questions about these problems in
class
3. put forward your own ideas about the text or issue discussed
4. listen to other students' ideas and respond to them philosophically
5. give a well structured,
philosophical presentation on a text.
Why should you do all this?
Philosophy
is good for the soul! It's also good for winning arguments with friends and
family...
By
studying philosophy you will acquire skills which will be valuable throughout
your life, in and out of academia. You will also learn to think independently
about some important questions which you will face in your studies and
afterwards.
Philosophy
is relevant to almost every academic subject (there's even a philosophy of
sport and a philosophy of quantum mechanics!). In particular, philosophy is
relevant to your International Relations or Political Science studies in two
ways:
1. philosophical questions will arise out your International Relations or
Political Science studies
2. International Relations and political science relies on certain
philosophical accounts of the state and human nature.
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Assessment
You
will be assessed on the following:
|
Test |
week |
Specifications |
% |
|
Set Term Paper |
9/15 |
2000 - 2500 words long. See guidelines below. |
30 |
|
Presentation
Based Term Paper |
28 days after the date of presentation |
2000 - 2500 words long. See guidelines below |
30 |
|
Final Exam |
15 |
Take home |
10 |
|
Presentation |
|
You must agree on a date with you
instructor before the end of week 2. See guidelines on how to prepare and deliver a good presentation. |
15 |
|
Participation and Attendance |
|
Absences - see below. General effort in preparation and in-class participation. |
15 |
Absences:
Absences
will be penalised according to a sliding scale:
First absence = -0
Second
absence = -1/2
Third
absence = -1
Fourth
absence = - 2
Fifth
and sixth absences = -4
Seventh absence = your participation and attendance grade will be
0 out of 15.
In
order not to be marked absent, you must be in class from the beginning to the
end (i.e. you cannot just come for the first or the second hour), and you must
bring with you the relevant course book.
Term Paper Format:
All
material submitted must be typed and word-processed.
Presentation
based term paper:
1) choose a topic
--> Bill and Sandrine in Class
2) write an outline --> Bill and Sandrine by email or
in office hour, in accordance with Bill's and Sandrine 's
office hour policies. 5 points.
3) give a presentation --> in class. 15 points.
4)
write 1500 first draft using outline, presentation notes, and
in class feedback --> Get feedback from friends, or English teacher, or
yourself. 0 point.
5)
write a progress report, i.e.
one page. 5 points
-->
Submit to Bill and Sandrine, optional tutorials with Bill and Sandrine
6)
Write final draft --> submit to Bill and Sandrine. The final draft of
the presentation based term paper is due 28 days after the date of your
presentation. 20 points.
Set Term Paper
There
will be a choice of two topics, to be announced on the notice board:
Topic
1: Plato
Topic
2: Aristotle and Aquinas
1)
Write an essay on a related question for your English teacher (see them for
details).
2)
Write outline and bring to outline class or tutorial
with Bill or Sandrine. 5 points.
3)
Write progress report. 5
points.
4)
Write final draft. 20 points.
Students
will belong to group A: set paper in first half of semester, tutorial paper in
second half; or group B: tutorial paper in first half, set paper in second
half.
For
each term paper you must submit all of the following. Please follow the
instruction by clicking on the links below.
1.
an outline
What
you must do for your final draft will depend on your progress report and/or the
outcome of your optional tutorial with your Philosophy teacher (Bill or
Sandrine).
Other
useful information
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Each
student must own a complete copy of each of the following texts in the edition
cited below. You must bring the relevant text to each class, and failure to do
so will result in points taken off your participation grade.
Plato, Five Dialogues, Hackett
Plato, The
Republic, Hackett
Aristotle, The
Politics, Penguin
Aquinas, Political Writings,
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Schedule
|
week |
date |
topic |
notes |
|
1 |
11/09 |
Intro |
Download web page and bring to class. |
|
2 |
18/09 |
Sign up for presentation. |
|
|
3 |
25/09 |
|
|
|
4 |
2/10 |
|
|
|
5 |
9/10 |
|
|
|
6 |
16/10 |
Bring your outlines for set term paper 1 in class. |
|
|
7 |
23/10 |
|
Review week/ Bayram |
|
8 |
30/10 |
|
|
|
9 |
6/11 |
|
|
|
10 |
13/11 |
Set term paper 1 due Friday 5pm. |
|
|
11 |
20/11 |
|
|
|
12 |
27/11 |
|
|
|
13 |
4/12 |
Bring your outlines for set term paper 2 in class. |
|
|
14 |
11/12 |
|
|
|
15 |
18/12 |
|
Review. |
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