PHIL 130: Philosophy and Persons

Fall 2012

PHIL 130 Syllabus

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY

JOHN FELICE ROME CENTER

COURSE TITLE: PHILOSOPHY AND PERSONS

3 semester credits (45 lecture hours)

Day and Time: Monday/Wednesday, 11:30 AM to 12:45 PM

Professor: Susi Ferrarello

Teacher availability: available to see students individually after class by appointment

Contact: ferrarello.susi@tiscali.it or sferrarello@luc.edu

The course examines the way philosophy looks for fundamental characteristics that identify life as a properly human life, asks about its ultimate meaning or purpose, and raises questions about what counts as a good life.

• Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the various approaches of the philosophical questions of what it means to be human.
• Students will study and learn the framework of ancient, modern and contemporary philosophy
• Students will have the opportunity (via research paper, essays, class discussions) to explore particular issues using acquired or known philosophical methods.
• Students will be encouraged to explore their own ideas, to develop their Communication Skills and Sensitivities-Written, Critical Thinking Skills and Dispositions, Ethical Awareness and Decision-Making Process.

• There are no prerequisites for this course.
• A willingness to partake in class discussions.
• A questionnaire is distributed on the first day of class to inform the instructor about the general background of students.
• On your lecture schedule you will find each meeting’s readings: pre-reading is highly recommended.
• Take notes during the lessons. At the end of the lesson there could be an unannounced quiz on what has been done in class.
• At all times cell phones must be turned off (both during lectures and visits).
• Please consider important notes on attendance, participation and assignments (as described in the paragraphs below).

Lectures are based on power point displays and readings from philosophical texts. Class discussion is encouraged at all times.

TEXT BOOKS

Required readings:

The required readings are available on Blackboard or you can find the booklet of all the readings  by the Library.

SUGGESTED readings:

Other works that students might consider reading, depending on interest and final paper, and that are all in the Loyola library include:

–                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The Renaissance Philosophy of Man, edited by E. Cassirer, P.O.Kristeller, J.H.Randall, Jr., The University of Chicago Press, 1956.

–                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Hermetica, The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius, Introduction by Brian Copenhaver,

–                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Terry Eagleton, The Meaning of Life: A Very Short Introduction,Oxford University Press, 2008

–                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The Broadview Anthology of Social and Political Thought, edited by A. Bailey, S. Brennan, W. Kimlycka, J. Levy, A. Sager, C. Wolf, Broadview press, 2012.

INTERNET RESOURCES

–                    JSTOR,

–                    Philosopher's Index

–                    Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

–                    Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The visits are still to be defined.

Final Grade Breakdown

10% Attendance and class participation

10% Home assignments

15% Quizzes

15% Oral presentation

25% Midterm Exam

25% Final Exam

Please note that a detailed explanation of the above is found in Section 11 (Assignments, Term Papers and Exams).

Grading Scale

A = 100 – 93%            A - = 92 – 90%            B+ = 89 – 87%            B = 86 – 83%  B- = 82 – 80%

C+ = 79 – 77%            C = 76 – 73%              C- = 72 – 70%             D = 69 – 60%  F = 59 – 0%

–                   Each absence from class will negatively impact your final grade

–                   Before or after every absence the students are asked to email the instructor 

–                    Active Participation: students are expected to be attentive in class, respond to the intellectual soliciting, manifest their needs for clarity and express their own thoughts when they find the topic stimulating, actively participate and contribute to class discussion. Being physically present in class, but doing other activities (reading things that do not regard the course, using lap tops to check emails, engaging into private small talk etc) will lower the points granted for participation. Each student is expected to have his or her copy of the course pack.

–                    Students are asked to behave respectfully with the professor and their class colleagues.

–                    Cell-phones must be off

–                    It is always the student's responsibility to know how many absences they have in a course.

Note: the date and time of the exams cannot be changed for any reason

1. Class Attendance and Participation

• It counts for 10% of the final grade

2. Home Assignments:

• weekly readings as indicated in section #12 below
• 8 written assignments in which students will be expected to read some pages and answer an essay question.
• the assignments must be typed (font size:12, space: 1.5, at least 2/3 pages) and printed for class
• the assignments count for a total of 10% of the final course grade.
• points will be taken off for missing or incomplete answers
• # 1 (mock test): to be handed in on September 3

# 1: to be handed in on September 5

# 3: to be handed in on September 10

# 4: to be handed in on September 24

# 5: to be handed in on October 10

# 6: to be handed in on October 26

# 7: to be handed in on October 29

# 8: to be handed in on November 29

IF THE STUDENT CANNOT COME TO CLASS ON THOSE SPECIFIC DAYS, HE/SHE CAN SEND ME THE HOMEWORK VIA EMAIL. LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

3. Oral presentation:

• it counts for 15% of the final course grade.
• the dates of the presentations will be decided on the first day of class.
• for no reason the date and time of the oral presentation can be changed

4. Midterm exam:

• It counts for 25% of the final course grade.
• it will take place on October 17. For no reason the date and time of the scheduled exam can be changed.
• The Midterm exam will consist of text commentary: two excerpts out of three from the texts in the course pack (30 points); a concise essay (not less than one page) on a well-circumscribed issue (40 points) and a list of about 10 short questions on the issues debated in class summing up to 30 points in case of all perfect answers.

5. Quizzes:

• some unannounced pop-quizzes that will not be graded
• three graded quizzes: on September 19, October 1, November 7
• students are expected to answer some open questions or write their own reflections on what has been debated in class or on the philosophical readings and issues prepared for the lesson
• they count for 15% of the final course grade. 

6. Final exam:

• it counts for 25% of the final course grade.
• it will take place on December 8. For no reason the date and time of the scheduled exam can be changed.
• FORMAT:

Part One: 31 multiple choice questions (A-D) of which the student must answer 30. Each question is worth 1% of the Final Exam so thirty correct answers will be worth 30%.

Part Two: Five essay questions of which the student must answer two. Each essay is worth 35% of the Final Exam. The student is expected to write at least two sides of A4 on each essay question and should not duplicate material in the two essays. 

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

ALTERNATIVE LESSON: In the case of the instructor’s absence, a substitute will carry out a prepared alternative lesson during the regular course time. The students will watch the movie  Never let me go directed by Ishiguro.