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

Date	MONDAY SEPTEMBER 3
Lecture	Presentation of the course; introduction to the class syllabus; info about assignments, exams, papers and oral presentations. Introduction to the concept of philosophy and persons
Mock Test	Display your own idea of philosophy
Date	WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 5
Lecture	HERMETICA How can we explain the world where we are living in? Where does our knowledge come from? How many explanations of ourselves and our surrounding world have been provided throughout the centuries?
Reading	Hermetica (Blackboard #1)
Assignment	Home assignment #1 to be handed in: Type 100 words (min.): One way to explore the meaning of critical thinking is to examine a model case.  Choose a former teacher, friend, or family member who is a good critical thinker, and then give an example of when this person exercised critical thinking.

 

 

Week 2

Date	MONDAY SEPTEMBER 10
Lecture	SOCRATES Who is a person? What is critical thinking? How can I understand myself? Am I an ignorant? What is the virtue?
Assignments	Home assignment #2 to be handed in: Type a 300-word (min.) What does piety mean to you and how could you compare it with Socrates' view?
Readings	Apology (Blackboard #2)
Date	WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 12
Lecture	SOCRATES What does being oneself mean? How could you be faithful to yourself? What does piety mean? How could you put in practice your virtues and values?
Readings	Euthyphro (Blackboard #3)

 

Week 3

Date	MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17
Lecture	PLATO Can you be defined as a pure soul? Are you immortal? How could you know yourself and the world that surrounds you? What is an idea? How would you explain the origin of your knowledge?
Readings	Phaedo (Blackboard #4)
Date	WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 19
Lecture	PLATO What is justice? What is a just person? Is better to be a just or unjust people? Is your body conducive to get your idea of justice and perfection?
Readings	Republic (Blackboard #5)
Quiz	The quiz will verge on what we have done in class TODAY

 

Week 4

Date	MONDAY SEPTEMBER 24
Lecture	PLATO How could explain pure and abstract truths? How could you prove the existence of  immaterial and spiritual essences? How can you enhance your life?
Readings	Republic (Blackboard #6)
Assignment	Home assignment #3 to be handed in: Describe what is for you the myth of the cave (type 300 words min.)
Date	WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 26
Role-Play	Platonic dialogue – The class will be split in groups and will display a Platonic dialogue arguing  for or against a well-circumscribed issue.
Readings	Republic (Blackboard #7)

 

 

Week 5

Date	MONDAY OCTOBER 1
Lecture	ARISTOTLE What is the being? What is the difference between a being and a person? What does potency and act means? Who are you potentially?
Readings	Metaphysics (Blackboard #8)
Quiz
Date	WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 3
Lecture	ARISTOTLE What is well being? What does happiness mean? How to fulfill yourself? Are your goals conducive to reach your happiness?
Readings	Nicomachean Ethics (Blackboard #9)

 

Week 6

Date	MONDAY OCTOBER 8
Lecture	ARISTOTLE What does values mean? How could you define your system of values?
Readings	Nicomachean Ethics (Blackboard #10)
Date	WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 10
Lecture	ARISTOTLE Think about your own ethical system
Assignment	Home assignment #5 to be handed in: Type a 1.000-word (min.) formal essay on one of the following subjects: -  Compare Plato’s and Aristotle’s ideas of goodness emphasizing your view on the two systems - What does “well-being” mean within our society?
Readings	Nicomachean Ethics (Blackboard #11)

 

 

Week 7

Date	MONDAY OCTOBER 15
	THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL READINGS FROM AUGUSTINE AND THOMAS Who is the first motor of your life? Is it your life driven by an Almighty power? Are you free? Are you predestined? How can we be finite if we come from an infinite power?
Readings	Selection from Thomas and Augustine (Blackboard #12)
Date	WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 17
	MIDTERM  EXAM

 

Week 8

OCTOBER 22-24  – FALL BREAK

 

Week 9

Date	MONDAY OCTOBER 29
Lecture	The new anthropology. Pico's Oration Why did Pico write this speech? Was it praised? What are the main arguments he discussed there? What do ybris and nemesis mean? Do you agree with his idea of man? Is it still actual? What is the dignity? Are you a digniteous person?
Assignment	Home assignment #6 to be handed in: Underline the quotations that you found more relevant and comment on them (Type 500 words min.)
Readings	Oration on the Human Dignity (Blackboard#13)
Date	WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 31
Lecture	NICHOLAS OF CUSA Are we infinite? How can we explain the infinite power of our soul and the limits of our body? Are we a spark of God?
Readings	On learned Ignorance (Blackboard #14)

 

Week 10

Date	MONDAY NOVEMBER 5
Lecture	HUME Are all the values fair and right? Are we moral beings by nature? What is the good in itself? What is a moral understanding? Do you have your own sense of morality? Is it morality a universal sentiment? Is morality a system of laws or a way of being?
Readings	Treatise on Human Nature (Blackboard #15)
Date	WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 7
Lecture	HOBBES What is the difference between democracy and monarchy? Which kind of freedom do you have as a citizen? Why does a person follow the laws? What is the private space of a person?
Readings	Leviathan (Blackboard #16)
Quiz

 

 

Week 11

Date	MONDAY NOVEMBER 12
Lecture	LOCKE AND ISAIAH BERLIN What is a person within a political country? What is the difference between a citizen and a person?  What is freedom? How many freedoms exists?
Readings	Second Treatise on Government (Blackboard #17)
Date	WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 14
Lecture	LOCKE How many definitions of freedom do you know? Are you free? How can you combine your personal happiness and a political idea of well-being?
Readings	Second Treatise on Government (Blackboard #18)
Assignment	Home assignment #7 to be handed in:
Role-play	Use the articles of declaration to defend a positve or negative freedom

 

 

 

 

Week 12

Date	MONDAY NOVEMBER 19
Lecture	SEN How can you achieve your personal well-being as a person and as a professional? How can you be helpful with the growth of your country and your personal being?
Readings	Development and Freedom (Blackboard #19)
Date	WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 21
	NO CLASS TODAY - THANKSGIVING

 

 

Week 12

Date	MAKE-UP CLASS FRIDAY NOVEMBER 23
Lecture	FIELDTRIP
Assignment	Write a report on the visit

 

 

 

Week 13

Date	MONDAY NOVEMBER 26
Lecture	RAWLS AND SUSAN MOLLER OKIN Justice as fairness? What does being fair mean? Justice for whom? Justice and gender issues
Readings	Selected Readings (Blackboard #19)
Date	WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 28
Assignment	Home assignment #8 to be handed in: - Being a person means …(type 1000 words min.)
Role-play	Write your own declaration (six articles) and defend it against other groups’ arguments.

 

Week 14

Date	MONDAY DECEMBER 3
Lecture	Olympe de Gouge, Mary Wollstonecraft, Sojourner Truth, How do you live with other people?  Is a female identity different from a male one? Are female rights inferior than male rights?
Readings	Selected readings (Blackboard #20)
Date	WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 5
Lecture	Harriet Taylor Mill, Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt Who is your witness? What does existence mean?
Readings	The Origin of Totalitarianism (Blackboard # 21)

 

Week 15

Date	MONDAY DECEMBER 8
	FINAL EXAM

 

 

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.