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Introduction to Philosophy (PHI2010) Spring 2012

1. Course description This course is a general introduction to philosophy. The class will be divided into three sections. The first will look at the philosophy of religion, focusing on arguments for and against the existence of God. The second section will consider epistemology, the theory of knowledge. We’ll look at, among other things, skeptical views, views that allege we know much less than we usually think we do. The third section will be about ethics. We’ll consider whether one might have a moral theory (a very general account of what makes things good and bad, right and wrong, virtuous and vicious) and what that might look like; discuss some skeptical approaches to ethics; and look at philosophical discussion of some concrete ethical problems. Throughout our discussion of these topics, we will have two main aims. The first is to come to understand some views that philosophers have had on these issues. The second is to develop your own skills in such matters as careful reading, critical thinking, and clear writing. The class involves both lectures and discussion section meetings. The lectures will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:55 to 2:45pm, in NPB 1001. The discussion sections all meet on Fridays, between fourth and sixth period. 2. Contact information Dr. Stewart Duncan Email: sdrd@ufl.edu Office hours: Tuesday, 3:00-5:00pm, and by appointment, in 330A Griffin-Floyd Office phone: (352) 273-1808 Mr. Bernabe Belvedere Email: bbelvedere@ufl.edu Office hours: Thursday, 12:30-1:30pm, and by appointment, in 316 Griffin-Floyd Mr. Seth Goodman Email: sethjgoodman@ufl.edu Office hours: Thursday, period 8 (3:00-3:50pm), and by appointment, in 313 Griffin-Floyd Ms. Yusun Kang Email: ykang@ufl.edu Office hours: Friday, 2:00-3:00pm, and by appointment, in 318 Griffin-Floyd Outside class and office hours, email will usually be the easiest way to communicate with your instructors. In doing so, please use your ufl.edu email address.

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There is a site for the class on the e-Learning system. To access this, go to https://lss.at.ufl.edu/ and login. This will be the place to find the syllabus, announcements, grade information, occasional online quizzes, and notes. It will also be the place to submit your papers. 3. Book There is one book for the course, from which all the assigned readings will be taken. Perry, Bratman, and Fischer (ed.), Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings, fifth

edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010). This has a list price of $82.95, but new copies are available online for less than $70, and used copies seem to be in the $50 to $60 range. It may well be possible to use an earlier edition of the book. However, if you choose to do so, you are personally responsible for making sure you have access to all the relevant readings. 4. Assessment 4.1 Papers (60%) There will be three paper assignments. Each paper should be between 1350 and 1500 words long. The papers together will count for 60% of your grade for the course. The first two papers will each count for 30% of that 60% (and thus for 18% of your overall grade). The third paper will count for 40% of the 65% (and thus for 24% of your overall grade). Topics will be made available two weeks before papers are due. All paper submission will be done on e-Learning. Any papers submitted late without a good excuse will be penalized two points (on a hundred-point scale) for every day they’re late. No papers will be accepted after the end of classes (more precisely, after 11:59pm on April 25th). If you fail to submit a paper, you will receive a grade of zero for it. This class qualifies for 4000 words of credit for the university writing requirement (Gordon Rule). Note that there is a separate grade for the writing requirement. See http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/advisinggordon.html.

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4.2 Final exam (25%) The final exam will be held from 3:00-5:00pm on Thursday May 3rd in our usual classroom, NPB 1001. See http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/soc/201201/finalexamsched.html. This class is in exam group 3D. The final exam will count for 25% of your grade for the class. Makeup final exams will only be given in those few circumstances that merit the awarding of an incomplete grade for the class. 4.3 Quizzes (10%) There will be twelve quizzes given during the semester. These will typically be given in lectures, though some may be given online. The dates and times of in-class quizzes will not be announced in advance. Your best ten of the twelve grades will count. These quizzes will together account for 10% of your grade for the class, 1% each. Quiz questions will usually be based on the reading for the class, but may also ask about material previously covered in the course. Make-up quizzes will only be given if you have an appropriate and documented excuse. 4.4 Attendance (5%) Attendance in lectures will not be graded as such, but if you miss a quiz you will receive a grade of zero for it. Attendance in discussion sections is required. You may miss two sections without penalty during the semester. Attendance at each of the other meetings during the semester will count equally towards your attendance grade, which will be 5% of your overall grade. Grades for attending individual sections will be determined at that point during the class period when the instructor takes attendance. If attendance is taken at the beginning and you arrive late, or taken at the end and you leave early, you will be counted as absent. Absence from discussion sections will only be excused if you have an appropriate and documented excuse.

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4.4 Numerical grades and letter grades All assignments will be given a numerical grade. At the end of the semester, your overall numerical grade will be calculated, based on your grades for and the relative weights of the assignments. This numerical grade will be converted to a letter grade using the following scale.

Numerical grade (n) Letter grade GPA 90 ≤ n ≤ 100 A 4.0 86.7 ≤ n < 90 A- 3.67 83.3 ≤ n < 86.7 B+ 3.33 80 ≤ n < 83.3 B 3.0 76.7 ≤ n < 80 B- 2.67 73.3 ≤ n < 76.7 C+ 2.33 70 ≤ n < 73.3 C 2.0 66.7 ≤ n < 70 C- 1.67 63.3 ≤ n < 66.7 D+ 1.33 60 ≤ n < 63.3 D 1.0 56.7 ≤ n < 60 D- 0.67 0 ≤ n < 56.7 E 0

5. Academic honesty You must abide by the university’s academic honesty policy. See http://www.dso.ufl.edu/sccr/honorcodes/conductcode.php. You should expect the minimum penalty for academic dishonesty to be a grade of E for the class (not just the assignment). All incidents of academic dishonesty will be reported to Student Judicial Affairs. Repeat offenders may be penalized by suspension or expulsion from the university. You should already have a good idea of what constitutes plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty. I will also review this when handing out paper assignments. If you have any questions about this, ask me or your TA before it’s too late. All papers submitted for the course will be checked using turnitin.com. 6. Accommodations for students with disabilities Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation.

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7. Schedule All readings below are from the Perry, Bratman, and Fischer anthology.

Date Topic and reading Assignments January 10 Introduction to the class January 12 Plato, Apology (Plato 22-33) January 17 Plato, Apology (Plato 33-6) January 19 Design arguments (Paley 46-51; Russell 57) Paper 1 topics available January 24 Design arguments (Hume 60-73) January 26 Cosmological arguments (Aquinas 44-6; Russell 55-6) January 31 Ontological arguments (Anselm 42-3) February 2 Pascal’s wager (Pascal 51-5) Paper 1 due February 7 Evil (Hume 79-89) February 9 Evil (Leibniz 94-5) February 14 Descartes, Meditation 1 (Descartes 135-8) February 16 Descartes, Meditation 2 (Descartes 138-41) Paper 2 topics available February 21 Descartes, Meditation 3 (Descartes 142-7) February 23 Hume, The senses (Hume 176-89) February 28 Hume, The senses (Hume 176-89) March 1 Hume, Induction (Hume 193-205) Paper 2 due March 13 Hume, Causation (Hume 206-13) March 15 Zeno’s paradoxes (811-3) March 20 Plato’s Republic, Book I (Plato 645-60) Paper 3 topics available March 22 Plato’s Republic, Glaucon and Adeimantus (Plato 660-5) March 27 Plato’s Republic, Virtue in the state (Plato 665-75) March 29 Plato’s Republic, Virtue in the soul (Plato 675-81) April 3 Utilitarianism (Bentham and Mill 457-76) Paper 3 due April 5 Utilitarianism (Williams 487-95) April 10 Famine, affluence, and morality (Singer 495-502) April 12 An alternative approach to ethics (O’Neill 538-43) April 17 Moral saints (Wolf 755-67) April 19 The meanings of lives (Wolf 794-804) April 24 Review for final exam April 25 Final paper submission

deadline, 11:59pm May 3 Final exam