Instructor: Prof. Kevin Klement (Please call me "Kevin")
Kevin's Office Hours: Tu 2:00-3:00, W 1:00-2:00 and most other times
by appointment
Kevin's Office Location: 353 Bartlett (My mailbox is in room
352 Bartlett)
Kevin's Phone Numbers: Office: 545-5784 Home: 259-1154
Kevin's E-mail Address:
klement@philos.umass.edu (Often the best way to get ahold of me)
Teaching Assistants: Michael Rubin, Stephan Torre and Brandt Van
der Gaast
The objectives of the course include
The required texts for the course are René Descartes's
Meditations on First Philosophy, George Berkeley's Three Dialogues
Between Hylas and Philonous, Jean-Paul Sartre's Existentialism and
Human Emotions and John Perry's A Dialogue on Personal Identity and
Immortality. These are available at the Textbook Annex. Additional readings
will be made available in the reserve room on the third floor of the main
library.
I would like to hear from anyone who has a disability and may require some modification of seating, testing, or other class requirements so that the appropriate arrangements can be made. Please see me or your TA after class or during my office hours.
The course has a WWW page. Included on this webpage is a copy of
this syllabus, my lecture notes, miscellaneous helpful information and links
to additional philosophy resources on the World Wide Web. Consult it often!
Its address is:
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~klement/100/
The university policy on academic misconduct (plagiarism and cheating) is stated in the Undergraduate Rights and Responsibilities handbook . Bear in mind that plagiarism and cheating are grave offenses that strike at the very heart of academic life, and will result in serious penalties, including (but not limited to) receiving a failing grade in the course.
Your final grade is determined by your performance on the following:
Midterm examination - 25% (Oct 25)
Final examination - 30% (Finals Week)
Paper (5-6 pages) - 25% (Nov 29)
Discussion section grade - 20%
Your midterm exam will be a take-home exam. You will individually
be given the choice of taking the final exam either as a take-home
or at the scheduled time. More will be said later on about your paper
and your exams as their respective dates approach. Your discussion
section grade may include some combination of participation in
discussion, quizzes and/or assignments. Your TA will tell you more about
this portion of your grade.
Grading criteria:
A work in philosophy is well-organized and well-written. The arguments
and positions stated within the assigned reading are presented accurately
and concisely, and original argument or analysis is offered in a compelling
way.
B work in philosophy is work that has some of the merits and characteristics
of A work, but not to a degree that warrants an A.
C work in philosophy is that in which the writing and organization
is average or undistinguished, that exhibits some misunderstanding
of the assigned reading, or that contains no argument or analysis that
goes significantly beyond lecture or class discussion.
D work in philosophy is that in which the writing or organization
is poor, that exhibits serious misunderstanding of the assigned reading, or
that contains grave errors in the use of philosophical methods (arguments,
appeals to evidence, etc.)
F work in philosophy is that in which the writing is so poor as
to be unacceptable work from a college student, that exhibits egregious
misunderstanding of the assigned reading, or that contains pervasive errors
in the use of philosophical methods.
Tentative Reading and Lecture Schedule
Note: this schedule is subject to radical change at no notice.
| W | Sept 5 |
Course overview and introduction |
| M | Sept 10 |
Introduction to metaphysics and epistemology |
| W | Sept 12 |
Introduction to metaphysics, epistemology, cont., and introduction and logic |
| M |
Sept 17 |
Introduction to logic, continued |
| W |
Sept 19 |
René Descartes, Meditations I (pp. 13-19) |
| M |
Sept 24 |
René Descartes, Meditations II (pp. 17-24) |
| W |
Sept 26 |
René Descartes, Meditations V (pp. 42-47) |
| M |
Oct 1 | René Descartes, selections from Meditations VI (pp. 49-51, 56-59) |
| W |
Oct 3 |
Introduction to British Empiricism |
| M |
Oct 8 |
No classes (Columbus Day) |
| W | Oct 10 |
George Berkeley, Three Dialogues, start of the first dialogue (pp. 7-27) |
| M |
Oct 15 | George Berkeley, Three Dialogues, end of first (pp. 30-42), and beginning of second dialogue (pp. 43-47) |
| W |
Oct 17 |
George Berkeley, Three Dialogues, end of second (pp. 47-60) and start of third dialogue (pp. 61-64) |
| M |
Oct 22 |
George Berkeley, Three Dialogues, selections from third dialogue (pp. 67-73, 73-82, recommended: pp. 89-94) |
| W |
Oct 24 | Introduction to Phenomenology and Existentialism |
| ** midterm due in discussion section on Thursday,
October 25 ** |
||
| M |
Oct 29 |
Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism and Human Emotions (pp. 9-24) |
| W |
Oct 31 |
Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism and Human Emotions (pp. 24-38) |
| M |
Nov 5 |
Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism and Human Emotions (pp. 38-51) |
| W |
Nov 7 | Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism and Human Emotions (pp. 52-59) |
| M |
Nov 12 |
No classes (Veteran's Day) |
| W |
Nov 14 | Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism and Human Emotions (pp. 91-96, recommended for fun: pp. 84-90) |
| M | Nov 19 |
Judith Butler, "Gendering the Body: Beauvoir's Philosophical Contribution" (on reserve) (pp. 253-261) |
| W | Nov 21 |
Judith Butler, "Gendering the Body: Beauvoir's Philosophical Contribution" (reread pp. 253-261) |
| M | Nov 26 |
D. M. Armstrong, "Difficulties for Any Dualist Theory" (on reserve) (pp. 80-83) |
| W | Nov 28 |
D. M. Armstrong, "Difficulties for Any Dualist Theory" (pp. 83-87) |
| ** paper due in discussion section on Thursday,
November 29 ** |
||
| M | Dec 3 |
John Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality , First Night (pp. 1-12) |
| W | Dec 5 |
John Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality , First and Second Nights (pp. 12-26) |
| M | Dec 10 |
John Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality , Second Night (pp. 26-36) |
| W | Dec 12 |
John Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality , Third Night (pp. 37-49) |
| ** final examination to take place during finals week ** |