This is a "Webcourse," a college-level course that makes use entirely of the Internet and text books as an integral part of the course material. In taking this course, you will have the opportunity:

-- to read, in your copy of Philosophy: A Text with Readings, Manuel Velasquez comprehensive introduction to Philosophy along with substantial selections from primary sources, written by philosophers through all our history, from ancient Greece and Palestine to the present time with a focus on Robert Nozick using his book EXAMINED LIFE;

-- to join the debate yourself through the papers you write each week on those concepts and the comments you post on Blackboard;

-- to reflect on the whole conversation including the views of all participants from Plato to yourself;

-- to understand the place that Philosophy has in our lives.

Components for the Course:

This syllabus will take you week by week through the concepts that provide the basis for this course;

Philosophy: A Text with Readings, which contains a broad selection of the most important works in the history of philosophy to provide the background you will need to understand how we have come to the views about life that we do and to read Robert Nozick's book EXAMINED LIFE.

To complete this course successfully, you are obligated to complete the following assignments:

1. Read all the materials assigned for the course as this syllabus directs. The link leads to the list of readings.

2. Email a short paper each week on each of the two lessons to wsjamison@uaa.alaska.edu. Take the link to read more detailed directions.

4. Prepare a term project (follow this link for the minimum requirements) on one of the following:

a. Explore the implications of one philosopher's views that you find most interesting. For example, how does that view explain what a person is, what our place is in the universe and how we should maintain that place. Nozick can certainly be your choice for this if you like but you can request to do your paper on another philosopher if you wish.

b. Explore the competing claims of several philosophical positions. For example, discuss how the principles of faith clash, if they do, with science.

c. Follow the due dates in this syllabus below.

In the term project, as in the short papers, use of your own experience is very helpful.

5. Dialogue on Blackboard with other members of the class.

Your grade will be determined by your performance as follows: One-half of the grade will be determined by the short papers, one-quarter by the term project and one-quarter by dialogue participation. See grade key. Also visit my Bibliography for more resources.

Schedule of Readings and due dates. (Take this link to the list of readings or follow the link for each set, or go to the bottom of this page)

Set 1: (due by September 9)

101) What Is Philosophy?
Combines two classic models—Plato’s Parable of the Cave and the character of Socrates—with contemporary philosophers comment on the subject. If you are interested in my notes for the class room lectures I give they start here: http://wsjamison.uaa.alaska.edu/philnts1.htm but these are not required reading for this course.

102) What Is Human Nature?
Contrasts traditional Greek and Judeo-Christian views of human nature with post-Darwinian and existential views.

Respond to dialogue questions posted on Blackboard. Also e-mail me (wsjamison@uaa.alaska.edu) so that I have your address and can include you in things I send to the whole class via e-mail. This is very important! 

Set 2: (due by September 16)

103) Is Mind Distinct From Body?
Examines how Descartes’ dualistic view has been subject to waves of attacks from materialism, including present exponents of artificial intelligence and neuroscience. The program features commentary by John Searle, Daniel Dennett, Paul Churchland, and various other philosophers.

104) Is There An Enduring Self?
Weaves the reflections of an expectant mother with inquiries from philosophers ranging from Socrates to the present about whether or not a person has an enduring self.

Respond to the dialogue question posted on Blackboard.

Set 3: (due by September 23)

105) What Forms Our Identity? Are we social beings?
Looks at the relation between personality and socio-cultural context. Contrasts an atomistic and a situational view of the self, represented by Descartes and Hegel using the endangered culture of the Laplanders in Sweden. Contemporary philosophers include Charles Taylor.

106) What Is Real?
Explores the conflict between Thomas Hobbes’s materialism and George Berkeley’s idealism and the 20^th century conflict between realists and anti-realists. Philosophers include John Searle, Hilary Putnam, and Richard Rorty.

Respond to the dialogue question posted on Blackboard. You should also be selecting your term paper topic. Email me with your topic to get approval for it and ask for suggestions I might have.

Set 4: (due by September 30)

107) How Do We Encounter the World?
Examines the views of Husserl, Heidegger, and others in which reality is a phenomenon of consciousness.

108) Do We Have Free Will?
Asks if our lives determined, or if we freely choose among alternatives? Ancient philosophers believed us to be free moral beings, but how do we define our options in a world governed by the laws of physics?

Respond to the dialogue question posted on Blackboard. You should begin collecting the resources for your term paper.

Set 5: (due by October 7)

109) Is Time Real?
Questions whether time is something measured only by clocks and calendars or exists as a separate entity in its own right. The program explores theories of time presented by Aristotle, Augustine and Kant, and contrasts Newton’s theories of time with Einstein’s theory of relativity.

110) Does God Exist?
Delves into how philosophers have examined the universe for evidence for God’s existence. How did the world begin? Is there a reason for its order and design? And, can we reconcile the existence of God with the existence of evil?

Respond to the dialogue question posted on Blackboard. You should begin reading the resources for your term paper.

Set 6: (due by October 14)

111) Can We Know God Through Experience?
Considers whether certain mystical experiences are indications of the existence of a Divine Being, and what kind of evidence is necessary for religious belief.

112) Is Reason The Source Of Knowledge?
Presents the rationalism of Descartes and Leibniz, the roots of rationalism in Plato and geometry, and the continuing debate over whether the mind alone can generate knowledge.

Respond to the dialogue question posted on Blackboard. Your term paper thesis statement and outline should be taking shape.

Set 7: (due by October 21)

113) Does All Knowledge Come From Experience?
Focuses on the 17^th and 18^th century empiricism of John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume, and the 20^th century empiricism and naturalism of W.V.O. Quine, who is interviewed.

114) Does The Mind Shape The World?
Examines Immanuel Kant’s position that we interpret the world through a priori constructs of the mind, as well as later philosophers’ views of how these constructs may vary among languages and cultures.

Respond to the dialogue question posted on Blackboard. You should begin actually writing your term paper.

Set 8: (due by October 28)

115) How Does Science Add to Knowledge?
Highlights the classic, Baconian inductivist view that grew out of the Scientific Revolution and the challenges posed by Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn. Includes consideration of Kuhn’s views about the role that paradigm theories play in scientific revolutions.

116) Does Science Give Us Truth?
Looks at correspondence, coherence, and pragmatist theories of truth, and how conflicts have carried over into realist vs. antirealist views of science, including the Einstein-Bohr debate about quantum mechanics.

Respond to the dialogue question posted on Blackboard. Send your first draft of your term paper to me for comments.

Set 9: (due by November 4)

117) Are Interpretations True?
Inquires how it is possible for us to interpret and understand each other? Is there a true or correct way of interpreting the meaning of what people say or write? Explores the views of Schleiermacher, Gadamer and Wittgenstein on language and meaning.

118) Is Morality Relative?
Discusses whether all morality is culturally determined, or whether there are some moral values that are valid for all cultures. Interviews with Harman, Wong, and Rachels explore the claims of relativism. The implications of relativism for the issue of child labor are explored.

Respond to the dialogue question posted on Blackboard. You should receive my comments on the first draft of your term paper.

Set 10: (due by November 11)

119) Does the End Justify the Means?
Looks at utilitarianism against the backdrop of a construction project with environmental import and discusses the problem of what is intrinsically valuable.

120) Can Rules Define Morality?
Addresses formalist theories of ethics, particularly that of Immanuel Kant, and explores some of the implications of his views for particular issues in ethics.

Respond to the dialogue question posted on Blackboard. Begin revising your term paper.

Set 11: (due by November 18)

121) Is Ethics Based On Virtue?
Explores Aristotle’s and other ancient views of virtue and the good life and contemporary virtue ethics with its focus on emotions, personal relationships, character, and long-term values.

122) Moral Dilemmas... Can Ethics Help?
Considers the relevance of utilitarian, Kantian, and virtue ethics to the situation of a family with a severely impaired newborn.

Respond to the dialogue question posted on Blackboard. Use the holiday break to finish up your term paper.

Set 12: (due by November 25)

123) What Justifies The State?
Asks whether the state is merely an artificial arrangement we construct to make life better, as social contract theorists claim, or whether it’s a natural organism through which people achieve their potential.

124) What Is Justice?
Explores questions about distributive justice, both from a national and global perspective, examines the views of Aristotle, Marx, Rawls and Nozick.

Respond to the last dialogue question posted on Blackboard.

Set 13: (due by December 2)

125) What Is Art?
Looks at several views on the nature of art, and how these have been affected by changes in artistic styles and techniques. Danto, Duchamp, Lyotard and others are interviewed on the significance of contemporary conceptual art.

126) What Is The Meaning Of Life?
Evaluates how the meaning and purpose of life have been viewed in light of religion, culture or history, as well as from an individual existential perspective. Program features the views of Hegel and Kierkegaard.

Final Week:

Send in your term project. (Due by December 9.)

Suggestions:

Readings in Velasquez - list updated for edition 11 and Nozick