Frequently Asked Questions

See FAQ for Introduction to Philosophy Web Course questions

How to read my web pages:

Occasionally a student will be surprised that there are things posted on my web pages that they did not know. What I have learned is that not everyone is familiar with the nature of web page links. On most of my web pages, such as a syllabus, there are many html (hypertext markup language) links that go to other pages. You can go to those pages by holding the mouse pointer over the highlighted or underlined words on the page and clicking the button on the mouse. This will take you to another web page. I use this method to reduce the amount of information that is presented at one time. So, for example, on a syllabus I will list what is important for grading purposes. Each item on the list should have a link. When you click on that link it will take you to a page that will explain the item in more detail. This way you can see that there are three or four things you should do to get a good grade in the course without being confused by all the information about each of those things.

I also use links in my pages to offer reference materials for statements I make while explaining a particular point of view. So, for example,  I might highlight the name of a philosopher. If you click on the link it will take you to information on another page that supports the statement. This way, if you wonder about why I would make such a statement you can go to the source of that information yourself. Often this is useful when a student might disagree with a statement I make since they can go to the source instead of arguing with me over the issue, since frequently I may disagree myself with the statement! It is still important to understand the point of view of various philosophers even when we do not agree with their point of view.

The pages are extensive and interconnected with the world wide web. Since many of the links go to pages that are maintained by other people and they do not let me know when a web page changes, it happens on occasion that a link does not work anymore. Sometimes this might just be because the server that is the address of that page is not working at the moment but often a web page address will change or become restricted to users that have paid to use the site.

This even happens with institutional sites like university sites. My own web pages went through this when UAA upgraded its server from the cwolf address to the hosting address and then again to the current address.