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| Midterm Essay |
| Monday, Sept. 4 - What is philosophy? |
| Wednesday, Sept. 6 - Aristotle (1) |
| Monday, Sept. 11 - Aristotle (2) |
| Wednesday, Sept. 13 - Aristotle (3) |
| Monday, Sept. 18 - Nietzsche (1) |
| Wednesday, Sept. 20 - Nietzsche (2) |
| Monday, Sept. 26 - Abortion (1) |
| Wednesday, Sept. 28 - Abortion (2) |
| Excursus 1: Historical overview |
| Excursus 2: Abortion in Judaism and Christianity |
| Excursus 3: Abortion in Islam |
| Excursus 4: Pro-choice argument |
| Monday, Oct. 2 - Suicide (1) |
| Wednesday, Oct 4 - Revision |
| Monday, Oct 16 - Suicide (2) |
| Wednesday, Oct 18 - Paradigm shifts |
| Monday, Oct 23 - Brave New World (1) |
| Wednesday, Oct 25 - Philosophical Anthropology (1) |
| Monday, Oct 30 - Sexual History of the USA |
| Wednesday, Nov 1 - Philosophical Anthropology (2) |
| Monday, Nov 6 - Race, death, tragedy, and bad faith |
| Wednesday, Nov 8 - Race, Biology, and Culture |
| Monday, Nov 13 - Racism and culture |
| Wednesday, Nov 15 - Existentialism |
| Monday, Nov 20 - Political Obligation, Moral Duty, and Punishment |
| Wednesday, Nov 22 - Kant and Moral Obligation |
| Monday, Nov 27 - War and Peace |
| Wednesday, Nov 29 - Non-Western Philosophies (1) |
| Monday, Dec 4 - Non-Western Philosophies (2) |
| Wednesday, Dec 6 - The End |
| Final Paper |
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What are you expected to do?
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The midterm essay must be typed, double spaced, printed
on one side of 8 ½ x 11 inch paper (letter settings), with no more than one inch margin on all sides. The maximum font size
will be 12 points, preferably 11 points using the font type called “Georgia”.
The midterm essay must be written in keeping with the grammar
of Standard English.
In all things pertaining to punctuation and spelling, it
must consistently follow one writing style (e.g. Strunk’s The Elements of Style, Fowler’s Modern English Usage,
APA Style, Chicago Style, The Times Guide to English Style and Usage, etc. You can find some of these at www.calstatela.edu/library/styleman.htm).
Essays or papers not meeting these specifications and essays
judged to contain excessive errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling, as well as lacking due references to the works alluded
to or cited, will be returned without a grade.
The midterm essay must be submitted by 9th October
2006.
Structure:
To write a good essay and/or paper, do the following:
1. Explain in the introduction what your central question is, what
you are going to do in your essay, and how. For instance, In this essay I will investigate the question WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REASON AND FAITH?
In order to answer this question, I shall look into the work of two philosophers: Thomas Aquinas and Locke. I shall present
and compare their views; after which I shall make my own suggestions.
2. Read some relevant writings by the
philosophers you will be comparing. For instance, http://www.homestead.com/philofreligion/files/Aquinashandout.html
and http://www.sullivan-county.com/id2/locke_reason.htm.
3. Make a short summary of the main points,
insights and/or arguments of the material consulted. In doing this, bear the following questions in mind:
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What were the writing’s
strong and weak points?
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Which points were interesting, relevant,
and connected to other readings, and why?
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What assumptions seemed explicit and/or
implicit in the reading, and why?
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Did the author state the
purpose of his or her writing? Was it achieved, according to you?
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In which respects do the
authors used agree and/or disagree?
4. Explain which points you (do not) agree with, and why.
5.
Explain all additional insights and information
that you gained during class discussions and have helped you to better interpret the assigned reading.
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NOTA BENE:
You are encouraged to write on issues from a Caribbean perspective; they may also be ethical questions. For instance, you
could take as your central question:
- Would it be ethically right to perform an abortion in rape cases in St Martin?
(do not forget to define "rape").
- Is it always wrong for a mother to tell a lie to her out-of-wedlock daughter who wants to
know who her biological father is? (do not forget to define "lie")
- Does "bling bling" give more meaning or more value to life? (what is "bling bling"?
What is meaning and what is value? Does life have a meaning? Can we give meaning to life? Can we increase the value of our
life? Value in whose eyes? What determines the meaning of life? Is meaning of life the same as its value?...)
- What are the philosophical presupposition of speaking about "bad and good hair"
among the Black, Creole and Dogla population? (how can you judge hair? Is good/bad hair something that "exists"
in itself or a value judgment? What are the criteria for this evaluation of the qualities of hair?...)
Let me tell you once again:
You will have to find one or two writings (it could be two "solid and thought-out" interviews you have conducted)
on the issue, analyze them as indicated above, compare and contrast them, and finally make your own suggestions.
What I am interested in is to see whether you can actually ask a philosophical question and answer it philosophically,
with well-construed arguments and not just "off the top of your head." It is not important that I actually agree
with your opinions: I am interested in the process, in whether and how you can think philosophically (i.e. taking
nothing for granted and plucking as many feathers as you can, so to speak, out of the body of what people say or what people
take for granted).
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To think about
"Any society that values creativity also
needs to enable criticism. If we cannot question the way we are doing things and thinking about things at present, it will
not occur to us that they could be thought of or done differently. (...) So philosophy is important partly because cultural
criticism is so important."
CHRISTENSON, Tom (2001). Wonder and Critical Reflection.
An invitation to Philosophy, p. 37. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc.
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This page was updated on Nov 21, 2006
at 10.00 PM St Martin Time (-4 UT)
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