Philosophy The unexamined life is not worth living. Plato Spring 2017 Wednesdays 5:00 7:40 pm Dr. Clancy Smith clancysmith@omorecollege.edu O More College of Design Mission Statement O More College of Design cultivates a passion for design through a distinctive undergraduate education in a student-centered environment leading to fulfilling careers as design professionals. Program Mission Statement Liberal Arts: The mission of the Liberal Arts Department of O More College is to foster an atmosphere of academic excellence, to provide foundational skills for all learning through the development of students critical and analytical skills, and oral and written skills in an environment intent on the enrichment of the whole person, to ensure the acquisition of skills essential for professional design careers. Learning Outcomes Philosophy, the 25 century-old pursuit of knowledge, is arguably the world s first academic discipline. Forged of a radical shift from the tacit acceptance of previous cultural norms to the revolutionary idea that human beings, endowed with the gift of reason, could understand one another, and their world, without the reliance on bygone myths and fables, philosophy continues to thrive to this day, encompassing ethics, aesthetics, logic, cultural and social critique from the leading figures in political analysis to the themes nascent in our favorite pop culture shows and films. This class, like philosophy itself, will cover the following topics (and more besides):
- Civil Disobedience: on what grounds can we critique the cultural norms, values, and laws of our society and by what method? How can we rise above the condition of passive acceptance of what has come before to both imagine and create an entirely new world? - Ethics: are ethical values relative or is it possible that universally binding values of right and wrong, good and evil, exist and transcend our societies? What theories do we have available, and what new theories can we create, that both explain and justify our ethical decisions? Should ethical consideration extend past mere human beings to include animals, plants, perhaps even the world entire? - Aesthetics: are beauty and good art merely in the proverbial eye of the beholder or is it possible that universal values exist here as well; ways in which we can account for the timelessness of certain artists and artistic achievements? How do we judge art? What makes art good? What is the value and purpose of art? How can we innovate in art and what obstacles stand in our way? - Epistemology: how do we know what we about the world? Is the mind and the mind alone the clearest and surest way to certainty or ought we, instead, rely wholly on our senses? Can we even have certainty? How we can we improve the probability that our claims are correct? Is it possible that everything we experience is just an illusion? - Ontology: what is the essence of a human being? What makes us what we are and not something else entirely? Is there something about human nature that, if removed, would make us no longer human at all? - Critical Theory: does modern society alter the state of human nature? Do our values define us? Is creativity dead in the machine of capital and commodity? Attendance All students are expected to attend classes regularly. The work is intensive and absence for whatever reason may seriously affect a student s grades. A strong attendance record demonstrates a professional attitude and commitment to established goals. Also, the class only meets once a week soooo. Absences Consistent attendance is essential for the successful completion of any course program. More than three absences from any class, for any reason, will result in an automatic F for the class, and no credit will be earned until the course is repeated satisfactorily. Tardiness Students are expected to arrive on time for class. Any students arriving after the scheduled beginning time for class will be considered tardy and three such occurrences equal one absence for that course. Students arriving more than thirty (30) minutes late will be counted absent, even if they attend the remainder of that class session. Course Requirements The student s grade in the course will be determined by the successful completion of the following assignments: (1) A Midterm Exam [20%] (2) A Final Exam [20%] (3) 5 Journal Entries [40%] (4) A Final Paper [20%] Grading Scale A 100-93 B 92-85 C 84-78 D 77-72 F 71-0 Please refer to the academic calendar for drop/add and withdrawal procedures.
Course Outline January 18 th Course Overview/Syllabus None Summary: A brief discussion of the course, orientation to the class, and discussion of the syllabus and assignments to get us started. January 25 th Introduction to Philosophy None Summary: Today we ll go through the four major historical periods in philosophy as a kind of general survey of the entire history of the discipline; discussing key themes, figures, and topics which will be relevant to the course this semester. February 1 st The Philosophy of Civil Disobedience [a.k.a. How Philosophy Can Change the World] Plato s Euthyphro Plato s Apology Martin Luther King, Jr. s Letter from a Birmingham Jail Summary: King inspired a nation and changed the course of American culture during the Civil Rights Movement. This you all probably know. What you might not know, however, is just how deeply he was inspired by Socrates in forming his own theory of civil disobedience. We ll discuss Plato s Euthyphro (where we get a wonderful example of the Socratic Method in action); Plato s Apology (where the central features of civil disobedience are discussed); and King s Letter where he discusses Socrates and his own vision of civil disobedience. Assignments: Journal Entry #1 February 8 th Ethics Selections from Kant s Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals Selections from Bentham and Mill s Utilitarianism Selections from Rachels The Challenge of Cultural Relativism Summary: One of the most important subdivisions of philosophy is the study of ethics; the analysis of right conduct, morality, and the nature of good and evil. We ll discuss the pros and cons of relativism (the position that ethics, like fashion, is relative to the eye of the beholder ) and look at three of the most famous universal ethical systems which propose that there are universal, objective ethical values that apply to all people, in all places, at all times (and show us how to discover them). Assignments: Journal Entry #2
February 15 th Epistemology Selections from René Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy C.S. Peirce s Fixation of Belief Summary: Some of the most timeless philosophical questions pertain to ways of knowing our world (theories of knowledge): can we ever be absolutely certain that any one of our beliefs is actually true? Do we (should we?) rely more on our senses for facts or is the mind a clearer and more truth-worthy avenue of inquiry? What if everything we think we know is wrong? Today will cover a wide variety of fun topics including Descartes famous I think therefore I am conclusion; the infamous simulation argument (are we all living in the Matrix?); and Peirce s science of deduction (famously utilized by a certain consulting detective from Baker s Street). Assignments: Journal Entry #3 February 22 nd Critical Theory and Pop (Mass?) Culture Selections from Herbert Marcuse s One-Dimensional Man Selections from my own work in Tattoos and Philosophy and Ages of the X-men Summary: How does popular culture, mass media, commodity fetishism, and capitalism warp and mutate the individual personality? Are we slaves to the products we buy? Is there any room left for creativity and imagination in the arts or are we bound to only produce that which can be profitably sold? We ll look at some theories on the subject and analyze whether or not the recent fads in philosophy and pop culture are an elevation of mass market schlock or a lowering of philosophy to the inanest common denominator. Assignments: Journal Entry #4 March 1 st Aesthetics Tolstoy s What is Art? Kerouac s Are Writers Made or Born? Selections from Eco s On Beauty Summary: Aesthetics is the study of beauty, art, and judgement and poses such timeless questions as to whether beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder or if certain universal criteria exist which we can use in order to say a work of art is truly beautiful. Assignments: Journal Entry #5
March 8 th Philosophy of Religion Selections from St. Augustine s On Free Choice of the Will Selections from St. Aquinas Summa Theologica Summary: Philosophy and theology have long gone hand-in-hand. One of the primary differences between philosophy of religion and theology is that the former does not rely on scripture to achieve things like proving the existence of God or describing the nature of the soul. Instead, philosophy of religion relies upon one thing that theists and atheists have in common: their rational capacity. March 15 th Midterm Exam No new readings Summary: Turn in the take-home portion of the midterm and complete a short in-class portion during class today. March 22 nd Spring Break March 29 th Race and Gender Selections from Dubois Souls of Black Folk Selections from Yancy s Black Bodies, White Gazes Selections from de Beauvoir s The Second Sex Summary: A philosophical look at issues involving race and gender including: what is race, exactly? To what degree is it culturally defined? How does it impact the contemporary world? Same with gender; what is it? Where did the concept originate? How does it influence our modern society? April 5 th The Good Life Selections from Aristotle s Nicomachean Ethics Selections from Augustine s On Free Choice of the Will Summary: From ancient Greece to the modern world, we ask the question: what does it meant to live the good life? What does that entail? The seeking of wisdom or the accumulation of wealth? The gaining of power or the acquisition of fame? We ll look at a variety of perspectives from two top scholars and compare those ideas with our modern ideas.
April 12 th East and West; North and South Selections from Buddhism Selections from Adeofe s African Metaphysics Summary: Biased as we are towards Western philosopher, we ll take a quick look at some ideas from the East (Buddhism) and the South (African Philosophy), and compare and contrast those ideas with our own to demonstrate some similarities, differences, and ways in which other cultures can solve problems our Western systems fail to address. April 19 th No Class Professor is Away at Conference April 26 th Summary: Paper Day None Today we ll share the work we ve done on our papers in class. May 3 rd Final Exam Summary: A brief in-class final exam to finish off the semester.