Course Blog

These posts are in reverse-order, so the newest posts will always be at the top. The dates are when the post was first made.

Readings are in a restricted part of this site. The username and password for these will be announced in class and on Canvas.

Here is a sparser evolving index of all the handouts, webnotes and readings we’ve used during the course. Or you could look under the Canvas “Modules” tab.

Wed Jan 7

For those of you who missed today’s class, here are summaries of what we discussed. See below for links to the reading to do for Monday.

What is Philosophy?

Our Big Questions

Tue Jan 6

Our first class meeting is on Wed Jan 7. I’ll introduce you to our course topics and talk about what philosophical activity looks like — what kinds of tools and strategies philosophers use for answering questions.

There is no reading assigned before our first meeting. But there is a chunk of reading you should do afterwards, and be ready to discuss/ask questions about in our subsequent meetings. That starts with the group of web pages at this link:

That link leads to a list of five pages; the most important for now are the first three. Skim the fourth too, but it may be harder and we’ll come back to it and discuss it more carefully in a few weeks. The last page is a Glossary that I hope will be useful but isn’t important for you to memorize.

Those pages already have developed explanations of many of the concepts we’ll be relying on this semester, and I’m not planning to repeat/summarize them in class. But I will take questions about the material on Monday, and we’ll talk through the Review lists at the end of the pages. Come to class next week with ideas and questions about what you find confusing or would be helpful to explore further.

The first of our Wednesday quizzes, on Wed Jan 13, will cover those materials.

For Monday, also read this brief selection:

(“Pojman” is the author’s family name.) Pages with a “restricted” URL like that one need a username/password, which will be announced in class and on Canvas. You should only need to enter it once per device.

Have a look also at this short page:

It will help you with the kind of task described in the Pojman reading.

Tue Aug 11

Our first class meeting is on Mon Aug 17. I’ll introduce you to our course topics and talk about what philosophical activity looks like — what kinds of tools and strategies philosophers use for answering questions.

There is no reading assigned before our first meeting. But there is a chunk of reading you’ll need to do before our second meeting, on Wed Aug 19, and you’re welcome to start early. This reading starts with the group of web pages at this link:

That link leads to a list of five pages; the most important for now are the first three. Skim the fourth too, but it may be harder and we’ll come back to it and discuss it more carefully in a few weeks. The last page is a Glossary that I hope will be useful but isn’t important for you to memorize.

There will be an online quiz about this material that you need to take before our Wednesday meeting, and you should be ready to discuss/ask questions about the quiz and the reading material when we meet.

Those pages already have developed explanations of many of the concepts we’ll be relying on this semester, and I’m not planning to repeat/summarize them in class. But I will be glad to answer questions about it on Wednesday.