Philosophy 101 Internet Course

Spring 2006

Dr. Martin Spear

Here is some contact information for your Professor, but after the course has begun please use the tools of Webstudy for routine contact:

Office: Main Campus, Mint Bldg., Room M3-2 (Honors Program)

Phone: 215-751-8215 (but please use email.)

Email:  mspear@ccp.edu

Texts:

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

A Conflict of Visions by Thomas Sowell

In addition there will be numerous reproduced articles available online.

Requirements:

1. Satisfactory Completion of Reading , Writing and Discussion Assignments.

 2. Mandatory Satisfactory Completion of the formal  long writing assignments (this means that a failure to submit any of the three formal long writing assignments will produce an automatic grade of 'F' in the course.)

There are three long writing assignments i.e. 3-5 pages due at the beginning of the fifth week of class, the beginning of the tenth week, and at the end of the course i.e. the beginning of the fifteenth week.

Each writing assignment will be graded on a scale of 0-20 for a possible total of 80 points. Roughly, F is 4; D is 8; C is 12; B is 16; A is 20; all with appropriate adjustments for plus and minus at each level. The highest grade achieved on any writing assignment will be doubled (which brings the total points possible for the long writing assignments to 80.)

Each student will submit responses to the Required Forum questions each week. (Formal Forum submissions will be graded acceptable=1; unacceptable=0; Total forum submissions equal 14; the student will be notified of unacceptable submissions.)

Each student will participate in the Supplemental and Student discussion forums by reading and responding to posts from the class. (Students will be graded holistically on the quality of their participation as satisfactory or unsatisfactory participants. Excellent= 6;Good=4;Marginal=2; Unsatisfactory =0)

Grading:

A = 89+

B = 79-88

C = 69-78 (i.e. the lowest possible 'C' is 69 points, not 68 or 67, and similarly for the other grade levels.)

D = 59-68

F = 0-58

What to expect

The semester is divided into two parts. The first will use Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death as the main text, although there will be a fair number of additional required readings which will be posted in the webcourse timeline.

The second half of the semester will use Thomas Sowell's A Conflict of Visions as the main texts, again with a number of additional required readings which will be posted in the webcourse timeline.

There will be three formal 3-5 page papers required during the semester.

Each week will see reading assignments, either from the books, or from the other materials, frequently both. Accompanying the reading assignments will be reading/study questions which raise various sorts of issues about the texts being read and discussed. These questions are designed to focus your attention on certain aspects of the texts. They should not be read as  "the questions which I have to answer" ; especially the questions should not be read as exhausting what is worthy of attention in the reading for the week. The questions are meant to be helpful, and that is pretty much the end of it. You are specifically not required to submit  "answers" to the list of questions, although discussion of them in the student forums is a really good idea.

At the beginning of each week, a question will be posted to the Required Submission Forum by the professor. Perhaps the question will be drawn from the list of reading/study questions, but perhaps not. Each student is required to post a formal response to the question in the forum. The suggested length of such response is a substantial couple paragraph or so; somewhere between 250-500 words. Please remember that these responses are formal submissions and hence must be presented with all the appropriate care such things require. At the end of the week, the instructor may post a global response to the various submissions, calling attention to various features of those submissions. The point of this process is for students to try out strategies of interpretation, understanding, and presentation, appreciate the alternative strategies used by other students, and learn how such strategies are interpreted by a philosophy professor. You should not expect individual responses to your posting from the professor as a matter of routine.

Also each the professor will post discussion questions to the Supplemental Forum. These questions are usually drawn from the"Reading and Study questions" for the week's readings. Although formal responses to any particular questions are not required, this forum is designed to initiate discussion of particular important aspects of the reading assignments.Students are strongly encouraged to use this forum extensively, not only to reply to the questions but also to thread discussions of the issues. It is especially valuable to engage your classmates in discussion. Indeed, the other students in the class are a very very important resource for coming to understand some difficult material. The professor will not allow students to circle around the student forum to consult directly with him unless the issue has already been thoroughly aired in the Student Supplemental Forum. The professor will not interfere with this forum, or evaluate individual postings - except when it is necessary to moderate, or remind posters of the ordinary rules of academic exchange e.g. it is an ordinary requirement that one writes in formally correct English. Occasionally, if it seems helpful, the professor will post additional questions for consideration, or suggest reformulations of problems or redirection of discussion that seems dead-ended.

An additional "student discussion forum" will be made available for discussion of whatever topics students find interesting, or for class exploration of any issues they may have about any aspect of the course. This forum will not be read by your professor at all; the point is to provide a place where you can discuss without worrying about professorial eyes peeking over your shoulder. The professor will not even look at these postings except in response to specific charges of abuse (something which has never yet happened.)

Every week the same activities will be engaged in: reading, study questions, formal Required Forum postings, Supplemental and Student forum reading and posting. And three times a long paper is required.