Texts

Louis P. Pojman, ed., Philosophy: The Quest for Truth, vol. V.
Clifford Williams, Free Will and Determinism: A Dialogue
John Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality
Judith Leiber, Can Animals and Machines be Persons?

Course Description

Welcome to philosophy. In this class you will be taught to use philosophical tools, such as logic and analysis, to investigate complex issues. We will be especially concerned with such questions as: Do we have free will? What is a person? What makes us the same person over time? Are there any moral absolutes? Why should we be moral? And, what is the justification for political authority? Philosophy is a difficult subject for most everyone. Don’t despair if you find yourself frustrated with the readings, newly unsure of your convictions, and generally worried about your ability to make sense of the material. This is normal...and good. I hope you enjoy the class.

Evaluation

3 Short Assignments – 10% each (30% total)

2 Midterm Exams – 20% each (40% total)

1 Final Exam – 30%

Expectations

Attendance: I expect you to attend class and to participate in class sessions. Presentations, verbal explanation, class exercises, and question and answer sessions greatly enhance one’s understanding of the material. These activities take place in the classroom so your attendance at class meetings is important. Regular attendance is not, however, sufficient to do well in this course. Feel free to use class time to ask any lingering questions you may have about the material. If you find something to be difficult or confusing, chances are that other students do as well.

Reading Assignments: The reading assignments for this course are listed below. It is important that you come to class prepared. You should complete the week’s reading assignment prior to the start of the week (usually Monday). Failure to read the assignments will hamper your ability to follow class discussions, and will ultimately affect your ability to do well in the class.

Academic Honesty: Honesty is essential to the academic process. Cheating and plagiarism are grounds for a failing grade in this course. If you make use of someone else’s ideas in an assignment, you must cite the source of those ideas. For questions regarding the university’s policies on academic honesty please see http://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/honesty.html. For questions regarding academic honesty in general a good site to go to is http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html.

Special Needs

If you need course adaptations or accommodation in the classroom because of a disability, or if you have medical information to share with me, please make an appointment to see me as soon as possible. Students with disabilities should contact the Resource Center for People with Disabilities [353-9642 or 355-1293(TTY)] at the beginning of the semester.

Online Resources

Philosophical Dictionary - http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - http://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html
Chalmers’s List of Philosophical Websites - http://jamaica.u.arizona.edu/~chalmers/weblogs.html

E-Mail

I urge you to send comments, questions, and concerns to me via email at susse@msu.edu, or to the TA at colemonK@msu.edu. We will try our best to respond relatively promptly (within a day or two).

Classroom Etiquette

• Pleaase refrain from speaking in class unless first acknowledged by me.  Classroom conversations with your peers are disruptive to the rest of the class. 
• Please do not arrive late to class or leave early. Not only is it disruptive to the class, but in doing so you are bound to miss important announcements and material. If you must leave early for some important reason, please sit near the door.
• Please remember to turn your cell phones off during class time (I’ll try to remember too).