Course Syllabus
Course Prefix / Number: PHM 4020, Section 5895 Online Campus; Summer Term B (5/12-6/24)
Course Title: Philosophy of Sex and Love
Course Credit Hours: 3.0
Instructor Contact Information: Dr. Nick Power, Department of Philosophy, UWF; E-mail: npower@uwf.edu; Phone: 474-2677; Office
Manager: Melissa Bruggeman (mbruggeman@uwf.edu and 474-2671)
Prerequisites or Co-Requisites: none
Course Description
Intended to familiarize you with the major philosophical and moral issued surrounding our sexuality and its attendant emotions. Will draw
upon thinkers from within the history of Western Philosophy and psychology - including Plato, Augustine, Kant, Freud, DeBeauvoir and
Nagel. What kinds of love are there? What are the connections between sex and love, between love and marriage, and what role do gender
differences play in each of these? What separates eroticism from pornography, and are these in some sense harmful? Is homosexuality a
perversion and are perverse acts wrong? These questions, and many more besides, are the focus of our study. Though these issues are
sometimes very personal and thus hard to discuss, this classroom will be a safe and secure place for their exploration and for the expression
of reasoned views on them. Friendship, affection, love and sex are clearly important aspects of our shared humanity, and are obviously
linked, in some way or other, to living a full and fulfilled life. The BIG challenge we face, as a class, is making sense of this link, so that we
can make the best choices possible concerning them.
Though we will mostly read sources from within the history of Western philosophy, no pre-requisite classes there, or prior knowledge of
philosophical sources are required for this class. The arguments and the positions within the theories of sexual ethics are important in many
areas outside of academic philosophy. The first part of the course will be taken up with topics within the history and philosophy of love. We’ll
chart the history of romantic love, discuss famous typologies of love, and relate love to marriage and to sex. Then, in the second half of the
course, we’ll turn to the contemporary and controversial parts: sexual perversion; pornography and prostitution; rape and sexual
harassment.
The course is organized into six week-long "units," each one investigating a different topic in the field. Each unit is designed to allow you to
access the readings and explore the topic on your own, before attending a "lecture"--we will discuss a powerpoint presentation using the
online "Blackboard Collaborate" platform--and then going on to participate in a threaded discussion regarding the unit's materials and turning
in a summative essay at the close of the week/unit. This is when your homework essays (as well as bonus self-assessment exercises) are
expected.
Course Goals
1. Describe the intellectual history of the major concepts surrounding love, sex, and marriage;
2. Identify and evaluate the various theoretical and disciplinary approaches to sexuality and sexual ethics; and,
3. Develop your ability to write short and long, analytical essays (homeworks and final project), explain complex, abstract concepts (essay
assignments and discussion boards); and, identify major issues in contemporary philosophical debate and conduct efficient and effective
information search and retrieval for one such issue (final project).
Program Goals
These are aligned with the Philosophy program’s Academic Learning Compact, especially in the area of critical thinking, and in particular with
the learning outcomes on evaluating arguments. See: http://uwf.edu/cutla/ALC/Philosophy_ALC.pdf.
Capstone course? If you are a philosophy major who intends to use this course to fulfill your “Capstone Requirement” see the department’s
web-page discussion of this and then contact me.
Topics
O
WHAT IS LOVE? (ANCIENT GREEK AND CHRISTIAN VIEWS OF SEX AND LOVE)
O
WHAT IS SEX AND SEXUAL DESIRE? (FREUD AND FEMINISM, AND EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
O
WHEN CAN SEXUAL DESIRE BE CONSIDERED ABNORMAL? (SEX AND SEXUAL PERVERSION)
O
WHAT IS SEXUAL ORIENTATION? (HOMOSEXUALITY AND SAME-SEX MARRIAGE)
O
HOW SHOULD COMMERCIAL SEX BE REGULATED? (PROSTITUTION AND PORNOGRAPHY)
O
WHAT CAUSES, AND BEST PREVENTS, SEXUAL ASSAULT? (RAPE AND CONSENT)
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to: (1) Identify the major historical and intellectual sources of our contemporary attitudes
towards sex, love and marriage; (2) Classify contemporary positions in sexual ethics according to their theoretical commitments (Natural Law
Theory, Utilitarianism, Feminism, etc.); (3) Assess the relative merits of both conservative and liberal approaches to sexuality; (4) Compose
position papers across several topics within sexual ethics; and, (5) Analyze and appraise written arguments within contemporary philosophy
of sex and love.
Texts / Materials
RECOMMENDED TEXTS:
The Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings, 6th. Ed. edited by Nicholas Power, Raja Halwani, and Alan Soble published by Rowman
and Littlefield in 2012; its ISBN is 978-1-4422-1671-6. (Pdf files of the assigned chapters will be supplied in e-learning, hence the text is not
required; some students like a hard-copy, however.)
REQUIRED MATERIALS:

Internet Access (broadband is recommended)

Activated UWF ArgoNet E-mail Account
Grading / Evaluation
Your grade for the course is a function of the number of points you earn out of a possible 240, with their letter-grade equivalents determined
as shown in the table below.
The 240 available points will be earned and distributed in the following way:
I. Analyze: 60 points are available in 6 brief (≤ 500 word or 2-page) "homework” response-papers turned in to that unit’s assigned dropbox
on e-learning by midnight on Sunday of that unit's week. (See the Course Schedule in this folder for specific dates.) They will be on questions
posed by me concerning the text(s) throughout the term, and each is worth 10 points each (a specific rubric will be included in the homework
file). I expect them to be formatted correctly (any doc. or .rtf extension is best) and to be grammatically sound, and you must use relevant
and cogent quotes from the text/course materials in support of your major ideas. These are not accepted late, as they are designed to
facilitate our online class discussion.
II. Contribute and clarify: 2x60 or 120 points are available for class contribution, which is central to the success of an online class: these
are earned by clarifying the course content in online threaded discussions which I will facilitate. For the 6 weeks making up the course you
will help us all better understand the course/text materials. Using the Discussions feature of e-learning, you will have to begin a discussion
thread laying out what, in your humble opinion, is left unclear in the text, or in my lecture notes or my live-chat powerpoint slideshow, and say
why you find it unclear. See the Muddiest Point Discussion Rubric in this folder for details. These are due on the Wednesday, by
midnight, within that unit’s week and are worth 10 points each.
You'll also reply to other people's posts, once-per week for the remaining 60 points in this category, and submit these by midnight of Friday of
that week. You are expected to read all of your classmates' (and my) posts. These are also are worth 10 points each, where 0/10 means you
posted nothing to that week’s discussion, 1-5 meant you read some posts, and perhaps did post something, but it lacked substance (but
merely agreed with or seconded someone else’s post, for instance) and 6-10 points means you rocked, having read all of that unit’s posts,
and went far towards clearing up the discussion(s) you chose to contribute to. Details are provided in the Course Communication and
Discussion Guidelines document.
III. Synthesize and Apply: the remaining 60 points can be earned by a Critical Analysis Project due at the end of the term. (See the Critical
Analysis Project Guidelines document in this folder for details.) You will begin by choosing a topic you are interested in, and signing up for it
by week 3 of the class, then read around in the course materials for a suitable reading.) Once your reading is approved by me, you will (a)
writing a 500-word (or equivalent powerpoint presentation) summary and critical analysis presenting the main arguments of the reading you
have chosen.
Various opportunities to earn bonus points will appear throughout the course, typically involving self-assessment essays, quizzes, and webquests.
The total number of points is considered a “raw” score earned (out of a possible 240) and will be “curved” upwards, so that the top score(s) is
240, and the rest of the scores will be based on that revised scale.
Letter grades will be assigned to curved scores as follows:
228-240
(95100%)
A
185-191
(77-79%)
C
+
216-227
(90-94%)
A - 175-184
(73-76%)
C
209-215
(87-89%)
B
+
168-174
(70-72%)
C-
199-208
(83-86%)
B
144-167
(60-69%)
D
192-198
(80-82%)
B - 0-143
(<59%)
F
Attendance Policy
Class participation is obviously a major component of the course grade, so get in touch with me if you have pre-schuduled travel plans or
work conflcts.
Minimum Technical Skills and Special
Technology Utilized by Students
This course is totally online. All instructional content and interaction takes place over the WWW. In addition to baseline word processing skills
and sending/receiving email with attachments, students will be expected to search the internet and upload / download files. In addition,
students may need one or more of the following plug-ins:


Adobe Acrobat Reader: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
PowerPoint Viewer: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=048DC840-14E1-467D-8DCA19D2A8FD7485&displaylang=en

Windows Media Player: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/download-windows-media-player

QuickTime Player: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

Real Player: http://www.real.com/realplayer/search

Adobe Flash Player: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Configure your computer for Online Room (Blackboard
Collaborate) sessions: http://support.blackboardcollaborate.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=8336&task=knowledge&question
ID=1279
Expectations for Academic Conduct /
Plagiarism Policy
Student Conduct: The Student Code of Conduct sets forth the rules, regulations, and expected behavior of students enrolled at the
University of West Florida. Violations of any rules, regulations, or behavioral expectations may result in a charge of violating the Student
Code of Conduct. It is the student’s responsibility to read the Student Code of Conduct and comply with these expectations. The Academic
Misconduct Policy (2009) defines various forms of academic misconduct and describes the procedures I will follow should I suspect that a
student has violated the Academic Misconduct Policy. Plagiarism is the unacknowledged or insufficiently acknowledged use of another's
ideas and/or their expression. This applies to equally to borrowing from books and articles, notes taken/works prepared in other classes, or
from the work of other students. Whenever an idea is not the result of the student's own primary research and thinking and is not reasonably
understood to already be part of the public domain, its source must be properly identified in a footnote or other format; otherwise, plagiarism
results. Plagiarism combines theft with fraud, and within the academy, no offense is more destructive, hence no offense is penalized more. At
my discretion, I may fail you for that assignment, for the course, and I may recommend that you be suspended from UWF. I take this issue
very seriously.
UWF maintains a university license agreement for an online text matching service called TurnItIn. At my discretion, I will use the TurnItIn
service to determine the originality of student papers. If I submit your paper to TurnItIn, it will be stored in a TurnItIn database for as long as
the service remains in existence. If you object to this storage of your paper:
1.
You must let me know no later than two weeks after the start of this class.
2.
I will utilize other services and techniques to evaluate your work for evidence of appropriate authorship practices.
Assistance for Students with Disabilities
The University of West Florida supports an inclusive learning environment for all students. If there are aspects of the instruction or design of
this course that hinder your full participation, such as time-limited exams, inaccessible web content, or the use of non-captioned videos and
podcasts, reasonable accommodations can be arranged. Prior to receiving accommodations, you must register with the Student Disability
Resource Center (SDRC) at http://uwf.edu/sdrc/internal/. Appropriate academic accommodations will be determined based on the
documented needs of the individual. For information regarding the registration process, e-mail sdrc@uwf.edu or call 850.474.2387.
Accessibility Resources

Follow this link for information on accessibility features in eLearning.

Follow this link for information on accessibility features in UWF's Learning Management System (LMS), Desire2Learn.
Weather Emergency Information
In the case of severe weather or other emergency, the campus might be closed and classes cancelled. Official closures and delays are
announced on the UWF website and broadcast on WUWF-FM.


WUWF-FM (88.1MHz) is the official information source for the university. Any pertinent information regarding closings,
cancellations, and the re-opening of campus will be broadcast.
In the event that hurricane preparation procedures are initiated, the UWF Home Web Page and Argus will both provide current
information regarding hurricane preparation procedures, the status of classes and the closing of the university.
Emergency plans for the University of West Florida related to weather or other emergencies are available on the following UWF web pages:


Information about hurricane preparedness plans is available on the UWF web site:
http://uwfemergency.org/hurricaneprep.cfm
Information about other emergency procedures is available on the UWF web site:
http://uwfemergency.org/