Philosophy Proseminar
Philosophy 290
Winter 2011
CRN 12025, 4 units
Class meetings:
M, W 2:00-3:50
Location: Bldg. 2, Rm. 206
Professor Peter Ross
Office: Bldg. 1, Rm. 325
Phone: (909) 869-3036
e-mail: pwross@csupomona.edu
Office hours: M: 4-5; W: 4-5; F: noon-2
and by appointment
Our focus will be the development of skills involved in philosophical reading, writing, and oral
presentation on philosophical topics. We will be working with philosophical material; however, the goal
of the course is the development of proficiency with these skills. The philosophical material will be
primarily a vehicle for achieving this goal--the philosophical content will be the vehicle for focusing on
skills, rather than the skills being the vehicle for focusing on content (the normal situation in upper level
philosophy courses).
As the result of a considerable amount of thought and discussion, the Philosophy Department
has formulated the following nine instructional goals. We aim to help students:
(1) Develop analytical skills used in identifying the concepts and drawing the subtle
distinctions basic to a philosophical discussion, as well as other discussions of complex and
abstract topics.
(2) Develop skills in reasoning (including the substantiation of a thesis with well informed
reasons and the charitable consideration of objections) required for building a convincing case
for a philosophical thesis, as well as other complex and challenging arguments.
(3) Develop verbal skills involved in the written and oral presentation of philosophical
arguments (including the development of a well organized and clearly articulated line of
thought), as well as other complex and challenging arguments.
(4) Foster ability to critically examine the values underlying our social practices.
(5) Foster ability to recognize substantive interconnections among philosophical topics (such
as free will and personal identity) and areas (such as metaphysics and epistemology).
(6) Develop some ability to produce creative philosophical work (gauged by, for example,
the presentation of an original thesis or argumentative strategy, or a creative counterexample).
(7) Become familiar with a range of philosophical traditions both of different time periods as
well as of different cultures.
(8) Attain proficiency with respect to a historical philosophical movement or figure.
(9) Attain proficiency with respect to a philosophical topic.
(10) Apply research skills to philosophical issues.
These are goals for your whole career as a philosophy major. Goals (1)-(3), in connection with both
reading philosophical material and writing philosophical essays, are the primary focus of this class.
Required Texts:
Anthony Weston, A Rulebook for Arguments, 4th Edition (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2009)
William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, 4th Edition (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2000)
Course Goals:
To help students:
1. Develop analytical skills used in identifying the concepts and drawing the subtle distinctions basic
to a philosophical discussion.
2. Develop skills in reasoning (including the substantiation of a thesis with well informed reasons and
the charitable consideration of objections) required for building a convincing case for a
philosophical thesis; also, develop the closely related skills in reasoning required for identifying the
thesis and supporting arguments of a philosophical text.
3. Develop verbal skills involved in the written and oral presentation of philosophical arguments.
4. Apply research skills to philosophical issues.
Philosophy Proseminar
Page 2 of 3
Requirements and Grading:
Reading comprehension exercises (pick out Paley’s argument/
Berkeley’s argument)
Critical thinking exercises (critical thinking quiz/objections to Dawkins, Ch. 4)
5%/5%
5%/5%
Preliminary writing exercise 1 (thesis and supporting reasons)
Preliminary oral presentation (5 minutes)
Oral presentation (15 minutes + Q&A)
Preliminary writing exercise 2 (first two sections of paper)
Term paper (due Fri. 3/18)
Participation (especially giving feedback on other students’ oral presentations)
5%
5%
15%
10%
25%
10%
Write-ups of 2 professional presentations
10%
The reading comprehension and critical thinking exercises will be assigned early in the quarter while
you are formulating a thesis for your term paper. The preliminary writing exercises and preliminary oral
presentation, and the 15 minute oral presentation are all aimed to help you plan, write, and revise your
term paper. Participation includes your feedback to others as they plan, write, and revise their term
papers. The term paper is 2000-3000 words, with a 150 word abstract.
Professional presentation write-ups: attend two professional presentations--either on or off campus-related to philosophy. Write 1-2 pages stating the presenter’s basic claim, and broadly describe some
evidence given for this claim.
Tentative schedule for reading assignments (readings provided in class are marked "‡"):
Week 1: Learning
Philip E. Ross, "The Expert Mind," Scientific American ‡
Weeks 1-2: Reading and critical thinking
Lewis Vaughn, “How to Read Philosophy, from Writing Philosophy: A
Student’s Guide to Writing Philosophy Essays ‡; also see
http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/reading.html
(A)
What’s the thesis?
Descartes, Meditations: Meditation I ‡
John Perry and Michael Bratman, "Reading Philosophy" ‡
A. J. Ayer, “Freedom and Necessity” ‡
(B)
What’s the argument?
Weston, Rulebook for Arguments, Chapters I-VI, Appendix I
William Paley, “The Argument from Design” ‡
Berkeley, “1st Dialogue” from Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous ‡
Guest speaker: Dale Turner on informal logic Wednesday January 12
Weeks 3-4: Early Stages of Writing
(A)
Grammar
Strunk & White, The Elements of Style
(For a useful general guide that discusses sub-topics (B) and (D) see:
http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/writing.html)
Philosophy Proseminar
(B)
(C)
(D)
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Refining a thesis
Joel Feinberg, “Varieties of Philosophy Papers” from
Doing Philosophy: A Guide to the Writing of Philosophy Papers, 3rd Edition ‡
Gathering information
Orientation to philosophical research, including introduction to philosophical
reference works and Philosopher’s Index
Joel Feinberg, “Philosophical Research on the Internet” from
Doing Philosophy: A Guide to the Writing of Philosophy Papers, 3rd Edition ‡
Draft writing
Weston, Rulebook for Arguments, Chapters VII-VIII, Appendix II
Andy Clark, excerpt from Mindware on cognitive technology ‡
Weeks 5-6: Considering objections
Richard Dawkins, Chs. 3-4 of The God Delusion
H. Allen Orr, “A Mission to Convert” New York Review of Books, 1/11/07
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19775
Weeks 7-9: Presentations and later stages of writing
(A)
Presentations
Weston, Rulebook for Arguments, Chapter IX
(B)
Citation styles
MLA Style http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/printable/557/
APA Style http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
(C)
Later stages of writing
Anne Michaels Edwards on rewriting, problems to avoid, and the final edit, from Writing
to Learn: An Introduction to Writing Philosophical Essays ‡
Guest speaker: on oral presentations
Week 10: Beyond the Major: Putting Your Skills to Work Outside of School
American Philosophical Association, publications about uses of skills developed in
philosophy classes in nonacademic careers:
http://www.apaonline.org/publications/texts/index.aspx
Eric Schwitzgebel’s advice regarding graduate school in philosophy:
http://schwitzsplintersunderblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/applying-to-phd-programs-inphilosophy.html
Books aimed to help with writing philosophy papers, many of which are sampled in the reading list
above, include:
Hugo Bedau, Thinking and Writing about Philosophy, 2nd Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002.
Anne Michaels Edwards, Writing to Learn: An Introduction to Writing Philosophical Essays. Boston:
McGraw Hill, 2000.
Joel Feinberg, Doing Philosophy: A Guide to the Writing of Philosophy Papers, 3rd Edition. Belmont,
Cal.: Wadsworth, 2005.
Lewis Vaughn, Writing Philosophy: A Student’s Guide to Writing Philosophical Essays. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2006.