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Kenyon College
Department of Philosophy
Fall 2001
PHIL 100-03 Syllabus
Professor: Victoria I. Burke
Lectures: 10:10-11:00 A.M. MWF
Lecture Location: BAIL01
Office Telephone: 427-5066
Office Location: Ascension 211
Office Hours: TBA on a weekly basis on the P: Drive
E-mail: burkev@kenyon.edu
Introduction to Philosophy
It has been through wonder that human beings now begin
and originally began to philosophise.
Aristotle
Wonder is the overcoming of the self-evident.
Heidegger
Aristotle claimed that interest in philosophy has arisen from a sense of amazement or "wonder" at that which we take
for granted in our lives, and Heidegger claimed that overcoming everyday assumptions was a necessary prerequisite
for the acquisition of wisdom. In this introduction to philosophical issues, we will focus on two prominent topics that
have inspired a sense of wonder in philosophers over the ages. We will begin by studying the relationship between
the soul and the body. Is the soul independent of the body and does it outlive it? Is the soul immortal? Or are the soul
and the body entirely interdependent, and does the soul perish with the body? What is the soul? In what way do the
soul and the body influence each other? Should they be understood to be in perpetual conflict? Or can they only be
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understood as being in harmony with each other, with the soul understood as a side-effect of the body? Does the
anatomical distinction between the sexes determine experience differently? Does the way in which we understand the
relationship between the soul and the body influence the way we are to understand the nature of experience? In our
examination of the relationship between the soul and the body we will look at writings from Plato, Aristotle,
Descartes, Leibniz, Merleau-Ponty, and a contemporary American feminist, Iris Marion Young. In the second unit,
we will turn to the question of how we are to know what is good and valuable. How do we determine what is good?
Is “the good” absolute and unchanging or is it relative to our individual social situations? Should we understand the
good as what promotes happiness? Is the good reducible to what produces positive consequences, or are
consequences irrelevant to determining the good? Should the desire for happiness be sacrificed for the sake of the
good? Is the idea of the good an illusion promoted for political purposes by those in power? Does the idea that there
is no absolute value mean that there can be no commitment to moral value? Is the best ethical stance to take one that
presupposes “the other” with whom we have ethical relations to be like ourselves? Or rather as fundamentally
different? This unit on the nature of value will cover selections from J.S. Mill, Kant, Nietzsche, De Beauvoir, and
Levinas. Through these two themes, students enrolled in this course will be introduced not only to these two sets of
enduring philosophical issues, but to traditional philosophical methods and some of the most important texts in the
history of philosophy.
Course Texts
Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals
Mill, Utilitarianism
Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals
Plato, Phaedo
Photocopy package
Obtaining course texts: The four books are available at the campus book store. The photocopy materials can be
downloaded from the Kenyon website (course reserve location).
Course Requirements
Students will be assessed on the basis of two (5-7 page) essays, class participation, and a final examination.
Distribution:
Unit I Essay: (5-7 pages)--30%
Unit II Essay: (5-7 pages)--30%
Final Examination--30%
Class Participation--10%
Guidelines for submitting written work: All essays are to be submitted typed (double spaced and single-sided) on
white 8.5 x 11 paper. Students must keep a copy of their work for their own files in case the paper should become
lost. If the paper becomes lost, it is the student's responsibility to be able to replace it. Papers may not be submitted
electronically via e-mail.
Deadlines: The deadlines for the two essay assignments are October 26 and December 10. Students are permitted a
total of six free late days for the term, and may draw upon their late days at their own discretion. This means that
work may be submitted after the deadline with or without my permission. One free late day will be subtracted from
the student's "account" of free late days for each day that the paper is late (week-ends included). However, the total
number of free late days per term may not, under any circumstances exceed six, and it would be in the students'
interest to save the late days for an emergency. Late papers may be handed in either to me directly, or to my
department mailbox, which will be checked regularly. Students should write on the paper the date and time that they
drop-off the paper before depositing it into the box; the number of late days subtracted from the student’s ”account”
will be determined by what is written on the paper by the student unless there is compelling evidence that what is
noted on the paper is incorrect. If there is no date and time of drop off indicated on the paper or if there is
compelling evidence that the date and time written on the paper are incorrect, the late days to be subtracted from the
student’s account will be determined by the date and time that I pick up the paper from the mailbox. Papers are due
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in class on the assigned due date and are counted as one day late after 10 a.m. on the next day unless the next day is a
Saturday. Week-ends are counted as three days--so if the student turns in a paper on the Monday following the
deadline rather than the Friday, three days will be subtracted for the week-end in addition to any other late days that
accrue. If papers are submitted late after all of the student’s free late days are used up, 10% will be subtracted from
the student’s grade for every day that the paper exceeds the six day limit.
Readings and Lectures: Students should read the assigned material prior to the lecture, and should bring the texts to
class as the lectures will involve careful and close examination of the readings. In the assigned written work, students
will be assessed on the basis of their comprehension and synthesis of both the reading material and the lectures.
COURSE SCHEDULE
WEEK 1
August 27: course introduction
no readings
Unit I: Embodiment
August 29: Plato
reading: Phaedo, pp. 5-41
August 31: Plato
reading: Phaedo, cont’d.
WEEK 2
September 3: Plato
reading: Phaedo, pp. 41-67
September 5: Plato
reading: Phaedo, cont’d.
September 7: Aristotle
reading: De Anima, Bk I Ch. 1, 402a-404a8 (photocopy); and Bk II Ch. 1, 412a-412b10 (photocopy)
WEEK 3
September 10: Aristotle
reading: De Anima, Bk II Ch. 2-5, 412b11-418a6 (photocopy)
September 12: Aristotle
reading: De Anima, Bk II Ch 6, 418a7-418a27 (photocopy)
September 14: Aristotle
reading: De Anima, Bk II Ch 11-12, 422b18-424b20 (photocopy)
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WEEK 4
September 17: Aristotle
reading: De Anima, Bk III Ch 3-4, 427a16-430a9 (photocopy)
September 19: Aristotle
reading; De Anima, BK III Ch 9-10 432b10-433b31 (photocopy)
September 21: Aristotle
reading: De Anima, cont’d.
WEEK 5
September 24: Descartes
reading: Second Meditation, pp. 16-23 (photocopy)
September 26: Descartes
reading: Sixth Meditation, pp. 50-62 (photocopy)
September 28: Leibniz
reading: Monadology, pp. 227-239 (photocopy)
WEEK 6
October 1: Leibniz
reading: Monadology, cont’d.
October 3: Leibniz
reading: Monadology, cont’d.
October 5: Merleau-Ponty
reading: Phenomenology, pp. 90-126 (photocopy)
WEEK 7
October 8: Fall Reading Days (no classes)
October 10: Merleau-Ponty
reading: Phenomenology, cont’d.
October 12: Merleau-Ponty
reading: Phenomenology, pp. 127-153 (photocopy)
Unit I Essay topics distributed
WEEK 8
October 15: Merleau-Ponty
reading: Phenomenology, cont’d.
October 17: Young
reading: Throwing Like Girl, pp. 137-155 (photocopy)
October 19: Young
reading: Pregnant Embodiment, pp. 45-60 (photocopy)
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Unit II: Value
WEEK 9:
October 22: Mill
reading: Utilitarianism, pp. 1-25
October 24: Mill
reading: Utilitarianism, pp. 26-40
October 26: Mill
reading: Utilitarianism, pp. 41-63
Unit I Essay due (5-7 pages)
WEEK 10
October 29: Mill
reading: Grounding, pp. 1-17
October 31: Kant
reading: Grounding, pp. 19-32
November 2: Kant
reading: Grounding, pp. 32-48
WEEK 11
November 5: Kant
reading: Grounding, pp. 49-62
November 7: Kant
reading: Grounding, cont’d.
November 9: Nietzsche
reading: Genealogy, Preface #3, 5, 6; and First Treatise #2, 3, 4, 5
WEEK 12
November 12: Nietzsche
reading: Genealogy, First Treatise #7, 8, 10, 11, 13
November 14: Nietzsche
reading: Genealogy, Second Treatise #2, 4, 5, 8, 9
November 16: Nietzsche
reading: Genealogy, Second Treatise #11, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
Unit II Essay topics distributed
WEEK 13
November 19-23: Thanksgiving Week Holiday--no lectures
WEEK 14
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November 26: Nietzsche
reading: Genealogy, Third Treatise #1, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15
November 28: Nietzsche
reading: Genealogy, Third Treatise #16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24
November 30: Beauvoir
reading, The Ethics of Ambiguity, pp. 7-34 (photocopy)
WEEK 15
December 3: Beauvoir
reading: The Ethics of Ambiguity, cont’d.
December 5: Levinas
reading: Ethics and the Face, pp. 194-219 (photocopy)
December 7: Levinas
reading: Ethics and the Face, cont’d.
WEEK 16
December 10: Review for Final Exam
Unit II Essay due (5-7 pages)
Final Exam Date and Time: TBA
Bibliography for photocopy package:
Aristotle. The Works of Aristotle, Volume III. Trans. W. D. Ross (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931) 402a-403b20;
412a-428a27; 422b17-424b23; 427a15-430a10; 432b9-434a22.
De Beauvoir, Simone. Trans. Bernard Frechtman. The Ethics of Ambiguity (New York: The Citadel Press, 1964) 734.
Descartes, Rene. Trans. John Cottingham, Robert Stroothoff, and Dugald Murdoch. :Second Meditation”; “Sixth
Meditation.” The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, Vol. II (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1984)
16-23; 50-62.
Leibniz, G.W. Trans. Anthony Saville. “Monadology.” Appendix to Anthony Saville. Leibniz and the Monadology
(New York: Routledge, 2000) 227-37.
Levinas, Emmanuel. Trans. Alphonso Lingis. “Ethics and the Face.” Totality and Infinity (Pittsburgh: Duquesne
University Press, 1969) 194-218.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Trans. Colin Smith. Phenomenology of Perception (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul,
1962) 90-153.
Young, Iris Marion. “Pregnant Embodiment: Subjectivity and Alienation.” Journal of Medicine and Philosophy
(1984: 9) 45-62.
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Young, Iris Marion. “Throwing Like a Girl: A Phenomenology of Feminine Body Comportment, Motility, and
Spatiality.” Human Studies (1980: 3) 137-156.
Disabilities:
If you have a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability that may impact your ability to carry out
assigned course work, I would urge that you contact the Office of Disability Services at 5453. The Coordinator of
Disability Services, Erin Salva (salvae@kenyon.edu), will review your concerns and determine, with you, what
accommodations are appropriate. All information and documentation of disability is confidential.
Plagiarism:
The Kenyon College statement on plagiarism can be found at:
http://circle.kenyon.edu/academics/cos/200102/administrative/honesty.phtml