Philosophy 101: Introduction to Philosophy Syllabus
8-Week Online Course
Professor Luke Cuddy
Office Hours: ???
Email: lcuddy@swccd.edu
Standard Response Time: 24-48 hours
Important Note: Please be specific and include the full class number in your
email when contacting me. I will usually email you back within 24 hours, but
sometimes it may take me up to 48. As noted below, exams and discussion
boards are typically due Sunday. I will usually have feedback to you on these
assignments by the following Wednesday.
What is Philosophy?: Philosophy is a systematic inquiry into the nature of
wisdom. Being human, we can't help having opinions. Many of our beliefs are
formed as a result of social conditions: where we grew up, who our parents
were, what kinds of people we hung around with. Philosophy calls our beliefs
into question. It challenges the conventional way of thinking, and,
consequently, doing. By opening our minds to different perspectives, and
evaluating those perspectives on their own terms, philosophy allows us to
take responsibility for what we think and believe. It keeps our minds young,
fresh, and always questioning, stimulating the growth of wisdom itself.
Course Description: This course will introduce students to many of the
fundamental questions in the history of philosophy. What is reality? How can
we know reality? Are there limits to our understanding? What is the good life?
Does God exist? Does life have a purpose? Is the mind distinct from the brain?
What is the best form of government? All of these questions, and more, will be
raised throughout the course. Both Western and multicultural perspectives
will be addressed.
Student Learning Outcomes:
Students will have the ability to:

Identify, assess, and analyze the elements of wisdom and reasoning in
their own thinking and in the thinking of others via an examination of
the ancient roots of contemporary metaphysics, epistemology and
ethics.


Synthesize and apply their emerging wisdom and reasoning skills to
make better decisions as individuals and as citizens.
Analyze and assess historical, cultural, social and philosophical aspects
of the world's wisdom traditions and be better able to work collegially
with people of different backgrounds.
Course Requirements:




(2) Worldview Freewrites (0% of grade)
(2) Multiple Choice + Essay Assessments, 80 pts. each, 160 pts. total
(40% of grade).
(2) Multiple Choice Assessments, 75 pts. each, 150 pts. total (30% of
grade)
(8) Required Discussion Board times: 8 pts. each, 64 pts. total (30% of
grade).
Grading Computation: See the Overall Grade column in the Grade Center
folder for your current grade at any time during the semester, calculated
based on the above weighted percentages. Note that, since the requirements
are weighted, the point totals aren't as important as the percentages.
A = 89-100%
B = 79-89%
C = 69-79%
D = 59-69%
F = 0-59%
Required Text: Soccio, Douglas J. Archetypes of Wisdom 6th, 7th, or 8th
editions (Wadsworth).
 All other readings are provided by the instructor and available in
blackboard in the Additional Readings folder
Explanation of Course Requirements:
Worldview freewrites: First, you'll notice that these are 0% of your grade.
This is slightly misleading, however, because I will ask you to apply these to
the two assessments with an essay portion (discussed below), one for
Assessment 1 and one for Assessment 4. Basically, you will write on three
aspects of your worldview (your perspective/beliefs about the nature of the
world we live in) and that will serve as the beginning of your essay on that
assessment. The freewrites are described in more detail in the Worldview
Freewrites folder on blackboard.
Multiple Choice + Essay Assessments: These assessments contain 15 multiple
choice questions and one essay question. They are non-cumulative, meaning
that you are only required to know material since the previous assessment.
For example, on Assessment 4, you do not need to study any material since
before Assessment 3. The essay portion will first ask you to rewrite your
worldview freewrite into the prompt (whether you make any modifications
to your initial freewrite is up to you). The last portion of the essay will ask
you to make connections between your worldview and the material we've
been studying. In other words, when you take these assessments keep the
appropriate worldview freewrite nearby, and make sure you've studied the
relevant major ideas (for more on major ideas, see the Supplemental
Material section below). We will also do a discussion board to help you hone
the beliefs in your worldview.
Multiple Choice Assessments: As the name implies, these assessments contain
only multiple choice questions, 25 to be exact. The questions are noncumulative, meaning that they only cover material from after the previous
assessment, as noted above.
Submitting Assessments: You have 1 hour and a half to complete Multiple
Choice + Essay Assessments and 45 minutes to complete the Multiple
Choice Assessments. You must submit them through the Assessments
folder in blackboard. When an assessment is due, it will appear in that
folder. You cannot come back to an assessment after you have started it, so
make sure you set aside a time when you will not be interrupted. Also, I
highly recommend that you do not take assessments on a wireless
connection. If your connection kicks you out, you can't come back. (In fact,
a bad internet connection does not count as an excuse for being logged out
of an assessment since Southwestern College has on-campus computers
that are wired.) Assessments are open from Wednesday until Sunday at
midnight of the week they are posted on the schedule (though in the case
of Assessment 4 the last day may be Friday or Saturday—check the
schedule to be sure). I do not accept assessments as email attachments! If
you are having problems submitting, let me know and I can guide you
through it, or you can consult a blackboard technician.
Required Discussion Board Times: Each week of the semester, a new question
prompt will appear on the primary online discussion board. You are
required to post at least one comment in response to each weekly prompt.
Each discussion is open from Monday to Sunday at midnight, but if you post
after Thursday at midnight, you lose two points (see below). The idea here is
to facilitate more discussion by getting you to post earlier in the week. A
good strategy is to make your initial post early on (before Thursday), then
later in the week, after other students have posted, respond to other
students' posts. As this implies, you are also required to post at least two
comments in response to two other student’s posts (the responses to other
students do not have to be before Thursday). Simply click on the Discussion
Board folder and start a thread to post your response to the initial prompt,
and click “reply” on another student’s post to respond to him/her.
Extra Credit (EC) Discussion Board: There is a separate discussion board
that I basically allow students to run. You can see this as the equivalent of
talking in class. This is your chance for extra credit. If at the end of the
course I see that you have made substantive contributions to this
discussion board, I will award you some extra points. It has the potential to
take a B+ to an A-, etc. Please don’t ask me about the specific point value of
this discussion board at any point during the semester. At the end of the
semester I will make an assessment based on all of your completed work
and any contributions you made to the EC discussion board. This
assessment cannot be made until all your work is completed—ergo it’s
useless to ask me about it beforehand. To be safe, you could simply post
regularly to the EC discussion board.
How Will You Grade My Post?: Each discussion is a total of eight points. You
get two points for responding to two other students, and two points for
posting your initial response to the prompt before Thursday at midnight.
You can still post after Thursday at midnight; you will just lose two points.
The other four points are given based on the quality of your post. While
some online classes provide a detailed rubric for discussion posts, I do not.
This is because I see online discussion like actual class discussion—
something that should flow naturally and be as free from outside
constraints as possible (including rigorous grammatical standards). When
you answer a discussion question I want you to be thinking about the
question, not about how I will grade the question. Naturally there are still
some rules (which I’ve just discussed) but beyond that the grading is fairly
loose. Bottom line: your post must indicate that you’ve really considered
the question. After studying philosophy for years, I can clearly recognize
the posts that meet this criterion and those that don’t.
Other Concerns:
Supplemental Material: This folder gives you the major ideas for the week, in
addition to either online lectures I've created for the material, or power
points that I use in my face to face courses, or both (you don't have to do the
freewrites on the power points). These are supplements to the book and
other readings. Everything you need to know is in the book and readings, but
I provide these supplements to make the material more digestible for you as
students. Please don't be afraid to point out any mistakes so I can correct
them. In order to prepare for each assessment, make sure you have a good
grasp of each relevant major idea (major ideas are not relevant only if they
come from material before the previous assessment). Notice that the power
points follow the major ideas, so that's a good place to start if you're having
trouble.
Major Ideas: The major ideas are listed for each week in the Supplemental
Material folder. If you're wondering what to study for each assessment, it's
the major ideas. In the Assessments folder is a list of the material covered
on each assessment, which should guide your studying. For example,
Socrates is covered on Assessment 2, and you can find the major ideas for
Socrates, again, in the Supplemental Material folder for that week.
Late Work Policy: I do not accept late assessments, period. You will have four
full days (usually from Wednesday morning until Sunday night) to submit.
This is more than enough time. If one day doesn't work for you, one of the
other three is bound to. Do not email me to tell me that you missed the
discussion or assessment! If you are unable to do the work required for five
days straight, you should probably not be taking a college course (sorry to be
a bit harsh, but students often take advantage of turning work in late and
this is what I'm trying to avoid). I do accept doctor's notes (which must be
photocopied and sent to me as a PDF file) if there is a serious emergency.
Students with Disabilities: Southwestern College recommends that students
with disabilities discuss academic accommodations with their professors
during the first two weeks of class.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism and cheating is a violation of academic integrity and
will not be tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, submitting quoted
or paraphrased material in a paper as your own without citing the source
and using the proper form, wandering eyes, and/or use of unauthorized
outside assistance during any exam. Violations, suspected or actual, will be
reported to the School Dean and the Dean of Student Activities. Results of
plagiarism or cheating may include any of the following: an F grade for the
assignment and/or course, formal charges of student misconduct resulting
in academic probation, suspension, or expulsion.
Academic Success Center Referral: To further your success, reinforce
concepts, and achieve the stated learning objectives for this course, I refer
you to Academic Success Center learning assistance services.
Note: The operations of this course are not set in stone. Modifications to the
course may be made at the discretion of the instructor. Any such changes
apply to all students equally.
Phil 101 Schedule
In order to respond to weekly discussion boards, you should have the
readings for each week done by Monday or Tuesday of that week.
Date
Archetypes To Be
Covered
Readings, Assignments, Etc.
Week 1
Introductory
Material
Read: Soccio [6th, 7th, or 8th eds.] Ch.
1
Discussion Board 1
Week 2
Lau-Tzu and
Confucius
Read: Soccio [6th or 8th eds.] Ch. 2
(23-42) or [7th ed.] Ch. 2 (23-40)
PreSocratics and
Sophists
Read: Soccio [6th ed.] Chs. 3, 4, and 16
(447-450) or [7th ed.] Ch. 3 and 16
(436-439) or [8th ed.] Ch. 3 and 15
(438-441)
Discussion Board 2
Socrates and Plato
Week 3
Aristotle
Assessment 1 (Multiple Choice +
Essay)
Read: Soccio [6th ed.] Chs. 5 & 6 or
[7th or 8th eds.] Chs. 4 & 5
Read: Soccio [6th ed.] Ch. 7 or [7th or
8th eds.] Ch. 6
Discussion Board 3
Marcus Aurelius and Read: Soccio [6th ed.] Ch. 8 or [7th or
Epictetus
8th eds.] Ch. 7
Week 4
St. Thomas Aquinas
Read: Soccio [6th ed.] Ch. 9 or [7th or
8th eds.] Ch. 8
Discussion Board 4
Assessment 2 (Multiple Choice only)
Week 5
The Buddha
Read: Soccio [6th or 8th. eds.] Ch. 2
(42-58) or [7th ed.] Ch. 2 (40-54); from
the Additional Readings folder: the
Dalai Lama
Rene Descartes
Read: Soccio [6th ed.] Ch. 10 or [7th or
8th eds.] Ch. 9
David Hume
Week 6
Karl Marx
Discussion Board 5
Read: Soccio [6th ed.] Ch. 11 (300-319)
or [7th ed.] Ch. 10 (288-306) or [8th
ed.] Ch. 10 (292-311)
Read: Soccio [6th ed.] Ch. 14 or [7th or
8th eds.] Ch. 13
Discussion Board 6
Ayn Rand
Week 7
Friedrich Nietzsche
Simone de Beauvoir
Week 8
King, Singer, and
Nussbaum
Assessment 3 (Multiple Choice only)
Read: from the Additional Readings
folder: Rand
Read: Soccio [6th ed.] Ch. 17 or [7th or
8th eds.] Ch. 16
Discussion Board 7
Read: from the Additional Readings
folder: Melchert
Read: Soccio [8th ed.] Ch. 18 or from
the Additional Readings folder: Soccio
Discussion Board 8
Assessment 4 (Multiple Choice +
Essay)