Greetings Distance Learning Students!  A few words from your professor before you get going.  Please read the information below on the text and requirements very carefully.  The crucial thing in succeeding in this course is paying close attention to the lectures and taking good notes on them.   You will not be able to pass the course simply by memorizing the outline of information on the slides.  You will need to understand the issues and for that you’ll need to listen and take good notes.  If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail or call or, if you’re in town, stop by my office, 204 in the main Philosophy Department building, 24 Kent Way.  Regarding e-mail, do not use the web page e-mail. The e-mail I check regularly is krogers@udel.edu.  Please include PHIL 101 in the subject so I don’t accidentally delete you as junk!

Text: Philosophy: History and Problems Seventh Edition, Samuel Enoch Stumpf and James Fieser, eds. Again, note that we are using the SEVENTH edition.

The notes from which I lecture are on my web page, http://www.udel.edu/rogers.  They are a sketchy outline of material presented in lectures and will by no stretch of the imagination substitute for good notes taken on your own.  However they can be useful in organizing your notes and in making sure that you got everything in the right order. These notes change from semester to semester as I teach my regular classroom version of the course, so be alert.  If you find discrepancies between the online lectures and the notes, it is the lectures, following this syllabus, for which you are responsible.  If you’re not sure what you need to know, feel free to get in touch.

Do the readings before class.  Note that the book is divided into a primary section about the philosophers under discussion, and a secondary section of material by the philosophers.  The page numbers start over at the beginning of the second section.

Requirements: Four multiple choice tests, one after each section, to be weighted equally in figuring final grade.  93-100=A, 90-92=A-, 87-89=B+, 83-86=B, 80-82=B-, 77-79=C+, 73-76=C, 70-72=C-, 67-69=D+, 63-66=D, 55-62=D-, below 55 = F.   Students taking the test at the Resource Center in Newark should be able to check for grades immediately upon submission of the test.  Other students must wait until tests have made their way through snail mail to me so that I can grade them and post your score on the course web page.  If you don’t find a score when and where you think you should, let me know.  Tests are not returnable, but I will be happy to respond to any questions you have.  If you want to look over your test it can be arranged.
 
 
 

TESTING INFORMATION: You should receive testing information from the Online office in with your course materials. Please refer to this for dates and times.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 I. ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY

Class #

1 Introduction

2 The Pre-Socratics, pp.3-25

3 The Pre-Socratics cond.

4 Socrates pp.26-40, pp.5-23 (from the Apology).

5 Plato, pp. 41-67, pp. 171-176 (from the Republic).

6 Aristotle, pp.68-89. (You can skip the part on art.)

7 Aristotle continued,  pp.296-302 (from  Nichomachean Ethics), pp.367-374 (from Politics).

 Test #1
 
 

 II. MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
 

8 Introduction to God (no readings)

9 St. Augustine, pp.113-128

10 Augustine continued. Pp.309-312 (from On the Morals of the Catholic Church)

11 St. Thomas Aquinas, pp. 148-167, pp.117-122 (from Summa Theologiae. Note that “Objections” are the views with which Aquinas will DISAGREE!).

12 Aquinas continued, pp.375-379 (from Summa Theologiae).

 TEST #2
 
 
 

 III. MODERN PHILOSOPHY
 

13 Descartes, pp.204-215, pp.185-193, 61-65 (from Meditations et al. Read in the order given).

14 Locke's epistemology, pp.229-236.

15 Berkeley, pp.239-244 and pp.69-77 (from Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous).

16 Hobbes and Locke on government, pp.199-203, 236-239

17 Hume, pp.244-253, pp.132-139 (from Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion), pp. 200-210 (from Inquiry Concerning  Human Understanding).

18 Kant, pp.271-294, pp.210-220 (from Critique of Pure Reason).

19 Kant, pp.312-319 (from Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals).
 

 Test #3
 
 

IV. NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURY PHILOSOPHY
 

20 Mill, pp.325-331, pp.320-325 (from Utilitarianism), pp. 400-404 (from On Liberty).

21 Marx, pp.345-359, pp.392-399 (from The Communist Manifesto).

22 Analytic Philosophy (Logical Positivism and The Verification Principle), pp. 398-399, 402-409.

23 Sartre, pp. 431-439, 34-40 (from Existentialism is a Humanism).
 

Test #4