PHI 110 MWF 2:30-3:20 Ralph Shain (rshain@missouristate.

edu)
Strong 201
“In philosophy, there is no shallow end of the pool.”
P.F. Strawson

Introduction to Philosophy

This is a survey class. The purpose is to introduce you to some of the standard problems, disputes, and
approaches in philosophy. Philosophy is a very old endeavor, going back at least 2500 years. However,
in philosophy, nearly everything is contested. There is no consensus on anything—not on how to solve
its problems, but also not on how to approach these problems or even what counts as a legitimate
problem. This makes it very difficult to design an introduction!

General Outline of Topics:

1. Introduction
2. Knowledge
Exam 1
3. Metaphysics
Exam 2
4. Art
5. Technology
Exam 3

Questions we will cover this semester:

1. Do philosophical questions have answers?
2. How does one know?
What is the basis of knowledge?
What is the structure of knowledge?
Is knowledge universal or relative?
3. What is real?
What is the relation of mind and brain?
Does God exist?
Is time real?
4. What is Art?
Is sentimentality a bad thing in art?
Does art differ from entertainment?
What is the relation between culture and politics?
Does public opinion matter for public art?
5. How is technology changing society?

A detailed schedule of readings and deadlines will be found at the end of the syllabus.

Readings:
The books required for this course are:
Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy (Hackett)
Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Hackett)
Arguing About Art, edited by Neill and Ridley (Routledge) (3rd edition)
McLuhan, The Medium is the Massage

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These books are available for purchase at the MSU bookstore. Be sure you buy the Descartes and Hume
books immediately because we are using them at the beginning of the semester and they are being used
by other classes. Don’t wait long to purchase the others, as the unpurchased copies may be sent back to
the publisher before you buy them.

It is important that you buy the books. You cannot count on finding them on the internet. The specific
edition of the art anthology is definitely not available on the internet. (Be sure you buy the third
edition!)

Many of the assigned readings will be found on Blackboard. A few will be found on the web. These may
be supplemented by short news, magazine, or web articles which will be added during the semester if
something relevant comes up.

It is also important that you bring the assigned texts, whether a textbook or posted article to class the
day it is being discussed. This means that you will need to print out the posted readings, and this may
be a significant portion of the cost of texts for this course.

Attendance:
Attendance is of the utmost importance, and following university policy, it is expected that students will
come on time to class every day on time. Remember that if students come in late, it disturbs those in
the class and makes learning very difficult. So come on time.

Grading:
The assignments will consist of three exams and course preparation quizzes. Each exam will count for
25% of the course grade. The course preparation quizzes (combined) will also count for 25% of the
grade. Exams will be graded on a 50 point scale, and the course prep quizzes will be (in total) also
graded on this scale:

A 43-50
B 38-42
C 34-37
D 30-33
F 0-29
I will use +/- grading. The highest point on the scale will have +, the lowest will have -. (According to
the university rule, no D- or A+ can be assigned.)

Grading will be according to the above method and scale. Ignore whatever indications or calculations
of grades which are provided by Blackboard.

Exams 1 and 2 will consist of short answer questions, taken from the study guides, and essay questions.
Exam 3 will consist of essay questions only. The short answer questions will be taken from the study
guides and the range of possible essay questions will be provided ahead of time. All exams are closed-
book, closed-note, with no electronic devices and no assistance from others allowed.

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Exams will not be comprehensive in terms of the specific questions asked, although in writing the exams
you will be expected to know what was covered earlier in the course. Exams will be marked down if they
show errors concerning material covered in the earlier parts of the course.

Course Preparation Quizzes.

Course prep assignments will consist of open-book, multiple-choice quizzes which will be due during the
first and third parts of the course. Course prep quizzes are to ensure that you (usually) do the reading
before class. They are always due one hour before class time and late quizzes will not be accepted.
There will be no course prep assignments for the second third of the course.

The course prep quizzes will be posted on Blackboard. Each question counts for one point. A maximum
of 25 points is allowable for this part of the course. Once you have 25 points, you are no longer required
to take the quizzes. No extra credit is offered for taking extra quizzes and getting more than 25 points.

There will be an optional extra credit assignment worth 5 points (to be added to your course
preparation grade), available at the end of the semester. You may do this even if you have the
maximum 50 points for course preparation and it will be averaged into your overall grade.

Office Hours:
My office is on the third floor of Strong Hall, in the wing which holds the philosophy and political science
departments. My office hours will be by appointment, and you can choose to meet via
Zoom/Collaborate or in my office. Office Hours will be on MWF from 1:30-2:30 and Thursday between
2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. To make an appointment, send me an email prior to 6 p.m. the day before you
wish to meet. When you send me an e-mail, be sure to specify whether you wish to meet in my office or
through Zoom (or Collaborate). Don’t assume that we have an appointment until I confirm, as someone
else may have already requested that time slot.

I encourage you to talk to me during my office hours.

If you wish to talk to me, but can’t do it during my office hours, we can schedule an appointment for a
different time or day.

I will not have office hours during university holidays, spring break, or final exam week.

Contacting Me:
You may contact me by e-mail or phone. My e-mail address is [email protected].
If for some reason you can’t reach me by e-mail, you may also leave a message for me with the
department assistant at (417) 836-5650 (department office). My office phone is 417-836-5735.

Late Work:
Makeups for exams will be granted in the case of illness or emergency; however, you must send me an
e-mail notifying me of the need for an extension prior to the exam time. Extensions will not be granted
for the quizzes, as the answers will be available after the deadline in the lecture. This is why I have set
up the syllabus so that there is extra space for you to get full credit by completing other, later quizzes.
(Keep in mind that the extra space is not unlimited.)

Copyright:

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The materials provided to you in this course are protected by copyright, and you may not distribute
them for your own purposes. They are provided under the fair use exception for educational purposes.
This also applies to my lectures, whether written, audio recordings, or video recordings.

University Policies will be found on the Blackboard Site for this course. These policies include:
Nondiscrimination, Disability Accommodation, Title IX Policy, Religious Accommodation, Mental
Health and Stress Management, Chosen Name Policy, Suicide Prevention, Student Requirements for
Technology, Academic Integrity, Cell Phone Policy, Audio/Video Recording of Course Activity,
Dropping a Class, Cultural Competence Statement, Lauren’s Promise, and Emergency Response.

You should become familiar with the university policies. They are important!

TECHNOLOGY:
No recording of lecture or class discussion. If you think this will be a hardship for you, please talk to me
about it. (This distracts one from concentrating on what is going on in class and from participating in
discussion.)

No note-taking on computers.

No wearing of earphones or headsets, or listening to mp3 players in class. No reading of extraneous

texts in class. No use of computers. No web searches, use of cell phones, sending or receiving of text
messages or other electronic communications. This is distracting and disruptive of the class.
VIOLATION OF THESE RULES Will SUBJECT THE STUDENT TO ADMINISTRATIVE WITHDRAWAL. In short,
you MAY NOT check or use your phone or electronic devices during class. The one exception (of
course) is in the event of a campus emergency. You must agree to abide by these rules concerning
technology to take this course.

No one will be penalized if they forget to turn off their phone and it rings during class, as long as they
shut it off as quickly as possible and as long as this only happens once or twice. But please try to
remember to turn OFF or SILENCE your phones and all other electronic devices.

You are responsible for making sure that the university has your e-mail account on file, and for checking
your MSU e-mail account or other account you have listed with MSU through the semester.

EXCEPTIONS:
Regarding any class rule or policy: if you have a special situation or some special catastrophe befalls
you in which you think an exception needs to be made in order to avoid an injustice, talk to me about
it in person—not by e-mail. (Zoom counts as “in person”.)

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 Projected Reading Schedule:

Introduction
week 1(Aug. 21, 23)
Mon: Review Syllabus/Discussion
Wed: Plato, “The Cave” (second part of posted reading—“Divided Line and Cave”)

I. Knowledge (weeks 1-4)

Fri (Aug. 25): Plato, Divided Line
week 2 (Aug. 28, 30, Sept. 1)
Mon: Descartes, Meditation 1
Wed: Descartes, Meditation 2 and opening of 3
Fri: Hume, Enquiry, pp. 9-20
week 3 (Sept. 4 (Labor Day, no class), 6, 8)
Wed: Quine;
Fri: Veyne
week 4 (Sept. 11, 13, 15)
Mon: Hume, Enquiry, pp. 21-53
Wed: catchup
Fri: exam 1

II. Metaphysics
week 5 (Sept. 18, 20, 22)
Mon: Nagel on mind/brain (review Descartes Med. 2)
Wed: Smart on mind/brain (review Quine); Graziano, “Are We Really Conscious?” New York Times,
October 12, 2014
Fri: Plato, Euthyphro
week 6 (Sept. 25, 27, 29)
Mon: Descartes, Med. 5
Wed: Descartes, Med. 4
Fri: Paley and Hume on the argument from design (from Hume’s Dialogues on Blackboard)
week 7 (Oct. 2, 4, 6)
Mon: Ewing and Dawkins on design
Wed: Hume on miracles (in the Enquiry)
Fri: Hume on the afterlife (in the Enquiry)
week 8 (Oct. 9, 11) No class on Oct. 13—Fall Break
Mon: Wiredu
Wed: Augustine on time
week 9 (Oct. 16, 18, 20)
Mon: Aristotle on Fate
Wed: Wittgenstein
Fri: Wittgenstein (continued)
week 10 (Oct. 23, 25, 27)
Mon: catchup and review
Wed: exam 2

III. Art and Technology

Fri: Sentimentality, Arguing About Art (AAA), Chaps. 20-22;

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week 11 (Oct. 30, Nov. 1, 3)
Mon: Bentham
Wed: Bentham (continued)
Fri: Mill, Campbell (Oprah v. Franzen)
week 12 (Nov. 6, 8, 10)
Mon: Gass
Wed: High/Low continued
Fri: Rock and Culture, AAA, Scruton, chap. 8
week 13 (Nov. 13, 15, 17)
Mon: Gracyk, AAA, chap. 9
Wed: Public Art 1 AAA, chaps. 25, 26
Fri: Public Art 2 AAA, chaps. 27, 28
Thanksgiving week—no class (Nov. 20-24)
week 14 (Nov. 27, 29, Dec. 1)
Mon: McLuhan
Wed: McLuhan (continued)
Fri: articles on technology (see below)
Week 15 (Dec. 4, 6)
Mon: articles on technology TBA
Wed: conclusion

The four articles on technology for week 14 (find on the web):

(1) Virginia Heffernan, “Let Them Eat Tweets”, New York Times Magazine, April 19, 2009;
(2) Matt Richtel, “Technology Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say”, New York Times, November
1, 2012;
(3) A.G. Sulzberger, “In Small Towns, gossip Moves to the Web, and Turns Vicious”, New York Times,
September 19, 2011;
(4) Nelson, Schwartz, “In Hiring, a Friend in Need is a Prospect, Indeed”, New York Times, January 28,
2013.

You can find the articles on the web, either by searching them directly, on the New York Times
website, on through the MSU library website. The MSU library website is helpful in case you are blocked
by the NYT pay wall. Go to the library website and find the New York Times on the index of databases.
Contact a librarian if you need help finding it.

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 Deadlines

Quizzes will be found on Blackboard. They are to be answered based on the reading. They are open-
book. The deadline is 1:30 p.m., one hour before class starts. One point per correct answer. Quizzes
are due until you achieve the 25 maximum points for that section of the course.

I. Introductory
Wed., Aug. 23 Quiz on Plato, “The Cave” (reading)

II. Part One—Knowledge

Fri., Aug. 25 Quiz on Plato, “Divided Line”

Wed., Aug. 30 Quiz on Descartes, Meditation 2
Fri., Sept. 1 Quiz on Hume’s Empiricism (Enquiry, pp. 9-20)
Wed., Sept. 6 Quiz on Quine’s Coherentism
Fri., Sept. 8 Quiz on Veyne’s Relativism
Mon., Sept. 11 Quiz on Hume’s Problem of Induction (Enquiry, pp. 21-53)

Exam 1 Friday, Sept. 15

III. Part Two—Metaphysics (no quizzes)

Exam #2 Wed., Oct. 25

IV. Part Three—Art and Technology

Fri., Oct. 27 Quiz on Sentimentality (chaps. 20-22)

Fri., Nov. 3 Quiz on Mill and “Oprah vs. Franzen”
Fri., Nov. 10 Quiz on Scruton (AAA, chap. 8))
Wed., Nov. 15 Quiz on Public Art 1 (chaps. 25, 26)
Fri., Nov. 17 Quiz on Public Art 2 (chaps. 27, 28)
Mon., Nov. 20 Quiz on McLuhan

Tuesday, March 10 Extra Credit (5 points): Assignment TBA on Nonwestern Art (chaps. 29-30)

Exam #3 Monday, December 11 from 11 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.