AMENDED IN LIGHT OF COVID-19

This is the amended syllabus for PHI 363, which is now online only, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. I have not replaced the original syllabus. You can still find it by scrolling down the page. Much hasn’t changed. What has changed is explained here.

Meetings and Class Discussion

Going forward, class discussion will occur both on ReggieNet forums and during optional Zoom discussions.

Zoom discussions will be at the usual class time, 8-9:15 am, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Attendance is optional but strongly encouraged. The plan will be to mimic, as much as possible, the same (frustrating!) seminar discussion format we had in our face-to-face meetings. Here is the invitation link:

• PHI 363 Recurring Zoom Meeting

(For the full invitation, including telephone numbers that you can use to join if you have no internet access, see the Zoom module on our ReggieNet page.

Readings

We will continue to work through new readings through the week of April 20th. We will honor the tradition that no major new work is undertaken in the last week of class (the week of April 27th, aka “dead week”). You are encouraged to spend that time, and finals week, working on your final paper.

Requirements

Here are the amended requirements:

Preparation and Participation (20%)

• class reading assignments; independent reading assignments; forum discussion posts

Going forward, I am eliminating the “class reading assignments” and “independent reading assignments” in favor of “participation in forum discussion posts.” These are all pass-fail.

Short Writing Assignments (20%)

You have completed two of these. I will assign one more. These are graded.

Proposal and peer feedback (5%)

You need to post your proposal, and offer feedback on everyone’s proposal. This is pass-fail.

“Handout” (15%) and peer feedback (5%)

This replaces the poster. The idea is to construct a handout that could be used to present your topic, using no more than the two sides of a single piece of (virtual) paper. The handout is a graded assignment. The feedback is pass-fail.

Term paper (35%)

Nothing different here from before. This is a graded assignment.

What This Means For You

Readings

We will continue to work through new readings for the next five weeks (counting this week). The last week and finals week will be set aside for you to work on your final paper.

Short Writing Assignments

I will assign one more short writing assignment, based on the readings, with a flexible due date. You will turn it in on Reggienet.

Handout and Term Paper

For your handout/term paper project, you are required to:

1. Post your proposal (the same one you turned in as a poster proposal is fine) on the ReggieNet forum
   • Provide constructive feedback on everybody’s proposal (on the forum)
   • Engage with the feedback others provide you on your proposal (on the forum)
2. Post a “handout” on the ReggieNet forum.
   • Same as above: provide feedback; respond to feedback.
3. Submit the paper itself, on ReggieNet. Due the last day of finals week.

Forums

For each reading, I want each of you to ask a question. I will also ask questions. We will work together on answering those questions and understanding the reading.

Although the forums allow for asynchronic discussion (we don’t all have to be online at the same time), they work best if we are all working on the same things at roughly the same time. So there will be one primary reading for each week for us to discuss. You are welcome to start the discussion early, and continue the discussion after that week is over. But the expectation is that everyone will be discussing that reading during that week.

Zoom

We will have Zoom discussions, at our ordinary class time.

These will be voluntary, because at least one person responded to my Poll saying that they probably cannot participate in Zoom discussions. And, in the circumstances, it already seems crazy to me to expect you all to just continue on with your classes as though everything is normal.

Still, I hope that many of you can make it, and we can have productive discussions about the readings in this way.

I will record the discussions and make them available online as well. And I want to strongly encourage those of you who can participate in the discussions to follow up that discussion on the forums, filling in those who were unable to attend as necessary.

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Original Syllabus

Me and this Course

My name is David Sanson. I’m a professor of philosophy here at ISU. My research interests are in contemporary metaphysics, philosophy of language, and the history of medieval philosophy—most especially, the history of logic and philosophy of language in medieval Islamic philosophy.

My office is Stevenson 341. My email is desanso@ilstu.edu. My office hours for this term are Tue 1-2 and Wed 12-1, or by appointment. The course webpage is http://www.davidsanson.com/363.

Course Description

The title of this course is “Topics in Metaphysics and Epistemology.” Each time I teach it, I choose a different topic to focus on. This term, our focus will be on the ontology of ordinary objects.

Do ordinary objects—tables, trees, dogs, cities, clouds, cars, socks, toes, herds, statues, mountains, rivers, phones—exist? We will look at some reasons to think that, if they do, so do extraordinary objects, like the whole composed of Cleopatra and the Eiffel Tower, or a whole composed of the front half of a trout and the rear half of a turkey, or a tail-free cat co-located with a tail-having cat. Some ordinary objects are natural and some are artifacts. Some artifacts are artworks and some are commodities. We will look at some attempts to explain these distinctions, and we will look at some reasons to think that some or all ordinary objects essentially depend on us, and reasons to think that we essentially depend on them.

Books and Readings

I have ordered two books for the class:

• Daniel Z. Korman (2015). Objects: Nothing Out of the Ordinary. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780198732532
• Amie L. Thomasson (2007). Ordinary Objects. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780199764440

I have placed a copy of Korman’s book on reserve at Milner, and I have placed copies of both books on reserve in the department office. Other readings will be posted to the course website.

I strongly recommend that you acquire hard copies of both of these books. You will be spending time with them, both in and out of class. We will start reading Korman’s book immediately, so please acquire the book ASAP. The list price for the book is $72.00, but it is available in the $50 range on Amazon. It is also available as an ebook, either for purchase, or, in shadier corners of the internet, for free, but be aware that you will need a version with page numbers—typically a PDF—for citation purposes.

If the price of these two books poses a significant financial burden for you, talk to me. The department has some funds set aside for this purpose.

We are going to be reading both of these books. I strongly encourage you to read ahead. The sooner you can make it the case that you have read both books, the better. Then, you can treat the weekly reading assignments as an opportunity to reread each chapter with greater care and context.

Requirements

This is an advanced seminar-style course. It is important that you come to class, and that you come to class prepared to participate, and it is important that, over the semester, you gain the skills needed to produce a substantive term paper.

Your grade will be based on the three Ps:

• Preparation (20%):
  • class reading assignments; independent reading assignments
• Participation (not part of your grade, but a precondition for passing the class):
  • Failure to say something in more than five class meetings results in an automatic “F” for the entire course. (I will work hard to ensure that this is an easy condition to satisfy!)
• Papers, Posters, and Peer review (80%):
  • Several short writing assignments (20%)
  • Poster presentation (20%) (optional: submit your poster to the University Research Symposium)
  • Peer feedback on poster presentations (5%)
  • Term paper (35%) (recommendation: based on poster)

Preparation

For every course you take, you are expected to spend, on average, at least two hours outside of class for every hour you spend in class. (This is the University’s expectation, not my own.) So you should expect to spend, on average, at least six hours a week outside of class on this course. Since this is an advanced course, you should probably expect to spend more than six hours a week on it.

I realize that many of you work significant hours, and that it is not clear that it is possible for you both to work those hours and spend this much time on your classes. I recognize that this is a systemic problem at our University, and it is not your fault. Still, if at all possible, it is in your best interest to arrange your work hours so that this is not the case. I also realize that you can succeed in many classes at this university without spending this much time outside of class.

Students often struggle to use their time outside of class productively. Here is what I expect you to be doing outside of class for this course:

• Reading the assigned readings. Reading includes taking notes. Do not highlight or underline: these strategies are not effective. Instead, comment, interact, engage, object! After you have completed reading a piece, write a short paragraph for yourself, describing what the thesis of the paper and its central argument. (For the first several reading assignments, (I will be giving you guided reading exercises, meant to model this, that you will be turning in. For later reading assignments, I will give you less guidance, but expect you to follow the same model.)
• Talking about the readings and topics with other people. Do this with your classmates, or with your friends, or your roommate, or with other philosophy majors in the department lounge, or with me in office hours. Intrigued by a puzzle or argument from the reading? Try presenting it to someone else, and see how they react. Think you have an objection? Pass it by someone else, and see what they think? Completely confused, with no idea what the fuck you were supposed to get out of a reading? Maybe everyone else is too! You won’t know if you don’t ask. And if you do ask, and everyone is confused, work together to try to figure it out.
• Reading other work that you find yourself on topics closely related to the course. This class is not meant to be a self-contained silo. It is meant to introduce you to wide and messy range of topics in philosophy. You are doing it wrong if you just do the assigned readings and never explore the wider and messier literature for yourself. For more details, see the Independent Reading Assignment.
• Preparing for discussion. You will usually have some assigned exercises or tasks to complete before class—reading notes, an open-ended response, maybe something else. You should always come to class with at least one question or puzzle or objection or worry related to the reading. This isn’t something that just happens; it is something you need to do.

Independent Reading Assignments

Most weeks, you will be responsible for completing an independent reading assignment. That is, you must find and read an article that is related to our assigned readings, either by following a citation in our reading, or by searching on philpapers.org or the Philosophers Index (search for “Philosophers Index” on Milner Library’s website). You then must post (a) a complete scholarly bibliographic citation for the paper; (b) either a PDF copy of the paper, or a url link to a PDF copy of the paper; (c) a short paragraph summarizing the main point of the paper, and explaining how it relates to our assigned readings.

We will put these all together into a collective annotated bibliography.

Participation

This is a small discussion-based class. I may occasionally “lecture”, especially when introducing a new topic. We may occasionally break into groups and do in-class activities. But our primary mode of interaction will be class-wide discussion. It is essential that everyone participates in this discussion, and that everyone is comfortable doing so. This means you have to come to class, and it means you need to come prepared, and it means you have to talk. Listening to other people talk about things they don’t understand is useless and boring. Talking with other people about things you and they don’t understand is philosophy.

This also means you have to be nice to each other. This class is a safe space for making mistakes out loud—it is hard to do philosophy without doing it out loud, and it is hard to do philosophy without making mistakes. But it is also a safe space for calling each other out when we make mistakes: for criticizing, objecting, rejecting, and pressing for clarity and reasons, to a degree that is usually not tolerated in polite company. It is easy, when doing this, to slip into bullshitting or being an asshole. So, let’s not be bullshitters or assholes!

How does this all get computed into a grade? Most of it doesn’t. For this class, I am setting the assessment bar for participation low, but I am also making the penalty for failing to meet that bar draconian: if there are more than five class meeting where you fail to say anything (including meetings at which you don’t say anything because you are not there), the gig is up, and you get an “F” for the entire course. Please don’t make me do this.

(I realize that sometimes life turns sideways and there can be legitimate reasons—death, illness, mental health—to miss class more than five times. If this happens, talk to me.)

Papers, Posters, and Peer review

Short writing assignments

You can expect, once every two weeks or so, a short writing assignment. Some of these will serve as mini take home exams, asking you to demonstrate your understanding of content we have covered in class. Some of these will serve as philosophical exercises, asking you to identify and reconstruct an argument from the reading, or asking you to present an argument, an objection, and a response to that objection, or asking you to identify something you don’t understand, and write about why you don’t understand it.

Poster presentation

You will develop and present a poster, outlining and engaging with a topic of your own choice, as approved by me. These posters will be presented in class during Week 8 (March 3rd and 5th). Everyone will get a chance to engage with all the posters, and everyone will be required to write up some short feedback on each poster. You are encouraged to submit a revised and refined version of your poster to the University Research Symposium, on April 3rd.

Term paper

You will write a 10 page term paper, on a topic of your choice, as approved by me. Many of you will probably wish to write your term paper on the same topic as the topic your poster, but this is not required. The term paper will be due at the end of Finals Week.

Getting in Touch

The absolutely best way to reach me is to talk to me in person. Catch me before or after class, or stop by my office: if the door is open, you are welcome to pop in—if I am busy, we can make an appointment.

The second best way to reach me is by email. I am not always online and I cannot always respond immediately. If I have not responded in 24 hours please email me again, letting me know it is your second email (I won’t take this as harassment). Include “363” in the subject line of your email and your full name somewhere in the body of your email, so I know who you are(!), and that the email is related to this class.

Special Accommodations

Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contact Student Access and Accommodation Services at 350 Fell Hall, 309‐438‐5853, http://studentaccess.illinoisstate.edu

Other Sources of Support

Life at college can get very complicated. Students sometimes feel overwhelmed, lost, experience anxiety or depression, struggle with relationship difficulties or diminished self-esteem. Many of these issues can be effectively addressed with a little help. Student Counseling Services (SCS) helps students cope with difficult emotions and life stressors. Student Counseling Services is staffed by experienced, professional psychologists and counselors, who are attuned to the needs of college students. The services are free and completely confidential. Find out more at http://counseling.illinoisstate.edu or by calling 309-438-3655.

Academic Misconduct

Academic integrity is expected and required. Students are expected to be honest in all academic work. A student’s placement of his or her name on any academic exercise shall be regarded as assurance that the work is the result of the student’s own thought, effort, and study.

If you have questions, refer to the Code of Student Conduct, B1 (Academic Integrity), which outlines unacceptable behaviors in academic matters, or talk to me. In certain circumstances (such as cheating or plagiarism) I may be required to refer a student to Community Rights & Responsibilities for a violation of Illinois State University’s Code of Student Conduct.

My own opinion on these matters: if you are caught cheating or plagarizing in a 300 level course, you should, at minimum, fail the course and be forced to do some really annoying educational thing about why what you’ve done is bad. If you’ve been caught doing it before, you should be expelled from the University. If I have to refer you to Community Rights & Responsibilities, this is what I will recommend, but the ultimate decision about administrative penalties lies with them.