Course
Requirements
Philosophy 302—Mind and
Knowledge: Descartes to Kant
Spring 2019
Because the readings will be the springboards for our discussions, and
because our discussions will be the primary focus of the seminar, you will be required
to keep up with the readings.
Your evaluation for the seminar will be based on the following, with
their point values (out of a semester total of 200):
As this is an upper-division seminar, you are expected
to contribute to making this a seminar. This means more than you being present,
more than you speaking only when called upon, and more than speaking up on your
own only once every few weeks. It also does not mean merely talking often, as
if the more sound waves created, the better.
Late (even barely late) work loses one full grade (10%), and a further grade for each additional twenty-four
hours of lateness. I understand that there are times when students think it
worthwhile to take the grade penalty in order to spend a day improving their
writing. Missing a scheduled tutorial loses one full grade on that assignment,
even if the work was turned in on time.
Examinations
Both examinations will consist exclusively of essay questions. At least
one week prior to each examination, I will circulate a list of possible
questions from which I will construct the examination. A question’s appearance
on this list is a necessary condition for it appearing on the examination.
The final examination will be cumulative, and will be
crafted to be a three-hour final.
Tutorials
The papers will be run as paired tutorials. You will be scheduled in pairs to come to my office and read
your paper to me and to the other student. We will talk about your paper,
interrupting you more than once. Then the other student will read her or his
paper in the same way. So that we may follow along as you read, hand in three
copies of your paper (including the original). Realize that it is your paper
that will be graded, not your reading of it or your
answering any questions which I or the other student may bring up. The purpose
of having you read the paper to me is that I can give you
comments directly and suggest ways to improve your future work. This is much
easier for me to do, and much more helpful to you, than having you read my
comments in dried ink on a dead piece of paper.
Writing
Since writing is central to the course, both in
reading others' and in creating your own, respect for writing will manifest
itself even at the level of writing mechanics. You will be
expected to take stylistic and mechanical concerns most seriously in
your three papers. As a motivational aid to this end, you will be allowed two
grammatical, spelling, or punctuation mistakes per page (partial pages counting
as full), after which you will lose one point for each pair of mistakes. For
example, if you have a 44-point paper of five pages, and you have made
seventeen mechanical errors, then you will receive a 41 for the paper. One more mechanical error would have given you a grade of
40. N.B.:
the same mistake (not just similar) repeated will count as one mistake. You
will be allowed to submit a revised version with the mechanical errors
corrected, and in these cases you will be assigned the
average of your original and revised grade.
You might consider spending a bit of time at my writing site. Few would fail to benefit.
Personal
electronics
This seminar requires a
free-flowing exchange of ideas, between you and the authors, as well as among
us. Laptops create a literal vertical barrier among us, and even the use of
flat-laying devices (like tablets, e-readers, or phones) create distracting
barriers to giving one’s full attention to our class. Therefore, the use of
electronics is not allowed in class, except by those with documented needs of
which I’ve been notified by the Office of Academic Services.
Cell phones should be stowed away, and not simply on the table, even if turned
completely off. “Why,” you ask? Well, recent studies indicate the distracting
effect of even a cell phone not
one’s own, laying on a nearby table. In fact, of even a
drawing or a thought of a cell phone.
So I hereby prohibit you during class even to think of a cell phone!
As for note-taking, consult this
study, which found superior recall in students who took notes by hand
compared to those who took them by typing, and this
recent article sums up some of the research findings.
Those unable to abide by these
rules need to find themselves another class.
Students with documented disabilities
“Students are admitted to St. Mary’s College based on their potential for
academic success, irrespective of physical or learning disabilities.
Administrative staff and faculty work cooperatively to assist students
with disabilities in their educational endeavors and adjustments to the College
community. The Office of Academic Services works to ensure that
educational programs are accessible to all qualified students. Student
with physical or learning disabilities should contact the Office of Academic
Services for specific information and assistance regarding potential special
needs.” --SMCM catalog
If you have a disability documented with the Office of Academic Services, you must schedule a meeting with me to discuss how to address any potential modifications mentioned by the Office of Academic Services. Please note that this meeting must take place during the first two weeks of classes. The purpose of this meeting is not to justify or explain the reasons for any potential modifications (that’s the business of the Office of Academic Services), but to discuss what reasonable modifications for this course will be and to work out the logistics of these. For example, if Academic Services indicates that you qualify to have a certain amount of additional time on tests, we will discuss whether you will get this time, and if so, then where and when you will get it.
Academic integrity
Academic integrity: The College’s definitions and policies
on this matter are laid out here (click on
“Academic Misconduct”). Ignorance of
such matters is no excuse.
Good samples of acceptable and unacceptable paraphrases can be found at a page put up by Indiana University: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml
Cornell has a quiz you can take to see how well you
understand what sorts of material needs to be sourced: http://plagiarism.arts.cornell.edu/tutorial/exercises.cfm
(Click on “Introduction” on the left-hand side if you want to see their
discussion leading up to the quiz.)
Grading standards
Adapted from Maxine Rodbury,
“A Grading Rubric,” Harvard Writing
Project Bulletin, p. 11: https://myusf.usfca.edu/system/files/HWP.responding.pdf
[accessed 15 January 2018]
a grade of A
Excellent in every way (this is not the same as
perfect). This is an ambitious, perceptive essay that
grapples with interesting, complex ideas; responds discerningly to
counter-arguments, and explores well-chosen evidence revealingly. The
discussion enhances, rather than underscores, the reader’s
and writer’s knowledge (it doesn’t simply repeat what has been taught). There
is a context for all the ideas; someone outside the class would be enriched,
not confused, by reading the essay. Its beginning opens up, rather than flatly
announces, its thesis. Its end is something more than a summary. The language
is clean, precise, often elegant. The reader feels
surprised, delighted, changed. There’s something new
here for the reader, something only the essay’s writer could have written and
explored in this particular way. The writer’s stake in the material is obvious.
a grade of B
A piece of writing that reaches high and achieves many
of its aims. The ideas are solid and progressively explored, but some thin
patches require more analysis or some stray thoughts don’t
fit in. The language is generally clear and precise but occasionally not. The
evidence is relevant, but there may be too little; the context for the evidence
may not be sufficiently explored, so that the reader
has to make some of the connections that the writer should have made clear for
the reader.
OR: A piece of
writing that reaches less high than an A essay but thoroughly achieves its
aims. This is a solid essay the reasoning and argument of
which may nonetheless be
rather routine. (In this case the
limitation is conceptual.)
a grade of C
A piece of writing that has real
problems in one of these areas: conception (there’s at least one main idea but
it’s fuzzy and hard to get to); structure (confusing); use of evidence (weak or
non-existent—the connections among the ideas and the evidence are not made or
are presented without context, or add up to platitudes or generalizations):
language (the sentences are often awkward, dependent on unexplained abstractions,
sometimes contradict each other). The essay may not move forward but rather may
repeat its main points, or it may touch upon many (and apparently unrelated)
ideas without exploring any of them in sufficient depth. Punctuation, spelling, grammar, paragraphing,
and transitions may be a problem.
OR: An essay that is largely plot summary or
“interpretive summary” of the text, but is written without major problems.
OR: An essay that is chiefly a personal reaction to
something. Well-written, but scant intellectual content—mostly unsupported
opinion.
lower grades
These are efforts that are wildly shorter than they
ought to be to grapple seriously with ideas.
OR: Those that are extremely problematic in many of
the areas mentioned above: aims, structure, use of
evidence, language, etc.
OR: Those that do not come close to addressing the
expectations of the assignment.
Go
to the home page for this
course.
Send me comments: mstaber at smcm dot edu
Go to Michael Taber's
home page.
Go to SMCM's home page.