ELEMENTARY
Philosophy 210
8/21/2011
GENERAL INFORMATION
University of Tennessee at Martin Department of History and Philosophy
Phil 315: History of Modern Philosophy, all sections, 3 credits, no prerequisite
Instructor: Dr. James Fieser
Office: Humanities 216A
Office Hours: MWF 1:00-2:00, and by appointment
Phone: 881-7537 (Office) 588-2791 (Home)
E-Mail: jfieser@utm.edu
Required material:
John Nolt, Schaum’s Outlines: Logic (New York: McGraw Hill, 1998), second edition (ISBN: 0071755462)
COURSE PURPOSE, GOALS, AND OBJECTIVES
210 Elementary Logic (3) An analysis of the fundamental logical categories and skills which are needed for academic studies and the ordering of life’s experiences: meaning, informal fallacies, tests of truth, rules of evidence, types of language, inference, argument and methodology (scientific and otherwise).
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Tests: Three tests will be given throughout the semester consisting of about 40-60 multiple choice questions each. Test questions will be based on both the lecture material and the text. Students should not assume that all material in the text will be covered in the lectures or that all material in the lectures is covered in the text. Please note that I may discard some questions on exams if in retrospect I see that they are unclear. Students will receive a five point penalty for each day an exam is taken late for up to two days. No make up exams will be given after the second day and students will fail the course by default. No make up exams will be given for the final exam at the end of the semester. Do not show up late for class on test days, especially for the final exam. Exam dates are listed in the course reading schedule. The dates are fixed; please do not request that I change them. The third exam will be given during finals week, and will not be comprehensive. Please see the UTM final exam schedule for the day and time of the final exam for your section (the schedule is linked off the following web page: www.utm.edu/departments/registrar/CourseListings.php). The exam will be held in our regular room.
Homework Exercises: All of the reading material in the course has accompanying study questions. Students are required to complete the exercise assignments on time.
Attendance: Attendance is expected and will be taken regularly; poor attendance may adversely affect your grade by 5-15 points. You are allowed six discretionary absences, with no penalty. These may include absences for health, family, legal, collegiate, personal or any other matter. However, if you want more absences than six without being penalized, you need to have legitimate written excuses for each absence, including the six discretionary ones plus everyone thereafter. Most students typically stay within the six absence range. Those who go beyond six are often prone to miss a lot of classes anyway, and don't have many legitimate excuses. College athletes or students with health issues who miss more than six classes need to be especially careful to make sure that every absence has a legitimate written excuse. If you go over six, I will only evaluate the legitimacy of excuses at the end of the semester, so you need to save all your written excuses until that time; please do not show them to me until then. The aims of this policy are to (1) encourage class attendance, (2) allow students a reasonable amount of flexibility on attendance and (3) reduce the need for me to make daily judgment calls about what counts as a legitimate absence. Please note that students typically miss more classes than they think they do; thus, I advise that you try to keep track of your absences. Ultimately, however, it is my record of your absences that counts, not your recollections. Students who miss class are responsible for acquiring the missed material from other students. On the first exam there may be test questions pertaining to the above attendance policies.
Tardiness: I understand that students may need to show up to class late. However, routine lateness is disruptive since it requires me to halt class and revise the daily attendance sheet. To discourage chronic tardiness, three tardies will count as one absence. A tardy occurs if a student enters the room after his/her name is called for attendance.
Class Participation: Class participation is encouraged, but not required. The purpose of all class discussion is to help clarify and advance the material under consideration. Please note that I may need to cut short discussions that stray from this aim. Please also note that this course will cover controversial issues and you will likely be exposed to views that differ from your own, particularly in the areas of moral, political and religious philosophy. When discussing these issues, you are expected to respectfully address me and your fellow students, and not let your emotions take over. If you cannot maintain an attitude of respect, or if you are exceptionally sensitive to exposure to controversial issues, then I encourage you to drop this class.
Class Disruption: Penalties for class disruption may include one or more of the following: points deducted from score, lowered grade, relocation to another part of the room, temporary removal from class, permanent expulsion from class, a report to Student Affairs, and a report to your supervisor (e.g., athletic coach, advisor). Class disruptions include unnecessary talking with one's neighbor, reading material which is not relevant to this course, leaving class early, ducking out of class to answer your cell phone, text messaging in class, surfing the web on your laptop, profanity, and any other indication of disrespect. If you have a special need to leave class early or receive a cell phone call, let me know in advance. Please be respectful of the fact that crowd control in a class of 50-plus students is difficult, and stray disruptions can compound quickly. I do not object to students eating food that isn’t noisy. I do not object to students discretely dozing off for a maximum of 15 minutes.
Academic Dishonesty: Dishonesty on tests, essays, or study questions will result in the penalties listed above, particularly permanent expulsion from the class and further penalties from the Office of Student Affairs, including expulsion from UTM. Dishonesty with attendance is a form of academic dishonesty, and will result in the same penalties. A common example of this is sneaking out of class through the back door after attendance is taken. Also, if during attendance a student deceptively says “here” (or an utterance to that effect) for an absent friend, both students will be penalized and reported to Student Affairs. Please note that these warnings regarding disruption and dishonesty are not bluffs. In recent semesters I have reported seven students to Student Affairs (who were subsequently put on probation) and have reported five others to their athletic coaches. I have relocated about 10 students to other parts of the room, docked points for about 10 other students, and had one student expelled from school.
Mid-Term Grade: Mid term grades are based solely on your first exam, and do not reflect points for study questions, or reduced points for attendance or class disruption. The letter grade that you receive during mid term If you receive an F for mid-term, I encourage you to drop the course and try again another semester. While it is possible for you to improve your standing later in the semester, my experience is that bad study habits set in early, and students typically sustain their failing grades throughout the semester.
Course Grade: Final grades will be determined according to the total points from the three exams (120-180 total points), attendance (10-15 points), homework exercises (30 points), minus penalty points for class disruption and late exams. The total number of points will be between 160 and 225. Students should assume that final grading will follow the standard grading scale, that is, A: 90%, B: 80 %, C: 70%, D: 60 %, F: 59% and under. However, the final grading scale may be curved slightly lower as will be determined at the end of the semester. Final grades will be calculated at the very end of finals week, and entered into Banner at that time (the print out sheet with the third exam scores will be posted in the hallway at that time, but it will not include final grades). When you receive your final grade at the close of the semester, please do not contact me to request a higher grade.
Grading Errors: I twice check all scores, arithmetic tallies, and grade submissions to avoid bookkeeping errors. If I nonetheless make a mistake and catch it after the fact, you receive the revised and corrected grade, not the initial mistaken one. (This isn’t Walmart where you get an item at the lower price if the cashier makes a mistake.)
Extra Credit and Lottery Scholarships: No extra credit will be available for this course; the reason is that it is nearly impossible to devise an extra credit system that is fair to everyone and doesn't inadvertently penalize otherwise good students who decline an extra credit opportunity. Students on Lottery Scholarships/Grants should take particular note of this since recipients must maintain a designated grade point average (see http://www.tennessee.gov/tsac/tels_facts.pdf). To avoid jeopardizing your average, please begin working hard at the outset of the semester.
Email Contact: During the semester I may email short messages to the entire class. I will do so through Banner, which has a database of your official UTM addresses. If you do not check your email regularly, please set up your UTM email account so that it forwards all email to your preferred account (e.g., a gmail account that you regularly use). To do so, go to this website www.utm.edu/otutor.php#owa and click on the link half way down the page that says “forward all messages to preferred account”.
Implied consent: By remaining in this class you implicitly consent to the class policies and penalties associated with infractions. If you have difficulties with any of the above, I encourage you to drop this course.
Disclaimer: The above items are subject to change during the semester.
Disability Services Information: Any student eligible for and requesting academic accommodations due to a disability is requested to provide a letter of accommodation from PACE or Student Academic Support Center within the first two weeks of the semester.
CHAPTER ASSIGNMENTS AND TEST SCHEDULE
Chapter 1: Argument structure
Chapter 2: Argument evaluation
Chapter 8: Fallacies
Chapter 3: Propositional Logic
[First Exam: Wednesday, September 28]
Chapter 3: Propositional Logic (continued)
Chapter 4: Propositional Calculus
[Second Exam: Wednesday, November 2]
Chapter 5: Categorical Statements
Chapter 9: Induction
Chapter 7: Predicate Logic
Chapter 6: Predicate Calculus
[Third Exam: finals week
HOMEWORK
*Do exercise questions after material is first covered in class
*If no specific homework assignment is given, do 3-5 exercises outside of class from the ones that do not have solutions provided in the book