| PHILOSOPHY 17 LOGIC AND CRITICAL REASONING (online)
BARBARA
UPTON
The Web site, which uses the Angel interface, opens August 28, 2006.
Please notify me immediately if you have a documented learning disability
and require extra time on timed exams. I am happy to give you extra
time if you (1) can document your disability; AND (2) notify me BEFORE
you take the timed exam.
All
Students: FREE
TUTORING
for this class is available on campus and online.
REQUIRED
TEXTS (in WVC bookstore, or order online from your favorite
vendor) Schick and Vaughn, How
to Think About Weird Things (Mayfield Publishing). Melchert, Who’s
To Say? A Dialogue on Relativism (Hackett), abbreviated DR
below. Patricia T. O’Conner,
Woe Is I (Grosset Putnam), abbreviated OC below. Conway and Munson, Basics
of Reasoning, Third Edition (Wadsworth), abbreviated CM
below. All
files hyperlinked in the Schedule below. All
the files hyperlinked below are accessible from Angel. These files
are also identical to the ones in my Online
Study Guide for Philosophy 17 on the WVC server. Online students
do NOT need to make regular use of the Study Guide on the WVC
server unless Angel becomes temporarily inaccessible (rare). If
you do not have regular reliable access to the Internet, you are welcome
to use computers on the WVC campus. If you use the WVC Tech Center,
there is a one-time $5 fee, which gives you access to the Tech Center
all semester at any hour it is open. There is a very fast Internet
connection, plus a free email account if you want one. The fee also
allows you to use the printers in the Tech Center. OTHER
READINGS A
few required readings and videos will be on reserve in the WVC library.
Most of the reading for this class is either from required texts or
online. I
recommend that you have at your disposal a reference text on the basics
of English composition and standard English usage, such as you used
in English 1A. You
are expected to understand and adhere to the FULL contents of this
syllabus from the first week of class. This syllabus is our contract.
It describes all assignments and special policies regarding attendance,
grading and other matters relevant to this class. Unless you contact
me during the first week of class with objections, I will assume you
understand and agree to the terms and conditions as presented here.
SCHEDULE
PART
1 (1 week)
PART
2 (1 week)
PART 3 (2 weeks)
PART 4 (2 weeks) PART
5 (2 weeks) PART
6 (2 weeks)
PART
7 (2 weeks)
PART
8 (3 weeks)
My
office is Art Lab 7 (near the campus theater). My phone number is
741-2045 ext. 3651 . This number has phone-mail. If you want me to
get back to you, be sure to indicate how and when I can contact you.
If you do not specify a time (within regular business hours, please),
I will return your call during my next office hour. ONLINE STUDENTS:
The most reliable way to reach me is via email within Angel. ONLINE
STUDENTS: After the semester begins, please contact me via email
within Angel.
My
West Valley College email address is barbara_upton@wvmccd.cc.ca.us
.
However, as stated above, the most reliable way to reach me is via
email within Angel. Why? Emails sent to me via westvalley.edu
do not necessarily get sent on to my home machine or my portable.
This could create problems for you if you need to reach me quickly.
For example, if you send an email to me at westvalley.edu on a Thursday,
and I am not on-campus from Friday through Monday, I may not receive
your email until the following Tuesday. If you send me email within
Angel, however, I can get your email whenever I have Internet access,
no matter what physical machine I happen to be using. I ordinarily
connect to the Internet every day from some machine or other.
I
will not return calls
or email for information that is available on this syllabus.
EXPECTATIONS REGARDING STUDENT CONDUCT All
students are expected to know the rules regarding plagiarism.
Plagiarism is a serious violation of the academic code. It is cause
for expulsion in many schools. Ignorance is not an excuse.
Other teachers may not enforce the rules; that is also NOT an excuse.
If you are unclear about what constitutes plagiarism, educate yourself!
Look closely at all the eye-opening examples here.
Students are often surprised to learn that what they consider standard
practice is actually plagiarism. Any
direct quote or close paraphrase without proper citation — any
use of anybody else’s words without giving proper credit
— is plagiarism. In addition to the usual kinds of plagiarism
(stealing sentences, paragraphs, papers, etc. from books or journals
or web sites), it is also plagiarism to “answer” an essay
question by cutting and pasting sentences from the study guide for
this class. Remember I wrote the study guide. If you cut and paste
from the study guide, you are plagiarizing my own sentences back to
me. I will notice. Any
student who violates the academic code (e.g., by cheating or plagiarism)
will, at minimum, receive a final course grade of F. This rule is
rigidly enforced. According
to the catalog, instructors may drop students “... when accumulated
hours of absences exceed ten percent of the total number of hours
the class meets during the semester.” I may exercise this option.
But the main responsibility lies with you. If you want to drop the
class, it is YOUR responsibility to do so.
The
last day to drop with a W is usually about one month before the end
of the semester. Check the Schedule of Classes for the exact date.
In
summary,
Exam 1 covers Parts 1-4
and is worth 20% of the final grade. Exam2 covers Part 5 and is worth 12%. Click
to see sample
exam 2. Exam3 covers Part 6 and is worth 12%. Click
to see sample
exam 3. Final exam (20%), comprehensive, but with
special emphasis on Parts 7 and 8. The final will be objective, with optional
extra-credit essay questions. The optional essay questions are
available within Angel all semester. Click to see sample
final exam. Term paper (20%) — see below. 8 short-essay assignments, worth 2% each,
for a total of 16%. There are detailed descriptions of each assignment
within Angel. Extra credit opportunities may be given, at
my discretion. I do not give special extra credit assignments
to individual students. If extra credit is offered, it will be
offered to all students in the class. Objective
exams must be taken on the appointed days. Angel must receive essay
assignments by 11:00 PM on the appointed days. Angel does not allow
you to submit assignments after 11:55 PM on the due dates. Be sure
to plan your time accordingly. Except in cases of extreme, documented,
emergency, no late assignments
will be accepted and no makeup tests will be given. Tests
not taken or assignments not handed in receive a grade of 0 (no points
— by contrast, even an F can be as much as 55% of assignment
points). When averaged into your other grades, a 0 on the final or
term paper will lower your grade at least two letters. Some
instructors permit you to hand in an assignment, receive comments,
revise the assignment, and hand it in again for a higher grade. I
do NOT do that. Some
instructors permit you to drop your lowest grade. I do NOT do that. This
class can be taken for credit/no credit. This means that if you get
an A, B, or C, you get a final grade of "CR" and 3 units; otherwise,
you get "NCR" and no units. You must declare your intention to take
the class with this option during the first six weeks of class. Please
let me know by October 11, 2006.
If
your paper comes out too short, it is probably not detailed enough.
You
must write your term paper on one of the following topics: Write an essay that critically
analyzes a particular pseudo-science or field of the paranormal,
e.g., scientology, feng shui, graphology, creationism, palm reading,
“pyramid power,” the Gurdjieff movement, transcendental
meditation, psychics, the Rosicrucian order, dowsing, ESP, Nostradamus,
shamanism, homeopathy, the hollow earth theory, etc. Get ideas
from SV Ch 8 and 9, Dr.
Simanek's home page (many good links), The
Skeptic's Dictionary, Carl Sagan’s Demon-Haunted
World, and/or check out the
Skeptical Inquirer articles online, published by the Committee
for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Write an essay on the extent to which critical
thinking, especially critical thinking about politics, is hampered
by popular culture (e.g., TV) and commercial news media. Neil
Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death is an excellent
resource. Some people say that if a belief makes you
feel good, you should go ahead and believe it, whether or not
it’s rational. Others say you should strive to have only
true or well-supported beliefs. Is there anything problematic
about maintaining beliefs you know to be irrational or questionable?
Why or why not? The philosophy of William James, especially his
essay The
Will to Believe is relevant here.
CRITERIA
FOR GRADING WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS Please
do not ask me “what I want” on written assignments until
you have carefully read this section and the section Key
to Paper Comments . All
take-home essays (including, of course, the term paper) must be typed
double-spaced. Worry if any essay comes out too short. Each essay
exam answer should be at least 2-3 typewritten pages long (500 words).
That is the minimum required. Page counts here refer to pages
of text. Cover sheets, works cited, illustrations, samples of
advertisements, pictures, cartoons, or other visual aids do not
count as text. On
all essays, I will be looking for the following 3 elements: 1.
Clear statement of relevant arguments and counter- arguments 2.
Demonstrated familiarity with techniques and vocabulary of argument
analysis 3.
Competent English skills Clear
statement of relevant arguments and counter-arguments One
primary purpose of essays for this class is to clearly state the main
arguments and counter-arguments. Do not
merely summarize class notes. Do not
vent your unanalyzed personal feelings or relate your autobiography
— although you can certainly argue for positions that
accord with your personal feelings. Demonstrating
familiarity with assigned readings means, at minimum, naming all the
relevant assigned authors and giving them credit for the arguments
they gave. The more precisely and accurately you state and analyze
someone's argument, the better. Demonstrated
familiarity with techniques and vocabulary of argument analysis. Essays
should also demonstrate familiarity with the techniques and vocabulary
of argument analysis. In other words, you must appropriately analyze
and critique the arguments and counterarguments in the reading, using,
for example, the Critical
Thinking Checklist. You must note and explain logical and factual
errors and obvious fallacies. The dialog format (like DR) is always
acceptable for essays in this class. I
assign essays so you can demonstrate skill and clarity in marshaling,
presenting, and criticizing arguments. You are not
expected to present original arguments or break any new ground. You
are not required
to “state your own personal views.” Please do not
feel compelled to make one author or position come out “the
winner”; the issues we will be discussing are often complicated,
and every contributor may say at least some worthwhile things. Competent
English skills All
assignments must demonstrate competent English writing skills, though
these count somewhat less than clear presentation and analysis. You
get up to 9 obvious technical errors (#1-20) per assignment with no
penalty. However, if there are more than 10 obvious grammar or spelling
errors, your grade will be lowered one letter; more than 20 errors,
two letters; more than 30 errors, three letters, etc. Each instance
of a misspelling counts as one error. It
is possible you have never had an English teacher as picky as I am.
You may have passed all your previous English classes; that is no
guarantee you will succeed here. In their effort to engage you in
writing, English teachers — especially in California —
often ignore elementary errors in English grammar and spelling; and
as a result, students often are unaware of their mistakes. I urge
you not to blow off the time allocated for basic English skills! Please
use the English skills links, which contain many explanations and
drills. And read the paper comments carefully, please, so you
can correct your mistakes next time! To
see just how detailed the scrutiny of your work in this class will
be, look at the sample
graded papers.
Please be especially about the following: Avoid misspellings of authors' names (including
mine — "LaFave"). Be especially careful about "Nietzsche,"
"Rachels," "Kierkegaard," "J. S. Mill" (not "Mills"). Refer to both male and female authors in
the same way. Do not, for example, refer to male authors by their
last names and female authors by their first names. Avoid misuse of the apostrophe (possessives
and contractions) For review, see
Self Test on the Apostrophe. If you do not do well, go here
for information on correct use of the apostrophe. Also look here
for info on possessives. Avoid errors in singular-plural agreement.
For more info, see Singular/Plural
Matching (explanation) Avoid comma splices and other run-on sentences.
If you think a sentence might be a run-on, rewrite it! Take the
following self-tests to see if you need help with this subject:
Avoid sentence fragments. If you think you’ve
written a fragment, rewrite! To see if you need help, take the
following self-tests: Avoid danglers. O'Conner has a whole chapter
on danglers. Read it; it's a hoot! See here
for another excellent explanation, and do the Self
Test on Danglers. Avoid
wordy, fat, redundant sentences. Most students need work on this!
See Writing
Concisely (explanation and selftests).
Avoid passive voice. See Active
and Passive Voice (explanation and selftest).
Use parallel construction. See Parallelism
(explanation and selftest).
Beware: a spell checker checks spelling
only — not usage. It flags what it can't find in its dictionary.
Since all the following are legitimate English words, your spell
checker won't notify you even if you confuse them. Nevertheless,
I will count misuses in your technical-error total. You have been
warned! do / due ("The paper is due
Friday. I know you can do it!") know / no ("You're kidding! No
way! You don't know this?") posses (more than one posse, as in
"We'll round up a posse, Sheriff") possess (have) sole / soul ("Now that I'm dying, my sole concern
is the fate of my soul!") udder / utter (Look this one up if
you don't get it: it's too funny!) waver
/ waiver your / you’re The following words occur commonly in philosophy
papers. Spell these words correctly! accommodate Please don’t attempt a dialog unless
you can punctuate it correctly! In particular, note carefully
the correct punctuation of direct address (when one character
addresses another by name or by words such as “man,”
“dude,” or “girl”). There’s an important
difference between “I know Jane” and “I know,
Jane”; and between “I know that girl” and “I
know that, girl.” Because serious ambiguities can result
from this kind of carelessness, you must use commas to
separate the direct address word from the rest of the text, even
when there is no apparent ambiguity. When the direct address word
is embedded within a sentence, you need two commas, one
before and one after: for example, “We all recognize,
Lisa, that you are unusually intelligent.” It
is your job to edit and proofread your papers. Click
for
comprehensive
online writing help (a really good site)
Technical
errors/Style issues 1
Incorrect use of apostrophe 2
Missing apostrophe 3
Singular-plural mismatch 4
Run-on sentence 5
Sentence fragment 6
Spelling error 7
Use parallel construction 8
Sentence or ¶ too long 9
Referent of pronoun or pointer not clear 10
Wordy, “fat,” redundant 11
Capitalization error 12
Word order confusing 13
Punctuation error 14
Quote marks beginning and end 15
Avoid dictionary definitions; philosophical usage is often different
from ordinary language. 16
Underline or italicize book titles. 17
No space before punctuation; space after. 18
Bad word break 19
Must have a space before an open quote, but no space after one. 20
Direct quotes require quotation marks and citations. 21
This is an odd (and perhaps unintentionally humorous) choice of words,
evoking irrelevant associations or mental images. 22
Active voice would be clearer and more vigorous here. 23
Don’t say someone “feels” when you mean “thinks”
or “believes” or “argues”. 24
I know what you mean, but this is not a standard English word or idiom. 25
Sloppy imprecise word choice Problems
in presentation of content 30
Biographical information about the author is usually not relevant
to evaluation of philosophical argument. Students often include it
as “padding”. But soundness of argument depends only
on correct logic and facts. 31
Speculations about psychological influence of author’s childhood,
background, etc., are usually not relevant to evaluation of philosophical
argument. 32
HUH? Vague. This is either “word salad” (I haven’t
a clue), or I can think of more than one thing this could mean. Ask
me if you can’t imagine why I found it unclear. 33
It is more respectable among scholars to cite from the original text
if available, rather than a commentator’s introduction or paraphrase.
Also, citing a commentator’s paraphrase or introduction does
not demonstrate the required familiarity with assigned reading. 34
This quote does not seem related to what comes before or after it.
35
Quote is out of context. The author is arguing against this
view. (Did you read all the pages?) 36
You need to explain this more fully. 37
So? I don’t see the relevance of this to the paper. 38
To a philosopher this would be a perfectly reasonable question! 39
For maximum clarity, use grammatical statements — not
questions — to state premises and conclusion of an argument. 40
This seems a great deal of fuss over nothing much. No one disputes
your claim. 41
A claim isn’t more true just because it’s strongly
felt or believed. 42
You don’t need to be so tentative here. 43
Watch the weasel words. 44
Your account of this argument is oversimplified and/or distorted.
(Perhaps you do not yet fully understand it.) Remember the principle
of charity. 45
This reads like a first draft. Organization needs work. 46
I don’t see the analogy here. 47
I don’t see how this follows. 48
I see alternatives besides the ones mentioned. 49
This seems overstated. 50
Why? This is a conclusion. You need to support it. 51
Avoid vague relational claims. More specific statement of the connection
is needed here. 52
This seems simply untrue. Extremely
serious problems 60
Your words? Please be prepared to show me your sources. 61
Your paper does not demonstrate sufficient familiarity with lecture
content and/or the assigned reading. 62
Your paper doesn’t show sufficient argument and counter-argument.
63
A paper must be more than a string of quotes or a “quote-quilt”.
_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ For
help in writing and grammar, see the following online resources:
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