Philosophy 202 (Fall 2024)

 

Readings in the Western Philosophical Tradition: Modern Philosophy

 

Professor Patrick Frierson (call me “Patrick”)

 

My email: frierspr@whitman.edu

 

Class Meets in Olin 192, Monday and Wednesday 1-2:20

 

Come see me! 

I’m in my office (Olin East 193) and happy to meet with students on Monday and Wednesdays from 9-10:30am.  We can talk about questions related to class, but you don’t need a specific reason to come.  If you can’t make these times, send me an email and we can make an appointment for another time.  I’m also happy to meet with students over zoom who prefer to meet in that format.  I will also keep available a timeslot for zoom office hours Monday evenings from 9-10 PM at https://whitman.zoom.us/j/92189368747.  If you want to zoom with me at that time, shoot me an email before dropping in (ideally at least a few hours before dropping in).

 

Course Overview: We will start the semester with a selection of texts by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, a seventeenth century Mexican philosopher-poet-nun.  Every year (including this one), the students in Philosophy 202 choose which text the following year’s class will start with, and last year, they chose Sor Juana.  After our initial reading of Sor Juana, we will study the philosophers of this period thematically, focusing on three philosophical themes.  Those themes will be chosen by you (with help from our textbook editors and from me).  Over the course of the semester, you’ll read and discuss lots of great philosophy, work in a small group to organize the thematic unit you choose, write one or two papers, give at least two presentations, and take a final exam.

 

Accommodations:     If you are a student with a disability who will need accommodations in this course, please view next steps on the Disability Support Services (DSS) website Links to an external site.. For specific questions about accommodations and/or disabilities please email dss@whitman.edu. To complete an online accommodation request click here Links to an external site). All information about disabilities is considered private. If I receive notification from DSS that you are eligible to receive an accommodation due to a verified disability, I will work to provide it in accordance with the college’s standards.  Note that all disability related accommodations need to be arranged with me in advance, and it is the student’s responsibility to notify me for each particular case of missed class or work, within 24 hours of that missed work or class, that the missed work or class is related to their accommodation. 

 

Moreover, all students should be aware that the Academic Resource Center provides free peer tutoring for many 100 and 200 level courses.  All tutors are students who have already completed the course, earned a B+ or better, and were recommended by their instructor.  If you feel you would benefit from utilizing this service, please visit the ARC webpage and submit a request.  You can also locate a schedule for drop in tutoring on the ARC website. 

 

Likewise, in accordance with the College’s Religious Accommodations Policy, I will provide reasonable accommodations for students who have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments, or required attendance in class because of religious observances. Please review the course schedule at the beginning of the semester to determine any such potential conflicts and give me written notice (email is acceptable) by the end of the second week of class about your need for religious accommodations. If you believe that I have failed to abide by these policies, you may talk to your academic advisor or contact my Division Chair Lydia McDermott at mcdermlm@whitman.edu or file a grievance in accordance with Whitman’s Grievance Policy.

 

Required Text:

Lisa Shapiro and Marcy Lascano, eds. Early Modern Philosophy: An Anthology, Broadview Press: 2022.

 

Goals:  If you put forth effort in this course, by the end of the semester you should:

·       have a basic understanding of some elements of Sor Juana’s philosophy

·       be familiar with ideas of a wide range of modern European philosophers on a variety of topics

·       be able to read historical philosophers and use their ideas to stimulate your own philosophical insights

·       have tools to engage with difference and diversity, even when you find it disorienting, disruptive to your preconceived ideas, and hard to understand

·       be able to explain your ideas both orally and in writing

·       be able to work as part of a team to develop materials worth sharing with others

 

This course is an opportunity to learn and improve, not primarily an opportunity to show how good you already are. 

 

 

Assignments

Reading, Preparation, and Participation in Class: Regular, active attendance and participation are essential to the integrity of the class and a necessary expression of respect for your professor and classmates, who put significant work into designing this class.  You should attend every class, whether or not you have fully prepared for it.

That said, I expect you to come to class prepared, having read the material for the day, identified the key sentences in which the most important points are made and defended, worked through the central arguments of those sections, and prepared specific questions that you hope will be addressed in class.  Because the goals for this class include learning how to read challenging texts and engage with diversity, I want you to struggle with these texts on your own.  For that reason, you should not consult the internet for help with any of the primary sources we read in this class, with the exception of those about which you give a presentation or help design a class module. 

You are expected to participate in class discussion in ways that are meaningful, respectful, and that balance courage with humility. 

Preparation and participation will not count for any specific portion of your grade, but I will adjust final grades based on the quality of your contributions to our class discussions.  Participation does not count for any particular percentage of your class grade, but based on participation, I may alter your final grade upwards by as much as ½ letter grade (e.g. from B to B+) and downwards by as much as a full grade point (e.g. from B+ to C+).  Students who are absent from more than three classes will suffer a 1 grade penalty for each additional missed class.  Students who miss more than six classes will fail the class.

 

Turning in your work:  For all written work that you do not do in class, you should email your work to me at frierspr@whitman.edu.  Please turn in all work in .doc or .docx format.  Save your file with your full name in the filename, along with some indication of the assignment.  Please do not send googledocs.  If you work on googledocs, download it as a .doc file and email it in that form to me.

 

Papers.  Over the course of the semester, you will write two papers (see deadlines on course timeline below).

1.     Everyone must write a philosophically interesting exegetical paper on Sor Juana (due 5 PM on Friday, September 27th, 10% of final course grade).

2.     Everyone may write a paper on a philosophical topic different from the theme that you lead for the class as a whole.  This can be a topic related to another group’s theme, or any other philosophical topic that you choose.  (These papers will be written in stages over the course of the semester.  Each component of the paper must be turned in on time, and the first complete draft will be due on November 15th, with the final revision due on the last day of class.  The paper will be worth up to 20% of your final course grade, replacing other work on which you did less well.)

For more on each of this papers, click the relevant links.  Note, too, the “turning in your work” submission guidelines.  I will give your papers a “score” based on my grading criteria, available here.  (If you prefer a letter grade, simply ask.)  Any paper is revisable until the last day of class, and your grade will be the average of your initial grade and your final revision.

 

Thematic Unit Leadership.  The most significant component of this class is the group work you will do that will produce a unit of the course for your classmates.  By the third day of classes, you will be assigned to a group that will, together, develop a module for the class to explore a philosophical theme through a set of readings by historical philosophers.  Each module will consist of 5 class sessions during which the entire class will do primary source readings from at least 3 different philosophers; together with those philosophers, we will address important questions surrounding a philosophical theme.  Your group will probably have 4-6 people in it, and you will need to work together to plan for and organize the classes.  I have reserved our class period on xxx for you to work on your plan together as a group and to ask me questions as a group about the plans.  I will devote at least 20 minutes to each group during that class period.  In addition, I encourage you to meet with me during office hours (see my office hours above).

            As part of exercising leadership over a unit of the course, you and your group will do the following:

1.     Submit a Philosophical Theme Plan, no later than 1PM on September 23rd.  See the hyperlink for details about what should go into this plan, along with earlier deadline for different parts of the plan.

2.     Submit Philosopher’s Briefs for each philosopher associated with that theme, identifying (a) the relevant readings from the philosopher, (b) the main questions they discuss related to the theme, and (c) at least two important arguments they make related to the theme.  You should end each brief with a short explanation of why you are or are not assigning readings from this philosopher to the class.  (These briefs will be submitted by the team member or members responsible for those philosophers.  Each philosopher should have one brief and will get one score.)  Each student in the class must submit at least one Philosopher’s Brief, and all Briefs are due at the same time as the theme plan.  Students who complete more than one brief will be graded with a weighted average of their brief scores (with the best score(s) counting for twice as much as the others).

3.     Give a short opening presentation to the class laying out the theme.

4.     Give a short presentation on each major philosopher from whom we do primary source readings.  (This should be as short as possible.) 

Each student must participate in at least one presentation (either on a philosopher or laying out the theme).  Students who complete more than one presentation will be graded with a weighted average of their presentation scores (with the better score(s) counting for twice as much as the others).

5.     Prepare discussion questions and/or exercises for each day of class.  You will be responsible for getting our discussion started, but you will not need to “lead” discussion for the day.  You should plan to use 20-30 minutes of class time for your presentation and discussion questions.  I encourage those involved in getting discussion questions ready to meet with me during my office hours prior to leading class.  If you have an idea for class that will require an entire class period, please let me know that ahead of time.

6.     Submit a Group Assessment within 7 days of the last day that your group is leading class on the theme.  Every student needs to write their own Group Assessment.  You cannot pass the group assignment without submitting a group assessment. (While no set percentage of your grade is based on how you are assessed by your peers, I may modify students’ individual grades considerably based on group assessments.)

7.     Be creative!  Think of things that have worked well in discussions in other classes.  Bring in material that can help make the texts more engaging for your classmates.  And so on.  This is your chance to make this class your own.

 

The philosophical theme plan should be submitted by the group as a whole.  The group assessment should be submitted by each individual member of the group.  The presentations and discussion-leading can be done by any subset of the leadership group.

 

Celebrations of Learning.  At the end of each thematic unit, you will have a short celebration of knowledge (aka a “quiz” or “exam”).  The specific format of this celebration will be determined by the students who are leading that thematic unity.  It can be open- or closed-book, in class (on the last day of the unit) or take-home, timed or untimed, etc.  You will know the format of the exam on the first (or at the latest, the second) day of the unit.

 

Presentations.

·       You will give a presentation as part of your thematic unit leadership (see above). 

·       In addition, during the last two weeks of the semester (after Thanksgiving), each of you will give a short presentation (8-12 minutes) on a modern “European” philosopher other than Sor Juana.  The presentation should clearly and concisely lay out what is most important about the philosopher you discuss, including not only the positions they hold but the most important arguments they offer for those positions.  You should very briefly discuss the life of the philosopher and something about their influences and impact.  The primary purpose of the presentation should be to convince your classmates and me that this philosopher either should or should not be included in future courses on modern European philosophy at Whitman.  You may use powerpoint or other supplementary media, but you do not have to.

 

Final Exam.  There will be a closed book, blue book final exam for this course during the regular final exam period.  Students may consult a single page of notes to the exam.  The Final Exam will have three parts.  Part One will consist of quotation identification and analysis, where you will be given four short quotations and asked to identify the authors of two of them, explain your answer to each, and briefly state the relation of each quotation to the rest of the author’s work.  Part Two will have three essay questions which will relate to the themes and figures we covered this semester.  You will be expected to answer two of those questions.  Part Three will consist of a single question: “Which philosopher should definitely be included in this course next year?  Why?  (If your answer is not Sor Juana, be sure to explain why the philosopher you chose is more important to include than Sor Juana.  If your answer is Sor Juana, be sure to show why she is more important than at least three other very important philosophers.”  Note that the final exam will cover all of the material we cover in class, including students’ final presentations.

 

Your final grade will be broken down as follows:  Sor Juana Paper (10%); Thematic Unit Leadership (30%, divided between your overall group grade, your presentation grade, and your philosopher’s briefs grade); Canon Expansion Presentation (15%); Thematic Unit Celebrations of Learning (15%); Final Exam (30%).  In addition, there is an optional Philosophical Topic Paper, which can be worth up to 20% of your final grade, taking the place of other areas where you did not do as well.

 

Course Timeline

 

Reading to complete before class

Assignments to complete before class

Presenters

Sept. 4

Sor Juana, “Let us Pretend that I am Happy”, pp. 573-575

Get yourself excited for the semester!

 

Sept. 9

Sor Juana, “Let us Pretend that I am Happy,” pp. 573-575

Before class, you need to read at least one of the philosophers you’ll read for your theme.

 

Sept. 11

Sor Juana, Response to Sor Filotea, pp. 576-582

Get started on your philosophical theme readings

Before class, you need to read at least one of the philosophers you’ll read for your theme, and send me a draft of your Philosopher’s Brief (see above) on that philosopher.

 

Sept. 16

Sor Juana, Response to Sor Filotea, pp. 576-582

 

Short selection from Primero Sueño

Submit Part One of your Philosophical Theme Plan.

 

Sept. 18

Philosophical Theme Readings…

Your group, as a whole, needs to read all of the readings (both “thematically central” and “thematically relevant”). 

You should divide these up so that each central reading gets at least two people looking it over, and at least one reading it carefully.

Prepare a draft of your five-class-session plan.

Class today will be spent in your groups working on your theme plan, with me available to help you out.

Sept. 23

Sor Juana Reading TBD

Submit your complete Philosophical Theme Plan today!

 

Sept 25

Readings are all optional today, but I recommend choosing one or two and reading them in preparation for class.  I’ll upload the readings for this day once we finalize the theme.

 

 

 

Your Sor Juana papers are due no later than 5 PM on Friday, September 27th.  They should be emailed to me in accordance with my paper submission requirements (see “turning in your work” above).

Philosophical Mini-theme!  Let’s choose a theme we are not doing as a class and discuss that today.  (In the past, I’ve done “Mind and Body” or “Knowledge from Sensory Experience”)

Sept. 30

Philosophical Theme #1: Love, Day One.

Mary Astell, pp. 624-633

Submit the topic for your paper on a philosophical topic.

 

Oct. 2

Love, Day Two.

Shaftesbury, Inquiry Concerning Virtue (online)

Suchon, pp. 280-289

 

 

Oct. 7

Love, Day Three.

Du Chatelet, pp. 752-758

Malebranche, pp. 480-501

Submit three possible questions for your paper on a philosophical topic.

 

Oct. 9

Love, Day Four.

Anne Conway, opening paragraph and pt. #3, p. 253

 

 

Oct. 14

Love, Day Five.

Prepare for the Celebration of Learning! (and get started on the next reading)

 

 

Oct. 16

Philosophical Theme #2: Morality, Day One

Montaigne, pp. 4b-10

Unit #1 Celebration of Learning Due

 

Oct. 21

Hutcheson, pp. 694-698

Send at least 600 words addressing the question you will answer in your paper on a philosophical topic.

 

Oct. 23

Shaftesbury, pp. 648-658

 

Oct. 28

Kant (online reading)

 

 

Oct. 30

Mandeville, pp. 635-636, 641-646.

 

 

Nov. 4

Philosophical Theme #3: Human Nature, Day One.

Leibniz, Monadology (on web)

Leibniz, pp. 508-531 (§§8,9,13,25,26,27,33,34,35)

Leibniz, pp. 531-537

 

LeMettrie, pp. 760-768.

Unit #2 Celebration of Learning Due

 

Also, send at least 600 words in which you bring at least two modern philosophers into conversation with your emerging ideas for your paper on a philosophical topic.

 

Nov. 6

Human Nature, Day Two.

Smith, pp. 926-931

 

(Note: This is the day after the election.)

Nov. 11

Human Nature, Day Three.

De Grouchy, pp. 953-956

Hume, pp. 818-821a

Email me a provisional thesis for your paper on a philosophical topic

 

Nov. 13

Human Nature, Day Four.

De Grouchy, pp.953-956

Hume, reading TBD.

 

 

Nov. 18

Human Nature, Day Five.

Review Readings from this Unit.

Email me, in the proper format, a full draft of your paper on a philosophical topic.

 

Nov. 20

Review/Catch-up

Unit #3 Celebration of Learning Due.

 

Also, before class, email me, in the proper format, a full draft of your paper on a philosophical topic.  You should bring a copy of your paper to class.

 

Thanksgiving Break

 

 

 

Dec. 2

Class Presentations, reading TBD by presenters

 

 

Dec. 4

Class Presentations, reading TBD by presenters

 

 

Dec. 9

Class Presentations, reading TBD by presenters

 

 

Dec. 11

Class Presentations, reading TBD by presenters

Email me, in the proper format, the final draft of your paper on a philosophical topic.

 

Dec. 17

Final Exam

2 - 4 PM