1
PHL
103:
INTRODUCTION
TO
PHILOSOPHY
FALL
2017
Philosophy
103:
Introduction
to
Philosophy
General Education Outcomes
Humanities (A3)
Writing (B1)
WELCOME!!
Philosophy comes f rom the ancient G reek words for wisdom (Sophia) and devotion (philo), so
traditionally the term m eant something like a love of wisdom. Today we tend to view philosophy as
a way of seeking to understand the n ature of reality itself, where reality includes o ur very way of
thinking about it.
Does this sound confusing? It should, because once we call our o wn perspectives, or ways of
thinking, into question, we g et into thorny t erritory with what we can claim to know about the world
beyond our personal experience. WARNING!!! Philosophers t end t o question common sense and
other things that most p eople take for g ranted. In fact, some of you might g enuinely b e surprised
and perhaps unsettled by the extent to which a little philosophy can undermine much of what we
assume to b e normal. Try to keep your mind open as we upend many of the ideas that underpin
everyday life. And remember: common sense once told us that the earth was flat, that the sun
revolved around the earth, and that slavery was an acceptable m eans by which to operate a
T/R
2-‐3:15pm
Swan
Hall
plantation. Common sense, while necessary, is overrated. Philosophy will show you why.
WHO’S
RUNNING
THIS
CLASS?
Instructor
Dr.
C heryl
Foster
401-‐874-‐4022
Office
Hours:
Chafee
225
Wednesday
10:30-‐noon
Class
Teaching
Assistants
Angie
Bedigian
774-‐280-‐4294
Fall
2017
Office
Hours:
Carothers
Library
Commons
Tuesday
3:30-‐4:30pm
Mike
Grenier
401-‐529-‐5649
Office
Hours:
401
Café
(100
Fortin
Road)
Thursday
12:30pm-‐1:30pm
Harry
M iller
401-‐829-‐7619
Office
Hours:
193
Degrees
(Memorial
U nion)
Tuesday
10-‐11am
What’s in this syllabus?
& Required Book: Stephen Law, The Philosophy G ym What is philosophy? Why study it? 2
This is an unusual but accessible introduction to the subject of
philosophy, broken down in 25 themed “cases.” Buy the book What do we do? How are we g raded? 3
and bring it to every class; we use it every day!
Expectations and Accommodation 4
:SAKAI You m ust also work through an accompanying slide
lecture on each topic before class – we look at l ecture notes Course Goals and G en Ed Outcomes 5
online so we can be active in doing philosophy during class.
This is called a “flipped” classroom. Resources, Philosophical and Otherwise 6
Course Schedule 7-‐8
,
2
PHL
103:
INTRODUCTION
TO
PHILOSOPHY
FALL
2017
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? WHY SHOULD WE STUDY IT?
Traditionally philosophical problems fall into one of four While philosophy is an old discipline, its topics and
broad categories, all of which we’ll cover in some form. methods still form the foundation of other subjects.
LOGIC: the study of argument structures and Epistemology grounds the sciences, concerned with
reasoning issues like whether our perceptions are reliable, whether
other people have minds like ours, what constitutes
EPSTEMOLOGY: the study of knowledge and what acceptable evidence, and whether past patterns of data
we can claim to know provide sufficient support for future predictions. Drug
trials, for example, rely on good models of testing before
METAPHYSICS: the study of what is real as opposed approval; controversies about Artificial Intelligence
to what is an illusion involve whether machines can “think.”
AXIOLOGY: the study of values as reflected in human Metaphysics questions the foundational truths of
behavior and practice existence, such as the origin of the universe, evidence for
supernatural phenomena, and whether God exists.
These questions can be heavy lifting, intellectually Cultures have gone to war over disagreements about what
speaking, but along the way you will learn a little logic to they take to be religious truths; some people spend a lot
think clearly about them. of money to have psychic readings done, or communicate
with dead relatives. What do you take to be “real” and,
conversely, how might your beliefs be inconsistent,
ungrounded, naïve, or gullible?
This stuff is
heavy!
Moral Theory reflects on what we value as right/wrong, or
good/bad, and asks whether morality can exist without
God, if all morality is relative to culture, and whether we
see moral issues through a social lens of bias.
Controversies such as female genital mutilation or
whether assisted suicide is permissible demonstrate how
complex moral thinking is once we think our way through
different perspectives on the same problem.
Applied Ethics investigates how to use moral thinking in
real-‐world situations. Should we separate conjoined twins
knowing that one will die, when failure to separate means
Some sample questions:
both will die? Should we eat meat? Should we use
technology to design better babies? Very recently, for
Reliable reasoning? If it’s raining, the streets are wet.
example, the gene manipulation mechanism known as
The streets are wet. Therefore, it is raining. (Logic)
CRISPR has made it possible to correct defects such as the
(This is logically invalid by the way: a fallacy known as
inherited blood disorder beta-‐thalassemia in human
Affirming the Consequent)
embryos. This has ethicists sitting up and taking notice:
should such “corrected” embryos be implanted in the
If a computer generated the world you are now
womb? What happens to human society when only the
experiencing, could you realize that fact? (Epistemology)
rich can afford to manipulate embryos before implanting?
Worse still, what if CRISPR is used commercially to create
Are claims about the existence of ghosts plausible?
embryos with things like higher intelligence, better
(Metaphysics)
athleticism, and artistic ability? How we identify moral
values and regulate institutional – and individual –
Can the very same thing be morally right for you but
practices in relation to them are very urgent and ongoing
morally wrong for me? (Axiology – Moral
challenges for humanity.
Theory)
You are in the end stages of cancer but your heart is
By the end of our course you will you have practiced the
good. Another patient needs a heart to survive and yours
philosophical method, see its pervasive relevance to most
is a match. Is it morally acceptable for your doctor to kill
issues in the world even today, and figure out how to
you right now in order to harvest your heart, since you are
apply philosophical techniques to other areas of your
going to die soon anyway and the other person will die
studies and your life!
without a new heart? (Applied Ethics – part of Axiology)
PHL
103:
INTRODUCTION
TO
PHILOSOPHY
FALL
2017
Philosophy
103:
Introduction
to
Philosophy
General Education Outcomes
Humanities (A3)
Writing (B1)
WELCOME!!
Philosophy comes f rom the ancient G reek words for wisdom (Sophia) and devotion (philo), so
traditionally the term m eant something like a love of wisdom. Today we tend to view philosophy as
a way of seeking to understand the n ature of reality itself, where reality includes o ur very way of
thinking about it.
Does this sound confusing? It should, because once we call our o wn perspectives, or ways of
thinking, into question, we g et into thorny t erritory with what we can claim to know about the world
beyond our personal experience. WARNING!!! Philosophers t end t o question common sense and
other things that most p eople take for g ranted. In fact, some of you might g enuinely b e surprised
and perhaps unsettled by the extent to which a little philosophy can undermine much of what we
assume to b e normal. Try to keep your mind open as we upend many of the ideas that underpin
everyday life. And remember: common sense once told us that the earth was flat, that the sun
revolved around the earth, and that slavery was an acceptable m eans by which to operate a
T/R
2-‐3:15pm
Swan
Hall
plantation. Common sense, while necessary, is overrated. Philosophy will show you why.
WHO’S
RUNNING
THIS
CLASS?
Instructor
Dr.
C heryl
Foster
401-‐874-‐4022
Office
Hours:
Chafee
225
Wednesday
10:30-‐noon
Class
Teaching
Assistants
Angie
Bedigian
774-‐280-‐4294
Fall
2017
Office
Hours:
Carothers
Library
Commons
Tuesday
3:30-‐4:30pm
Mike
Grenier
401-‐529-‐5649
Office
Hours:
401
Café
(100
Fortin
Road)
Thursday
12:30pm-‐1:30pm
Harry
M iller
401-‐829-‐7619
Office
Hours:
193
Degrees
(Memorial
U nion)
Tuesday
10-‐11am
What’s in this syllabus?
& Required Book: Stephen Law, The Philosophy G ym What is philosophy? Why study it? 2
This is an unusual but accessible introduction to the subject of
philosophy, broken down in 25 themed “cases.” Buy the book What do we do? How are we g raded? 3
and bring it to every class; we use it every day!
Expectations and Accommodation 4
:SAKAI You m ust also work through an accompanying slide
lecture on each topic before class – we look at l ecture notes Course Goals and G en Ed Outcomes 5
online so we can be active in doing philosophy during class.
This is called a “flipped” classroom. Resources, Philosophical and Otherwise 6
Course Schedule 7-‐8
,
2
PHL
103:
INTRODUCTION
TO
PHILOSOPHY
FALL
2017
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? WHY SHOULD WE STUDY IT?
Traditionally philosophical problems fall into one of four While philosophy is an old discipline, its topics and
broad categories, all of which we’ll cover in some form. methods still form the foundation of other subjects.
LOGIC: the study of argument structures and Epistemology grounds the sciences, concerned with
reasoning issues like whether our perceptions are reliable, whether
other people have minds like ours, what constitutes
EPSTEMOLOGY: the study of knowledge and what acceptable evidence, and whether past patterns of data
we can claim to know provide sufficient support for future predictions. Drug
trials, for example, rely on good models of testing before
METAPHYSICS: the study of what is real as opposed approval; controversies about Artificial Intelligence
to what is an illusion involve whether machines can “think.”
AXIOLOGY: the study of values as reflected in human Metaphysics questions the foundational truths of
behavior and practice existence, such as the origin of the universe, evidence for
supernatural phenomena, and whether God exists.
These questions can be heavy lifting, intellectually Cultures have gone to war over disagreements about what
speaking, but along the way you will learn a little logic to they take to be religious truths; some people spend a lot
think clearly about them. of money to have psychic readings done, or communicate
with dead relatives. What do you take to be “real” and,
conversely, how might your beliefs be inconsistent,
ungrounded, naïve, or gullible?
This stuff is
heavy!
Moral Theory reflects on what we value as right/wrong, or
good/bad, and asks whether morality can exist without
God, if all morality is relative to culture, and whether we
see moral issues through a social lens of bias.
Controversies such as female genital mutilation or
whether assisted suicide is permissible demonstrate how
complex moral thinking is once we think our way through
different perspectives on the same problem.
Applied Ethics investigates how to use moral thinking in
real-‐world situations. Should we separate conjoined twins
knowing that one will die, when failure to separate means
Some sample questions:
both will die? Should we eat meat? Should we use
technology to design better babies? Very recently, for
Reliable reasoning? If it’s raining, the streets are wet.
example, the gene manipulation mechanism known as
The streets are wet. Therefore, it is raining. (Logic)
CRISPR has made it possible to correct defects such as the
(This is logically invalid by the way: a fallacy known as
inherited blood disorder beta-‐thalassemia in human
Affirming the Consequent)
embryos. This has ethicists sitting up and taking notice:
should such “corrected” embryos be implanted in the
If a computer generated the world you are now
womb? What happens to human society when only the
experiencing, could you realize that fact? (Epistemology)
rich can afford to manipulate embryos before implanting?
Worse still, what if CRISPR is used commercially to create
Are claims about the existence of ghosts plausible?
embryos with things like higher intelligence, better
(Metaphysics)
athleticism, and artistic ability? How we identify moral
values and regulate institutional – and individual –
Can the very same thing be morally right for you but
practices in relation to them are very urgent and ongoing
morally wrong for me? (Axiology – Moral
challenges for humanity.
Theory)
You are in the end stages of cancer but your heart is
By the end of our course you will you have practiced the
good. Another patient needs a heart to survive and yours
philosophical method, see its pervasive relevance to most
is a match. Is it morally acceptable for your doctor to kill
issues in the world even today, and figure out how to
you right now in order to harvest your heart, since you are
apply philosophical techniques to other areas of your
going to die soon anyway and the other person will die
studies and your life!
without a new heart? (Applied Ethics – part of Axiology)
