• REQUIRED TEXTS
• COURSE OBJECTIVES
• COURSE REQUIREMENTS
• PROVISIONAL SYLLABUS

REQUIRED TEXTS:     back to top

Personal Identity, edited by John Perry
Reasons and Persons, by Derek Parfit
Free Will, edited by Gary Watson
Several required/recommended articles either on reserve or online

COURSE OBJECTIVES:    back to top

1. To come to an understanding of issues surrounding two of the most important related topics in contemporary metaphysics, metaethics, and moral psychology: personal identity and free agency.
2. To learn and be able to use the philosophical tools necessary for understanding, analyzing, and criticizing the arguments involved in these issues.
3. To discuss, think, and write critically about the problems and to reach (and be able to support) your own conclusions about the issues involved.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:     back to top

1. Attendance at lecture is essential. Most of our texts involve fairly subtle and difficult material which I do not expect you to be able to understand fully on your own. You'll need to be here regularly to grasp what's going on. I will not take attendance, but if you do not show up regularly for class, I can virtually guarantee you won't do well in the course.

2. There will be no exams in the course. You will learn what you need to about the material by writing up your reading summaries and attending class regularly to discuss the ideas involved. You will still need to attend class, of course, in order fully to understand the material (which you'll be writing about), so the lack of exams should not translate into decreased attendance.

3. Reading Summaries: For most of the required reading assignments, you are to turn in a Reading Summary containing two elements: (a) a summary of what you take to be the central idea(s) of the chapter/article, along with a summary of the main line(s) of argument for that idea; and (b) at least one detailed question you have about the reading that you would like discussed in class. These will be due at the beginning of the class period on the days we are to start focusing on the particular assigned reading (those will, for the most part, be Mondays). If you cannot attend class that day (but only if you cannot attend class), send me your summary via e-mail by the due date. I will structure the classes as follows: I will first spend some time outlining the main issues of the assigned article (usually via the handouts), and then I will offer the more interesting questions you have raised in your summaries as fodder for discussion. I will accept no late summaries, so you need to be here on those days to turn them in. I also expect you to be present if one of your questions is chosen for discussion on the next class day, so that you can offer follow-ups or expand on your point. I will assign each of these summaries a number grade (from 0-5, 5 being the best), depending on a combination of your accuracy, clarity, and succinctness in getting across the main idea, in addition to the value of your discussion question(s). At the end of the semester, I will add 52 to your total points to get a number on a 100 point scale. For example, if you do all 10 of the summaries and get 4s across the board, that would be 40 points. I'll then add 52 to that to get your final number, a 92 (A). Threes across the board would yield a final tally of 82 (B). And so on. A grade of 5 will be rare at first, although I'd like to see several of them as we get closer to the end, simply because by then you should have learned how to summarize an article properly. In doing these summaries, you will also be learning how to put together the exposition portion of your longer paper (see below). The summaries themselves should not be much longer than 2-3 typed pages. Your total points on these will be worth 50% of your overall grade.

4. Paper: The main point of the class will now be for you to put together a long (12-20 page) paper arguing for, and defending, an original idea on the topics of personal identity and/or free agency. Think of it as a true semester-long project, one you should be thinking about constantly as we discuss our various authors. I will take some time in class during the semester to go over what I'm looking for, what topics are eligible, what the structure of your paper should look like, etc. But for now, here are some firm facts. First, before you write a thing, you will have to submit to me a proposed topic. This will be due somewhere around the 9th or 10th week of class. We will have talked about personal identity and laid out the positions on free agency by then, so you should be in a good position to come up with a topic. Your topic may change as we go on to cover other material you feel more "in tune" with, but if it does, you need to talk to me first. Indeed, you're going to need to talk with me throughout this process. If you do not schedule times to see me in my office about these matters, I will schedule them for you. Second, you are required to turn in at least one rough draft, due date to be announced (probably around the 13th week). I'll be happy to look at more than one. The idea is for you to have a truly polished version ready to turn in on the last day of class (12/4), which is the FIRM due date. These should be papers you are proud of, something you will have worked extremely hard on. If you do indeed work hard on these, I see no reason why you can't get an A. Your papers will be worth 50% of your overall grade.

5. Discussion will be crucial in this class, so please come prepared to discuss the material. As an added incentive for your participation, I will take into account your regular contributions to the ongoing discussion in borderline grade cases. For example, if your final overall average is a B+ (88 or 89, say), I will kick your grade up to an A- if you have participated regularly in discussion.

6. You need to know right away that I will be an extremely tough and demanding grader of your written assignments, but I nevertheless do appreciate and reward hard work. So even if you get a low B on your paper, it's still possible for you to receive an A for the course. One obvious way is to keep up with (and do well on) your Reading Summaries. Another is via class participation (although if you're just blabbing for the sake of blabbing, that will not count - what matters is the quality of your ongoing participation, as well as your self-censoring ability to shut up if you've been talking too much). Another way is via extra credit reports. There will be a variety of possible extra credit assignments during the semester. You may turn in ONE at the end of the semester to get up to three points tacked on to your overall course average. What you will have to do is attend some outside-of-class philosophy lecture/conference, and write up a summary of the main argument(s) of the speaker, along with a discussion of one objection to the speaker's main thesis. I'll say more about these in class, but that's the general idea. There are three such extra credit opportunities listed on the syllabus, and more may crop up as the semester unfolds.

7. The deadline this semester for dropping a course with only the instructor's signature is Friday, September 13. After that date, withdrawals will require additional approvals and can only be obtained for "serious and compelling reasons". See Schedule of Classes, pp. 16-17.

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