READING ASSIGNMENTS (to be read when assigned in class):

ESSAY ASSIGNMENT:

BASIS OF GRADE: 

Your grade will be based on three items of written work: the midterm, a short essay, and the final. Each will count for one third of your course grade, although in marginal cases I will consider class participation and improvement.

The midterm will come about half way through the session. It will consist of two parts: a ten-question, in-class, multiple-choice test, and a one-to-two page take-home essay. The multiple-choice test will count for one third, the essay for two thirds of the midterm grade. The format of the final will be the same.

The second item of work is a longer take-home essay. This essay will be three to five pages in length. The assigned topic will be drawn from our class discussion.

Regular attendance is strongly recommended, for much of the material of the course will be developed in our class discussions. However, attendance is not a part of the basis of your grade. If you miss a class, or see that you will miss a class, please speak to me.

No written work that shows signs of plagiarism or academic dishonesty will be used as a basis of grade.

Plus and minus grades will be used.

OFFICE LOCATION:

My office is Sierra Tower, Room 527; Phone: (818) 677-4854. 

Messages may be left at this number. My email address is james.kellenberger@csun.edu; I will check my email on Tuesday and Thursday.

OFFICE HOURS: 

My office hours are for discussion with students, and you are encouraged to use them to discuss with me anything about the class material that you would like to explore or have clarified. Also I encourage you to discuss among yourselves outside class the issues that the course will cover, including those on the essay assignments. But your individual written work must be your own.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: 

In this course we shall philosophically examine and reflect on questions of value. The course will begin by asking the question: "What makes morally right things morally right?" The procedure will be, first, to formulate and consider answers of our own -- like, "What makes something morally right is what our society says" -- and then to look at answers considered by such philosophers as Socrates in ancient Greece and John Stuart Mill in the last century. While the lectures will raise difficulties and questions about the views examined, it will be left to the individual student to develop her/his critical conclusions throughout the course.

GENERAL EDUCATION: 

This course satisfies the "Philosophy and Religion" (C-3) section of the General Education Program. All courses in this section are designed to promote systematic reflection on questions concerning the structure and meaning of existence. Achieving this goal involves developing an appreciation for and assessment of alternative world views and rival conceptual schemes which have played central roles in human culture -- influencing art, science, government, literature, and other important aspects of civilization.

This course provides an introductory acquaintance with the activity of philosophy, one of the traditional areas of the humanities.