PHIL301 -- Fall 2008

Click here for the syllabus.

Scroll to bottom for newest entry.  Please check this page frequently for announcements, assignments, web links of interest, and so on.

9/4/08: To begin with, here are some sites you ought to get to know.  Our department web site includes this list of student research tools (with some amusements at the bottom).  Note especially William Stephens' guidelines for paper writing.

I'll be mentioning this: the famous painting "The Death of Socrates" by Jacques-Louis David (1787). 

Updates:

Totally Optional Plato Movie:
I used to assign intro classes to watch the 1998 film A Simple Plan and then write the following paper: "Plato argues that by being unjust, one harms oneself, and that to look after oneself properly requires justice.  According to the theory Plato develops, being just and virtuous is one’s self-interest, and being unjust and vicious is destructive of the self, not likely to promote one's happiness.  Do you think the movie A Simple Plan is a dramatization of this theme?  Why or why not?"  You don't have to do this assignment, of course, but you may enjoy the movie, and you may find that it does indeed show this.  In 2006, instead of assigning students to write on this theme, I decided to write on it myself, and, should you be interested, the essay appears in the book The Philosophy of Neo-Noir, edited by Mark T. Conard (Univ. Press of Kentucky, 2007).

Optional readings on Aristotle you may fine illuminating, amusing, or both:
Here's a way to think about Aristotle's ethics via Seinfeld.
Here's a way to think about Aristotle's ethics via The Lord of the Rings.

Second paper assignment: your second paper is due Dec. 18, roughly 4 weeks hence.  But since Thanksgiving comes during that period, I will make the assignment sooner rather than later.  Here goes:
Assignment for Second Paper:
Paper should be 6-8 pages, double-spaced, formatted in Times New Roman, 12-point, with 1-inch margins on all sides.  Your name, date, and "PHIL301" top right.  Do not submit incorrectly formatted papers.   Again, see the link above to William Stephens' writing guide.
Use WORD, and submit electronically as an attachment sent from your bridgew.edu email account. This is due in my inbox NLT 11:00am, Thursday, Dec 18. 
Topic: 
CHOOSE ONE:
1) Explain Aristotle's criticism of Plato's understanding of the relationship between universals and particulars. What does Aristotle suggest instead?  All things considered, which is more plausible and why?
OR
2) Explain the role of practical reason in Aristotle's account of human virtue, friendship, and flourishing.