PHIL203
Spring 2013
Happiness and the Meaning of Life

Welcome to the web site for this class.  Click here for the syllabus.

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

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).
This classic is peripherally related to our themes:  Socrates on why philosophy is critically important.
In case you were wondering, here's several reasons why it's wrong to cheat.

Totally Optional Plato Movie- no writing necessary:
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). There is a pdf of the essay here, but see the movie first - you can get it from Netflix, e.g.  (Note-you may have to rotate the PDF, it scanned sideways.  Go to "view"; "rotate"; counterclockwise)

Paul of Tarsus: Background
Readings: 1 Corinthians 13 Here Paul praises love above all else - but we should be careful to understand what he's talking about.  The "King James" translation uses "charity," but most experts in Greek and Latin prefer "love" for what is in Greek agape and in Latin caritas: an altruistic love of others that is one with one's love of god.
Augustine: here, here, here That's for background.  I have emailed to you some primary-source readings.
Thomas Aquinas: here, here, here.  Again, this is background, I have emailed the primary-source readings.

UPDATE FEB 26:  Regarding the inconveniences of air travel, this clip (from the 3:00 min mark til about the 6:00 min mark) is on point.

Once you've tried to post to the wiki page (https://wiki.bridgew.edu/mediawiki/index.php?title=PHIL203) here's the first real assignment: Between now and the end of Spring Break, (1) watch your choice from among the movies in the following list, (2) post a brief (4-5 sentences should be adequate) claim about how, in your judgment, that film speaks to issues that have come up in class so far, and (3) comment on at least one other person's such post.
Choose from among: Hannah and Her Sisters, Local Hero, Broadcast News.  They are all on Netflix.

Readings for next week on Buddhism.  Main readings here.  For further inquiry, see here.