PHL201: InterQuest Class Assignments - Fall 2008
Week One
Mon. 09/29/08 -
Sun   10/05/08
Do this
 Complete The IQ Portfolio (linked also to the Bb course menu).
Select a Philosophical Framework after reading the online text (see Read below).
Research the Philosophical Framework (look for the Research Button) and Framework Philosopher that you select (see the instructions in the Frameworks pages when you make your selection).
Read
 Conceptual Precis Phase I - On-Line Instructional Pages
Philosophical Frameworks (online text)
Philosophy as a Quest Part I & II (online text)
Write

CPI: Write and submit a conceptual precis (phase I) on the idea of your choice from Philosophical Ideas I.
Due: Wednesday of week 2
Paper My Philosophical Beliefs I
Due: Sunday 10/26/2008
Philosophical Ideas I Study the following ten ideas by reading the corresponding sections of A World of Ideas:
Absolute, Determinism, Freedom, God - concepts of & arguments for, Holism, Nihilism, Pantheism, Relativism, Skepticism, Truth.
Dialogue My Philosophy (see Discussion forums in Blackboard)
 
Week Two
Mon 10/06/08 -
Sun  10/12/08
Read
 Conceptual Precis Phase I - On-Line Instructional Pages
Apology--Plato (Masterpieces of World Philosophy, Magill)
Socrates Portrait (online text)
Study Guide: Socrates (printable text in the Study Guide portion of Blackboard)
The Apology: Commentary
Republic Book VII: The Allegory of the Cave
Write
CPI02 Write and submit a conceptual precis (phase I) on the idea of your choice from Philosophical Ideas II
Due: Friday.
Paper My Philosophical Beliefs I
Due: Sunday 01/27/2008 
Listen

Philosophy Talk: Is Free Will an Illusion?   
Use the Study Guide in the Study Guides section of the course.
(Look for the "Listen to the episode" link. This streaming audio runs about on hour and requires Real Player. I recommend the genuinely Free Basic Player instead of the Trial version of the Premium Player. The Real.com does not make this choice very easy to see. The main point is that you are not required to purchase a player. if you need help with this, please let me know. Read the "Listening Notes").

Here is an alternate stream in case the RealPlayer version does not work for you.
Is Free Will an Illusion?

Philosophical Ideas II Study the following ten ideas by reading the corresponding sections of A World of Ideas:
Abstraction, Atomism, Being/Becoming (see Nietzsche), Elements, Essence, Materialism, Monism (see Pluralism), Mysticism, Substance, Zeno’s Paradoxes.
Dialogue Free Will (see Discussion forums in Blackboard)
 
Week Three
Mon 10/13/08 -
Sun  10/19/08
Read
 Conceptual Precis Phase I - On-Line Instructional Pages
Republic--Plato (Masterpieces of World Philosophy, Magill)
Plato Portrait
Republic: Commentary

Republic: Study Questions
Republic Book I: Text
Republic Book V: Women in the Ideal Society
Study Guide: Plato (printable text in the Study Guide portion of Blackboard)

Plato on Women in the Ideal State

Write
 CP03: Conceptual precis (phase I) on the idea of your choice from Philosophical Ideas III.
Due: Friday
Paper My Philosophical Beliefs I
Due: Sunday 10/26/2008
Listen

Philosophy Talk: Is Free Will an Illusion?   
Use the Study Guide in the Study Guides section of the course.
(Look for the "Listen to the episode" link. This streaming audio runs about on hour and requires Real Player. I recommend the genuinely Free Basic Player instead of the Trial version of the Premium Player. The Real.com does not make this choice very easy to see. The main point is that you are not required to purchase a player. if you need help with this, please let me know. Read the "Listening Notes").

Here is an alternate stream in case the RealPlayer version does not work for you.
Is Free Will an Illusion?

Philosophical Ideas III Study the following ten ideas by reading the corresponding sections of A World of Ideas:
Aesthetics, Democracy, Dialectic, Epistemology, Ethics, Logic, Logos, Metaphysics, Sophists, Virtue.
   
 
Week Four
Mon 10/20/08-
Sun  10/26/08
Read
Conceptual Precis Phase II - On-Line Instructional Pages
Meditations on a First Philosophy--Rene Descartes (Masterpieces of World Philosophy, Magill)
Philosophical Portrait: Descartes' Portrait
Meditations I & II: Text
Meditations Commentary (requires Flash and audio capabilities)
Write CP04: Conceptual precis (phase II) on the idea of your choice from Philosophical Ideas IV.
Due: Friday
Listen

Philosophy Talk: Skepticism
(Look for the "Listen to the episode" link. This streaming audio runs about on hour and requires Real Player. I recommend the genuinely Free Basic Player instead of the Trial version of the Premium Player. The Real.com does not make this choice very easy to see. The main point is that you are not required to purchase a player. if you need help with this, please let me know. Read the "Listening Notes").

Here is an alternate stream in case the RealPlayer version does not work for you.
Skepticism
Philosophical Ideas IV Study the following ten ideas by reading the corresponding sections of A World of Ideas:
Aristotle, Buddhism, Confucianism, Cynicism, Dharma, Epicureanism, Golden Rule, Karma, Stoicism, Soul and Spirit
Dialogue Skepticism (see Discussion forums in Blackboard)
Paper My Philosophophical Beliefs II
Due: Sunday 11/23/2008
 
Week Five
Mon 10/27/08 -
Sun  11/02/08

Read

Conceptual Precis Phase II - On-Line Instructional Pages
Treatise of Human Nature--David Hume (Masterpieces of World Philosophy, Magill)
Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals--David Hume (Masterpieces of World Philosophy, Magill)
Philosophical Portaits: Hume
Write CP05: Conceptual precis (phase II) on the idea of your choice from Philosophical Ideas V.
Due: Friday
Listen

Philosophy Talk: The Nature of the Imagination 
(Look for the "Listen to the episode" link. This streaming audio runs about on hour and requires Real Player. I recommend the genuinely Free Basic Player instead of the Trial version of the Premium Player. The Real.com does not make this choice very easy to see. The main point is that you are not required to purchase a player. if you need help with this, please let me know. Read the "Listening Notes")

Here is an alternate stream in case the RealPlayer version does not work for you.
The Nature of the Imagination

Optional: I know that you have plenty to do already, but here is an episode related to imagination that is just too interesting to leave out. If you are able to enjoy this episode, I think that you will find insight into an experience that we all share. This Philosophy Talk episode is in RealPlayer format only.
Philosophy Talk: The Willing Suspension of Disbelief
Philosophical Ideas V Study the following ten ideas by reading the corresponding sections of A World of Ideas:
Appearance vs. Reality, Euclid, Hierarchy of Being, Idealism, Ideas, Neoplatonism, Plato’s Cave, Realism, State, Universals
Dialogue  Reality and Imagination (see Discussion forums in Blackboard)
Paper My Philosophophical Beliefs II
Due: Sunday 11/23/2008
 
Week Six
Mon 11/03/08 -
Sun  11/09/08
Read

 Conceptual Precis Phase II - On-Line Instructional Pages
Marx: Selected Works--Karl Marx (Masterpieces of World Philosophy, Magill)
Philosophical Portraits: Marx Portrait
Write CPV06 Conceptual precis (phase II) on the idea of your choice from Philosophical Ideas VI.
Due: Friday
Philosophical Minds VI

Study the ideas of the following Philosophers:

Jean-Jaques Rousseau, G.F.W. Hegel, Karl Marx, Mary Wollstonecraft.

Your primary source: One Hundred Philosophers, Peter J. King.
Also use the books A World of Ideas and Philosophical Classics as well as the online Philosopher Portraits where applicable.

Listen

Philosophy Talk: Marx 
(Look for the "Listen to the episode" link. This streaming audio runs about on hour and requires Real Player. I recommend the genuinely Free Basic Player instead of the Trial version of the Premium Player. The Real.com does not make this choice very easy to see. The main point is that you are not required to purchase a player. if you need help with this, please let me know. Read the "Listening Notes").

Here is an alternate stream in case the RealPlayer version does not work for you.
Karl Marx

Philosophical Ideas VI Study the following ten ideas by reading the corresponding sections of A World of Ideas:
a priori/a posteriori, Doubt (see Descartes), Dualism, Enlightenment, Hobbes, Humanism, Innate Ideas, Mind/Body Problem, Reason, Spinoza
Dialogue  Marxism (see Discussion forums in Blackboard)
Paper My Philosophophical Beliefs II
Due: Sunday 11/23/2008
 
Week Seven
Mon 11/10/08-
Sun  11/16/08
Read
 Conceptual Precis Phase II - On-Line Instructional Pages
Peirce: Collected Papers--Charles Sanders Peirce (Masterpieces of World Philosophy, Magill)
Will to Believe, The--William James (Masterpieces of World Philosophy, Magill)
Philosophy Pages: C.S. Peirce (note that this resource has several sections, read them all.)
The Fixation of Belief, C.S. Pierce
Study Guide: Pierce (printable text in the Study Guide portion of Blackboard)
Write CP07: Conceptual precis (phase II) on the idea of your choice from Philosophical Ideas VII.
Due: Friday
Listen

Philosophy Talk: American Pragmatism  
(Look for the "Listen to the episode" link. This streaming audio runs about on hour and requires Real Player. I recommend the genuinely Free Basic Player instead of the Trial version of the Premium Player. The Real.com does not make this choice very easy to see. The main point is that you are not required to purchase a player. if you need help with this, please let me know. Read the "Listening Notes").

Here is an alternate stream in case the RealPlayer version does not work for you.
American Pragmatism
Philosophical Ideas VII Study the following ten ideas by reading the corresponding sections of A World of Ideas:
Cause, Deduction and Induction, Empiricism, Is/Ought Problem, Kant, Leibniz, Locke, Naturalism, Perception, Phenominalism
Paper

My Philosophophical Beliefs II
Due: Sunday 11/23/2008
Dialogue Pragmatism (see Discussion forums in Blackboard)
 
Week Eight
Mon 11/17/08 -
Sun  11/23/08		 Read Conceptual Precis Phase II - On-Line Instructional Pages
Logic of Scientific Discovery--Sir Karl Popper (Masterpieces of World Philosophy, Magill)
Study Guide: The Ethics of Belief (printable text in the Study Guide portion of Blackboard)
Write CP08: Conceptual Precis (phase II) on the idea of your choice from Philosophical Ideas VIII.
Due: Sunday
Listen

Philosophy Talk: Philosophy of Science
(Look for the "Listen to the episode" link. This streaming audio runs about on hour and requires Real Player. I recommend the genuinely Free Basic Player instead of the Trial version of the Premium Player. The Real.com does not make this choice very easy to see. The main point is that you are not required to purchase a player. if you need help with this, please let me know. Read the "Listening Notes").

Here is an alternate stream in case the RealPlayer version does not work for you.
Philosophy of Science

Philosophical Ideas VIII Study the following ten ideas by reading the corresponding sections of A World of Ideas:
Berkeley, Deism, Identity, Individualism, James, Meaning, Nominalism (and Ockham's Razor), Pragmatism, Scientific Method, Solipsism
Paper

My Philosophophical Beliefs II
Due: Sunday 11/23/2008
Dialogue Knowledge and Science (see Discussion forums in Blackboard)
 

Week Nine
Mon 11/24/08 -
Sun  11/30/08
Read
 Conceptual Precis Phase II - On-Line Instructional Pages
Concluding Unscientific Postscript--Soren Kierkegaard (Masterpieces of World Philosophy, Magill)
Beyond Good and Evil--Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (Masterpieces of World Philosophy, Magill)
Optional: The Crowd is Untruth, Soren Kierkegaard (online text)

Optional:  Truth and Lie in the Extra-Moral Sense, Frederich Nietzsche (online text)
Philosophical Portraits: Michel Foucalt
Write CP09: Conceptual precis (phase II) on the idea of your choice from Philosophical Ideas IX.
Due: Sunday.
Listen

Philosophy Talk: Survival and Immortality
(Look for the "Listen to the episode" link. This streaming audio runs about on hour and requires Real Player. I recommend the genuinely Free Basic Player instead of the Trial version of the Premium Player. The Real.com does not make this choice very easy to see. The main point is that you are not required to purchase a player. if you need help with this, please let me know. Read the "Listening Notes").

Here is an alternate stream in case the RealPlayer version does not work for you.
Survival and Immortality
Extra Credit: Here is a program that is related to the assignment and Existentialist themes. If you have the time and want the credit, listen to the "Would You Want to Live Forever?" episode of Philosophy Talk and write a Rhetorical Precis on that program.
Due by Sunday Week Ten
Philosophy Talk: Would you want to Live Forever?

Here is an alternate stream in case the RealPlayer version does not work for you.
Would you want to Live Forever?
Philosophical Ideas IX Study the following ten ideas by reading the corresponding sections of A World of Ideas:
Consequentialism, Descriptivism/Presciptivism, Ideology, Mean (doctrine of), Mill, Pascal (Pascal's Wager), Positivism, Rights, Social Contract, Utilitarianism
Dialogue Life After Death (see Discussion forums in Blackboard)
 

Week Ten
Mon 12/01/08 -
Sun  12/07/08

 
Read
 Conceptual Precis Phase II - On-Line Instructional Pages
Essay on Liberty--John Stuart Mill (Masterpieces of World Philosophy, Magill)
Write CP10: Conceptual precis (phase II) on the idea of your choice from Philosophical Ideas X.
Due: Sunday.
Listen

Philosophy Talk: Freedom of Speech
(Look for the "Listen to the episode" link. This streaming audio runs about on hour and requires Real Player. I recommend the genuinely Free Basic Player instead of the Trial version of the Premium Player. The Real.com does not make this choice very easy to see. The main point is that you are not required to purchase a player. if you need help with this, please let me know. Read the "Listening Notes").

Here is an alternate stream in case the RealPlayer version does not work for you.
Philosophical Ideas X Study the following ten ideas by reading the corresponding sections of A World of Ideas:
Analytic Philosophy, Anthropic Principle, Artificial Intelligence, Chomsky, Consciousness, Deconstruction, Existentialism, Feminism, Foucault, Gestalt
Dialogue Freedom of Speech (see Discussion forums in Blackboard)
 
Week Eleven
Mon 12/08/08 -
Fri     12/12/08
*********************On-Line Evaluations***********************