Syllabus: Philosophy 190A
Aristotle
Spring
2008
●Instructor: Gale
Justin
●Campus Phone: 278-6547
●Office: Mendocino 3024
●E-mail: justin@csus.edu
●Office Hours: TTh 1:30 – 2:30 and by appointment
●Website: http://www.csus.edu/indiv/j/justing
Catalog Description
Seminar: Major Philosophers. Intensive study of a single philosopher.
Course Goal
Aristotle
can fairly be said to be the first systematic philosopher. This means that although he was not the first
philosopher to concern himself with metaphysics, theory of knowledge, and
ethics, Aristotle was the first to lay out the fundamental principles of these
separate subject areas and to inquire into how the separate areas might be
related. The primary goal of this course is to acquaint the student with the
way in which Aristotle treats these three principal subject areas of
philosophy: metaphysics, theory of knowledge, and ethics. We shall examine, among other topics,
Aristotle’s essentialism which forms the basis of his account of the
fundamental things that are, Aristotle’s theory of first principles which
informs his view of scientific inquiry, and Aristotle’s conception of rational
activity, which is at the core of his account of a good or happy human life.
Course
Requirements
Your
grade in this course will be based on your performance on class report, a
roughly 7-10 page paper that will go through two drafts, and three – five in
class quizzes on the reading. For the
class report, I will send around a sign up sheet and you can choose some
section of the reading to present to the class. I would like to have you email
me a copy of your report one day prior to your presentation date. Points will
be deducted from your report grade, if you do not do this. Further information
on the class report will be given in class. For the paper, you may choose to
write on any topic that we have covered in class but I must approve your topic
and also approve the way in which you intend to approach your topic. So you must submit a statement of your
topic/problem and indicate roughly the manner in which you propose to address
the topic/problem. In addition, on both your prospectus and your first draft, I
will make suggestions regarding outside reading you may want to consult, areas
that you should develop or objections that you should address. I will keep a
copy of these recommendations and papers that do not revise in accord with my
recommendations will receive a D on the final draft of the paper.
|
Class Report |
15% of your grade |
|
5 in Class
Unannounced Quizzes on readings
|
15% of your grade |
|
Paper (First Draft) |
30% of your grade |
|
Paper (Final Draft) |
40% of your grade |
Both
the first draft and the final draft of your paper are initially each worth 30%
of your grade. However, at the end of
the semester the two drafts will be re-weighted in a way that is maximally
beneficial to you. This means that if
your final draft substantially improves on your first draft, then the final
draft will be weighted 40% and the first draft 30% of your final grade.
Grading Criteria for Individual Assignments
Your
written work will be evaluated for both the accuracy of your understanding of
the reading and lecture material and for how well it represents your own
attempt to give Aristotle the very best possible argument for his
position. Please note that in ancient
philosophy, it is not the norm to
criticize (i.e. “critically” discuss) the philosopher’s position. Rather
scholars who work in ancient philosophy strive to make the ancient
philosopher’s position as strong as possible.
They try to bring out the significance of what the philosopher is saying
and also quite often the interpreter works to relate the philosopher’s position
to a philosophical problem that was under discussion at the time. Of course, it
is absolutely essential that the paper display a college-level comprehension of
English. Papers must be typed. In philosophy, we practice a writing method
that some of you will be unfamiliar with:
our ideal is to express ourselves concisely but completely. In philosophy, it is also ok to use the word
“I” when you present both a philosopher’s theory, as you understand it, and
your own attempts to strengthen or support that theory. For additional advice on how to write
philosophy papers, please access this link to Guidelines for Writing
Philosophy Papers. Also see
Citing Sources.
Attendance
Attendance
is not required. But a student who has
taken less than 3 in class quizzes will receive a 0 for that portion of the
grade. So consider carefully before you
decide to cut many classes.
Grading
Letter grades are assigned on
all of your written work. The letter
grades are keyed to the following scale: 93 and above = A, 89 – 92 = A-, 85 –
88 = B+, 80 – 84 = B, 78 – 79 = B-, 75 – 77 = C+, 70 – 74 = C, 65 – 69 – C-, 60
– 64 = D+, 55 – 59 = D, 50 -54 = D-, below 50% = F.
Collaboration and Secondary Source Policy (including use
of material from the internet):
You
are free to exchange ideas, to consult secondary source material, including
internet sources. If papers exhibit
striking similarities in sentence structure or lines of thought, then they will
receive an F. The use of source material must be footnoted. Instructions for citing
books, articles, and electronic resources is provided at Citing Sources.
Papers that fail to footnote the information that is gained from outside
sources or papers that employ actual sentences from such source material
without proper footnoting will be failed. But in my view you can imitate an author’s
style, adapt someone’s turn of phrase, or use a person’s manner of organizing
an argument. In fact, I believe that
reading good contemporary works on Plato and Aristotle and carefully studying
how the author argues for his/her position is one of the best ways of learning
how to do ancient philosophy. In any
case, where you are not sure it is best to acknowledge the source either in a
footnote or by saying something in the text like: “In Cooper’s apt phrase, “goods
of fortune” are for Aristotle mere instruments, not components, of happiness.
Late Paper and Paper Submission Policies
There
will be no make-up assignments for missing an in-class quiz. No exceptions will be made. Failure to attend on the day that you are
scheduled to do a class report will result in a Zero. Failure to email me your report by 10:30 am one day prior
to your presentation will result in a substantially lower grade. No late papers will be accepted. Except for the class
report, you may not submit written work via email. All written work must be submitted as hard
copy.
Textbook and Reading Schedule
Our core text will be the
paperback A New Aristotle Reader, ed. By J.L. Ackrill. Publisher:
Topics Bk.
IV ch. 1, Bk IV ch. 6, Bk VI ch. 3, Bk VII ch. 3
Posterior
Analytics Bk I ch. 4-7,
Bk II ch. 11, Bk. II ch. 13, Bk II ch.
16-18
Physics Bk 1 ch. 3-9
On the Soul(=
De Anima) Bk. III ch.
12-13
On Generation
and Corruption Bk. 1 ch. 2, Bk. I, ch. 5, Bk. I ch. 10
Metaphysics Bk.
I
|
Date |
Topic Area |
Subject |
|
|
1/ 29-31 |
Logic and Metaphysics |
The Basic Theory of
Predication |
Categories 1-5; De Interpretatione
1-7 |
|
2/5-7 |
|
The Problem of Differentiae |
Categories 3,5; Topics IV/1 (esp. 121a 10 – b1), IV/6 |
|
2/12-14 |
|
Solutions |
Topics VI/3, VII/3; De Interpretatione
11; Metaphysics VII/12 |
|
2/19-22 |
Theory of Knowledge |
The Theory of Scientific
Explanation |
Posterior Analytics I/1-18, II/1-2 (theory) II/8,11-13,16,17 (examples) |
|
2/26-28 |
|
The Nature of Scientific Premisses |
Topics I/5, V/I; Posterior Analytics I/4-6, 17,
II/13; Prior Analytics I/27. |
|
3/4-6 |
|
The Acquisition of First
Principles |
Posterior Analytics, II/19 |
|
3/11-13 |
Change and Metaphysics |
The Analysis of Change and
the “Discovery” of Matter |
Physics I/6-9 |
|
|
|
Formal vs. Materialistic
Explanation |
Physics II |
|
3/18-20 |
|
Potentiality and Actuality |
Physics I, III/1; Metaphysics IX; De Anima
III |
|
3/25-27 |
|
Matter, Form and Method |
De Anima I/1; De Generatione et
Corruptione I/2 |
|
4/8-10 |
|
Primary Substance
Reconsidered |
Metaphysics VII, VIII |
|
4/15-17 |
Methods of Inquiry |
The Nature of Dialectic |
Topics I/10-14; Metaphysics I |
|
4/22-24 |
|
Growth and Mixture |
De Generatione
et Corruptione I/5,10; De Anima II/4 |
|
4/29-5/1 |
|
Perception |
De Anima II/5 |
|
5/6-8 |
Ethics |
Happiness |
Nicomachean Ethics
I/1-8,13, X |
|
5/13-15 |
|
Virtue |
Nicomachean Ethics II/1-7,
VI |
|
(If time permits) |
|
Incontinence |
Nicomachean Ethics
VII |
Schedule of Written Work
In
class report: A sign up sheet will be circulated in class. In giving the in-class
report students should focus on summarizing roughly what Aristotle is saying in
their section of text. Then the student can call attention to something in the
text that he/she finds interesting, problematic or difficult to understand.
Statement of Paper Topic: Due
April 10th.
First Draft of Paper: Due May 1 (as indicated on Suggested Papers Topics, which was handed out in class on 3-18-2008.
Final Draft of the Paper: Due
May 15 (as indicated on Suggested Paper Topics handed out in class on 3-18-2008). No late papers will be accepted.
Students with Special Needs
Students who have special
learning or writing needs must provide the instructor with the appropriate
documentation by the end of the second week of the semester.
Caveat
Due dates and the schedule of readings are
subject to minor revisions at the discretion of the instructor.