Teaching Assistants:
Orville Canter (ocanter@ucsc.edu)
Jav Cardoza-Kon (jcardoza@ucsc.edu)
Christoph Durt (cdurt@ucsc.edu)
Participation in discussion sections (good participation will be possible grounds for raising course grade, especially if it is on a borderline).
“Metaphysics exercises” (kind of a short take-home multiple
choice quiz), due most class days (all exercises together are worth
35% of the final grade; graded heavily on a curve). These will be
made available on-line via the “Tests & Quizzes” tool on
ecommons.
Two short papers (2-3 pages), due Tues., Feb. 7
and Tues., Feb. 28
(worth 15% each of the final grade).
One longer
paper
(6-8
pages) (worth 35% of the final grade). The paper is due Wed.,
Mar. 21, but you must hand in an introductory paragraph and brief
outline (approximately one sentence per paragraph of the proposed
complete paper) at some time on or before Tues., Mar. 13. Your TA will
send this back to you as soon as possible with suggested changes,
which you should take into account. This preliminary assignment will
not be separately graded, but if you do not hand it in at all or if it
is wholly unsatisfactory, your grade on the final paper will be
reduced by one half step (e.g. A to A-).
All paper assignments are available on-line, and there are links to
them from this syllabus as well as from my main
course page. I will discuss the assignments in class when the
due date draws near.
Papers are to be handed in, as attachments, via the “Assignments”
tool on ecommons. Please submit in
MSWord format (.doc or .docx), or in a format easily
convertible to MSWord (e.g., plain text or RTF). The system will
accept late submissions, but late papers may not receive full credit.
The system is not set up to allow resubmissions: once you press
the “submit” button, it will not let you change your response. If,
however, you mistakenly submit something and want to change it, please
contact me and I can make an exception.
As noted above, the ME's will be accessed and submitted
on-line via ecommons. (The system
will accept late submissions, but credit -- possibly reduced -- will
only be given up until the time that the correct answers are
announced, either in section or on-line.)
All assignments are due by mindight on the due date.
Descartes, Selected Philosophical Writings, tr. J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff and D. Murdoch (Cambridge).
Leibniz, Philosophical Essays, ed. R. Ariew and D. Garber (Hackett).
Spinoza, The Ethics, Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect, and Selected Letters, tr. S. Shirley, ed. S. Feldman (Hackett).
The above texts should be available at the Literary Guillotine, and they will also be put on reserve at McHenry. Readings not from texts on the above list are available on ecommons.