Phil 100B:
The Rationalists
Teaching Assistant: Jav Cardoza-Kon
email
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.
eCommons site
Two short papers (2-3 pages), due Tues., Feb. 4 and Tues., Feb. 25(worth 15% each of the final grade).
first paper
second paper
One longer
paper (6-8
pages) (worth 35% of the final grade). The paper is due Tues., Mar. 18, 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. 11. 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-).
final paper
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. You can find answers to some commonly asked
questions about my assignments and grading in my FAQ.
main course page
FAQ
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).
Most, if not all, of the assigned readings from this text are available, in
a different translation, on Google Books.
Google Books
There are LibriVox recordings (again, in a different translation) of the Discourse on the Method and the Meditations.
Discourse (LibriVox)
Meditations (LibriVox)
Leibniz, Philosophical Essays, ed. R. Ariew and D. Garber (Hackett).
This collection is available on-line (free to read, but costs to download) at Scribd. Many of (but not all) of the assigned readings are to be found free on Google Books.
Ariew and Garber collection (Scribd)
another collection (Google Books)
There is a LibriVox recording of the Monadology.
Monadology (LibriVox)
Spinoza, The Ethics, Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect,
and Selected Letters, tr. S. Shirley, ed. S. Feldman (Hackett).
Again, there are free versions of the Ethics on Google Books and LibriVox, though not in the same translation.
Ethics (Google Books)
Ethics (LibriVox)
There is also a LibriVox recording of the Theologico-Political Treatise.
TPT (LibriVox)
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. eCommons site