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| Course Title: | Introduction to Philosophy |
| Instructor: | Justin Barnard |
| Street Address: | 3518 North Meridian Road Tallahassee, FL 32312 |
| E-mail: | jdb8178@garnet.acns.fsu.edu |
| Institution (Name / Type): | Florida State University Research University |
| Course (Level / Type): | Primarily 1st and 2nd Year; Lecture - Discussion |
| Hours: | 2.5 hours per week, 16 weeks |
| Enrollment: | 120 |
| Last Year Taught: | 1999 (Summer, Fall) |
| Pre-Requisites: | None |
| Cross-Listing: | n/a |
| Teaching Assistants: | Yes |
| URL to Syllabus on Web: | http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~jdb8178/introsylfall99.htm |
| Date Submitted: | 7/19/2000 |
Reflections
This course is designed for non-majors seeking to fulfill university wide requirements. Its purpose is to introduce students to both the content of philosophy through a sampling of historically significant philosophical problems as well as the discipline of being a philosopher. Accordingly, readings are short but dense, and special attention is giving to developing critical thinking abilities through close textual analysis. Students are also encouraged to bring their own perspectives to bear through evaluation of material covered in class.
Most students enrolled in this course are underprepared when it comes to their abilities to read and understand difficult texts and write philosophical papers. Thus, the content of the course itself is minimal. This is a regrettable but seemingly unavoidable problem with the way I teach this course. At the same time, students do gain a sense (and in some cases the actual skills!) of doing philosophy.
Comments
This course (as with other courses that I teach) is supplemented by additional on-line material. This can be accessed at http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~jdb8178/crsinfo.htm