PHI 200 Complete Course

Week 1

Discussion Questions

What is Philosophy

Most people have views that are strongly influenced and informed by philosophy, often without realizing it. Identify a view you havewhether on politics, religion, science, culture, or even the media and entertainmentthat might be regarded as being related to philosophy. What kind of reasons do you have for holding that belief? What figure from the history of philosophy section do you think might have some views that are similar, or at least relevant, to your own? Explain why you chose that particular figure.

Justifying Beliefs

Many philosophers insist that our most strongly held beliefs should be examined and critically evaluated. What is required for a person to justify his or her beliefs? Do many people believe what they do without giving those beliefs critical scrutiny? What are the advantages of believing something without examining it? What are the disadvantages? Identify a specific belief you have that you think is worth defending, and explain how you might go about defending it.

Week 2

PHI 200 Written Assignment

Assisted Suicide

Susan Wolf, in writing about her own father's death, confronts the problems that arise at the end of life, and challenges her to consider her views on assisted suicide.

Putting yourself in Wolf's place, how would you respond to this tragic and difficult issue? In three pages (excluding the title and reference pages), state your own response, arguing for why you think that response is the best available choice. In addition, indicate to what extent you agree with Wolf, and where you disagree with her.

Discussion Questions

Ethics and Relativism

Our text discusses the challenge relativism presents to various ethical and religious viewpoints. Consider a specific moral question which might make it difficult to accept the relativist's response. State the moral issue involved, and provide an explanation as to why you think a relativist might have problem giving a justified response to it

Animal Rights

Do human beings have any obligations to other animals, in terms of their treatment? If it is wrong to treat animals cruelly, why is it not wrong to eat them? Explain if, and how, you think humans can find a balance between treating animals ethically while also raising them for food and for other reasons, such as the testing of pharmaceuticals.

Week 3

Final Paper Rough Draft

For this rough draft, you must identify a specific philosophical issue having to do with ethics, epistemology, or religion. You will need to find a topic over which there is a useful debate, in order to present both sides of the debate. Here, you will not need to indicate what your own position is, relative to the issue; you will be doing that, however, in the final version of the paper.

To receive full credit for this paper, you must do the following in three pages:

Identify the specific issue

Make clear one basic dispute over the issue you identify

Give a brief outline of the two sides of the debate

Provide at least one good source for each side of the debate (for the final version, you will need a minimum of five sources, at least two for each side).

Discussion Questions

The Limits of Skepticism

Can a person be skeptical about everything, or are there limits? Is it possible to doubt everything, or almost everything? Are there beliefs you possess that cannot be challenged or shown to be false? How might the skeptic respond to your claim that such a belief cannot be doubted? Identify one such specific belief and present your response to the skeptic. (If you don't have such a belief, explain how one could live while not accepting any claim as true.)

Creationism and Science

After watching the video, explain what the basic issue is about teaching creationism (or Intelligent Design) in public school science classes. Indicate how you would resolve this dispute. Be sure to support your answer. Respond and reply to your fellow students.

Week 4

Discussion Questions

Proof of God's Existence

After reading about the various proofs of the existence of God, identify which of these arguments seems to be the best, and explain why you think so. Complete your response by reflecting on why philosophers have sought for thousands of years to provide such proofs, and whether it is necessary to do so.

The Turing Test

If you were asked to defeat the computer in the Turing Test (described in our book), what types of questions would you ask it? Explain why you think these questions would be the type to "reveal" the computer to be a computer? Why would these responses have to be given by a human being? (If you don't think there are such questions, you will need to explain what, if anything, shows that human beings are unique, and how it shows that.)

Week 5

Assignments

Final Argumentative Paper Three important sub-disciplines of philosophy are addressed in this course; ethics, epistemology, and religion. For this paper you will develop an argument that includes your own view on one specific topic relating to one of these sub-disciplines. A list of topics to choose from is listed below. It is recommended that you choose a topic to write on that you have already encountered, or that you have thought about previously. (One way of thinking about this is to think of an issue that worries you, interests you, or enrages you.)

You may choose a topic from ethics, epistemology, or religion, but you will need to make sure you do the following for whatever topic you choose:

Identify the specific issue

Make clear one basic dispute over this issue

Clarify the arguments on both sides of the issue

State which side of the issue you find to be better defended

Explain why you find that side of the debate superior

State your own view, and defend it with an argument

Provide at least two references for each side of the debate

In order to write a strong paper, you will need to clearly and specifically present both sides of the debate using at least five (5) academic resources in addition to the course text.

Discussion Questions

The Value of Philosophy

After reflecting on what you have read about and thought about in our course, select one topic that you thought was interesting, challenging, difficult, aggravating, new, or provocative. Discuss why you chose this particular topic, what you have learned about it and how it made you think a bit differently both about the issues this topic raises and about the value of philosophy.

Philosophy and Society