Schedule of Topics

Date

Day

Topics for Class Discussion

6/26

W

Introduction to PHIL 003:

• Who am I?
• Who are you?
• What are we doing here?
• Where will we be in six weeks?

6/27

Th

 Persons:

• Where does the term ‘person’ come from?
• How has the term ‘person’ been used?
• What tends to come to mind when we hear the term ‘person’?
• What is a person and why do we care?

6/28

F

 Moral Values:

• ‘Moral Values’ and Moral Values
• Moral Values and Kids these Days
• Rhetoric and Responsibility 

7/1

M

 The Good Life:

• Goods vs. The Good
• What’s Nature Have to Do with It?
• A Suggestion Concerning the Good Life

7/2

T

 Narrative and Agency:

• Who’s in charge here?
• What Ought I to Do?
• Certainty and Hope

7/3

W

 So Far, So What?

• What are you getting out if this so far?
• What is being left out?
• Where do we go from here?

7/4

Th

 Independence Day—No Class

7/5

F

 So Far, So What? Part II

7/8

M

Ethical Literacy:

• What is Ethical Literacy?
• Why is it important?
• How do we develop it?

7/9

T

Identity and Privacy:

• How do we shape our identities online?
• How do we protect our identities online?
• What should we be keeping in mind?

7/10

W

Ownership and Authorship:

• What is the point of owning something?
• What is the point of recognizing authorship of something?
• How does the online environment change the stakes?
• What should we be keeping in mind?

7/11

Th

Credibility:

• Why is it important to establish credibility?
• How do we do this generally?
• How do we do this online?
• What should we be keeping in mind?

7/12

F

Participation:

• Why is participation in community important?
• How do online communities resemble and differ from other communities?
• What should we be keeping in mind?

7/15

M

 Authority:

• Why do we need authority figures?
• How do we know we can trust any of them?
• What do we do when authority figures disagree?
• How can we tell an authority figure from an authority?

7/16

T

 Questioning Authority

7/17

   W

 The Authority to Question Authority:

7/18

   Th

 The Examined Life:

7/19

F

Socrates’ Moral Values and the Good Life:

7/22

M

Plato, Human Nature, and the Good Life:

7/23

T

Aristotle, Second Nature, and the Highest Good:

7/24

W

Sensible Pleasure and Intellectual Virtue:

7/25

Th

Cosmology and Anthropology:

Human Nature in the Natural World

7/29

M

Persons, Autonomy, Dignity, and Hope:

7/30*

T

Taking Ourselves Seriously:

7/31*

W

Taking Ourselves Seriously:

7/31

W

Getting it Right:

8/1

Th

Getting it Right:

8/2

F

Where Does this Leave Us?

8/5

M

Group Project Day I (Meet on your own)

8/6

T

Group Project Day II (Meet on your own)

8/7

W

Group Project Day III (Meet on your own)