Course Description: Training in writing and research in pure and applied metaphysics and epistemology. Topic chosen in close consultation with the instructor. Requires one substantial paper.
Course Justification: This course will provide students of philosophy the opportunity to develop and sharpen their analytical, expository and research skills. The instructor and student will choose the topic so that depth of investigation and clarity and precision of exposition are emphasized. Students will be introduced to techniques needed finding relevant materials through use of available databases.
Course Objectives: Students can expect to:
1) Improve their ability to write and speak with clarity and precision about complex philosophical problems.
2) Improve their ability to apply techniques of logical analysis taught in lower-level logic courses
3) Learn how to identify topics for research and to assess their feasibility.
4) Improve their ability, in concert with 3), to find relevant primary and secondary literature using available databases, including The Philosopher's Index.
Prerequisites: PHI 201 or PHI 335; and one other philosophy course _PHI250
Corequisites: one of: PHI 298, 305, 306, 325, 330, 331, 332, 333, 340, 425, 498
Requirements and Grading: The student will write a substantial paper (at least ten word-processed pages, exclusive of notes and annotated bibliography, all double-spaced, 12 point font, 1" margins all around,) on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor. The paper will typically address in greater depth a topic covered in or directly relevant to the corequisite contemporary philosophy course. A 250-word abstract and tentative annotated bibliography is due by the end of the tenth week of the semester. In preparing the latter and the paper, students will, with the instructor's assistance, find relevant materials through use of available databases (e.g., Web of Science and The Philosopher's Index).
Use the PHI 340 web site (especially the Unresolved Questions and Bibliography) and, if you wish, the web resources listed in the syllabus (electronic reserve, web-based materials with links for PHI 340-001) to find a topic that interests you. The topic should not be primarily in the history of philosophy (PHI 495) nor in value theory (PHI 494, ethics or aesthetics). To make sure of the latter, discuss this preliminary choice with the instructor as soon as possible.
Do subject and keyword searches of the library catalog and consult The Philosopher's Index in the library to find possibly relevant literature, and, by fourth week of the semester, share the results of these searches with the instructor, who will help you reduce the list to manageable size. Then, write the abstract and annotated bibliography, and submit it to the instructor as soon as possible, and in any case no later than eighth week. Meet with the instructor within one week thereafter to talk about how to begin. If you are a Philosophy major, be sure to use the section "Some Models for Philosophical Writing" in the Handbook for Philosophy Majors for general guidance on how to proceed.
Submit a first draft of the paper by the beginning of the next to the last week of classes. Receive written comments from the instructor by the beginning of the last week of classes and discuss them to get any needed advice during that week. A final draft reflecting the comments and advice is due by 5:00 PM, two days before the end of the final exam period (the instructor's mailbox is in Winston 101; office Winston 006).
Papers will be graded using the course letter +/- scale. Originality is not required for a good grade, though, of course, the work must be your own (as the Honor Code specifies). Clarity in presentation of arguments is absolutely necessary for a good grade. Students are expected to make use of material from symbolic logic, though arguments need not be rendered symbolically.
(These guidelines supplement the co-requisite course's syllabus, so any relevant conditions that it sets continue to apply.)