Instructor: Professor David F. Austin 
(Personal home page: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~n51ls801/homepage.html)
Assistant: Roxanne du Berger Noir Austin-Ward
(Personal home page: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~n51ls801/roxanne.html)

Office: Winston 006 (Click here for map.)
Office Hours: MW 12:30-1:30 & by appointment; and Friday 11:00-1:00, ending on the last day of classes, May 3.
Telephone: 919-515-6333
E-mail: david_austin@ncsu.edu (-the most reliable way to contact me; over 90% of student inquiries answered within 24 hours and over 50% within 2 hours)

We will consider some of the best answers to these questions:

What is the true nature of science?

How does science differ from religion, if it does?

Can science and religion come into conflict?

Do they disagree about the nature of thinking things?

Can there be a science of the mind?

Can a machine think? feel?

Is your brain just a computer?

Prerequisites:

None; this can be a first course in philosophy and assumes no specialized background in science. Because of its 300-level, its pace is about one-third faster than that of a standard introductory philosophy course (PHI 205).

How to Get a Grade:

(a) 90% of grade: Take all three on-line, open book hour exams (2/15, 3/22, 4/26). You will have a full 24 hours to work on each exam. Each hour exam consists of 13 T/F and 13 multiple choice (a. - d.) questions. Each question is worth 5 points, so the maximum possible score on any hour exam is 130 out of 100.

Sample tests are at the Review in class links indicated below in COURSE SCHEDULE AND REQUIRED READINGS .

There are no essay questions on any exams.

Correct answers will be supplied to students immediately after all students have completed the exam.

Please wait at least 24 hours after receiving exam answers to ask substantive questions; in the meantime, please take any needed prescription medication and review all the relevant notes and readings to see if you can first figure out on your own why an answer was incorrect.

The first multiple choice question on the first hour exam will be about this syllabus.

(b) For 10% of your grade, take the on-line, open book Dualism Quiz, submitting your answers during the specified period spanning the last two weeks of classes. (This quiz replaces the previously required dualism paper.) The quiz consists in 20 multiple choice (a. - d.) questions; each question is worth 5 points, for a total possible score of 100 (out of 100).

How to Get an Even Better Grade:

(a) Take the OPTIONAL final on-line, available 6:30 AM 5/10 - 6:30 AM 5/11. The OPTIONAL final consists of the twenty most difficult questions from the three hour exams, plus thirty new questions on specified course material. The score on the OPTIONAL final (-a maximum of 100) replaces the lowest hour exam scores only if that will improve the student's grade.

(b) To get 4 points added to your final average respond to the Intuition Inventory at the beginning AND at the end of course. [Current semester's results are here.]

On Cheating at NCSU: Avoid even the appearance of cheating. Cheating is an academic felony and may carry an academic 'death penalty' (expulsion). The least penalty is "F" on the piece of work involved and Academic Integrity Probation for the remainder of the student's career here. Every student must abide by the NCSU Honor Pledge ("I HAVE NEITHER GIVEN NOR RECEIVED UNAUTHORIZED AID ON THIS TEST OR ASSIGNMENT.") for all work in PHI 340. http://www.ncsu.edu/provost/academic_policies/integrity/reg.htm

Course Format:

Except for the first week of classes, as noted in the detailed schedule below, there will be two Q&A/Deep Thought meetings each week in HA 107, on Mondays and Wednesdays, and expanded office hours on Fridays. [During in-class discussions, all students are expected to observe the Standards of Classroom Behavior as specified in the Code of Student Conduct.*] Discussion will supplement web resources. You are required to follow an embedded link only if that link is marked "REQUIRED READING."

With the current web site materials, students can be more self-sufficient than in many previous semesters. The classroom sessions will be devoted to answering student questions about course material or investigating it more deeply (or both); formal lectures will for the most part be avoided. Students are also encouraged to use e-mail for asking questions. Class attendance is not required, and it is welcome.

Since I wrote the web material over a period of ten years, revising it many times in response to student questions and analyses of exam results, I need some indication from you about what additional help you might want or need with that material. So: To make good use of the discussion sections, here are some suggestions about how you can help me to help you: Ask questions about assigned web material because you are unclear or confused about some of it. Ask questions about web material or non-required readings because you are curious about a particular issue, and want to pursue it in greater depth. (If I don't know how to answer such a question, I'll try to find an answer within a class or two.) Formulate exam questions for discussion, using the Sample Hour Exams #1, #2 and #3 as guides. If you pose an especially marvelous question, I might even include it, or one quite similar to it, in the relevant exam. Wouldn't that be exciting?! Ask questions about required readings in Kitcher's Abusing Science or other required readings from electronic reserve. The more active you are in asking questions, the more you'll learn. Since many students have spent twelve or more years in an educational system that encourages passivity instead, not everyone has an easy time being more active.

[This web-based format was first used during Spring 2001, which enrolled 166 students. The means on the open-source, on-line 24-hour exams were about 7% lower than they had previously been for closed-source, in-class exams. The analyses of exam results showed that this difference could have been explained entirely by carelessness in reading exam questions and assigned material. For example, on the second hour exam, there was one T/F question answered correctly by only 9% of those who took the exam - even though a simple key word search of the obviously relevant chapter of the web text would immediately have yielded the correct answer. The performance was somewhat improved during Fall 2001, but still not as good as it had been.

This web-based format was also used during Summer Session I 2001, which enrolled 49 students in two sections. As usual, the average was higher than during the semesters, but still lower than during previous summer sessions.

(In addition, for both Spring and Summer I 2001, the second-round Intution Inventory results were not significantly different from the first-round results, unlike every other time the results have been compared, suggesting that the course in web-based format had far less influence on student's views.)

The reasons for the decline in performance are unclear. Anecdotal evidence suggests that (i) students become over-confident when given open-source exams, (ii) some people regard web-based material more casually than what's in printed books and articles, and (iii) attention to course material diminshes without regular class attendance.]

The material for which you will be held responsible on hour exams is: all assigned web site material: Religion, Science, Life and Mind - as well as required readings on electronic reserve and in Kitcher's Abusing Science. Sample exams are available on-line, as noted in the detailed schedule below. An alternative, simplified display of this information is here.

Some of the material at the web site and on electronic reserve is non-required background or it is supplementary material that might be covered the optional final exam. See the Table of Contents and the COURSE SCHEDULE AND REQUIRED READINGS for details.

*In addition to the Code of Student Conduct the university community is also governed by NCSU's anti-discrimination policies. This chart helps to make it clear how broad the coverage of those policies is.

This course continues to be Y2K compliant, as always.

Use of E-mail:

Students are expected to check the course Message Forum and their e-mail frequently; at least daily is advisable. Since the Wolfware system uses the official class list for e-mailing to the entire class, be sure that the Registrar's Office lists the (one and only) e-mail address that you want used. So, for example, if the university has assigned you the Unity e-mail address

bboinks9@unity.ncsu.edu,

but you want instead to receive mail at

dragulina@vampyre.org,

you should modify your listing accordingly through the Registrar's Office.

If you contact me via e-mail about any matter pertaining to the course, please begin your subject line with PHI 340, and please give a (good) hint about the message's topic in the remainder of the subject line. Otherwise, responses to your message may be delayed. (Neither a blank subject line nor a subject line consisting entirely in "Question" give good hints.)

On Missed Classes:

If you miss an in-class discussion, you may wish to find out from classmates what went on. You are also welcome to consult me with questions about a missed discussion, though I won't repeat the discussion for you. One convenient way to consult me is via e-mail.

On Missing an Exam or Quiz:

If an emergency makes it impossible for you to take an exam or quiz during the regularly scheduled time period, contact me as soon as possible to schedule a make-up. Make-ups will have the same format and cover the same material as regular exams or quiz, will be open-book and the questions will be different; however, they will be given via e-mail.

Excuses by and for students.

Disability-Related Student Needs:

It is University policy to provide, on a flexible and individualized basis, accommodations to students who have disabilities that may affect their ability to participate in course activities or to meet course requirements. I strongly encourage any students with disabilities to contact me as soon as possible to discuss their individual needs for accommodations so that those needs can be met in a timely manner. Course material can be made available in alternative formats upon request. For more information on pertinent university policy, see:

http://www.ncsu.edu/provost/hat/current/appendix/appen_k.html
http://www.ncsu.edu/campus_map/axs.htm

Laboratory Safety:

Students will be required to do a non-zero number of thought experiments, both in and out of class, and are exhorted to follow safe-thinking practices on all such occasions.

Pass-Through Charges:

There are no course-associated pass-through charges as such, but please see this page for awfully IMPORTANT information.

Automated Complaint Generator:

Why waste your valuable time on inventive invective when the whole process can be automated? Is technology great, or what?! But if you are not satisfied, study the revised Student grievance procedure

Texts:

Philip Kitcher, Abusing Science: The Case Against Creationism, (The MIT Press, 1982), paperback, $14.00 new (REQUIRED) (used copies in circulation)

Religion, Science, Life and Mind, on the web (REQUIRED; web version saves you $25.00) (do not use out-dated hard copies of course material in circulation; use the web version instead) [You are required to follow an embedded link only if that link is marked "REQUIRED READING."]

Except for Kitcher, all readings are on Electronic Reserve (saves you >$20.00): http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/rbr/ (some readings on Electronic Reserve are required, and some are not; see PHI 340 Guide to Electronic Reserve and COURSE SCHEDULE AND REQUIRED READINGS, below)

[Note to Philosophy Majors: This course can serve as a corequisite for PHI 496, if you have already completed PHI 496's prerequisites. Consult with me to make appropriate arrangements for the additional work.]

A. THE FOLLOWING SCALE IS USED THROUGHOUT THE COURSE (NO CURVES). (This scale should replace any wishful thinking you might be inclined to indulge in.)

B. To compute your course grade

1. Calculate: 0.3*(HE1+HE2+HE3) + 0.1*D,

where:

Your Hour Exam- HEi - score = the number correct multiplied by 5 points (max=130!)

and

D = your score (0-100) for the Dualism Quiz

2. Repeat 1. replacing your lowest hour exam score with your score on the OPTIONAL final.

3. Round up fractional results if and only if the fraction is 0.330 or greater.

4. Add four points for doing the Intuition Inventory at both the course's beginning and end by the specified dates (and add nothing otherwise).

5. After adding any points (from 4.) and rounding up (3.), you'll have two numbers. The larger of these two is your course average. Use the grade table above to determine your letter grade.

6. Incompletes (IN) will be given, at the instructor's discretion, in line with university policies.

Q1: The right answer on the exam differed from the wrong one by just one or two words! Aren't you being picky?
A1: One or two words can make a big difference to the meaning of an answer. For example, contrast

"You are brilliant."
"You are not brilliant."

"It is possible for minds to come into contact with bodies."
"It is impossible for minds to come into contact with bodies."

(The first line of the last pair is a 'real' example from a student paper.) And contrast

"If you snore during class, then I will throw chalk at you."
"I will throw chalk at you."

as well as

"That's a small mouse."
"That's a small elephant."

and

"The pool balls collided."
"The pool balls colluded."

(-another 'real' example from a student paper).

Q2: My answer was approximately right, but it was marked wrong anyway. Why? Aren't you (still) being picky?
A2: One theme of this course is that the kind of precision that is the rule in the use of mathematical symbolism can and often should be the rule in verbal communication. Answering "21" to "What is 3 + 5?" on an arithmetic test may be 'closer' to being right than answering "145,737", but "21" is still a wrong answer.

Q3: Is studying this stuff very carefully the only way to get a good grade?
A3: Definitely. I aim to encourage a higher than usual level of verbal precision in thinking, writing and speaking. If your understanding of the material is a bit shaky (or your grasp of English is less than good), then you'll very likely not do as well. Indeed, many exam and quiz questions are designed specifically to distinguish between good understanding and merely pretty good understanding. The total quantity of reading required for the course is fairly modest. But, my long past experience tells me, the vast majority of students will need to read this material far more carefully than they have ever read anything before.

Q4: I knew the correct answer, but I didn't record it in the on-line form. Can I get some more points for having had the correct answer in mind?
A4: Ha ha ha ha ha! That's a good one! (This question is asked more than once every time PHI 340 is taught.) You should, of course, print out and/or save the on-line form with your answers before submitting your exam or quiz answers.

Q5: I worked very hard and read the material very carefully, but still didn't get a good grade. Doesn't that show that there's something wrong with the course or the instructor?
A5: It leaves open the possibility that the deficiency is in you. Since the class final average has always been about 80, it's more likely that the deficiency is not in the course or instructor. (Of course, many possible reasons for not doing well in a course indicate no deficiency whatever in the student's ability.)

Q6: I used some old tests and an old CoursePak from PHI 340 in studying for this semester's exams. But I still didn't get a good grade. Why?
A6: Only the CoursePaks from Fall '97 or after are at all usable, and even they are badly dated, so you must rely on the web pages. Anyway, it's dangerous to assume that exams will be the same from semester to semester. Twice, many students in PHI 340 made that assumption about hour exams, and over 40% of them flunked (-the usual average had been 80).

Q7: Why should I study this stuff when it's not going to do any good for my career?
A7: There are two things wrong with this question:

First, it's simply not true that studying this (kind of) stuff won't do any good for your career. The ability to think straight and express one's thoughts with verbal precision is a highly marketable skill, especially since it is in such short supply. Many of the millions of dollars of cost overruns I saw when I worked on the design of the Trident submarine and on Automated Medicaid Fraud Detection were the direct result of a shortage in the supply of these skills. Although one course can't teach you all that you need of these skills, it can get you started. (PHI 250 also offers excellent training in these skills and is periodically taught on-line.)

Second, there is a lot that you owe it to yourself to learn besides what will be of immediate practical utility. Love and religious feeling do have immediate practical utility, but they also have value beyond that - intrinsic value. Study of questions in philosophy (or science, etc.) also has intrinsic value, as well as practical value. Please don't cheat yourself of what's intrinsically valuable.

Q8: You raise a lot of questions in this course, including some about religious beliefs, and you don't give us answers to all of them. What do you think the answers are? Do you think it's right to raise questions and then leave us to find answers later?
A8: This is a complicated and emotionally charged question. I'll give a three part answer.

First, remember that this is an introductory course. Just as you should not expect the ultimate truth about the material world in your first or second physics course (where one learns about a false though very useful physical theory), you should not expect the ultimate truth about Everything in the Universe in your first (or second or third) philosophy course. Often, all that can be done in an introductory course in any subject is to raise questions that must wait until more advanced courses for answers.

Second, the most important part of my job is to alert you to some important questions, and to give you what help I can during the semester in evaluating a few of the main answers; the rest is up to you. In the interest of giving a fair presentation of the issues, it is best for me to adopt a neutral stance on some questions (though not on all).

Third, asking questions about something is not the same as calling it doubtful or wrong; it can instead be a way of asking why it is true, or why it is believed to be true: we might want to discover the belief's justification, if one is needed; or we might want to know why no justification is needed, if none is. Certainly, asking questions implies not a shred of disrespect; on the contrary, it may be based on great respect for and interest in what the questions are about. (See also: Dangerous Knowledge: A Student Objects, and Dangerous Ignorance: A Student Vents.)

Q9: Why isn't there more opportunity provided to students for expression of personal opinions and for the exercise of original thought?
A9: Such a question would rarely (if ever) be asked by students in an introductory math or science course because it's generally (and correctly!) assumed that students need a great deal of training before such opinions or thoughts should be subjected to grading. It would be cruel to require original insights for a good grade at the introductory level. The same holds for philosophy, which deals with even more difficult and persistent questions. (Once, thirteen years ago, in response to their repeated requests, students were given the option of writing an original essay on a new topic instead of taking the standard hour exam. Of the 440 students then enrolled, 3 chose the essay option, and 1 of them did passable work. The experiment has not been repeated. Originality is very risky.)

Q10: I dropped by your office a few times and I couldn't find you. How can I arrange to meet with you outside of class?
A10: Besides teaching, I also have research and administrative responsibilities, so I'm not always in my office. I am there during office hours and will also gladly make an appointment to see you at a mutually convenient time if you can't make it during office hours. To make an appointment, see me before or after class, telephone or e-mail me. E-mail is the easiest and most reliable way to reach me. I typically reply within a few hours.

Q11: A lot of the principles that you tell us about turn out to be false, and a lot of the arguments turn out to be unsound. Why bother with false principles and unsound arguments?
A11: When on a complex and difficult journey, it is worth knowing which roads should not be taken. (-has a kind of 'Zen' ring, eh?)

Q12: Do you have any general advice on how to study for the hour exams?

A12: No, there's nothing especially useful and general that I can say (though I could say many useless and general things, e.g., "Read VERY, VERY carefully!" "Every word counts!," "Think clearly!" "Pay attention to important details!"). One method that some students have found harmful is use of index cards to record pieces of information, since this method effectively breaks conceptual connections that must be retained. A few students have found it better to chart material since this can make it easier to track connections and to compare and contrast various views under discussion. (Three charts are provided to assist you in review for hour exams 1, 2 and 3.) Your mileage may vary (considerably). I can, however, offer individual help with specific questions, which you can pose in class, via e-mail and/or during office hours. Sometimes, it can be helpful for me to go over earlier exams with a student to see why s/he answered a question incorrectly. On occasion, an instructive general pattern of mistakes will emerge during such review, though more often no instructive pattern emerges.

Q13: My average on the first two hour exams for the course is below a C-. Is there anything I can do to bring my grade up (aside from what's already specified in this syllabus)?
A13: I'm so sad that you've waited so long to ask for help. There almost certainly isn't anything that can be done to help you now. For a list of available options, however, see How to Get an Even Better Grade. And no, there aren't any other options. As I said, there are no other options. No other options are available, as I've indicated. Other options are what's not available. The availability of options other than these is nil, i.e. zilch, the Big 0.

Q14: Why was the (in)famous dualism paper replaced by the Dualism Quiz?

A14: Since Fall 1997, about two-thirds of the students who attempted to write the paper had serious difficulty completing the assignment adequately. The vast majority of students did not follow the very detailed directions for writing the paper. The distribution of scores, with overall means in the 40-60 range, was typically bi-modal.

The poor performance resulted from two sorts of problems:

(i) About one-fifth of the students had such serious difficulties with grammar and reasoning that they were not able to write coherently and instead wrote as if they had not seen or were incapable of understanding the directions.

(ii) About half of the students - those not beset by such serious difficulties with grammar and reasoning - nevertheless had great trouble with reasoning, leading them to make precisely the mistakes that the paper guidelines and checklists specifically warned them not to make.

Group (i) students seemed to need a kind of help that probably exceeds even what freshman composition courses can reasonably be expected to offer. These students rarely if ever asked for help. Perhaps they did not realize that they needed help. Perhaps they were too dispirited to ask.

Very likely, students in group (ii) could have benefitted from the additional assistance offered by the course, but they usually did not avail themselves of it. Assigning a couple of short practice papers earlier in the semester, with lots of instructor feedback on drafts, would probably have helped many group (ii) students gain some of the skills that they needed in writing the end-of-semester dualism paper; similarly, requiring a draft of the dualism paper, providing lots of feedback and requiring a re-write would also have helped. But in a large course without any teaching assistants, the latter measures are not feasible.

If the issues in this course interest you -then there are other courses in which to continue exploration of them. To mention just ten of the many possibilities:

• REL 323 Religious Cults, Sects and Minority Faiths in America
• REL 327 Issues in Contemporary Religion
• REL (HI) 460 American Religion after Darwin
• PHI 305 Philosophy of Religion
• PHI 330 Metaphysics
• PHI 331 Philosophy of Language
• PHI 332 Philosophy of Psychology
• PHI 333 Theory of Knowledge
• PHI/PSY 425/525 Introduction to Cognitive Science
• PHI 440/540 The Scientific Method [FRESH AS SPRING! whence offered Spring Semesters!]

This upper-level seminar will examine the work of contemporary Christian theologians who havde proposed models of God that are compatible with the view of reality coming to us from evolutionary biology.

The course will first introduce students to four types of relationship between science and religion, namely, conflict, independence, dialogue, and integration and will then explore Darwin and his theory of evolution and the neo-Darwinian synthesis.

After taking a closer look at the conflicts between these disciplines that arise from a commitment to biblical literalism, scientific creationism, and intelligent design on the one hand, and adherence to scientific materialism on the other, the seminar will investigate methodological issues in science and religion, noting significant parallels as well as differences, in order to overcome stereotypes about the "objectivity" of science and the "subjectivity" of religion.

The course will then focus on the proposals of several contemporary theologians representing a variety of Christian perspectives, who have reformulated traditional ideas of God, attempting to be faithful to both the findings of evolutionary biology and the fundamental tenets of their religious heritage.

Dr. Mary Kathleen Cunningham
Department of Philosophy and Religion
Winston 104, 515-6105
MK_Cunningham@ncsu.edu

SCIENCE AND THE SACRED would be especially appropriate as a follow-up to PHI 340 since Professor Cunningham's course considers the New Creationism and more complex and nuanced approaches to the problems of distinguishing science and religion.

Also, there are three minors:

Cognitive Science

Philosophy

Religion.

Information on these is available in Winston 101 (where you can also obtain departmental brochures and handbooks for majors) and at the department web page.