Friday Philosophy Picnic

In case I neglect to invite you in class, please come, and bring a philosophical friend, to the annual Philosophy picnic on Friday, 4-7 pm, behind 100 Porter Street (in case of rain -- possible thunderstorms! -- we'll probably be next door in the FPA gallery and kitchen).

Deadlines

Per our conversation this week, I will look for your completed essays on Friday, May 4th, before the departmental cookout that afternoon. Book analyses are of course due at the exam, which is 8am(!) on Thursday, May 10th.

Book Analysis Guidelines

I promised I would give you parameters for your book analyses later, and today is later.

Your analysis should be concise (less than five pages in manuscript format), thoroughly edited with respect to all items on the writing checklist (explaining in footnotes all stylistic deviations from those rules), and contain:

• Your name, and the date (that of our final examination period, when the piece is due)
• The title, author(s)/editor(s), publisher, and year of publication of the book
• An opening paragraph identifying the central conceptual issues and claims which the book addresses
• A précis of the author’s positions and reasoning about those issues
• A systematic comment on the author’s reasoning, noting what you take to be its most important strengths, as well as any significant weaknesses or oversights

Please edit out any popular review-y tics like how much you enjoyed the book, whether you'd recommend it to your friends, etc.

CRITO outlines

Good work on your drafts. Now I want you to do an analysis of your essay using the CRITO outline format below. You should probably be able to do it on a single page. Please let me have these by the end of next week.

Conclusion:  Begin by stating your central claim or thesis in the form of a declarative sentence (followed by a brief explanation of its terms, if necessary). Your conclusion (thesis) should be explicit and clear, substantive, particular, and the object of possible or actual reasoned debate.  It should be something you believe to be true, in which you have a genuine interest, and for which you think you can give compelling reasons. Often you won’t know exactly what your thesis is until you have written a very preliminary draft of the paper.

Reasons:  Summarize briefly each of the reasons (premises, evidence, examples...) you will muster in support of your conclusion. They should be collectively sufficient to convince a thoughtful reader of the truth (accuracy, credibility) of your thesis. State each one as a single, short, declarative sentence.

Inference:  Put the central argument of your essay into standard form (list each reason as a single statement, followed by the conclusion), so as to be certain that it is sufficient to constitute a valid deductive, or strong inductive, argument for your conclusion.

Truth:  Consider the probable truth or falsity of each of your reasons in turn, so as to assess the soundness (if deductive), or cogency (if inductive) of your central argument.

Objection:  As far as the argument proper is concerned, if you have satisfied C, R, I, and T, your work should be complete. However, it is possible (and in actual practice quite likely) that you have missed something: a different perspective from which some element of your argument may be wanting, or some crucial piece of overlooked evidence or interpretation. Therefore, it will strengthen your argument to give full and respectful consideration to the strongest possible objection you can raise to some aspect of your of it. Ask yourself: what if a reasonable and intelligent person thought your conclusion, or one of your reasons, or the inference itself, had somehow missed the mark?

After presenting the strongest possible objection to your argument and according it serious consideration by developing it fully and sympathetically, respond to it as completely and respectfully as you can. It is better to acknowledge that you cannot definitively answer an objection than to attempt to deny or avoid its force.

Essay Drafts

A reminder that I would like to see full-scale drafts of your essay projects next week. Let's say by Friday at 5.

Also, of course, I presume you will be reading the books you have selected (has everyone spoken with me about a book?) and taking detailed notes toward your analysis, so as not to be doing it at the last minute (I have to read these things, remember!).

Essay projects

Apologies for not returning your drafts and annotated bibliographies yesterday. I read and commented on them over break, and then conveniently misplaced them. As soon as I sort out my piling system, I'll give them back to you. Meanwhile, please forge ahead constructing your arguments.

Refining the Circle-ocracy

I thought our class on Monday went unusually well, due in large part I am sure to my own comparative silence. I don’t expect I will be able to restrain myself so readily when it doesn’t actually hurt to speak, but perhaps we can continue with some of the same procedures, such as each speaker calling on the next. Also, I would like to suggest that we refrain from raising our hands until after each speaker has finished, so we are more inclined to say something thoughtful in direct response to that person’s comment.

Class Process

In any social situation, such as a classroom, certain personalities naturally tend to dominate discussion. It comes as no surprise that more often than not it is men who find ourselves in this role, particularly when there are more men than women in the room, as has turned out to be the case in our seminar/ovular. This is not in any way to criticize anyone's behavior -- I think the class has gone quite well so far. I would like, however, to recommend some attention on everyone's part to the importance of every participant's getting her or his thoughts out and well heard. One way to do this is for all of you to encourage each other to participate (particularly those, men or women, who have heretofore been reticent), perhaps using blog discussions as a starting point.

Speaking of blog discussions, this past week was the lowest point yet in blog participation, even as my first-year students are starting to ramp up and do it pretty well. Please build regular blogging in to your study schedule for the balance of the semester.

Updated Readings

Here are reading assignments for the balance of the semester:

(Week of)
March 5:  pp. 214-229

March 12 (break)

March 19:  Beauvoir pp. 229-278; Midgley

March 26:  pp. 279-340; Almond

April 2:  pp. 341-416; Assiter

April 9:  pp. 417-523; Hughes

April 16:  pp. 524-598; Grimshaw

April 23:  pp. 599-666; Whitford

April 30:  pp. 667-720; Seller

May 7:  pp. 721-766

Essay Process

In the interest of moving things along, I think it would be best if I had a report from each of you before spring break on the progress of your essays. The best form for this to take, I think, is that of a Research Project with Annotated Bibliography -- that is, give me a brief account of your argument so far (thesis and explanation; premises) and a list of what you are reading with a short paragraph after each explaining what it does and does not do for your project. It is an excellent idea to include in this bibliography all of your blind alleys -- things you looked into that did not prove to be helpful -- so I can begin to understand how your mind works and how your research is proceeding.

Course Readings

I notice that if we read about 60-80 pages of Beauvoir a week, that will take us within two weeks of the end of the semester. So I say we do just that, and I will add in selected essays from the Griffiths and Whitford volume after spring break. It will be fun, and you will be able to tell your grandchildren that you were one of the last students ever to have read an entire large, important book cover-to-cover. While there were still books with covers.

Sample Assignment

Here is a sample thesis paragraph and list of premises, based on a famous Monty Python sketch:

 

 My Theory

by Anne Elk

All Brontosauruses are little at one end, get big in the middle, and are little again at the other end. A Brontosaurus is a large, herbiverous, land-based dinosaur living in the Jurassic period. “Little” and “big” are of course vague terms; the claim is merely that the middle of the Brontosaurus is very much bigger relative to the two ends, so the absolute values are immaterial. This claim might appear too obvious to need demonstration, but several prominent paleontologists have seemed in their writings (for example: Gould, 2001, Eldridge, 1994) to suggest otherwise.

•   All known fossil remains of Brontosauri have the prescribed shape.

•  Fossil remains of smaller dinosaurs thought to be ancestral to the Brontosaurus have similar shapes.

• As with all vertebrates, he shapes of dinosaurs are largely determined by heredity from the shapes of their parents.

• Leading scientific journals refer regularly and unproblematically to the iconic shape of the Brontosaurus.

Essay Process

For next week I would like you each to begin the process of crafting an essay. I am of course also open to the possibility of collaborative projects. To that end, please email me by the end of the day next Thursday (let's say 8 pm for convenience) a preliminary topic, working thesis, and thesis paragraph (containing the thesis, any necessary explanation of what you do and don't mean by it and its terms, and any useful framing of the issue, such as why the thesis needs proving, in case it might seem obvious to the uninitiated).

Be careful to exclude from your thesis paragraph any grounds (textual, reasoned, observed) for thinking it is true. Instead, list all such grounds as premises, that is, single declarative sentences, after your thesis paragraph (hint: these will later become topic sentences of paragraphs in your essay).

I recognize and accept that you may cast around awhile for a topic, and for a solid thesis (one that is both interesting, probably true, but in need of support), so some adjustment will take place as the essay takes shape. Sometimes one must write an entire paper before being certain what one is arguing for. So the more feverish brainstorming and attempting to nail your ideas down in writing you can do before next Thursday, the better it will probably be for all of us.

Book Analysis Assignment

It's time to start exploring what book you will choose to read and analyze for the class this semester. The list on the syllabus is one place to begin, but it hardly exhausts the possibilities. Please let me know via email by next Wednesday at the latest what you are thinking about reading, and we will discuss its suitability.

For Next Week

For next week I have asked you to:
1) read the Spelman articles in the packet (packet available by my office door)
2) read the Philosophy Toolkit
3) write a SLAP on some aspect of one of these readings
4) review the syllabus and raise any questions or concerns in class

See you Monday!

Grading Policy

Most students are very concerned about their grades. Many of them believe that this concern helps them to succeed academically, but most grade-consciousness actually interferes with learning (and hence, ironically, with getting good grades). Because the grade is merely an external motivator, it tends to undermine the attention, care, interest, and fun that makes for effective learning – and it is the effectiveness of your learning that the grade measures. Making a fetish of grades is a bit like marrying for money; lots of people do it, but the outcomes are seriously sub-optimal.

The following description of what grades mean in this course is to help you moderate your concern about grades. It is useful and legitimate to understand an instructor’s grading policy and plan a general strategy, but your grade will ultimately reflect your interest and performance in the coursework, the class process, and the subject matter, not your attentiveness to grades.

• F. These are surprisingly difficult to get. Even a student who has difficulty with the course material and dislikes the professor can generally avoid failure through diligence. Attending class as well-prepared as possible, consulting with the professor to pinpoint difficulties, responding to criticism, and putting written work through extra drafts in advance of due dates almost always keeps the F at bay. On the other hand, lack of preparation or attendance, not turning in assignments on time, and avoiding confrontation with the problem can lead to failure.
• D. A grade of D represents only a minimal level of understanding and skill with the course material, and usually reflects some problems in committing to the time and effort a college course demands. It is not, however, a failing grade; it represents some rudimentary learning and effort on the part of the student, and while it is generally unsatisfactory to both students and professors, it is not an insult to anyone’s intelligence.
• C. Few people like to think of themselves as average, but most of us perform most tasks at roughly an average level of proficiency. A course grade of C sometimes represents really good scholarly work that is inconsistent or lacks diligence, but often it simply reflects solid and reliable average work, in which there is no shame. Even a very good student may sometimes get a C in a challenging course, reflecting honest effort and respectable but modest accomplishment.
• B. B grades represent reliably above-average work, or excellent but somewhat inconsistent performance. Unlike the grading policies in some high schools, a B in a college course is not a reward for potential or personality, but a reflection of genuine achievement that goes well beyond basic expectations for one or more course elements. Earning a B in a college course is (and ought to be) very challenging.
• A. Work that earns an A is excellent overall, with no major weaknesses. It generally shows some well-developed talent for the subject-matter, and an imaginative passion to explore it further. Student work by the end of the course is on the whole clear, precise, and well-reasoned. A-level students are generally able and disposed to offer sustained analyses of competing viewpoints within the field of study, and are sensitive to important implications of their thinking. They also tend to be helpful to and considerate of others in the learning process.

(adapted from the Critical Thinking Institute)

Attendance

The syllabus is terse on the subject, so let me here explain my approach to the matter of attendance.

My first operating principle is that, as college students, you want and have chosen to be in college and to take this course, so you desire to be present for every possible moment. If that is not your orientation, I would respectfully suggest that you are not yet prepared for college work.

I also assume you are at once legal adults and morally mature persons who have the right and ability to make sensible judgments about your own schedules. Should a genuine emergency arise for which you must absent yourself, I trust you will
1) make that decision without the need to ask my permission (I am neither a parent nor a priest), and
2) make absolutely sure that you are fully appraised of what goes on in the classroom in your absence, so that you are up to speed immediately upon your return, and it is as though you had never been gone.

To the latter purpose, you should acquaint yourself with other alert students in the class with whom you can confer in detail if the necessity arises. Be prepared to buy them lunch and ask them to review the missed experience thoroughly. Again, I do not need to be a party to this; I presume on your good faith that you would be present if you could, and on your diligence in making your unavoidable absence as non-disruptive as possible to your learning and that of the rest of the team.

I will not, therefore, take formal attendance for the course, though I will notice when you are not there, and approach you if I think there are grounds for concern. You should meet with me if you have concerns about your understanding of the course material, or if your need to absent yourself threatens to grow excessive -- i.e., more than the three absences permitted by the Student Handbook.

Welcome to Women and Philosophy

This Blog is primarily for students in my seminar/ovular of the same name, though interested, collaborative others are welcome to lurk and comment. I will generally use this space for assignments, handouts, and other clerical details; most discussion posts will appear on Skeptiblog with the flag (WP).