Honors College Critical Thinking in the Humanities and Fine Arts Seminar: Why Be Moral?

Course Description

An intensive focus on foundational tools for reasoning, including constructing sound arguments; evaluating the quality of evidence; and forming judgments about the evidence, arguments, and conclusions of others in Humanities and Fine Arts disciplines. Prerequisite: Restricted to students in Lloyd International Honors College. Open to freshmen only or can enroll by Written Permission.

Syllabus

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

  • Critically analyze claims, arguments, artifacts or information.

  • Construct coherent, evidence-based arguments.

  • Compare and contrast the arguments of two or more ethical theories.

  • Apply the general description of at least two ethical theories to specific instances.

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure

Percentage/Points

Exam 1

20%

Exam 2

20%

Exam 3

20%

Philosophy Song/Video

5%

Weekly Reading Analysis

25%

Weekly Participation

10%

Grading Scale:

Percentage

Letter Grade

100-93

A

92-90

A-

89-88

B+

87-83

B

82-80

B-

79-78

C+

77-73

C

72-70

C-

69-68

D+

67-63

D

62-60

D-

59 and below

F

Attendance/Participation:

Attendance/participation is a graded component included in the student's final grade for this course.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

No course materials are required.

Scholarly Perspectives

This course engages diverse scholarly perspectives to develop critical thinking, analysis, and debate and inclusion of a reading does not imply endorsement.