History of Modern Philosophy

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

• Acquire and demonstrate an understanding of what philosophy is, what makes it different from other modes of inquiry, and how it emerged and developed as a discipline during this historical period.
• Acquire and demonstrate familiarity with the basic questions/positions of the thinkers addressed, including articulations of the ways they engaged with and built off the ideas of their predecessors.
• Acquire and demonstrate a sense of differing styles of doing philosophy that enable the organization of thinkers into “schools of thought.”
• Acquire and demonstrate familiarity with and ability to navigate the landscape of key philosophical problems and dilemmas including: substance monism/pluralism, idealism/materialism, rationalism/empiricism, and the nature of political rights.
• Acquire and demonstrate close, critical, charitable reading skills, including argument reconstruction and analysis of written texts.
• Acquire and demonstrate analytical writing and argument construction skills, including the productive use of the writing process to explore and refine arguments for and against a philosophical thesis.
• Analyze written texts to understand how they relate to particular audiences, purposes, and contexts as a way to inform one’s own writing. (CIC CW SLO 1)
• Create and revise written texts for particuar audiences, purposes, and contexts. (CIC CW SLO 2)
• Demonstrate awareness of one’s writing choices as well as how one’s own writing contributes to ongoing conversations in Philosophy. (CIC CW SLO 3)

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Reading Quizzes	20%
Discussions	15%
Reflection Drafts	15%
Exams	30%
Final Paper	20%

Grading Scale:

Percentage	Letter Grade
92% and above	A
90-91%	A-
88-89%	B+
82-87%	B
80-81%	B-
78-79%	C+
72-77%	C
70-71%	C-
68-69%	D+
62-67%	D
60-61%	D-
59% and below	F

Attendance/Participation:

This is an online asynchronous course, and therefore “attendance” in the traditional sense does not apply to it. Students are expected to complete all assignments by their posted deadlines, and this includes participation in occasional weekly discussion boards.

While students have flexibility as to which of the many discussions they participate in, contributions to discussion boards after their posted deadlines will not be accepted for credit, as it’s not really participating in a discussion if everyone else has already moved on.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

No course materials are required.