PHL 111

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PHL 111

• Introduction to Philosophy
• Roger Ebertz

On the piece of paper, please write your Name
(nickname if preferred) Phone number Major Hometow
n
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Goals of the course

• To introduce you to
• Areas of the field of philosophy.
• Important philosophers and concepts.
• To teach you basic critical thinking skills
• Recognize fallacies.
• Analyze, evaluate and formulate arguments and
  issues.
• To stimulate you to think philosophically
• Examine your own beliefs.
• Begin clarifying and formulating your own
  worldview or philosophy of life.

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What you need to do

• Attend class and participate (50 points for
  attendance, 50 for participation).
• Prepare for class by reading the assignments.
• Complete quizzes, homework and in-class writing
  exercises (100 points).
• Take three exams (multiple choice and essay).
  (150 points total).
• Write a final my philosophy paper. (50 points).

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Guidelines for Discussion

• Share your thoughts and ideas.
• Listen carefully to others dont interrupt.
• Be prepared to critically evaluate your own ideas
  and beliefs.
• Never attack or ridicule another participant
  (even behind their back or out of class).
• If you are a quiet person, take courage and speak
  up.
• If you find it easy to talk, contribute, but also
  sit back and listen, encouraging quieter people
  to talk.

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Criticizing ideas and arugmentsvs. Ridiculing
or judging people

• Philosophy is about evaluating various positions
  on basic questions of life and reality.
• To do this, we need to evaluate the reasons for
  different beliefs and positions.
• Thus to do philosophy, we must evaluate one
  anothers beliefs, thoughts and ideas critically.
• You can evaluate a persons thoughts or ideas
  (which we will do) without judging or ridiculing
  that person (which we will try to avoid).
• For this class, we must all be open to having
  others raise questions about our ideas.
  Philosophy does not accept I just believe it as
  a good reason for believing something.

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Areas of philosphy

• Logic
• Tools for critical thinking.
• Argument structure and evaluation.
• Epistemology (Theory of Knowledge)
• What is knowledge? What do we know?
• What is knowledge based on?
• Metaphysics (Theory of Reality)
• Are we free or determined?
• Who am I? Do I have a soul?
• Is there a God?
• Axiology (Theory of Values)
• Ethics (What is right and wrong? What is a good
  life?)
• Aesthetics (What is beautiful?)

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The Philosophical Toolbox

• Argumentation and logic
• Conceptual analysis
• Examples What is a table? What is real? What is
  knowledge? What is a person?
• Skepticism
• Methodological skepticism to challenge arguments.
• Thought experiments
• To test concepts and theories.
• For example cow-like beings on the quad.
• To evoke intuitions and test moral theories.
• For example Runaway trains
• To evoke methodological skepticism to encourage
  critical thought.
• Possible worlds.

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Books
Code name Pig
Code name Readings
Code name UG