Accessible Syllabus Template

San José State UniversityHumanities and Arts/PhilosophyPhil. 190, Nietzsche, Section 1, Fall, 2016

Course and Contact Information

Instructor: / Tom Leddy
Office Location: / Faculty Office Building 206. (The Faculty Office Building is a two-story building between the Spartan Complex and Dwight Bental Hall. English is on the first floor. Philosophy is on the second floor.)
Telephone: / 408 924-4528. I may be reached here during my office hours. If I am not there, please leave a message on voice-mail and I will call back.
Email: / [preferred method of communication] Feel free to ask questions.
Office Hours: / MW 9:45-10:15, 1:30-2:30, W 6:00-6:45.
Class Days/Time: / W 7:00-9:45
Classroom: / BBC 203
Prerequisites: /

Prerequisite: PHIL 70A and PHIL 70B and 6 units of upper division philosophy or instructor consent.

Faculty Web Page and MYSJSU Messaging

Course materials such as syllabus, handouts, notes, and assignment instructions can be found on my faculty web page at http://www.sjsu.edu/people/thomas.leddy under Courses, Philosophy 190 Nietzsche, or just go to SJSU Home and then Faculty and Staff, search for Leddy, and then bookmark the site. Also you should regularly check your email for messages “from the desk of” Professor Leddy. I do not use Canvas.

Course Description

Works of a major philosopher or philosophical tradition. Course is repeatable for up to 12 units of credit when a seminar topic is different. The philosopher for this seminar is Nietzsche.

Over time Nietzsche has come to be seen as one of the great philosophers of the modern era. His contributions to epistemology, ethics, political theory and aesthetics are of considerable significance. The goal of the Nietzsche seminar will be for students to gain an understanding of his main ideas. We will be looking at such ideas as the Apollonian/Dionysian duality, theory of truth, the Will to Power, the Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence, perspectivism, the transvaluation of values, and the Master/Slave relationship. Since this is a seminar, class participation and discussion are particularly important, and of course you are responsible for having read the assignments when they are due.

How to pronounce his name: http://inogolo.com/pronunciation/d360/Friedrich_Nietzsche

Required Texts/Readings

Textbooks

Basic Writings of Nietzsche tr. and ed. Walter Kaufmann (New York: The Modern Library, 2000) ISBN 978-0679783398 can get for as little as .89 plus shipping from Amazon.com through used book dealers.

The Portable Nietzsche tr. and ed. Walter Kaufmann (Penguin Books, 1982) ISBN 978-0140150629. Can get for as little as .79 plus shipping from Amazon as used.

Strongly Recommended for when we read Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Laurence Lampert. Nietzsche’s Teaching: An Interpretation of Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Yale University Press, 1986) 978-0300044300 Can get for as little as $15.

Library Liaison

Peggy Cabrera http://libguides.sjsu.edu/philosophy

Course Requirements and Assignments

See below.

SJSU classes are designed such that in order to be successful, it is expected that students will spend a minimum of forty-five hours for each unit of credit (normally three hours per unit per week), including preparing for class, participating in course activities, completing assignments, and so on. More details about student workload can be found in University Policy http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/docs/S12-3.pdf

Grading Information

Grades for papers and other class work are assessed based on the Guidelines for Writing Philosophy Papers, which can be found on the department web page at http://www.sjsu.edu/philosophy/resources/ and on my web page. Students get feedback on all assignments. This includes the final exam, but only if you request feedback on the front page of your green book.

20% Quizzes (There will be four quizzes.)

20% Minipapers Four minipaper assignments: look for dates in the course schedule. Due dates are Aug. 31, Sept. 21, Oct. 19, Nov. 16. Your minipaper grade is the average of the four.

10% Class Participation

10% Presentations You will give two presentations. Your presentation grade will be the average of the two. Dates will be assigned.

20% Term paper Due Nov. 3.

20% Final Exam Dec. 14

100% total

Your grade will be determined by averaging the grades of the six units listed. Each grade is assigned a number: A+ = 13, A = 12, and on down. For example, an average of 12.5 or above is an A+, 11.5-12.4 is an A, and so on.

Quizzes. Quizzes will be short essay-style and will come at the end of the class to check your understanding of the readings and lectures. Answering quiz questions will require having a copy of the text for that day’s reading with you. The overall quiz grade will be the average of all quiz grades.

Minipapers. At the beginning of four class sessions you will turn in a typed two to three page mini-paper explicating and critiquing one of the sections or some other selection from the readings assigned for that day. There will be four minipaper assignments. The overall grade will be the average of these four grades. If you are scheduled to give a presentation on the day a mini-paper is assigned you can turn in the mini-paper at the next class meeting.

Class Participation. Factors include

§ Verbal Participation. This includes questions and comments in the general class and in small groups. These questions and comments should show that you are engaged and thinking about the material. I am impressed by students who ask lots of good questions and make interesting comments in class.

§ Evidence of Having Read the Material. I like to call on people in class: be prepared!

§ In-Class Projects. This includes any writing I ask you to do in class other than quizzes. I grade in-class writing on a pass (P)/ no pass (NP) basis. Sometimes I give a “pass plus (P+)” for particularly good in-class writing, and sometimes I give a “pass minus (P-)” for particularly bad, but not quite failing, in-class writing.

Term Paper. The term paper should be minimum eight pages. You should follow the Guidelines on How to Write a Philosophy Paper. at http://www.sjsu.edu/philosophy/resources/ The term paper proposal is due Oct. 6: on one sheet of paper. The actual term paper is due Nov. 3.

Final Examination

This will be an essay exam. There will be one or two questions. If there are two, the final grade will be the average of the two. I will give you a review one week before the exam. The exam will be open-book, open computer. Bring a couple greenbooks. These special little booklets for exams may be purchased at Spartan Books and at other locations on campus. Be sure to write or print your answer legibly. Be sure to put your name on the front. The final exam will be held on at the official final exam date, time and room listed on our schedule.

Presentations

You are expected to give presentations on material that will be assigned to you. Usually this will involve explicating and commenting on a part of one of our readings, e.g. a paragraph, a page or two, or a short chapter. You may present extemporaneously or read from a prepared paper. You may distribute written comments to the rest of the class. Presentations should be no longer than ten minutes. You will give two presentations in the semester.

Grading Information

See “Grading Policy” above.

Extra-Credit. If you want extra credit read and critically discuss any essay or chapter in a book on Nietzsche or on any five or more pages of material by Nietzsche that we have not discussed in class. The extra-credit paper must be at least three pages typewritten and must adequately footnote the work discussed. I give extra credit points based on how much thinking I believe you put into the project. One extra credit point is equal to improving a quiz grade say from a C to a C+, or an A to an A+. May turn in any time up to last instruction day.

Late Assignments. Papers should be turned in on time. Late papers and homework (minipapers) go to the bottom of my grading pile: you may not be able to benefit from comments before your next paper is due. However there is not grade deduction for late papers. No papers or homework are accepted after the last official instruction day. If you miss a quiz send me an email explaining why and request taking a makeup quiz.

Failure to Complete Papers and Incompletes. If you fail to complete or turn in a paper by the last instruction meeting you will receive an F on the paper unless you have made an arrangement with me to take an incomplete in the course. I will only give incompletes to students who have completed at least half the course requirements, who request the incomplete, and who give compelling reasons for receiving an incomplete.

Rewriting. All papers may be rewritten for a second grade. I encourage you to come to my office during office hours for help on your papers, or for help on anything having to do with the class. You can do this before you have turned in your paper or after it has been graded. I will never give a rewritten paper a grade worse than the original grade. I always give a rewritten paper a better grade if there are substantial revisions that improve the paper. Rewrites may be turned in any time up until the last day of instruction. Please staple the rewrite to the original graded paper when you turn it in.

No papers are accepted after the last official instruction day.

University Policies

Per University Policy S16-9, university-wide policy information relevant to all courses, such as academic integrity, accommodations, etc. will be available on Office of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs’ Syllabus Information web page at http://www.sjsu.edu/gup/syllabusinfo/”

Academic integrity

Your commitment as a student to learning is evidenced by your enrollment at San Jose State University. The University’s Academic Integrity policy is found on the Syllabus Information web page It requires you to be honest in all your academic course work. Faculty members are required to report all infractions to the office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. Instances of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Cheating on exams or plagiarism (presenting the work of another as your own, or the use of another person’s ideas without giving proper credit) will result in a failing grade and sanctions by the University. All assignments are to be completed by the individual student unless otherwise specified. If you would like to include your assignment or any material you have submitted, or plan to submit for another class, please note that SJSU’s Academic Policy S07-2 requires approval of instructors.

Campus Policy in Compliance with the American Disabilities Act

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, or if you need to make special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible, or see me during office hours.

Student Technology Resources

Computer labs for student use are available in the new Academic Success Center http://www.sjsu.edu/at/asc/

located on the 1st floor of Clark Hall and on the 2nd floor of the Student Union. Computers are also available in the Martin Luther King Library.

A wide variety of audio-visual equipment is available for student checkout from Media Services located in IRC 112. These items include digital and VHS camcorders, VHS and Beta video players, 16 mm, slide, overhead, DVD, CD, and audiotape players, sound systems, wireless microphones, screens and monitors.

Peer Connections

The Learning Assistance Resource Center (LARC) and the Peer Mentor Program have merged to become Peer Connections. Peer Connections is the new campus-wide resource for mentoring and tutoring. Our staff is here to inspire students to develop their potential as independent learners while they learn to successfully navigate through their university experience. Students are encouraged to take advantage of our services which include course-content based tutoring, enhanced study and time management skills, more effective critical thinking strategies, decision making and problem-solving abilities, and campus resource referrals. We are located in SSC 600 (the 10thStreet Garage on the corner of 10th and San Fernando St.), at the 1stfloor entrance of Clark Hall, and in the Living Learning Center (LLC) in Campus Village Housing Building B. http://peerconnections.sjsu.edu/

Resources

How to Write A classic is William Strunk, The Elements of Style, is available free on-line at http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html

How to do Citations

I expect proper citations in papers. http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. I prefer Chicago Manual Style. MLA is O.K. Do not use APA or AMA Style. You can use either footnotes or endnotes. If you use Microsoft Word, go to References then click Insert Footnote. The footnote number will appear where your cursor is and also at the bottom of the page where you can type in the citation. Notes should be numbered consecutively, and will be automatically when you use Word. If you are getting information from one of the journals that the SJSU library provides on-line do not cite the web site, the library, the URL, the access date or the database.

In Chicago style, journal citations in a bibliography look like this: Weinstein, Joshua I. “The Market in Plato’s Republic.” Classical Philology 104 (2009): 439–58. Books and Journal titles are in italics. The number “104” in this instance refers to the volume. The number “439-58” refers to the page numbers covering the entire article. The footnote citation would look like this: 1. Joshua I. Weinstein, “The Market in Plato’s Republic,” Classical Philology 104 (2009): 440. The “440” refers to the page in which the quotation cited appeared. A typical citation of a book looks like this: Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin, 2006. “New York” is the place of publication (found behind the title page), “Penguin” is the publisher, “2006” is the copyright date.

Library and Electronic Resources