Saddleback College
Humanities 1: Introduction to Humanities
Spring 2015
Section 10290
Room LRC 107
M/W 9am-10:15am
Course Syllabus
Instructor David Kelsey E-mail:
Office hours by appointment
Course description:
This course introduces representative models of human achievement throughout history, with emphasis on an evolving consciousness of moral and aesthetic values associated with the Western mind. It focuses on selected literary and philosophical works as they reflect these values, and on parallel achievements in the visual arts, theater, and music. The course examines the relationship between the work and its author in its historical and cultural context, while distinguishing its purpose, its contemporary impact, and its current significance.
Recommended preparation:
Eligibility for English 1a
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Describe the basic themes and issues that link the diverse expressions of the Western mind among its representative achievements through history.
2. Analyze those representative achievements across the broad spectrum of philosophy, literature, and the arts.
3. Distinguish among and compare the specific cultural traditions which shape and are shaped by representative works of Western thought.
4. Assess the contribution of the prior civilizations to the evolution of Western consciousness.
5. Analyze the moral and aesthetic values of contemporary Western thought in relation to its cultural heritage.
6. Describe the boundaries of Western culture in relation to non-Western cultures.
Reading:
Jackson J. Spielvogel, Western Civilization (9th edition, 2014, ISBN: 9781285448411)
Anthony Weston, A Rulebook for Arguments (4th edition, 2009, ISBN: 9780872209541)
Selected articles and other materials to be determined
Class website:
You can find course materials on the course website. Here is the url: www.davidkelseyphilosophy.com
Requirements:
3 in class exams (300 points)
One 4-6 page paper (100 points)
Class participation (100 points)
Grading scale:
A: 500-450 points
B: 400-450 points
C: 350-400 points
D: 300-350 points
F: 0-300 points
Note:
If you fail to take either of the mid-term exams or the final, you will receive zero (0) points for that exam, whereas if you take but fail the exam, you will receive at least some points. Please keep that in mind if you are considering not fulfilling any of the course requirements.
Grading:
The Exams:
The details of the 2 in class Exams have yet to be decided, but these will most likely consist of a variety of short answer and essay questions.
The Paper:
The paper must be typed on a Microsoft word document. The font should be size 12 and either Garamond or Times New Roman. The paper must be 4-6 pages in length. The details of the paper topics have yet to be decided. Paper topics will be handed out no later than 2 weeks before the paper due date.
Class Participation:
100 points (20% of your grade in the class) are set aside for participation in class discussion and activities. You must of course be in class to receive any of these points. Regular attendance and familiarity with the reading before lecture are expected. Attendance, preparedness, and active and informed participation in class activities, debates, and discussions are all important elements in student success in a philosophy class. Be willing to risk ideas, have an inquisitive attitude and think deeply! You will learn more if you do this!
Here is an explanation of how I will grade you on class participation:
During each class meeting I will keep track first of who attends the meeting and who doesn’t. If you do not attend this will negatively effect your participation grade.
For each class meeting I will also keep track of who is participating in lecture and who isn’t. For each class you will be assigned a grade based upon your class participation. This won’t be for every class meeting. Instead I will grade participation during some or even most class meetings.
For the class meetings I do grade participation, things that will help your participation grade include: simply paying attention, simply not disturbing class (for example by arriving late or leaving early or by talking to a fellow student during lecture,) and, of course, any helpful comments you make. And if you do anything to disturb class during lecture this will hurt your participation grade.
Late Work:
Late work will be assigned the following late penalty.
Up to 2 days late: 10% late penalty (i.e. an assignment that is due Wednesday but which is turned in on Friday will be penalized 10%)
3 or more days late: 25% late penalty
Additional Student Responsibilities:
1. Being aware of the drop dates and making certain that you drop in time, if you plan to.
2. Being on time for all classes and staying for the entire class. (See also the Classroom Etiquette section below.)
3. Finding out from a fellow student what happened in class if you must miss class. This includes knowing about any work that was assigned. (“I wasn’t here when…” is never a good excuse.)
4. Picking up all tests, and written work from me if you are not in class when it is handed back. This should be done after class at the next class meeting. Retaining all work until after final grades are posted!
5. Being on time and having scantrons for quizzes and tests.
Classroom Etiquette:
Students are expected to respect each other and the instructor. Please be on time and stay for the entire class. Arriving late and/or leaving early are disruptive. No cell phones! Any type of cell-phone use (talking, texting, surfing) is counterproductive. Students who use cell phones in class for any reason almost always perform worse than their peers who do not. Repeated use of a cell phone on any given day will count as an absence for that day. Of course, we will also want to be respectful of others’ concentration as well as of their opinions and thoughts. If you must arrive late, please see me after class in order to ensure that your attendance is noted and that you receive any materials or announcements from the beginning of class. We must also respect each other as thinkers and collaborators in the process of understanding ourselves and our world more clearly. To this end, we must keep our classroom discussion civil, and not be too ready to dismiss others’ ideas, or for that matter, the ideas of the philosophers we cover.
Class Rules of Conduct:
Please observe the following rules when attending class:
1. Arrive on time and leave after class is dismissed (Please notify the instructor if you must arrive late or leave early.)
2. No eating in class. Drinking water or coffee during class is ok, but please clean up after yourself!
3. Turn off all cell phones (no calls or text messages during class Please!)
4. Avoid side conversations and in general any disruptive behavior. Continued rudeness or disruptiveness may result in being ejected from the class and, eventually, being dropped from the course.
Absence/Drop Policy
I will adhere to the attendance policy stated in the catalog:
An instructor may drop students who fail to attend the first meeting of any class for which they have officially enrolled unless prior arrangements have been made with the instructor. Instructors may also drop a student from a class when the student is absent for a total of six cumulative instructional hours [prior to the drop deadline.] However, it is always the student’s responsibility to withdraw officially from classes. In no case should students presume they have been dropped by the instructor.
Grade Grievance policy:
By law, the instructor is solely responsible for the grades assigned; no instructor may be directed to change a grade except in certain narrow circumstances authorized by California Education Code, Section 76224(a).
Important Dates:
First Week of Class Begins: / Tuesday, 1/20/2015First Class Meeting on: / Wednesday, 1/21/2015
Add without Instructor Permission by: / Tuesday, 1/20/2015
Last Day to Add with Add code:
Drop with Refund by: / Sunday, 2/1/2015
Sunday, 2/1/2015
Elect Pass/No Pass by: / Tuesday, 2/24/2015
Drop without 'W' Grade by: / Sunday, 2/1/2015
Drop with 'W' Grade by: / Monday, 4/13/2015
Last Week of Class Ends: / Thursday, 5/21/2015
You have the option to take this class on a Pass/ No Pass basis and the instructor cannot make this change for you. You must go in person to the Registrar to do this no later than February 24th. Be sure to check with a counselor if you are planning to use this course to satisfy any requirement for your major area of study, as most universities will not allow you to take courses in your major on a pass / No pass basis.
If you should decide that you need to withdraw from this course, you have until February 1st to make that decision without receiving a “W” on your transcript and April 13th is the last day to drop full-term classes with a “W” grade. Failure to withdraw from a course that you are no longer attending will give you a grade of “F.”
Confidentiality:
Your work and performance is considered to be confidential. For this reason the instructor will not discuss your grade and/or standing in the course with anyone but the student. Information will not be made available to any outside members including: parents, friends, relatives, etc. If you are under 18 years of age and this issue poses a problem, then please do not take this course.
Accommodations for Disabilities:
Students with disabilities that will affect their coursework should contact the Disabled Student Program staff immediately, to initiate disability verification and discuss appropriate accommodations. It is the student’s responsibility to inform the instructor of any special needs.
Academic Honesty:
School regulations and guidelines regarding academic honesty will be enforced. Cheating, fabrication, or plagiarism may result in an F on the assignment involved, without possibility of rewriting the paper or re-taking the test.
Plagiarism is any conduct in academic work or programs involving misrepresentation of someone else’s work, including, but not limited to the following:
1.Intentionally representing as one’s own work the work, ideas or arrangement of ideas, research, formulae, diagrams, statistics, or evidence of another.
2.Taking sole credit for ideas and/or written work that resulted from a collaboration with others.
3.Paraphrasing of quoting material without citing the source.
4.Submitting as one’s own a copy of or the actual work of another person, either in part or in entirety, without appropriate citation) e.g., term-paper mill or internet-derived products).
5.Sharing computer files and programs or written papers and then submitting individual copies of the results as one’s own individual work.
6.Submitting substantially the same material in more than one course without prior authorization from each instructor involved.
7.Modifying another’s work and representing it as one’s own work.
The college policy on cheating reads as follows:
Cheating is the use of an unauthorized materials or information in academic work, records, or programs, the intentional failure to follow express directives in academic work, records or programs, and/or assisting others to do the same including, but not limited to, the following:
1.Completing, in part or in total, any examination or assignment for another person.
2.Knowingly allowing any examination or assignment to be completed, in part or in total, for himselfor herself by another person (e.g. take-home exams or online assignments which have been completed by someone other than the student).
3.Copying from another student’s test, paper, lab report or other academic assignment.
4.Copying another student’s test answers.
5.Copying, or allowing another student to copy, a computer file that contains another student’s assignment, homework, lab reports or computer programs and submitting it, in part or in its entirety, as one’s own.
6.Using unauthorized sources of information such as crib sheets, answers stored in a calculator, or unauthorized electronic devices.
7.Storing answers in electronic devices and allowing other students to use the information without consent of the instructor.
8.Employing aids excluded by the instructor in undertaking course work.
9.Looking at another student’s exam during a test.
10.Using texts or other reference materials (including dictionaries) when not authorized to do so.
11.Knowingly gaining access to unauthorized data.
12.Altering graded class assignments or examinations and then resubmitting them for regarding or reconsideration without the knowledge and consent of the instructor.
13. Knowingly procuring, providing, or accepting unauthorized examination materials or study aids.
How To Succeed In This Course
1. READ THE MATERIAL THROUGH ONCE BEFORE CLASS.
2. BRING YOUR BOOKS TO CLASS!!!
3. PRINT OUT THE ONLINE STUDY GUIDES BEFORE CLASS AND TAKE NOTES ON OUR DISCUSSIONS, especially as they relate to course themes. Take note of questions posed in the study guides. After class, go over your notes, and review the readings now that you have a better understanding of the issues and course themes involved.
4. PLEASE SEE OR EMAIL ME if you are having difficulties with, or would like some comments on, your course work. I especially urge students whose first language is not English to consult me with respect to course work.
Disclaimer:
I reserve the right to make changes to this syllabus. Topics and assignments may be modified as the semester progresses to accommodate the needs of the class. The class will be informed of such changes if and when they occur.
Schedule of Lecture Topics, Readings and Assignments: The schedule set forth below is subject to adjustment—we may go faster or slower, in which case I may add another topic or drop one. I will announce any such adjustments as much in advance as is possible. Unless and until an adjustment is announced, however, you should assume we will cover the topics and readings indicated on the dates and in the order given below. You will get much more out of the lectures and the accompanying class discussion if you have done the assigned reading beforehand, so all reading assignments should be completed prior to the class for which they are assigned. I may spend more time on some aspects of the assigned reading than others (indeed I may touch on some parts of each assignment only briefly), but you should still read all of the material specified for each assignment. You will be expected to be familiar with all of the material assigned (even what we don’t specifically discuss) for the mid-term and the final exam.