Time Schedule:
Benjamin S. P. Almassi
PHIL 100
Seattle Campus
Major philosophical questions relating to such matters as the existence of God, the foundations of knowledge, the nature of reality, and the nature of morality. Approach may be either historical or topical. Offered: AWSpS.
Class description
Philosophy provides us an opportunity to explore a variety of questions that have fascinated people over the years and late into the night. Are there universal moral facts and principles that hold across cultures and eras? Are there human rights? If so, how should we identify them? Who deserves our moral consideration, and how much?
What really exists and what’s merely an illusion? Does God—to choose an intriguing example—really exist? Are the world, its beauty, and its complexity evidence that God exists; are its evil and its tragedy evidence that God does not?
Can we really be sure of anything about the world? Can you be sure that you’re not being tricked by an evil genius who makes you think you’re reading this sentence? Do we have reason to think the future will be like the past, that the sun will rise tomorrow as it did yesterday and today? What do we know, what do we merely believe, and how can we tell the difference?
This class is not an indoctrination session designed to make you a skeptic, relativist, or nihilist. We will ask challenging question about reality, knowledge, God, morality, and other things, and we will read and critically reflect on what others have said about these things, not to cause despair but to better understanding ourselves and our beliefs. We’ll learn to construct arguments and evaluate different philosophical positions, rather than just applaud positions we already like and dismiss ones we don’t. You will be asked to share your ideas freely and engage with others’ ideas, in class discussion and in short papers you will write throughout the quarter.
Daily class meetings will regularly involve lecture, discussion, and short student presentations. Join our class if you’ve a budding interest in philosophy or you’re itching to examine questions overlooked as “too philosophical” in other realms—and if you’re willing to do so by reading closely, thinking carefully, and discussing thoughtfully yet fearlessly. Look elsewhere if you want to hide in a large lecture hall or you don’t plan on coming. Ours is a participatory endeavor.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Generally: curiosity, an open mind, and real willingness to read closely and think carefully.
Specifically: no advanced reading is required, but those wanting a jumpstart might look at Plato’s Euthyphro and/or Apology, Descartes’s Meditations on First Philosophy, Russell’s Problems of Philosophy (especially “On Induction”) and/or Singer’s “All Animals Are Equal.”
Class assignments and grading
Reading assignments for each meeting (after the first meeting); frequent large- and small-group discussions; short directed papers and a cumulative final.
