Senior Seminar in Philosophy (PL 470)
Dr. Bill Myers Fall, 2005
Office: HC 222 T
Office Hours: M 1-2:30, W 1-4; TTH
Tentative Schedule
Sept. 6 Introduction
Part I Initial Ideas and Texts
You will each present one text, of no more than 15 pages, to the class. This text should reflect some core element of your research. It will serve to introduce the rest of us to your primary topic and problem. Five copies of the text to be discussed (one for each student and one for me) should be brought to the class before the scheduled presentation. Each presenter should take 10 minutes to state the problem from the text that he/she wants to investigate. (Note: Sept. 13 presenters should have their texts outside my office by Friday, Sept. 9)
Sept. 13 Textual Presentations – Clark, Gavin
Sept.
20 Textual Presentations –
Grooms, Mayfield (Annotated bibliographies due anytime this week, before
Part II Literature Reviews
You will each do two presentations of the results from your review of the literature relevant to your topic. This presentation will be based on a 4-5 page paper (and, of course, that means at least four full pages). The paper must be posted on Blackboard by noon, two days prior to the presentation (i.e., Sunday). In class, you will briefly summarize your concerns with the paper (approximately 10 minutes), followed by as much critical discussion as we can muster. We will all read the papers before class and distribute one substantive question, criticism, or comment via email for each paper by 6 p.m. the day after it was posted, the day before our class meeting.
The presentation and the paper can take the following forms: 1) a summary of ideas emerging from the reading and how it contributes to the development of your concerns, 2) an account of the challenges posed by the readings to your developing thesis, or 3) an account of how the readings lead your concerns in new topical or textual directions, 4) or whatever else comes up. A formal bibliography of all literature reviewed - with appropriate citations - should accompany each paper.
Sept. 27 First Literature Presentation (Clark, Gavin)
Oct. 4 First Literature Presentation (Grooms, Mayfield)
Oct.11 Second Literature Presentation (Clark, Gavin)
Oct. 18 Second Literature Presentation (Grooms, Mayfield)
Part III Works in Progress
You will each do four presentations of portions of your developing paper for critique by the class. These portions should be 4-5 pages in length (and, of course, that means at least four full pages). Presentations will follow the same format as in Part II. Papers should be posted on Blackboard ahead of dealing with them in class (on the same time schedule as Part II). Everyone should read all papers and post a comment. Presentations should take 10 minutes leaving plenty of time for substantive discussion.
Oct. 25 Works in Progress 1 (Clark, Gavin)
Nov. 1 Works in Progress 1 (Grooms, Mayfield)
Nov. 8 Works in Progress 2 (Clark, Gavin)
Nov. 15 Works in Progress 2 (Grooms, Mayfield)
Nov. 22 (Let’s take this one off for Thanksgiving)
Nov. 29 Works in Progress 3 (Clark, Gavin)
Dec. 6 Works in Progress 3 (Grooms, Mayfield)
Dec. 14 (1:00) Final Papers Due (I would LOVE to have them before this date!)
Spring 2005 Public Presentations of Papers - to be scheduled
Seminar Requirements: There are two formal requirements for this seminar:
1) Ongoing Attendance and Completion of
Assignments on Time
In order for this seminar to work, everyone should attend all meetings and complete all assignments on time, including the posting of comments on others’ papers. The only acceptable reason for missing any meeting or assignment is illness or some sort of emergency. If something like this comes up, you should talk to me as soon as possible.
You have some freebies. Without penalty, you may: 1) miss two classes in which you are not presenting; 2) twice fail to post a comment on others’ papers on time, without a good reason; and 3) fail to post a paper to be presented on time. For each unexcused absence or failure to complete an assignment on time beyond that, your final grade will be penalized in the following way: 1) 2 points off for 1) and 2), and 5 points off for 3).
Please let me know ahead of time if you intend to take a freebie. Ideally, none of us will have to do this, but, if life gets especially hectic and you must do so, please let me know so that we can plan around it.
2) Final
Paper:
A final paper, at least 15 full pages in length is due by Friday, December 14 at 1:00. The paper will be an in depth, critical examination of a substantial philosophical topic of the student’s choosing. The paper will need to be based in a thorough review of all literature relevant to the topic.
If you would like to write your paper to fulfill the requirements for graduation with disciplinary honors in philosophy, your paper will need to be at least 20 full pages in length and you must earn a grade of an A- (90) or better in this seminar. In addition, you will need to 1) complete the requirements for a major in philosophy, 2) attain a 3.5 or better grade point average in all courses taken at Birmingham-Southern, and 3) attain a 3.5 or better grade point average in all philosophy courses taken at Birmingham-Southern. If you are considering the attempt to graduate with disciplinary honors in philosophy, please let me know.
Technical Specifications for your Paper: Your papers should be typewritten, double-spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman font. You are to place your name and title of the paper on a separate title page that is not counted in the length of the paper. You are to use endnotes for any substantial notes (beyond very brief bibliographical citations for quotations which may be in the body of the text) that are also not to be counted in the length of the paper. Citations may be of any form as long as they are clear enough to easily lead the reader to the source of the citation. You should refrain from using headers or footers.
Guidelines for Internet Research: Anyone can publish anything at all on the internet. As such, the most prudent attitude to take toward the documents you find there is to assume they are worthless unless you have good reason to believe otherwise. For this class, there are two types of acceptable literature to use in writing your papers that you may be able to find on the internet: 1) a document that is merely an electronic version of an article published in a scholarly publication such as an academic journal. In this case, you should provide a citation to the textual publication just as you would if you had found it in the library. If the web version does not provide page numbers which correspond with the original text enabling you to cite specific pages, you should find the original text in the library or through inter-library loan. 2) Documents that have been posted by someone with expertise in the topic of the document. Say, for example, you find an essay on a topic of interest that has been posted by a scholar teaching at a University. It should be a relatively easy matter to document the author’s position at her/his institution and, in this way, document her/his expertise in the matter. Any citation of an internet reference that is not an electronic duplication of an article which has already appeared in a scholarly publication should have a brief list of the author’s credentials, sufficient to document her/his expertise in the matter. It might look something like this: Duce Staley, “Putnam: From Internal to Natural Realism,” http://www.harvard.edu/~dstaley/putnam.html. Staley is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. This is a paper he presented at the Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, December, 2003.
3) Public Presentation of Paper (not a requirement for seminar, but for
graduation)
Sometime in the spring, you will make a public presentation of your paper. While this is technically not part of your seminar or paper grade, this is the capstone of your senior project, and it is a requirement for graduation. Your presentation will take place either at an open meeting of the BSC Philosophy Club or at Honors Day. It should be no more than 20 minutes in length. Since it is impossible to read a 15 or 20 page paper in that time frame, you will have to edit your paper to a size suitable for presentation. This is itself a challenge. It’s tough to cut your own work! Time permitting, we will devote some time in the seminar to discussing the challenges of editing your paper for presentation. But if we do not have adequate time, you should schedule a time to meet with me in the Spring to discuss what, specifically, you plan to do.
Incompletes
No incompletes will be given in this seminar except, possibly, for reasons of poor health or emergencies that need your urgent attention.
Turning in Assignments
All assignments, except for the final paper, are to be turned in by distributing them (papers and comments on papers) to the class via Blackboard. I would prefer to have the final paper in hard copy. If it’s impossible to do so, please let me know in advance. Once received, I will verify receipt. Until that is done, do not assume that I have it.
Seminar Grade
Your grade for the seminar will be based on the grade you receive on your final paper, with any penalties for unexcused absences or failures to complete assignments on time.
Finally:
THE HONOR CODE APPLIES TO ALL WORK DONE IN THIS CLASS.