Administration Guide

1. Everything on a Single Page

Course Outline:

We investigate three core questions in philosophy:

What are the foundations and boundaries of our knowledge about the subjective and objective worlds?
What are minds as opposed to bodies, or are minds really just parts of bodies, viz. our brains?
What implications do answers to these questions have for matters of human freedom and responsibility in everyday life?

Objectives:

No attempt is made to "cover" the field of philosophy. Instead a small selection of problems, concepts and arguments - especially arguments - are "stretched out" and discussed in depth.

Textbook:

Elliott Sober, Core Questions in Philosophy: A Text with Readings, 2nd ed., Prentice-Hall (1995).

Internal classes:

Two one-hour lectures are given per week, Wednesday 10-11am in SSLB6 and Thursday 11am-12noon in SSLB5.

Internal tutorials:

One one-hour tutorial per week, at Wednesday 11am (in MB2.16 and MB1.06) or Thursday 12noon (MB2.14), during Weeks Two through Thirteen; attendance counts 10 marks towards the final grade (1 mark per tutorial).

Extramural campus course:

starting at 9:00am Monday 01 May and ending at 5:00pm Tuesday 02 May 2000, on the Turitea Campus; room to be announced.

Email course discussion forum:

Send an email to majordomo@massey.ac.nz with subscribe 134101class in the body. The forum address is: 134101class@massey.ac.nz.

Assignments:

Two essays, each worth 19.5 marks for internal students and 24.5 marks for extramural students.

Assignment due dates:

Friday 14 April (end Week Seven), and Friday 02 June 2000 (end Week Twelve).

Final examination date:

Monday 19 June 2000, PM (2:20-5:30pm)

Assessment method:

Internal assessment 49%; Final examination 51%

Workload:

The course credit is 12.5 points; this requires 12.5 hours of work each week.

Course Controller:

Dr. Thomas Bestor
School of History, Philosophy and Politics, Philosophy Programme
Massey phone: 06 356-9099 extn 7455, 06 350-5799-7455
Massey fax: 06 350-5662
Home phone: 06 357-2827
Cell phone: 021 2949-058
Email: T.Bestor@massey.ac.nz

Course Administrator:

Sharon Cox, Programme Secretary
School of History, Philosophy and Politics
Massey Phone: 06 350-4424
Massey Fax: 06 350-5662
Email: S.A.Cox@massey.ac.nz

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