Directions for student “Notebooks”

Fall 2009—Intro. To Philosophy 

“The only way to find out what philosophy is, is to do philosophy.”  Bertrand Russell

As noted on your syllabus, 20% of your final grade will be based on what I am calling a “notebook”.  Actually, this will be a set of (roughly) 20 typed pages that you will staple together and hand in by the end of class on December 3rd.  The pages should contain your original responses to 20 of the course readings.  You should plan to complete at least one response each week.  As there are more than 30 readings on the reading list, you will have some flexibility regarding the readings to which you respond.  However, please note that there are only 15 weeks of class, which means that you will have to “double-up” some weeks.

Each response should contain a short summary (roughly 1 paragraph) of the reading followed by remarks on the reading (something you did or didn't like, and WHY) and SPECIFIC questions about parts you don't understand.  It would also be good to try and discuss how the current reading relates to previous readings, or even how the ideas in the reading relate to your own personal experiences outside of class.  If you are having a difficult time coming up with things to write, try using the questions listed  before and after each reading for inspiration.  The total length of each response should be about 1 typed, double-spaced page (with standard font and margins, of course).  If you have more to say, please feel free to write more!   

You are expected to read all scheduled material before class discussions.  This assignment is designed to help make the class discussions more interesting and informative, by helping you come up with things to say during class.  Therefore, each response should (ideally) be completed before class, and you are expected to bring your response to class on the day it is scheduled for discussion.  With 40 students in each class this means that most of you will have something to say.  If there are little or no volunteers, I will randomly call on someone to read their response aloud in order to stimulate discussion.

Throughout the semester, I will randomly check to see who has completed their response.  If discussion seems thin, then I will probably check.  You are not expected to have a response for every reading, however I will make a note of when you do not have a response and if it happens more than 4  times your grade will be lowered one percentage point for each (successive) time you fail to have a response ready.  Also, if I find that the majority of you are not completing your responses before class I will probably give difficult “pop” quizzes which will impact your participation grade.

You will turn in the final “notebook” at the end of the semester for my review.  I am looking for clarity in your summary (do you actually know what is going on in the reading, or are you at least clear about what you think is going on?), thoughtfulness in your questions and originality in your criticisms. 

Please note that each response is worth 1% of your final grade. 

This assignment should be fairly simple for anyone, no matter how little experience you might have reading philosophy.  The idea is to get you to think about the material, rather than merely regurgitating what I have to say.  If you have trouble for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.