Basic Problems of Philosophy: Knowledge, Education, and Identity
Phil 100 – 002
Spring 2015
MWF 9 – 9:50
Ignatius Few, Building 131
Jordan Stewart-Rozema
j [dot] m [dot] stewart-rozema [at] emory [dot] edu
Office: Bowden 313
Hours: MF 10 – 11
For a full description of course policies and assignments, please refer to the complete syllabus located in Course Documents.
Weekly Schedule:
Week 1 – Course Introduction
W 1/14 — Introductions
F 1/16 — Blog Workshop
1. Ancient Conceptions of Knowledge and the Problem of Education
Week 2 – Socrates
M 1/19 – NO CLASS (MLK Day)
W 1/21 — Meno (all), Protagoras (351b-358d)
F 1/23 — Continued Discussion of Meno and Protagoras
Week 3 – Plato
M 1/26 — Republic, selections
W 1/28 — Republic, selections
F 1/30 — Republic, selections
Week 4 – Aristotle
M 2/2 — Knowledge: Metaphysics I.1, Nichomachean Ethics VI.3-8 (~7 pgs)
W 2/4 — The Good: Nichomachean Ethics I.1-4, I.7-9, X.7-8 (~11 pgs)
F 2/6 — Education and the State: Politics VII.13, VIII.1-3 (~5 pgs)
2. Enlightenment-Era Thinkers on Knowledge, Identity, and Education
Week 5 – Locke
M 2/9 — Paragraphs 1, 3, 4 from Book II, Ch. 27, “Of Identity and Diversity,” from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. *First short paper due.
W 2/11 — “Of Identity and Diversity,” paragraphs 9-11, 16-20, 22, 25-26
F 2/13 — NO CLASS
Week 6 – Kant
M 2/16 — NO CLASS (Presidents’ Day)
W 2/18 — Critique of Pure Reason, selections from Editor’s Introduction and “On the Original Synthetic Unity of Apperception” *Blog Post due today.
F 2/20 — Critique of Pure Reason, “On the Basis of the Distinction of All Objects as such into Phenomena and Noumena”
Week 7 – Hegel
M 2/23 — Selections from “Sense-Certainty,” from Phenomenology of Spirit
W 2/25 — Class Cancelled, Snow Day
F 2/27 — Selections from “Lordship and Bondage,” from Phenomenology of Spirit
Week 8 – Hegel, cont. & Misc.
M 3/2 — “Lordship and Bondage,” continued
W 3/4 — Special Assignment: Questions and Connections
F 3/6 — Writing Workshop
Spring Break 3/9 – 3/13
3. Education, Oppression, and Power
Week 9 – Rousseau
M 3/16 — Emile, selections * Short Paper #2 Due
W 3/18 — Emile, selections
F 3/20 — Emile, selections
Week 10 – Progressive Education
M 3/23 — John Dewey, Experience and Education
W 3/25 — Experience and Education, continued
F 3/27 — Experience and Education, continued
Week 11 – Liberatory Education
M 3/30 — Paulo Friere, Ch 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed (17 pages)
W 4/1 — Ivan Illich, “Phenomenology of School,” from Deschooling Society (8 pgs)
F 4/3 — John Taylor Gatto, “The Seven-Lesson Schoolteacher,” in Dumbing Us Down (20 pgs)
Week 11 – Education and Control
M 4/6 — Foucault, “Method,” from History of Sexuality Vol. 1 (4 pgs); “Discourse and Power” from Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction (2 pgs)
W 4/8 — Foucault, “Docile Bodies,” from Discipline and Punish (35 pgs)
F 4/10 — Foucault, continued. Writing Workshop.
4. Psychoanalytic Identity
Week 12 – Psychoanalytic Conception of the Self
M 4/13 — Foucault, cont. * Third short paper due.
W 4/15 — CLASS CANCELED.
F 4/17 — Freud, “A Note Upon the Mystic Writing Pad.”
Week 13 – Psychoanalytic Conception of the Self, cont.
M 4/20 — Freud, An Outline of Psychoanalysis, Ch. 1 “The Psychical Apparatus,” and Ch. 9 “The Internal World”
W 4/22 — Freud, An Outline of Psychoanalysis, Ch. 2 “The Theory of the Instincts”
F 4/24 — Freud, cont.
Week 15 – Course Conclusion
M 4/27 – Final Paper Writing Workshop
Long Paper Due: Wednesday, 5/6 at Midnight.
End of Term: Mon 5/11