Contact Information

Professor:

 Abe Stone (abestone@ucsc.edu)

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Office:

 Cowell Annex A-106

Phone (office):

 459-5723

Push notification:

 Notify Abe

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Website:

 https://people.ucsc.edu/~abestone/courses

• Website

Open Facebook group:

 UCSC Phil 11 Fall 2015

• Facebook group

Office hours:

 Tues. 4–5pm, Thurs. 10:45-11:45am

Teaching Assistants:

 

James Gray

 (jwgray@ucsc.edu)

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Sean Hunter

 (ghunter@ucsc.edu)

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Abe Joyal

 (ajoyal@ucsc.edu)

• Email Abe J.

Discussion Sections

Section 01A:

 Wed. 8:00–9:10 am, Crown Clrm 202 (TA: Abe J.)

Section 01B:

 Wed. 12:30–1:40 pm, Soc Sci 1 149 (TA: Sean)

Section 01C:

 Wed. 3:30–4:40 pm, Crown Clrm 202 (TA: Abe J.)

Section 01D:

 Wed. 5:00–6:10 pm, Crown Clrm 203 (TA: Sean)

Section 01E:

 Wed. 6:30–7:40 pm, Crown Clrm 203 (TA: Sean)

Section 01F:

 Thu. 8:30–9:40 am, Soc Sci 1 149 (TA: Abe J.)

Section 01G:

 Mon. 2:00–3:10 pm, Stevenson Acad 151 (TA: James)

Course Description

Philosophy is unlike many other disciplines in that it is not at all obvious how it should be introduced. This course will essentially be a course about Socrates (c. 469—399 BC), the ancient Athenian philosopher who is in a certain way the intellectual ancestor of all later philosophers. One of the things we will need to think about as we go on is how, and to what extent, that could be considered an introduction to the subject.

Course Requirements

Participation in discussion sections (good participation will be possible grounds for raising course grade, especially if it is on a borderline).

Beginning with the day of the third class session, there will be two short assignments every week, to be done on-line via the “Tests & Quizzes” section of the course on eCommons. Each assignment will contain a single multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank question designed to help you focus on details of the reading, and one or two short answer questions. In the later part of the course, some of the assignments will be designed to prepare you to write the final paper (e.g. to choose and revise a thesis and introductory paragraph). All of these short assignments together will be worth 60% of the course grade, based on a point score which will be translated into a letter grade on a curve to be determined. Note that, although the eCommons system will be set up to accept late submission of these short assignments, no credit can be given for multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank questions after the correct answers have been announced.

• eCommons site

A final paper (5–7 pages) is due, as an attachment via the “Assignments” tool on eCommons, on Tuesday, December 8, and will count for 40% of the grade. Please submit it in MSWord or a format easily convertible to MSWord.

• Final paper

You can find answers to some commonly asked questions about my assignments and grading in my FAQ.

• FAQ

All assignments are due by midnight on the due date.

Texts

Texts and editions

Text	Edition	Note
Plato, Euthydemus	, tr. Mary P. Nichols and Gregory A. McBray (Focus/R. Pullins, 2010) (ISBN: 1585103055)).
Plato, Meno	, tr. George Anastaplo and Laurence Berns (Focus/R. Pullins, 1998) (ISBN: 0941051714).
Thomas G. West and Grace Starry West, eds., Four Texts on Socrates: Plato’s Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito and Aristophanes’ Clouds	(Cornell, 1998) (ISBN: 0801485746).

The above texts should be available at the Literary Guillotine, and they will also be put on reserve at McHenry. Readings not from texts on the above list are available on eCommons. Note this includes the first two readings, so if you are not, or not yet, officially enrolled in the course, please let me know and I will make sure you have access to the eCommons site.