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| Information updated for Summer 2005. Contact me by email: calhoun@gem.gonzaga.edu | ||
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INFORMATION |
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| Information updated for Summer 2005. Contact me by email: calhoun@gem.gonzaga.edu | ||
About this CourseFrom the time of the Greeks, love and friendship have played important roles in philosophical investigation of ethics, political theory, and even theories of knowledge. Analysis of the phenomena of love and friendship reveals a great deal about human desire, the structure of human psychology, character, concern for others, and religious devotion. In this course we will study several influential accounts of love and friendship, noting the implications of each view for issues such as happiness and the good life, proper treatment of others, and self-love. Readings will be from a diverse group of historical and contemporary authors and classic and recent texts, including ancient philosophers Plato and Aristotle, Buddhist religious literature, the Bible, Roman statesman Cicero, medieval philosopher/thologian Thomas Aquinas, Christian existentialist Soren Kierkegaard, Christian apologist C. S. Lewis, feminist Simone de Beauvoir, poet Diane Ackerman, and biologist Richard Dawkins.Students often find philosophy a difficult and abstract subject, which, given the scope and nature of philosophical reflection, is not surprising. However, this course illustrates how every person can be a philosopher in a general sense, thinking carefully and rigorously on fundamental questions of human experience. More details about the course and readings can be found on the
Course
CD-ROM and the Blackboard course resource website.
COURSE REQUIREMENTSStudents are expected to complete assigned readings for the course, view the computer-based NetLectures for the material covered, respond to readings and NetLectures by posting to the Course Discussion Board, and participate in the weekly Virtual Chats or Chat Follow-up. While students can work at their own pace, there are schedule benchmarks and deadlines throughout the 6-week session that must be maintained in order to maximize interaction with the instructors and other students.Grades for the course will be computed on the basis of contributions to the Course Discussion Board (at least FOUR posts each week, two for each unit of the course), participation in weekly Virtual Chat or Chat Follow-up, three short Free Reading Reports, and either a short essay or a final exam (or, at your option, both the essay and the exam). Further brief information regarding course requirements can be found on this page; full details on all course matters are found on the Course CD-ROM and the Blackboard course resource website. Studying Philosophy via the InternetThis course will work much like any other philosophy course: it will involve you in reading, thinking about, and discussing philosophical ideas. The difference comes with how you will discuss the ideas you read and think about with fellow students and your instructors. The course conversation will take place over a course discussion board and live type-chat sessions instead of in a traditional classroom. But the quality of conversation should be the same or even better. (This isn't a Philosophy of Education class, so I won't make an extensive argument for the claim that this course can be better than a traditional on-campus course. But if you are willing to work hard and keep up with the course work, you will probably find that several aspects of the course--such as the ability to review the NetLectures in order to cover points that you have difficulty with, and the ability to reflect and formulate your ideas before participating in class discussion on the Discussion Board--offer advantages not found in traditional on-campus courses.)Students considering taking an Internet course should be aware of the special demands imposed by a course of this kind. Since there is no scheduled time for the class to meet (apart from the weekly virtual chat sessions), students must have sufficient self-discipline and organization to keep up with the course throughout the term. This is especially true given the compressed 6-week schedule of summer sessions. Even though the class never gathers in a physical classroom, it is important that enrolled students be available and participating in the class for the full 6 weeks of the Summer Session. Because of the pace of the summer session and the importance of staying on track, deadlines in the course will be adhered to strictly. If you experience any problems during the course, you must contact your instructor as soon as possible to address those problems. Since there is no class meeting to allow regular contact with the instructors, you must stay in communication by regular participation and consistent Email contact. TECHNOLOGY RESOURCESCertain minimum equipment is necessary in order to take this course. For the entire duration of the course term, students must have access to:
Getting Started with the CourseGONZAGA UNIVERSITY REGISTRATIONSince this course is an internet course, with special requirements and expectations, registration is by permission. In order to receive permission to enroll in the course, students must follow these steps:
In order to allow sufficient time to receive the Course CD-ROM by mail, students wishing to take Internet Love & Friendship should send the confirmation Email no later than noon on the Monday one week before the course begins. Students registering later than this date must make arrangements with the instructor to facilitate getting started on the course material on time. ELECTRONIC ENROLLMENT IN BLACKBOARDMany of the resources for the Internet version of PHIL 438 Love & Friendship--course syllabus, Email utilities, discussion board, chat software, and so forth--are located on the Blackboard Course site. As long as you register officially for the course according to the instructions set out above no later than NOON on the Monday one week before the course begins, you will be automatically enrolled in the Blackboard web site for PHIL 438. Students who confirm registration later will have to check with the instructor to gain access to the Blackboard site. Students unfamiliar with Blackboard will find instructions for accessing the site on Gonzaga's Blackboard home page.REQUIRED COURSE TEXTSBefore the class begins you will need to obtain the following books:C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves
(Harvest/Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich; Lewis in reading schedule)
All of the books are available from the Gonzaga University Bookstore online (follow the links for Summer Session, Philosophy Department, and PHIL 438) or by phone at (509) 323-6390. Alternatively, you may choose to order them yourself from a local bookstore or an online source. You are responsible for obtaining the books by the time the summer session begins. Other readings will be available in online or downloadable
form.
You will find links to these readings on the Course
Schedule page; updated readings and assignments are available
on the Assignments page on the Course Blackboard site.
NETLECTURESThe primary instructional content for the course is delivered via "NetLectures," which are narrated presentations on course topics and readings in QuickTime format that are included on the Course CD-ROM. The Course CD-ROM will be mailed approximately 1-2 weeks prior to the beginning of the course to students who have confirmed their registration in the course.PLEASE NOTE: If you are taking the course from outside the continental United States, you should contact the instructor to arrange for the NetLecture CD to be mailed to you sufficiently early to begin the course on time. Be sure that the mailing address you provide to the instructors is where you will be when the course begins. The NetLectures are also available on the Internet in web-browser-readable format via the Blackboard course reseource website. However, past experience suggests that bandwidth and connectivity problems make the CD-ROM format much more reliable for viewing NetLectures. VIRTUAL CHAT SESSIONSVirtual chat sessions each week are an important facet of the interaction of this course. Students are required to attend and participate in these virtual type-chat sessions if at all possible. The instructors understand that schedule conflicts and summer events may prevent students from attending some of the chat sessions (just as students in on-campus classes sometimes find it necessary to miss classes), but the chat sessions are an important part of the Internet course experience. After any chat session a student may post to the chat follow-up discussion board within 24 hours of the start of the chat time. Students unable to attend the chat should review the chat transcript and then post their remarks.
DISCUSSION BOARDEach week that the course is in session, students will be required to submit at least FOUR posts to the course discussion board (at least TWO 200- to 250-word postings for each unit covered each week). The discussion board is meant to be an "electronic conversation," so students should read and respond to the posts already on the board when they post their own comments. At least ONE of the postings for each unit must therefore explicitly respond to postings by other students. More details about the discussion board posting requirements can be found in the Course Syllabus.Course ContactsIf you have any questions about the course, please contact your instructor:David Calhoun--calhoun@gem.gonzaga.edu--509-323-6743 You may also use the Communication feature on the Blackboard
course
website to contact other students in the course.
Copyright © 1998-2005 by David H. Calhoun. All rights reserved. This page last updated on March 14, 2005. |
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