PHI3300 Epistemology

Basic Info

 

Title
Epistemology

Prefix and Number

PHI 3300

Section

U01

Semester/Year

Fall 2024

Location

Comp, Arts, Sci & Educat (CASE) 145

Day/Time

Mo/We 2:00PM - 3:15PM

Instructor

Kenton Harris

Instructor Office

DM 343 B (MMC)

Instructor Telephone Number

(305) 348-3516

Instructor E-mail

harrisk@fiu.edu

Instructor Web Site

http://faculty.fiu.edu/~harrisk/

Text(s)

Assigned Articles

Tests

One In-class Exam (multiple choice and essay)

Papers

One Thesis Paper  (8-10-page papers)

Final Exam

Yes (multiple choice and essay)

 

Lesson Plan and Links to Notes and Readings

 

Important Dates:

 

Grades Assignment

Date Due

Percentage of Final Grade

Exam 1

10/28/24

30%

Writing Assignment for this Course

35%

 
  1. Paper 1 First Draft

11/11/24
  1. Peer Review

11/18/24
  1. Paper 1 Final Draft

11/25/24
  1. Professional Venue Details Document

11/25/24

Final Exam

As scheduled by the University Calendar

 

35%

End of the Drop/Add Period

Last Day to Drop Without incurring financial liability

Tuesday 9/3/24

Last Day to Apply for Spring Graduation

Sunday 9/15/2024

Last Date to Drop and Receive a “DR”

Monday 11/4/2020

 

Course Description:

 

This course introduces core concepts and questions in Epistemology (the theory of knowledge) such as: What is knowledge? How does knowledge differ from opinion? What does having knowledge require? What is a belief? When are we justified in believing something? Is knowledge possible? What type of information about the world do our perceptual experiences convey to us? Which beliefs about the world do perceptual experiences provide direct justification for? What is the nature of truth? Students will learn about theories developed in response to these and other questions.

 

Readings: All readings will be available on-line, on my website or on Canvas.

 

Requirements: 1 exam, one paper and a final exam.

 

Basic Policies

 

Below are listed various procedural policies.  By remaining a registered student in this course you indicate you acceptance of the policies listed in this syllabus.

 

Attendance and make-up policies:

 

1.       Class participation and the in-class assignment are an integral part of a satisfactory grade.  Poor attendance will result in a lower grade.

 

2.       With respect to make-up exams, documented emergencies will be dealt with on an individual basis.

 

Drops:

 

Students unable to continue in the course should notify the instructor.  It is their responsibility to fill out official withdrawal forms with the registrar's office. If they do not officially withdraw, they will receive an F for the course.

 

Special Learning Needs:

 

Students with documented special learning needs are asked to have Disability Resource Center (http://drc.fiu.edu/) inform the instructor so that accommodations can be made when necessary for testing, note taking or, paper writing, etc..

 

Class Conduct:

 

1.       All students must come to class, on time and prepared with his or her materials.

 

Requirements and Grading:

 

Requirements:

 

Paper:

 

The Writing Requirements for this course will consist of six components

 

Paper Assignments:

 

  1. Paper 1 First Draft
  2. Peer Review
  3. Paper 1 Final Draft
  4. Professional Venue Details Document

 

There will be one assigned thesis paper.  It will take the form of a critical summary and examina­tion of a text or article from a professional journal or other suitable professional venue (professional conference, conference proceeding, virtual professional journal, etc.).  I will provide you with a list of suitable peer-reviewed professional journal articles.  Students should select one of the articles listed, although exceptions will be considered. 

 

Peer-reviewed journals contain articles by professional philosophers written for other professional philosophers. I anticipate that students will find them challenging.  Students should not be discouraged by this.   I will work with students to help them along if and when that becomes necessary.

 

  1. Paper 1 First Draft

 

This paper will take the form of a critical summary of and response to a selected article from a contemporary professional philosophical journal.  In this class we are utilizing peer review writing techniques.  On the day that the Paper 1 First Draft is due students will submit an electronic version to my Blackboard site for this class.  The submitted paper copy should contain no identifying information.  I will then use the feature in Blackboard to redistribute the papers to peers within the class.

 

  1. Peer Review

 

Each student will act as a peer reviewer for a fellow student.  Acting as a peer reviewer, each student will read a fellow student’s paper, provide feedback and fill out a rubric evaluation on Blackboard.   With the information provided by the peer reviewer, students will then write a second, final draft of the original paper.

 

Important Note about the peer reviews:

 

Because of the way Canvas is configured, you must submit these peer reviews in two different ways.

 

First you must submit the comments to your peers using the comments box provided by Canvas next to your peer’s paper.

 

However, you must also copy and paste the same comments into a document and upload that document to the assignment in your assignments list entitled “Peer Review.”

 

If you only submit your peer comments via the assignments box, your classmates will not have access to them.  If you only submit your peer review comments into the comments box on your classmates’ papers, I will not receive a copy nor will I know when you have completed this assignment. 

 

Therefore, it is important that you do both. You must submit the peer review comments into the comments box on your peers’ papers, but you must also submit those same comments in a separate document to me using the assignments box. 

 

I understand that this is a little confusing, but it's the best I can do given the way Canvas has configured this assignment.

 

  1. Paper 1 Final Draft

 

On the due date for Paper 1 Final Draft students will submit it to Canvas.  For this draft, students will prepare that paper for professional publication or presentation.  This means that students must

 

 

At that same time students will also submit an additional document:

 

  1. Professional Venue Details Document

 

As a separate submission, each student will provide a document which identifies the venue for professional presentation that the student has selected.  This document will also explain why the student has chosen that venue, why it is a suitable venue for the student’s paper and what specific formatting was required for submission (e.g. submission guidelines, deadlines, blind review format, required citation style, etc.).

 

The purpose of this assignment, aside from being the typical philosophy paper writing requirement of an upper division philosophy course, is for students to gain some perspective on the professional activities of working philosophers, those who are currently contributing in this field, and what institutions are supporting this research etc..  Students are very familiar with what philosophy professors do inside the classroom, but they are less familiar with what they do outside of the classroom.  It is these latter activities that are responsible for the advance of the discipline and most often form the basis for hiring, tenure and promotion decisions. 

 

The grade for this assignment will be based on the quality of the original draft, the accuracy and completeness of the work the student did as a peer reviewer for his or her fellow classmate, and the quality of the final draft, specifically the degree to which it represents a further refinement and development of the first draft.  It will also be based on the accompanying “venue” document and the degree to which the student successfully followed the submission guidelines of the chosen presentation venue.

 

This grade will count as 35% of the student’s final grade.

 

In-class Examination:

 

There will be one in-class exam as designated by the lesson plan. This exam will be count as 25% of the final average.

 

Final Examination:

 

A final examination will be given during the final exam week as specified by the University calendar.  The final exam will be objective and essay and be drawn from class lectures and text material. The final exam will be not be cumulative, but rather cover material presented after the first exam.  The final exam will count for 35% of the final grade.

 

Grading:

 

Grades will be based on the paper (35% total), in-class exam (30% total), and the final exam (35% total).

 

Grading Scale:   

 

                                                A = (100-94)        A- = (93-92)

                B+ = (91-88)        B = (87-84)           B- = (83-81)

                C+ = (80-77)        C = (76-74)           C- = (73-70)

                D+ = (69-66)        D = (65-63)          D- = (62-60)

                F = (59-0)

 

ATTENTION STUDENTS: NOTE both the grading scale and the exam and paper dates now.  No exceptions will be made so you must decide NOW whether these terms are acceptable to you or not or whether they interfere will travel plans or per­sonal commit­ments.  It is your decision to remain in this course under the specified conditions and I encourage each of you to thoughtfully consider this before the drop/add deadline.