PHI2041S Great Philosophers 2015

Course outline
1. Introduction
This is the core second year undergraduate course in the Philosophy Department. Our
other undergraduate courses include a number of historical works in philosophy, but
this is the only course wholly devoted to the history of philosophy.
We will focus on two texts by Plato Gorgias and Phaedo and portions of
Immanuel Kants Critique of Pure Reason, together with a variety of writings related
to these texts.
Why these works? How will we approach them? And, to stand further back: how to
decide what goes into this course, and how we will study it? These questions are too
interesting to deal with in the first few paragraphs of a course outline. We will discuss
them in the first few lectures.
This outline explains how the course is organised, and what is expected from you. The
Philosophy Department hopes that this detailed document will enable you to have an
administratively smooth and predictable course.

2. Lecturer, tutors and administrators

Lecturer
Dr Greg Fried
Room 3.06
Neville Alexander Building (previously called Humanities Building)
[email protected]
If you would like to speak to Dr Fried outside lecture times, please talk to him after
lectures or email him. He would be happy to make an appointment for face-to-face
discussion.
Tutors
Oliver Goosen
Rocco Zizzamia

[email protected]
[email protected]

Administrators
Ms Liz Gubb and Ms Lara Davison will deal with administrative queries for this
course. You can contact them by:
emailing [email protected], cc-ing [email protected] (i.e. please
include both administrators in your query),

visiting the Philosophy Department reception, Room 3.03, Neville Alexander

Building, or
phoning Philosophy reception, 021 650 3316.

If they cannot deal with your query directly, they will pass it on to Dr Fried.

3. Lecture and tutorial times, venues and dates

Lectures:
Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays
4th period (11-11:45pm)
Computer Science 203
Tutorials: Thursday or Friday, various periods and venues
Below are the lecture and tutorial dates. Since some topics include more material than
others and some weeks contain public holidays, the topics will not correspond exactly
to particular weeks of the course. Broadly, we will be discussing Plato in the third
quarter and Kant in the fourth.
Week 1:
M 20 July
Tu 21 July
Week 2:
M 27 July
Tu 28 July
Week 3:
M 3 Aug
Tu 4 Aug
Week 4:
[No lecture M 10 Aug]
Week 5:
M 17 Aug
Tu 18 Aug
Week 6:
M 24 Aug
Tu 25 Aug

W 22 July

[No tutorial Th 23 / F 24 July]

W 29 July

Th 30 / F 31 July Tutorial

W 5 Aug

Th 6 / F 7 Aug Tutorial

Tu 11 Aug

W 12 Aug

W 19 Aug

Th 20 / F 21 Aug Tutorial

W 26 Aug

Th 27 / F 28 Aug Tutorial

Tu 8 Sept

W 9 Sept

Th 10 / F 11 Sept Tutorial

Tu 15 Sept

W 16 Sept

Th 17 / F 18 Sept Tutorial

Tu 22 Sept

W 23 Sept

[No tutorial Th 24 / F 25 Sept]

Tu 29 Sept

W 30 Sept

Th 1 / F 2 Oct Tutorial

Tu 6 Oct

W 7 Oct

Th 8 / F 9 Oct Tutorial

Tu 13 Oct

W 14 Oct

Th 15 / F 16 Oct Tutorial

Tu 20 Oct

[Last day of lectures is 20 Oct]

Th 13 / F 14 Aug Tutorial

Mid-semester break
Week 7:
M 7 Sept
Week 8:
M 14 Sept
Week 9:
M 21 Sept
Week 10:
M 28 Sept
Week 11:
M 5 Oct
Week 12:
M 12 Oct
Week 13:
M 19 Oct

4. Evaluation
(a) Tutorial quizzes
(b) Essay 1
(c) Essay 2
(d) Exam

10%
15%
15%
60%

Tutorial quizzes
There are ten tutorials, running from the second week to the last week of lectures,
with the exception of the Heritage Day week.
At each tutorial the tutor will pass around an attendance sheet. You are responsible for
signing it. If you do not see the sheet at the tutorial, then notify your tutor during the
tutorial and sign it. The only acceptable evidence that you have attended a tutorial will
be your signature on the tutorial attendance sheet. If you are very late for a tutorial,
you will not have the opportunity to sign the sheet.
For each tutorial, there will be a tutorial assignment, posted the previous Friday on
Vula. You must bring the assignment sheet in printed or electronic form to the
tutorial. Read the assignment beforehand and make notes of your thoughts and
answers (which will require some reading and reflection). Your answers will not be
submitted, but will be discussed. Apart from the intrinsic interest of the assignments,
they are relevant to the essays and exam, so your work on the assignments will be
rewarded later.
Nine of the ten tutorials all but the final tutorial - begin with a multiple choice quiz.
For each quiz you will have ten minutes to answer ten questions. The quizzes serve as
incentives for you to keep up with the material and as a record of your progress. Each
quiz may cover any of the material dealt with since the previous quiz. To prepare for
quizzes, you should, of course, attend all lectures, consult your lecture notes, and be
up-to-date with the readings.
We calculate the average of your top eight quiz marks to generate a score that counts
for 10% of your final mark. You also receive a reward if you fill in the electronic
course evaluation posted near the end of the semester: then only your top seven quiz
marks will be averaged. Hence, there is built-in forgiveness for up to two bad
performances or absences from a quiz.
Note that you may not write a quiz in a tutorial group other than your own. (If you
happen to do so, your quiz will not count.)
Keep your marked quiz sheets and check them against Gradebook once your tutor has
uploaded the marks. If your tutor has made an error in uploading your mark, you will
need to bring in your quiz sheet as proof in order to have your mark corrected.
(b) Essay 1
Essay 1 is due on Monday 17 August at 10am, and must be submitted both in printed
and electronic format. (Both formats must be exactly the same, or you will be
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suspected of dishonesty.) It is to be 2 000 to 2 500 words in length and printed doublesided (i.e. on both sides of each page). Essay 1 will deal with Platos Gorgias. Topics
will be posted on Vula at the end of the first week of lectures. You should start
working on the essay as soon as possible after the course begins. The aim of the
earlyish deadline for the first essay is to encourage you to immerse yourself in the
course material from the beginning.
(c) Essay 2
Essay 2 is due on Monday 21 September at 10am; similar conditions apply as in
Essay 1. Essay 2 will deal with Platos Phaedo or with our early investigations of
Kant.
(d) Exam
The format of the exam will be discussed later in the course.

5. DP requirements
You must fulfil all three of the following requirements in order to get DP:
attend at least seven out of ten tutorials in the tutorial group to which you have
been assigned
submit both essays in hard copy and electronic format by 12pm on 16 October
(you are most likely to get 0% if you submit so late see section 6 for details
but the submission will count for DP purposes as long as it displays an
appropriate amount of research and thought, and fulfils the essay
requirements, including word limits)
have a coursework average of at least 35%.
Some of these DP requirements might entirely at the convenors discretion be
waived if you fulfil all three of the following requirements:
you have submitted to the Philosophy Departments reception, by 12pm on 16
October, documented evidence of medical or other major unforeseeable
problems that made it impossible for you to meet these requirements
you have participated sufficiently extensively in the course
it is likely, given your record in the course, that you will pass the course if
permitted to write the exam.
We will adhere strictly to these rules. For example, if you miss four tutorials and do
not submit the appropriate documented evidence by 12pm on 16 October, then you
will have no chance of getting a DP. You might think this is harsh: why not give some
leeway beyond the rules? The reason is that we believe the fairest approach in setting
a line between DP and DPR a line that has to be drawn is simply to follow the
policy we have announced. There is no secret extra amount of slack to be guessed. If
youre asking yourself, for instance, whether you might still get DP if you miss
(without appropriate documentation) four tutorials but youve received strong essay
marks, the answer is no. We will conform to the rules set out here.

Once the DP list has been posted, if you wish to appeal a DPR, you may fill in and
submit a form available at Philosophy reception. There is an administrative fee of
R30, which will be refunded if we have made a mistake.

6. Lateness penalties and extensions

For the sake of fairness to others and marking efficiency, we expect essays to be
submitted on time.
Deductions for (unexcused) late essays
1. Essays submitted after the 10am deadline but before 4pm on the same day incur a
5% penalty.
2. 5% is deducted for every further 24 hours (that is, for essays not submitted by 4pm
each day).
3. The daily deduction includes weekends and public holidays, but a Vula submission
over the weekend or public holiday will prevent further deductions on condition that
the hardcopy is submitted on the first working day that follows.
4. Essays more than five days late are accepted for DP purposes (on condition that
they meet the basic requirements to count as an essay) but will not be marked.
Extensions
If you have a genuinely excellent reason for needing an extension of an essay deadline
beyond the period given here such as a medical problem backed up with a medical
certificate then please do not discuss this with Dr Fried, but apply to him for an
extension before the deadline by filling in and submitting an essay extension request
form available at Philosophy reception. Excellent reasons do not include the demands
of other courses or extra-murals, as we assume that youll be scheduling time
beforehand to write your essays for this course. They also do not include loss of your
essay due to computer failure: you are expected to back up your essay drafts to a safe
location regularly. Applications made after the deadline will be considered only in
cases of emergency.

7. Plagiarism
Plagiarism will be taken very seriously in any submitted work. Students suspected of
plagiarism will be reported to the university authorities and, if found guilty, will face
penalties including fines, endorsement of their academic records, and suspension or
even expulsion from the university. Details of what constitutes plagiarism are
available from the departmental website:
http://www.philosophy.uct.ac.za/philosophy/undergraduate/firstaid/plagiarism
Ignorance of these guidelines will not count as an excuse.

8. Course reader and Vula

Please collect the printed course reader from Philosophy reception as soon as possible
after the first lecture on 20 July.

Further material, including the course reader as a pdf, can be found on the courses
Vula site. Vula will be an important utility in the course. You are expected to be aware
of resources, announcements and other material added to the site. Please therefore
ensure that the site uses an email address that you check frequently. If it does not,
change the email address by clicking My Workspace, then My Profile in the list
on the left; then click on Edit my Profile at the top of that screen.
In this course, the Chat Room feature on Vula is intended as a forum for students to
discuss philosophical material or other salient features of the course with one another.
If you would like to communicate with the lecturer, administrators or tutors, please do
not try to do so via the Chat Room. The Chat Room is meant only for conversations
with your fellow students, not for requests or remarks directed to teachers or
administrators.

9. Signing up for tutorials

Electronic tutorial registration will open at 1pm on Monday 20 July and will close at
9am on Friday 24 July.
Tutorials at popular times tend to be filled very quickly, and will likely be filled well
before the deadline. The earlier you register, the better chance of getting the tutorial
time that suits you best.
You must remain in the chosen tutorial group for the whole semester unless a formal
change of group is made. You will get attendance credit only for going to tutorials in
the group to which you have been assigned. There will therefore be no make-up
tutorial forms, as attendance at tutorials other than your own will not be counted.
How to register for a tutorial group
1. Go to the Vula website.
2. Sign in using your student number and password.
3. Click on the PHI2041S, 2015 tab.
4. Click on 'Tut sign up'.
5. Click on 'join' next to the tutorial you want to join.
6. If your email address listed on Vula is not the one you use (most often), please
change it accordingly.
Changing tutorial group or registering late
Before the tutorial registration deadline, you will be able to change your tutorial group
via Vula if there is an opening in the group to which you wish to move. After the
deadline, to discourage late registration for tutorials and switches from one group to
another, a R30 penalty will be charged for those who change tutorial registrations or
who submit a request to be placed in a tutorial group after it has already been filled.
1. Visit the Philosophy Department reception during office hours.
2. Request an Application for tutorial group change or late registration form.
3. Complete the form and return it to the secretary with the R30 fee.
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