PHILOSOPHY 160 - INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY OF THE ARTS

COURSE DESCRIPTION

  1. Instructor: Robert Mutti. (Office: HUM 445 [x3138]).

  2. Required Reading: Handout - Excerpts from Aristotle's 'Poetics' (tr. by Robert Mutti);
    Plato's 'Republic' (Penguin Classics edition, tr. by Desmond Lee)

  3. Attendance: Classroon attendance is encouraged for students who have read the material, but it is not required.
    Students who come to class are expected to arrive on time, with phones/pagers off.

  4. Course Format: The course will primarily be in a lecture/discussion format.

    All tests--two quizzes, and a final exam--are open-book, open-note, in-class tests.

  5. Grades: Grades will be based on two quizzes (worth 35 points each), a final exam (worth 70 points), a shorter paper (worth 35 points) and a longer paper (worth 70 points). Grades are assigned based on the number of points earned. (Roughly, 90% is an "A", 80% a "B", etc.)

    Either quiz may be made up (or, possibly, replaced) by following the directions for making up quizzes.

    Late work is not accepted without some sort of medical excuse.

    If a student takes the final exam but does not turn in the final written assignment, or turns in the final written exercise but misses the final exam, the work not done will be given a grade of 'F'. If a student misses the final exam and does not turn in the final written exercise, and has not arranged for a grade of "W" or "I", a grade of "WU" will result.

    Students wishing to exercise the "Credit/No Credit" option may either do this online, or by informing the instructor in person, sometime around the fifth or sixth week of class.


PHILOSOPHY 160 - Instructor: Robert Mutti

DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING UP (Or Replacing) QUIZZES

(Note: Doing this work is not a guarantee that any quiz score will be replaced. If you do this work, and score higher on it than the score you received on the quiz, then your quiz score will be replaced.)

For each false assertion on the quiz (that is, for each of the approximately 17 assertions labeled "false" on the answer key), do the following three things:

    A. Write a true assertion that accurately paraphrases what actually is said in the text (as opposed to what is said in
    the false assertion on the quiz) and label it 'A'. Then write the marginal page number (e.g.: 438b) where you found
    this true assertion. (This page number should be the one on the answer key.) You should not merely contradict the assertion on the quiz, you should write what was actually said, and you should not quote what was said, you should paraphrase it (in your own words).

    B. Write a second (i.e., different) true assertion made by the same person, on pretty much the same page, that is related to the first assertion by a word or phrase that means 'because' or 'therefore' (that is, this second assertion is part of an argument that also includes the first assertion) and label it 'B'. Then write the marginal page number where you found this second assertion (even if it's the same).

    C. Indicate whether the second assertion is supposed to prove the first, or the first is supposed to prove the second, by writing either "B --> A" or "A -->B" (or "B therefore A" or "A therefore B"), and write the word or phrase that means 'because' or 'therefore' in front of the assertion that it indicates.

NOTE: YOU MUST DO YOUR OWN WORK! (If, for example, two assignments are turned in with the same answers, both will receive a grade of "0".)


PHILOSOPHY 160 (R. Mutti) - COURSE SCHEDULE

Aristotle's Poetics
Plato's Republic
Marginal Page Numbers
0. (327a-336a)
1. (368c-376c)
2. (376c-383c)
3. (386a-392c)
4. (392c-403c)
5. (403c-412a)
6. (412a-421c)
7. (427d-434d)
8. (434d-449a)
9. (449a-461e)
10. (471c-480a)
11. (499c-509c)
12. (509d-511e)
13. (514a-521b)
14. (521c-534e)
15. (543a-545e)
(547b-555b)
16. (555b-569c)
17. (571a-583a)
18. (583b-592b)
19. (595a-602b)
20. (602b-608b)

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