Philosophy

INSTRUCTIONS:

For this assignment, you are to ponder some reflection questions before listening to the lecture component. These questions aim to stimulate your thinking and focus your concentration on the topics to be explored in the lecture, as a means of provoking you into thinking philosophically while you attentively listen to the lecture. Your responses to these questions are also a means of preparing you to craft your final project for this course, where you will be asked to construct your own philosophical account of what it means to you to live a good life. There will be multiple questions, but do not respond to them all. Rather, pick one question to respond to that catches your attention or that you otherwise find intriguing. After you have selected your question, spend 10 minutes pondering the question and recording your thoughts. For this assignment, do not be concerned about the number of thoughts you have on the topic of the question. Rather, you should be concerned with the quality of your thoughts. In assessing your response, the teaching team will look to see how clearly and precisely you articulate your beliefs and how deeply you explain the reasoning for and assumptions underlying your beliefs. Here are the questions for you to consider:

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. What does it mean to be wise or for a person to possess wisdom? Is wisdom merely possession of knowledge, or is wisdom something more? With respect to your own life, what is the value of wisdom with regard to living a good life? As you articulate your position, clearly explain the reasoning for your position, and if appropriate provide a concrete real-life example that illustrates your position.

2. With respect to your own education, do you see self-transformation as a goal? Do you think self-transformation should be a goal of our education system? As you articulate your position, clearly explain the reasoning for your position, and if appropriate provide a concrete real-life example that illustrates your position.

3. Do you think our moral beliefs and convictions are merely socially constructed? Are they just a product of social norms and conventions? Or are our moral beliefs and convictions grounded in something that is true, independent of what any culture or individual believes? For example, is our conviction that slavery is unjust true only because as a society we collectively agree upon its truth? Or is the belief that slavery is unjust true independent of whether or not a culture assents to its truth? As you articulate your position, clearly explain your reasoning for your position, and if appropriate provide a concrete real-life example that illustrates your position. 

4. To what degree can knowledge of a subject be reliably obtained from other people, books, articles, etc. and to what degree can knowledge be reliably obtained through our own personal experience of the subject? How confident should we be about the reliability of knowledge we obtain from sources external to ourselves? Put another way, how much should we trust external authorities? How confident should be about knowledge obtained from our personal experiences? Put another way, how reliable is our own personal experience in providing us genuine knowledge? As you articulate your position, clearly explain your reasoning for your position, and if appropriate provide a concrete real-life example that illustrates your position.

GRADING POLICY:

There will be a total of 12 reflections; the two lowest scores will be dropped when calculating the final grade. This results in 10 reflections, each being worth 20 points or 2% of your final grade. 6 reflections will be graded as credit/no credit and 6 reflections will be graded according to the rubric. You will not know in advance which reflections will be graded credit/no credit and which reflections will be graded with the rubric; as such, reflections should be completed with the expectation that the rubric could be used.

 

Use the rubric below to ensure your reflection is complete.