READING SCHEDULE    Fall 2007        MONTGOMERY COLLEGE
PL 201    21218 Introduction to Philosophy     Room 132 Humanities
Tuesdays & Thursdays 11:00-12:15
William Soderberg, Professor

Office 521 Campus Tower Telephone (301) 251-7428;
e-mail: bill.soderberg@montgomerycollege.edu
Office hours: 1:00-1:30 MW; 2:00-3:00 R; other times by appointment

TEXTBOOK: William Soderberg, The Game of Philosophy, University Press of America, 2000.
ADDITIONAL READINGS: find on my website: www.montgomerycollege.edu/~bsodbe
SUPPLIES: One pack of 3x5 cards


READING SCHEDULE :

PART I : MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Sep 6    The Rawls Game

Sep 11  pages 1-12 Discussion topic: Is morality relative to each individual? To each culture?

Sep 13  pages 13-27, Moral Communitarianism and Moral Liberalism, Plato
Sep 18  pages 27-29, Augustine

Sep 20  pages 29-34, Aristotle and Aquinas
Sep 25  pages 35-38, Epicurus, Epictetus, Maimonides

Sep 27 pages 38-41, Hobbes and Hume; pages 116-117 "On Hobbes"
 
Oct 2  pages 45-48, Kant;  pages 120-121 "On Kant"

Oct 4 pages 48-52 Bentham, Taylor and Mill; pages 121-122 "On John Stuart Mill"
Oct 9 NO CLASS: Inauguration of Montgomery College President
Oct 11 First exam

Oct 16 Plato and Augustine, Aristotle and Aquinas: Political Philosophy pages 43-45, Locke and Jefferson
             pages 111-113 "On Plato"; pages 113-115 "On Aristotle"; page 116 "On Augustine"

Oct 18 Taylor and Mill, Political Philosophy pages 52-54, Marx; pages 122-124 "On Marx"

Oct 23 pages 54-58, Rawls; pages 125-126 "On John Rawls"

Oct 25 pages 61-65 MacIntyre, Charles Taylor, Mussolini ; 125-127 "On Alasdair MacIntyre"

Oct 30 pages 66-71 African American Philosophers: M.L. King; Cornel West; Bill Lawson; Lucius Outlaw.

Nov 1 pages 58-60; 71-74 Feminist Philosophers Simone de Beauvoir; Annette Baier; Sara Ruddick; Jean Grimshaw.

METAPHYSICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY
Nov 6 pages 75-81, Democritus, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle  

Nov 8 pages 83-90, Descartes and Hobbes

Nov 13 pages 81-96, Kant, Dewey

Nov 20 Second Exam
Nov 22 NO CLASS: Thanksgiving Holiday

PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
Nov 27 pages 103-107 Descartes, Pascal, and James

Nov 29 pages 107-110, Aquinas, Paley, and Walker

MULTICULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
Dec 4  pages 129-136, Confucianist and Buddhist

Dec 6 pages 136-144, Hindu, African, and Islamic

Dec 11 pages 145-146, Native and Latin American

Dec 13 pages 149-152  Epilogue

Dec 20 Final Exam 10:15 am-12:15 pm