Hartwick college

This course is designed to facilitate writing a senior thesis in Philosophy. There are no required texts in this course, nor are there required topics. There will be no lectures. The course will be run, rather, like an actual seminar. Each week we will meet to discuss readings assigned by students. These readings will be briefly presented by those students who assigned them, and then discussed by the class.

Assignments:

• 40% Response Papers Every week you will be required to write short response papers (one per reading assigned). These should be 150-250 words. In these responses, you must address the thesis of the paper, as well as the primary arguments provided for that thesis.
• 10% Thesis Proposal To write a thesis in philosophy, each student must have her proposal approved by the entire department. Proposals are normally 2-3 pages, and outline the question a student would like to address/answer in the thesis. These should also include a bibliography. Your grade will be based on whether or not your thesis proposal gets approved.
• 20% Presentations of Assigned Readings Each student will have the opportunity to assign up to 3 readings during the course of the semester. You are required to present these readings, and to offer a handout on your presentation. Your handout must give the argument of the readings. Do not simply list quotations from the paper. In addition, you will be presenting your thesis ideas to the rest of the class, both early on and at the end of the class.
• 30% Final Paper You must turn in a final paper, ranging from 10-15 pages. This will be due at the scheduled date and time of our final exam. This paper might be a very polished draft of a part of your thesis, or it might be another topic that you required your attention prior to getting to work on your thesis.

Important: Attendance in this class is absolutely crucial. Your participation in the course will make or break us pedagogically. We are here to teach and learn from each other. For this reason, you simply must attend.

Week 1, September 4: Research Resources for Thesis Writing in Philosophy

Week 2, September 11: Readings Assigned

DUE: Turn in a 150-200 word description of your thesis topic/idea, include a bibliography of at least 5 sources.

Alternatively, turn in a sketch of 3 thesis ideas that you might develop. (You still need to provide a bibliography).

Week 3, September 18: Presentations

                             Readings Assigned

Week 4, September 25: Presentations

                              Readings Assigned

Week 5, October 2: Presentations

                               Readings Assigned

DRAFT OF THESIS PROPOSAL DUE ON OCTOBER 4th, BY 5PM

Presentation #2

Week 6, October 9: Presentations

                                Readings Assigned

Week 7, October 16: BREAK

Week 8, October 23: Presentations

                                Readings Assigned

Week 9, October 30: Presentations by: Sky, Jen, Tomie

                                 Readings Assigned

Week 10, November 6: Presentations

                                 Readings Assigned

Presentation #3

Week 11, November 13: Presentations

                                Readings Assigned

Week 11, November 13: Presentations

                                Readings Assigned

Week 12, November 20: Presentations

Readings Assigned

Week 13, November 27: Presentations

Readings Assigned

Week 14, December 4; Presentations

Presentations of Final Papers

FINAL EXAM TIME (order of presenters to be determined)