Philosophy 2800 - Contemporary Problems
Andrew Latus
Tuesday 7-9:30 p.m.
Arts 1043

Office: A-3067
Telephone: 737-8334
Email: alatus@mun.ca
WWW: www.ucs.mun.ca/~alatus/2800a.html
Office Hours: Monday 2-3, Wednesday 2-3 & Thursday12-1 (or drop by)

Text: The Right Thing to Do: Basic Readings in Moral Philosophy (2nd Edition), James Rachels (ed.) McGraw-Hill College Publishers, 1999.

Grading Scheme:

Group Work - 10%
Exam - 35%
Midterm - 25%
Paper - 30%
About the Group Work: 150 minutes is a long time to listen to me talk. As a way of fostering class discussion and breaking up the monotony of my droning voice, many classes will begin with approximately one hour of lecture, after which you'll be broken up into groups of approximately 5 people and set to work on a particular question or problem. After giving you time to work on the assignment, we'll reconvene as a class for discussion and, at the end of the class, your group will submit a brief answer to the assignment. At the end of the term, I'll assign you a grade out of 10 based on your participation in group work throughout the term. It will be possible and, I hope, common to do well on this component of your grade (provided you attend class regularly and make a sincere effort at the group work).

About the Midterm: Tentatively, the midterm will be a take-home test. If so, it will be handed out during class on Oct. 16th and due on Oct. 23rd. It will ask you to write a brief essay on one (or more) of the topics covered during the first six weeks of the class.

About the Paper: There are two deadlines for the paper. The final deadline by which all papers must be submitted is the final class (on Nov. 27th). However, there is also an optional draft deadline on Nov. 6. If you submit a paper by this deadline, it will be returned to you (as quickly as possible) with advice for improving the paper. You must then prepare a final version of the paper and hand it in by the Nov. 27th deadline. Your grade on the paper will be based only on your final version of it.
    Paper topics will be distributed no later than the end of September. You will be asked to write an approximately 5 page paper on one of the topics covered during the term. A typical topic will ask you to explain and discuss one of the articles assigned as class reading.

Policy on Late Assignments: Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the date specified. Late assignments will be accepted with no penalty if accompanied by a reasonable personal or medical excuse. (I reserve the right to ask for documentation to back up the excuse). Assignments handed in late without a reasonable excuse will receive a 10 point penalty and will be returned without comments. Late take-home midterms will not be accepted after Oct. 30th. Late papers will not be accepted after the day of the final exam.

[Philosophy 2800]