Syllabus

A list of topics covered in the course is presented in the calendar.

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Course Requirements

Reading, discussing, and writing about the assigned readings are the central activities of this class. There is a reading assignment for each seminar. Some are quite difficult and demand careful study. You should complete the assigned readings before each class as we shall presuppose familiarity with the material in the texts. You are expected to attend all classes, and participate actively.

The course requires 20 pages of written work altogether (5000 words). All written papers and exercises should be typed or word-processed. Please keep a copy of all work you turn in. Late work will be accepted only under exceptional circumstances, and will be penalized unless an extension is granted in advance. Note that satisfactory performance in the course overall requires satisfactory performance in each of the grading areas.

Assessment

Class Participation

This is based on preparation, contributions to discussion, and any written or oral assignments, including the Short Exercise (2 pages).

Two (9 page) Papers

Paper topics will be distributed in advance and will ask you to analyze and discuss material covered in class.

Summary of Deadlines

Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct

This statement represents, to the best of my knowledge, MIT policy on plagiarism and academic misconduct, and draws upon similar statements drafted by other faculty members in Philosophy.

Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in this or any other course at MIT. If in doubt about what counts as plagiarism, or about how to properly reference a source, consult your instructor. Other forms of academic dishonesty include: cheating on exams, double submission of papers, aiding dishonesty, and falsification of records. If academic dishonesty is proven, at the very least you will fail the course and a letter will be sent to the Committee on Discipline documenting the dishonesty. If you are tempted to plagiarize because you are in crisis, it is always better to speak too someone—your professor, your advisor, the academic deans, the counseling center, or another trusted authority on campus—who can help you handle the crisis.

Plagiarism is regarded as theft and fraud; it is the theft of someone else's ideas, words, approach, and phrasing; it's fraud because the writer is trying to profit (a grade) by claiming as his/her own someone else's work.

Because plagiarism can have severe disciplinary consequences, it is crucial to understand the concept. Just as scientists demand complete and accurate information about experiments so that they duplicate and check those experiments, so scholars and readers demand complete information so they can check your use of sources and accuracy in reporting what others said. In all academic writing, then, you must give complete citations (e.g., author, title, source, page) each time you use someone else's ideas, words, phrasing, or unusual information. An insidious form of plagiarism is the 'patchwork paper'—some words and ideas taken from source A are stitched together with words and ideas from source B and source C and so on. Your essays should be your own work, although you are encouraged to seek writing advice from the Writing and Communication Center. If there is any question about whether the student's paper is his or her own work, every effort will be made to determine whether the paper is plagiarized. This is an attempt to be fair to the teachers and the other students in the course. There are 4 guidelines for using sources in your essays:

• There is never a good reason to paraphrase a source—either summarize it in your own words or quote it exactly (citing the source in either case).
• When you quote, quote exactly, use quotation marks, and cite the source.
• When you use information that might not be considered common knowledge, cite the source.
• When in doubt about whether or not to give a citation, always give a citation.
  Additional Information: Citing and Using Sources

Calendar