2014-2-PHI110

__NOTITLE__ Studying Bachelor of Arts. This is PHI110; the Philosophy, Morality and Society subject from Macquarie University. Undertaken Study Period 2, 2014. Content is quoted and/or summarised from the university website in fair dealing for purpose of research or study. See also: StudyWISE and AIMS.

Coursework

See: key dates. Note: weeks start on Monday. Use the weekly template for new weeks.

Week	Done	Date	Topic
Week 1	x	2 Jun 2014	Introduction: What is Moral Philosophy?
Week 2	x	9 Jun 2014	Epicurean Ethics
Week 3	x	16 Jun 2014	Stoic Ethics
Week 4		23 Jun 2014	Aristotle's Ethics
Week 5		30 Jun 2014	Cultural Diversity and Moral Relativism
Week 6		7 Jul 2014	Why be moral? Egoism and Self Interest Theories
Week 7		14 Jul 2014	Kant's Ethics
Week 8		21 Jul 2014	Utilitarianism
Week 9		28 Jul 2014	Animal Rights and Welfare
Week 10		4 Aug 2014	Global Justice
Week 11		11 Aug 2014	Historic Injustice and Indigenous rights
Week 12		18 Aug 2014	Justice, Immigration and Refugees
Week 13		25 Aug 2014	Revision

Resources

• OUA: My study centre
• iLearn for this unit (copy)
• Essential readings (copy)
• Additional readings for lectures and essays (copy)
• e-Reserve Results for Course Search: "PHI110" (copy)
• Announcements
• General Discussion Forum
• Course content
  • Audio

Unit guide

1. Unit Guide Homepage (original)
2. Teaching Staff and Communication (original)
3. About this unit (original)
4. OUA iLearn Template (original)
5. UG Learning Outcomes (original)
6. Assessment Summary (original)
   1. Assignment submission (original)
7. Extensions, Special Consideration and Special Circumstances (original)
8. Required and recommended texts and/or materials (original)
9. Unit webpage and technology used and required (original)
10. University Grading Policy (original)
11. Academic honesty / Plagiarism (original)
12. Student support services (original)
13. Weekly schedule (original)
14. Online Learning Support (original)

Essay guide

1. Writing philosophy essays (original)
2. Research (original)
3. Writing (original)
4. Format and structure (original)
5. General tips (original)
6. Writing process tips (original)
7. Other advice on writing essays (original)
8. Submission (original)
9. Plagiarism (original)
10. Referencing (original)
11. A Sample Bibliography (original)
12. When you get your essay back (original)

There are also two lectures:

• Essay Writing Tips
• First Assignment Tips

Assessment

• Assessment instruction (Submission, return and extensions) (original)
• Grading (original)
• Plagiarism (original)
• Assessment 2 - Text-based reading Exercise: due Sunday, Week 6 (original)
• Assessment 2 - Marking Rubric (PDF) (original)
• Reading exercise (Turnitin) -- Submit your reading exercise here through Turnitin.
• Assessment 3 - Main Essay: Due Sunday, end Week 13 (original)
• Main Essay Marking Rubric (PDF) (original)
• Assessment 4 - Participation (original)
• Essay (Turnitin) -- Submit your essay here through Turnitin.

Assessment 2 notes

Be relaxed in tone - but not informal. On the other side, avoid being stuck-up, or pretentious, too. Write in the first person, because the essay is about what you think about Epicurus or Cicero, etc.

• For talking about the text you're analysing, discuss the philosophical ideas in the present tense. Eg. 'Epicurus claims that pleasure is the goal of life'.
• If you are mentioning events in the philosopher's life - ie. they are historical considerations - then, use the past tense. Eg. 'Cicero was a Roman Senator and orator, who adopted Stoicism'.
• The last thing to keep an eye on is just to be consistent.

As we are working up to our first written assignment, try to answer the questions as if they were part of the assignment. That is,

• introduce the question
• explain the terms
• provide your own answer

as if you were intending to hand this in as part of a written assessment. The point being that practice will improve what you do in the assignment.

First Assignment FAQ

Hi guys,

I've collected together some of your questions asked here and there, and added in some of my own. I'll try to present them so that you can quickly scan through to what you need. I'll also break it up into several posts, to make it easier.

1. Which questions? I noticed we were given essential readings for week 2 and 3 for the assignment. Are we answering the weekly readings questions for the essay?

No, this is not the assignment. The assignments are found in tab 14, ‘Essential Course Items’, and have their own free-standing questions. You have a choice between two: Epicurus, or Stoicism. Answer only the questions given for that topic.

2. Which readings can we use? Are we able to bring in other aspects of the set material i.e. with Epicurus, can we bring in other sections of Letter to Menoeceus to elaborate on points or de Botton?

Yes, you can bring in other parts of Epicurus’ writing. Read de Botton, sure, but don’t worry about bringing in anything from his reading. You should be able to show everything you need to from Epicurus only. I hope some of you do the Cicero one, though!

3. Word limit? I know it says 1000 words, but is there a 10% over/under rule?

No. You're looking at the assignment in the wrong way. The word limit is there to help you, by creating conditions that force you to be clear and simple. This helps you to know what you think a little better. So, sticking to the word limit is for your own benefit. It's also a consideration to others: Marking your long assignment takes time away from marking others' assignments, putting your marker under pressure, and making her or him unhappy. Why would you make your marker unhappy?

4. External sources I know: I kept getting the urge to use knowledge I had prior to the course, is it ok to use some of this knowledge with citations, or best left to our own words and ideas?

What kind of knowledge? Try to stick to just what the course involves. Your previous knowledge should inform whatever you write anyway, but don’t bother name dropping.

5. Quotations: Where it says not to use extended quotations, what does this mean exactly? Can I still quote texts from the article, and if I do is it referenced as usual?

Yes, you can still provide quotations. But only do so when you think you need some evidence to back up your point. Quote the exact part you need, and then write about how it proves your point. I’ll give an example in this week’s forum. I’ll also provide a post on referencing (but note this is also discussed in section 10 of the writing guide).

6. Structure: I'm just trying to figure out how I structure this assignment as I have never written a paper like this.

Use the questions to structure your essay. They are logically linked together, and will help you move through the correct considerations. For more detail on paragraph and sentence structure, see sections 4-6 in the writing essays guide. I can’t stress enough just how valuable the points there are.

7. Using background texts: When writing it I found that it's easier to articulate the answers using philosophy from other Epicurus texts as well as some from the Stoics. Is it still ok to go about it this way? If we do this should it be using quotations/paraphrased or is it ok to put it in our own words?

Try to stick to the indicated text as much as possible. Sacrifice breadth for precision and detail. If you want to draw upon ideas that are in the background texts (the ones given on Epicurus and the Stoics), that’s fine. But think them through carefully to ensure you aren’t just creating more work for yourself. Note that the whole Epicurus reading is background for the questions we are answering.

8. How to represent arguments and objections: As far as the essay for the text-based reading exercise is concerned, what is the best way to deal with counterarguments in this structure? Also, do you recommend to raise objections and disagreements to each premise as they occur or outline the conclusion and all premises as stated in the text first and then state all points of difference?

A counter argument means that two arguments have been presented. One, which is the ‘target’, and then the ‘counter argument’, which is supposed to invalidate the first in some way. Deal with each as two separate, opposed arguments. I would lean towards raising your objections after you have presented the argument in full. (This post is referring to the 'how to' read philosophy document I posted in an earlier thread).

9. Pronouns (I, etc.) and tense: I understand that in Philosophy the language we use is allowed to be a little more personal and somewhat relaxed. However, I am finding it difficult in another area when discussing Epicurus (topic 1). One minute I am talking about his ideas in the current form, ie; 'Epicurus suggests that...' then the next minute I am talking in past tense 'Epicurus suggested that...' being long gone, I am assuming everything should be discussed as what he thought not what he thinks?

For talking about the text you're analysing, discuss the philosophical ideas in the present tense. E.g. 'Epicurus claims that pleasure is the goal of life'.

If you are mentioning events in the philosopher's life - ie. they are historical considerations - then, use the past tense. Eg. 'Cicero was a Roman Senator and orator, who adopted Stoicism'.

The last thing to keep an eye on is just to be consistent.

Books

• Books purchased for unit (local)
• Additional readings for lectures and essays (copy)

Audio processing

See this article about how to convert the provided MP3 files into OGG format.