PHI 195-01 ST: Self, Others, and Society (Fall 2018)

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00-2:20pm, Steiner Hall 306

Instructor: Prof. Jo-Jo Koo

Office: Steiner Hall 101
Office hours: Tues. and Wed. 4-5, and by appointment
Office phone number: (641) 269-9033
E-mail address: koojojo@grinnell.edu

Course Description

What is the relationship between the self, others, and society? How can you live with others in
society and yet stay true to yourself? What is authenticity? We will investigate these and other
questions concerning the complicated and often fraught relations between the self, others, and
society. Resources include both Western and non-Western perspectives, as well as perspectives
drawn from the philosophy of race and gender.

Required Readings

(1) Rousseau, J.-J. 1992 [1754]. Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. Indianapolis and
Bloomington: Hackett Publishing.
(2) Guignon, C. 2004. On Being Authentic. London and New York: Routledge.
(3) Puett, M., and Gross-Loh, C. 2016. The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us about
the Good Life. New York: Simon & Shuster.

All other required readings will be posted on the PWeb of this course.

Course Objectives

In addition to the general set of college-wide learning outcomes that the College aims to instill in
its students (http://www.grinnell.edu/academics/centers/ctla/college-wide), this course seeks
specifically:

(1) To hone students’ verbal abilities to engage in informed discussions with one another about
philosophical reflections on the topic of self, others, and society, drawing also on the
philosophy of race and gender as well as, in particular, Chinese philosophy.
(2) To hone students’ abilities to write articulate argumentative papers about the topic in
question.
(3) To eventually enable students to reflect on what it is to live a fulfilling life in the context of our
examination of the topic in question.

Course Requirements

Five posts and five comments in the Discussion Forum on PWeb (i.e., five posts of your own
and five comments on classmates’ posts during the course of the semester): 5%
Engagement (attendance, active participation in class discussions): 12%
Reflection essay on the documentary series, “Race: The Power of an Illusion”: 5%
Two anonymized evaluations of a classmate’s anonymized paper: 8% total (4% each)
First paper: 20%
Second and third papers: 25%
Course Workload

Expect to read, on average, about 35 pages of (at least sometimes) complicated texts for each class
meeting. Given that each class meeting is 1 hour and 20 minutes, you should expect then, at a
minimum, to spend twice that amount of time to prepare for each class meeting outside of class
time: thus on average around 3 hours per each class meeting and, accordingly, 6 hours per week
outside of class for this course. Because philosophical texts require and reward slow, careful, and
active reading, it may require you to take longer to read and digest them. Obviously, when major
assignments are due, expect to spend more time to prepare and complete those assignments:
likely an additional 3-5 hours on such occasions.

Course Policies

 Multiple empirical studies show that students using social media or surfing
online during class time not only distract themselves, but also detrimentally
affect the performance of other students around them and, indeed, that of the
instructor. The use of electronic devices of any sort will thus not be permitted
unless students have received prior approval from the instructor for the use of
such devices for legitimate reasons. Once such reasons exist, the use of such
devices will be granted (please talk to the instructor in advance about this).
 I expect students to be punctual and to take care of their bodily needs outside of class time, not
regularly in the middle of class. Beverages are allowed in class, but not food. If this is a
problem for whatever reason, please talk to the instructor about this.
 If you attend classes regularly but engage in class discussions only grudgingly, the best grade
you can get for participation is a B-. Note that engagement in class discussions does not
correspond to the quantity of participation, but to how well you show that you are engaging in
a thoughtful way both with the course materials and with your fellow classmates.
 Every class meeting is important. That said, you will be allowed at most two unexcused
absences in this course. Other absences will be factored into your final course grade unless
they are legitimate.

Detailed Qualitative Grading Rubric and Lateness Policy

There is a very detailed qualitative grading rubric that is available to you in another document on
PWeb in the Assignments tab. Please read it carefully and repeatedly in order to understand how
your written work is evaluated in this course. You will also need to refer to and use it when you
anonymously evaluate your classmates’ anonymized papers.

Late papers will be penalized one-third letter grade for each day late, up to seven days. Thus, if a
paper is due on a Sunday, the latest I will accept your paper and still give it a grade will be the
following Sunday, with a seven point penalty (so that the best possible grade you can get is a C-
due to lateness for the paper, even when such a paper gets an A). Requests for extensions on
assignments are permitted as long as you have a legitimate excuse (please contact me ahead of
time about this). Note that I will not grant extensions within 24 hours of when the assignment is
due (e.g., no extension will be granted if you ask for one the night before an assignment is due).

Academic Honesty

Students in this course will be expected to respect and work in every way in accordance with the
College’s policy on academic honesty:

http://catalog.grinnell.edu/content.php?catoid=12&navoid=2537#Honesty_in_Academic_Work

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There is a separate document posted in PWeb that explains and illustrates what specifically
constitutes plagiarism, for which students will be held responsible. Any student who violates
academic honesty for any reason will be required to participate in the procedural process as
outlined in the College’s policy on academic honesty. Please take this matter very seriously.

Accommodation for Disabilities

I strive to create an inclusive classroom and certainly wish to accommodate students with
documented disabilities, including invisible disabilities such as chronic illness, learning
disabilities, and psychiatric disabilities. If you are one of these students, you must first provide
documentation regarding your need for accommodations with John Hirschman
(hirschma@grinnell.edu), the Coordinator for Disability Resources; he and his team are located on
the 3rd floor of the Rosenfield Center (x 3089) and are very happy to discuss your need for
accommodations with you. The confidentiality of such discussions will be preserved and not
revealed to anyone who is not authorized to know them, including the instructor. Students should
then notify me within the first few days of classes so that we can discuss ways to ensure your full
participation in the course in light of your accommodations.

Other Accommodations and General Advice

If there is some special circumstance in your life (e.g., observance of religious holidays, special
events in your personal or family life that you must attend to, etc.) – and insofar as they will affect
your performance in this course – please let me know about it ahead of time. Depending on the
situation, your request and its reasons will be treated with the strictest confidence unless
circumstances demand immediate intervention. Please do not wait until the circumstance has
occurred before telling me about its impact on your performance in the course.

Schedule of Readings (subject to occasional modification)

Students must read the texts we discuss before the class meeting for which they are assigned.
Please always bring the readings (texts) to class for each meeting.

Thurs, 8/30:
 NO CLASS MEETING (instructor out of town at a conference abroad)

Tues., 9/4: Critical Thinking Primer

 Course introduction and icebreakers (PWeb)
 Vaughn, “Avoiding Fallacious Reasoning [i.e., informal fallacies]” (PWeb)
 Lebowitz and Lee, “20 cognitive biases that screw up your decision-making” (PWeb)

SELF AND OTHERS

Thurs., 9/6: Kupperman, “Myth One: Pursuing Comfort and Pleasure Will Lead to the Best Possible
Life” (PWeb)

Tues., 9/11: Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, Meditation I, II, first part of VI (PWeb)

Thurs., 9/13: Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Introduction and Part I

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Tues., 9/18: Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Part II

Thurs., 9/20:
 Sartre, “The Look [or Gaze]” (PWeb)
 De Beauvoir, “Introduction to The Second Sex” (PWeb)

Tues., 9/25: Fanon, excerpts from Black Skin, White Masks (PWeb)

Thurs., 9/27:
 Fay, “Do You Have to Be One to Know One?” (PWeb)
 Vaughn, “Defending a Thesis in an Argumentative Essay” (PWeb)

Tues., 10/2: Fay, “Do We Need Others to Be Ourselves?” (PWeb)

SELF, OTHERS, AND SOCIETY

Thurs., 10/4: Marx, “Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844” (PWeb)

Sunday, 10/7: First paper due by 9pm in PWeb

Tues., 10/9: Marx and Engels, “The Communist Manifesto”, whole text (PWeb)

Thurs., 10/11: Foucault, excerpts from Discipline and Punish (PWeb)

Tues., 10/16:
 Foucault, excerpts from Discipline and Punish (PWeb)
 Foucault, “The Subject and Power” (PWeb)

Thurs., 10/18:
 Bartky, “Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power” (PWeb)

FALL BREAK

ASSIGNMENT DURING FALL BREAK: Watch all three episodes of “Race: The Power of an Illusion”
(via the relevant link on PWeb)

Tues., 10/30: NO CLASS MEETING (instructor out of town), but a 4-page reflection essay on these
episodes due by 9pm in PWeb

Thurs., 11/1: Taylor, excerpts from Race: A Philosophical Introduction (PWeb)

Tues., 11/6:
 McIntosh, “White Privilege and Male Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” (PWeb)
 Fausto-Sterling, “The Five Sexes Revisited” (PWeb)
 Butler, “Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire” (PWeb)

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Thurs., 11/8:
 Alcoff, excerpts from Visible Identities, Ch. 5-6: “The Identity Crisis in Feminist Theory” and
“The Metaphysics of Gender and Sexual Difference” (PWeb)

Tues., 11/13: Fay, “Does Our Culture or Society Make Us What We Are?” (PWeb)

SHOULD I PURSUE AUTHENTICITY?

Thurs., 11/15: Guignon, On Being Authentic, Preface and Ch. 1-3

Sunday, 11/18: Second paper due by 9pm in PWeb

Tues., 11/20: Guignon, On Being Authentic, Ch. 4-5

THANKSGIVING BREAK

Tues., 11/27: Guignon, On Being Authentic, Ch. 6-8

Thurs., 11/29:
 Puett and Gross-Loh, The Path, Forward, Preface, and Ch. 1-3
 The Analects and The Nature that Emerges from the Decree (in the e-book companion to
Puett and Gross-Loh, The Path)

Tues., 12/4:
 Puett and Gross-Loh, The Path, Ch. 4-5
 The Mohists (in the e-book companion to Puett and Gross-Loh, The Path)
 The Mencius (in the e-book companion to Puett and Gross-Loh, The Path)
 The Laozi (in the e-book companion to Puett and Gross-Loh, The Path)

Thurs., 12/6:
 Puett and Gross-Loh, The Path, Ch. 6-7
 The Inward Training, the Wuxing, and the Zhuangzi (in the e-book companion to Puett
and Gross-Loh, The Path)

Tues., 12/11:
 Puett and Gross-Loh, The Path, Ch. 8-9
 The Xunzi (in the e-book companion to Puett and Gross-Loh, The Path)

Thurs., 12/13: Course wrap-up

Tuesday, 12/18: Third paper due by 11pm in PWeb