Spring, 2004

Instructor: Lisa King
Office: Smith House (1007 20th St.), first floor
Telephone: 351-2374
Office Hours: MW 3:00-4:00
E-mail: lisa.king@unco.edu

Course Objectives

In this class, we will examine a number of philosophical questions revolving around the issue of human nature: is there such a thing as human nature, and what might it be? what aspects of ourselves are important for our sense of self? how can we know who we are, both as members of the human species and as individuals? can we control who we are or who we become? how can we live freely and responsibly?

Required Texts

All books and photocopied material are available at the Book Stop, 931 16th Street (on the corner of 16th Street and 10th Ave.).

Apology, Plato (in The Last Days of Socrates)
Symposium, Plato.
Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes.

The following readings will be on on-line reserve:

“Identity: Skin Heart Blood,” Minnie Bruce Pratt.
On the Genealogy of Morals, selections, Friedrich Nietzsche.
Beyond Good and Evil [BGE], selections, Nietzsche.
Discipline and Punish [DP], selections, Michel Foucault.
History of Sexuality [HS], selections, Foucault.
The Human Condition [HC], selections, Hannah Arendt.

Reading Assignments

January	M 12	Introduction to the class
I. Plato	W 14	Apology
	F 16	Apology
	M 19	Martin Luther King Day—no class
	W 21	Apology
	F 23	Apology
	M 26	Symposium, 1-39
	W 28	Symposium, 40-60
	F 30	Symposium, 61-75
February	M 2	Symposium,
	W 4	Symposium,
II. Descartes	F 6	Meditations 1 & 2
	M 9	Meditation 3
	W 11	Meditation 4
	F 13	Meditation 5
	M 16	Meditation 6
	W 18	Minnie Bruce Pratt: “Identity: Skin Heart Blood”
	F 20	Pratt
	M 23	review for exam one
	W 25	EXAM ONE
III. Nietzsche	F 27	Genealogy, 15-36
March	M 1	Genealogy, 36-56
	W 3	Genealogy
	F 5	Genealogy, 57-76
	M 8	Genealogy, 76-96
	W 10	Genealogy
	F 12	NO CLASS
		SPRING BREAK: MARCH 15-19
IV. Foucault	M 22	Genealogy discussion
	W 24	Discipline and Punish, 179-205 [DP]
	F 26	DP, 205-213
	M 29	History of Sexuality, 292-301 [HS]
	W 31	HS, 301-29
April	F 2	finish HS
	M 5	review for exam two
	W 7	EXAM TWO
V. Arendt	F 9	Human Condition, 1-17 (17-21, optional) [HC]
	M 12	HC, 38-49; 50-58
	M 14	HC
	F 16	HC, 175-199
	M 19	HC, 199-212; 230-247
	W 21	Finish HC
	F 23	view In Whose Honor
	M 26	discuss In Whose Honor
	W 28	finish discussion of Honor
	F 30	review for final

Course Requirements

There will be assigned reading for every class, though most will not be very long. The emphasis will be on close, careful reading, and class discussion. There will be 2 in-class exams, one paper, and a final. Note: you must bring your own exam book notebook paper to all in-class exams. Booklets can be purchased at Barnes and Noble.

Your grades will be based on 2 in-class exams and the final exam, each of which is worth 50 points:

A = 135-150
B = 120-134
C = 105-119
D = 90-104
F = 89 and below