Philosophy 102 at the University of British Columbia, Spring 2018

PHIL 102 is an introductory philosophy course focused on ethics and/or social & political philosophy. In this version of the course we will look at two sets of questions:

1. Just what is philosophy, anyway? This is a difficult question to answer, it turns out, and we will mainly be looking at philosophy in the “Western” tradition (because that is what your instructor knows the most about). Related questions we will consider:

• What is distinctive about philosophical questions, philosophical discussions, philosophical texts? How do philosophers think, speak, write, act?
• What is the value of philosophy? What do we get out of thinking, speaking, writing philosophically?
• How can we see philosophical approaches beyond work done in philosophy classes or by teachers or researchers in philosophy? How can we see philosophy out in the world around us?

2. How can philosophy help us think about matters of life and death?

• What have philosophers said about topics such as how we should live, what’s important in life, how we should approach our own mortality, our responsibilities for the lives and deaths of others?
• What do you think about these arguments?
• Can philosophical approaches help us think about these issues in a better way than we might have done otherwise?

 

Syllabus for the course

Collaborative guidelines for the course: we’ll work on these together in class.

Contact info for instructor: Christina Hendricks

• Christina’s email: christina.hendricks@ubc.ca
• Christina’s main website: http://chendricks.org
• Christina’s blog, “You’re the Teacher”: https://blogs.ubc.ca/chendricks
• Christina on Twitter: @chendricksUBC

Christina’s office hours for Spring 2018

• Mondays, 12-1p (BUCH E, 375) note change from earlier!
• Wednesdays, 11a-12p (BUCH E, 375)
• Also by appointment (just talk to me to set up a separate appointment)

TAs for the course

(see syllabus (above) for contact info)
— Jeremy Dawson
— Jade Hadley
— Phyllis Pearson

 

Credit for image at the top of this page: Image of Socrates is from: Bust of Socrates from the Louvre, by CherryX, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0, on Wikimedia Commons. This image as you see it here, with the words added, is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Background texture for this site by Vasili Hartikainen, from the Free Web Gallery of Tile-able Website Backgrounds, licensed CC BY 3.0

 

All content on this site, unless otherwise stated and with the exception of any blog posts written by students, is licensed CC-BY 4.0, Christina Hendricks.