PHIL 014: Philosophy of Love and Sex

Syll abus
COURSE INFORMATION INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION
Credits: 3 Name: Aaron Krempa
Delivery: ANGEL Email: ank144@psu.edu
Start Date: 5/19/2014 Office Hours: By Appointment
End Date: 6/29/2014
Note on Response Time: Your instructor will reply to your questions, concerns, and comments
in a timely manner, not to exceed TWO business days.
Course Outline

Description
An examination of theories and attitudes concerning love and sexuality that have been prevalent
in the Western world. Course topics will include philosophical and theological conceptions of
sex and love and ethical issues related to these topics, including monogamy, same-sex marriage,
cultural differences, pornography, and consent. The course has no prerequisites and assumes no
background in philosophy. It is an excellent introductory course for students interested in
learning the skills of doing philosophy. The course will focus on linked ethical issues that will be
investigated through readings and essays that are designed to encourage students to cultivate
ethical awareness and inquiry by understanding and investigating diverse viewpoints and
developing a richer understanding of their own positions. The course will provide opportunities
for gathering information, analyzing arguments, synthesizing diverse viewpoints, and developing
a richer understanding of and support for one's own beliefs and practices.

Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

1. DI SCOVER: When confronted with a specific passage in a philosophical text, the
student will be able to articulate a response to the passage, that is, question, cross-
reference or confront it (see Spark Points, Dialectics).
2. ANALYZE: Given a section of a philosophical text, the student will be able to distinguish
six elements of the texts argument: topic, question, significance, main claim, reasons,
evidence (see Problem Synopses, Argument Analyses).
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3. KNOW AND APPLY: Having studied a given philosophical text, the student will be able
to define key terms from the text and explain the connections between them (see Big
Terms, TextMaps).
4. SYNTHESI ZE AND EVALUATE: The student who has demonstrated a thorough
understanding of a philosophical text will be able to formulate and present a written
counter-argument to the text (see Dialectics, Philosophical Paper).

Prerequisites
None


Organization
This course is divided into 3 units, each containing 5 Lessons. Each Lesson has its own folder,
the first file in which is a Lesson Summary.

This course is very flexible, but there are certain dates that need to be metdue dates for the
submission of assignments and the completion of exams.

The tab entitled Calendar should help you manage your time. There, the Lessons are broken
down according to the calendar and important due dates are summarized. A more detailed
explanation of the time expectations for this course can be found in the Course Overview.
How you choose to adjust those hours is up to you. The Course Calendar provides a suggestion.

Online Learning & Attendance
This course has been developed to promote asynchronous learning. The instructor and students
do NOT meet on a designated day and time each week. For each lesson, there is a timeframe to
complete all activities and assignments, and you may work at your own pace within that
timeframe. However, you must adhere to the deadlines outlined on the calendar. (Click the
Calendar tab in ANGEL. Or check the Orientation folder under the Lessons tab.) You should
log into the course daily to check for updates, review lessons, and participate in activities.

Texts & Other Materials
There are three (3) required texts. There are also readings on Electronic Reserve that may be
accessed through ANGEL.

1. Freud, Sigmund. Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. Basic Books, Inc. New
York, 2000. (ISBN: 978-0465097081).
2. Plato. Symposium. Translated by Nehamas and Woodruff. Hackett. Indianapolis,
1989. (ISBN: 978-0872200760).
3. Tisdale, Sally. Talk Dirty to Me. Anchor Books. New York, 1995. (ISBN: 978-
0385468558).
Communication & Technical Support
Your instructor will reply to your questions, concerns, and comments in a timely manner. The
General Questions message board should be the first recourse for communicating course-
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related questions or problems. The Technical Help message board should be the first recourse for
communicating technical questions or problems. Students are encouraged to respond to the
problems and questions posted by their peers. When corresponding with your instructor or
classmates, please use appropriate language and etiquette. Email correspondence should be free
of grammatical and mechanical errors. Email slang and lingo is not appropriate in any type of
instructional setting.
To access ANGELs technical support page, click on the Help button (in the image of a question
mark), found on the left of the screen in ANGEL. Persons needing General ANGEL assistance
may call 814-865-4928 between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Please use the
forms available on the Help website whenever possible and an ANGEL support expert will assist
you. Turnaround time is generally less than one business day.

Grading
Final letter grades will be assigned based on the scale below.
Scale
GRADE PERCENT
A 95-100
A- 90-94.9
B+ 88-89.9
B 82-87.9
B- 80-81.9
C+ 78-79.9
C 70-77.9
D 60-69.9
F 0-59.9

Deadlines
All assignments are due by 11:55 pm Eastern Standard Time on the assigned date (please refer
to the course calendar in the Orientation folder for due dates). Students will be unable to go back
and complete course work; it is your responsibility to keep up with your assignments.

Students with an excused absence (hospitalization, jury duty, or family emergency) may be
asked to produce proper documentation in order to make up graded work. Any request to make
up work must be made in a timely manner. All make-up work is at the discretion of the
instructor.

Assignments

An overview of assignment categories is provided below. More specific instructions about each
individual assignment can be found in the appropriate area online.
ASSIGNMENT POINTS
Syllabus Quiz 20
Dialectics (3 x 60) 180
Large Group Discussions (5 x 40) 200
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Quizzes (3 x 40) 120
Exams (3 x 160) 480
Total 1000
Note on Feedback: You can expect meaningful feedback on all written assignments within one
(1) week of the deadline.
Dialectics (3 x 60 points, 180 points total)
What is it?
A Dialectic is a short essay. It must be 2-3 pages of double-spaced, proofread, succinct prose.
Dialectics arent long, but they must be polished. You must complete three Dialectics during
the semester (one per Unit). You will find in each Unit a dropbox for your Dialectic. Please
attach your Dialectics as a Word file; do not simply cut and paste your Dialectic into the text
field.
The successful Dialectic will focus primarily on one passage. It is important that you
demonstrate that you have really listened to and have sought to fully understand the thinker to
whom you are responding.

How is it graded?
Here are the questions the instructor will consider when grading a Dialectic:
Was the passage under consideration clearly indicated?
Was the students response to said passage clearly summarized?
Did the student consider the thinker on his or her own best terms? Or did the student rake
the thinker across the coals without being charitable?
Similarly: is a larger understanding of the thinkers thought apparent in the students
treatment of the primary passage under consideration?
Did it appear as though the student was using nefarious tricks to stretch a paltry amount
of writing to fit a larger space? Alternately, did the student fail to edit a too-long
Dialectic down to fit the page-length requirement?
Does the Dialectic present a professional and eloquent writers voice or the too-familiar
slang and not at all assignment-appropriate colloquialisms of a spoken voice?
Was the Dialectic well proofread against both grammatical errors and typos?
Was the Dialectic well organized?
Grading Rubric for Dialectics
Students Name: Dialectic #1 #2 #3
Points Criteria Comments
?/12 Clarity: Passage and Response clearly presented.
?/12 Coherence: Focus kept during paper
?/12 Conciseness: Writing Skills, Proofreading, Presentation tricks, etc.
?/12 Consideration: Did you help the thinker defend or support his position?
?/12 Comprehension: Is a larger understanding of the thinkers project
apparent?

Total: ?/60
A word about plagiarism: Please see the Academic Integrity policy at the end of this
document, and note that the instructor will occasionally be using technology provided by the
university to help uncover cases of plagiarism. The amount of time it takes to disguise
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plagiarized materials against a practiced instructors eye is greater than the time it takes to
create something original. It is not worth the risk.
Discussions (5 x 40 points, 200 points total)
There will be 5 Large-Group Discussions during the course. It is expected that you visit the
Discussion Board having first thought and written about the readings you have done prior to the
discussions. There are two types of discussion contributions: a New Post and a Reply Post.
Every student is expected to submit one quality New Post and two quality Reply Posts during
every Discussion. Additional posts are of course encouraged, and at the end of the term extra
credit will be given to students who have consistently submitted quality posts above this 3 post
requirement.

New Posts (20 points possible, 1 post expected)
A New Post requires that you use the New Post button to publish your thoughts; it is not a
response to a thread that has already begun. A quality New Post should have strong evidence of
original and unique thought, and careful reference(s) to the reading(s) should be made.

The rubric for the New Posts is as follows:
0-5 points: There is at least one quotation, reprinted in full, from a relevant assigned reading.
0-5 points: The students response (question, retort, cross-reference) is obvious.
0-5 points: The post shows evidence of original and unique thought in response to both the
assigned reading and the TextMap.
0-5 points: The post has been proofread for typos, grammar, and organization, and is presented
cleanly.

Reply Posts (10 points possible, 2 posts expected)
A Reply Post requires that you use the Reply link to publish your thoughts; it is not a new
thread of discussion. Students are encouraged to reply to New Posts that do not yet have any
responses. A quality Reply Post may very well draw on a students own thoughts, but the
primary goal is to reply to the points brought up by another student (in a New Post or in a
previous Reply Post.) Please also observe that a successful Reply Post will do more than simply
agree with the original post. Often, a cordially-posed disagreement will advance the discussion
most beneficially, and will be graded accordingly. Please do not begin to post your Reply
Posts until the due date for New Posts has passed.

The rubric for the Reply Posts is as follows:
0-2 points: The post has been proofread for typos, grammar, and organization, and is presented
cleanly.
0-4 points:* The students reply clearly summarizes the point from a previous post to which he
or she is replying and refers to the author by name and moves the discussion forward (is more
than a simple agreement.) If you repeat an earlier point without acknowledging it, you will lose
points in this category.
0-4 points: The reply demonstrates a correct understanding of the material at hand. Discussions
tend to be far-ranging: bring the focus back to the texts at hand and earn points.

*A note about moving the discussion forward - this means that you not only read the New Post to
which you are replying, but all the replies that have been posted for that New Post as well; I
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expect you to take into account all that has been said even if you only reply to a tiny part of it. I
hope that this structure will more closely mimic a classroom discussion. A good way of
proceeding would be to read the New Post closely and then read all the replies that have been
posted, noting as you go the ones to which you have the strongest reaction. When you are done
reading ALL the replies that have been posted for that specific New Post, click on the Reply Post
(or, I suppose, the New Post) to which you most want to reply, and use the "reply" button from
that post, not just the last one in the list. This will give us a visual representation of the flow of
the conversation, and will also make it easier to see whether anybody's reply/contribution has
been overlooked. It sounds complicated, but it won't be! (Note too that the earlier you reply, the
less reading of others' replies you will have to do. That's fair.)

Two very easy things you can do to earn points: PROOFREAD and USE EACH OTHER'S
NAMES.

Instructors Discussion Board/Forum Policies
Try to think of discussion boards as an extension of your real-life classroom.
o Communicating through writing is different than communicating orally. These
pointers cover common issues that may help to convey your ideas more clearly
and prevent misunderstandings.
Try first composing in Word, then edit, and then copy/paste into ANGEL.
Try to keep related ideas organized under separate threads.
o If youd like to express a new idea in a particular discussion board, create a new
post. The title of your post should be a brief phrase which summarizes your post.
o If you are replying to someone elses post, hit Reply. Do not create a new post.
Very often people will read postings on a discussion board but not make a reply if it is
not required of them. Sometimes students become upset when they see that their post has
been read but with no replies. Please do not feel offended.
Also, do not feel obligated to respond to a post if you feel it does not require a response.
Excessive posts that contain no essential new ideas may create more work for everyone.
Please remember that not everyone comes from the same background, or shares the same
values and ideals as you.
Please be appropriate, professional, and considerate of others.
Your tone is a very important part of electronic communication.
If you are unsure of your tone, try reading your discussion board post out loud before you
submit it.
o When you read it out loud, does it sound the way you would speak to another
student in the classroom?
The point of the discussion board is to share ideas among your classmates, not to prove
that you are right and they are wrong.
Differences of opinion are going to occur in any forum, and your goal should be simply
to convey your ideas as clearly as possible.
Making a joke or being ironic in a discussion board is a great way to break the ice, but
you have to let people know your intentions. Even the most innocent of comments can
easily be misunderstood.
If you find something on the discussion board that strikes you as upsetting or
unacceptable, please be sure to let your instructor know about it as soon as possible.
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o Very often, the author of the material does not realize how their words sound to
you.
o Dealing with such issues in a straight-forward manner offers a growth opportunity
and should be facilitated by the instructor.
o Not dealing with them will undermine group process.

The instructor has the right to remove any discussions that are not appropriate or offend another
student. Any student who posts an inappropriate of offensive response will be blocked from
participating in the discussion board and will receive an F for that assignment. Students are also
subject to classroom behavior and conduct policies in the student code of conduct.

Quizzes (3 x 40 points, 120 points total)
Quizzes in this course are not pop-quizzes; that is, they are not given simply to make sure you
have done your reading. Rather, they are mini-exams, meant to help you focus on
comprehending some of our more technically demanding reading. There will be one quiz per
Unit. Quizzes will consist of a combination of multiple choice questions and short answers.
You will be given the opportunity to comment, if you desire, on each question and the response
you selected.

Exams (3 x 160 points, 480 points total)
Exams will also consist of the same sort of comment optional multiple choice questions, as
well as some short-answer and a few long-answer questions. There will be one Exam per Unit.
Extra Credit and Citizenship
There will be opportunities to earn extra credit throughout the semester. Look for other
opportunities in the Lesson Summaries. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to earn extra
credit by participating in administrative tasks. Occasionally you will be called upon by the
instructor to participate in small tasks that support the educational objectives of this course. The
Introduction Discussion Board is one such task, as is the Course Evaluation. Your
participation in these tasks earns your citizenship points. Finally, your courtesy to your online
peers is assumed. If you are observed to be insulting to your peers or the instructor or otherwise
unprofessional, you may lose citizenship points. The instructor reserves the right to determine
what actions constitute basis for such demerits. It is not expected that this sort of action will
have to be taken.
University Policies
Academic Integrity
Penn State defines academic integrity as the pursuit of scholarly activity in an open, honest and
responsible manner. All students should act with personal integrity, respect other students
dignity, rights and property, and help create and maintain an environment in which all can
succeed through the fruits of their efforts.
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Dishonesty of any kind will not be tolerated in this course. Dishonesty includes, but is not
limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating information or citations, facilitating acts of
academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting
work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor, or tampering
with the academic work of other students. Students who are found to be dishonest will receive
academic sanctions and will be reported to the Universitys Judicial Affairs office for possible
further disciplinary sanction.
For further information, please read University Faculty Senate Policy 49-20 at
http://www.psu.edu/ufs/policies/47-00.html#49-20.
Disability Access Statement
Penn State welcomes students with disabilities into the University's educational programs. If you
have a disability-related need for reasonable academic adjustments in this course, contact the
Office for Disability Services (ODS) at 814-863-1807 (V/TTY). For further information
regarding ODS, please visit the Office for Disability Services Web site at
http://equity.psu.edu/ods/.
In order to receive consideration for course accommodations, you must contact ODS and provide
documentation. (See the documentation guidelines at http://equity.psu.edu/ods/guidelines/.) If the
documentation supports the need for academic adjustments, ODS will provide a letter identifying
appropriate academic adjustments. Please share this letter and discuss the adjustments with your
instructor as early in the course as possible. You must contact ODS and request academic
adjustment letters at the beginning of each semester.
Affirmative Action & Sexual Harassment Policy
Penn State is committed to provide all persons equal access to programs, facilities, admission,
and employment without regard to personal characteristics not related to ability, performance, or
qualifications as determined by University policy or by Commonwealth or Federal authorities.
Penn State does not discriminate against any person because of age, ancestry, color, disability or
handicap, national origin, race, religious creed, gender, sexual orientation, or veteran status.
For further information, please visit the Affirmative Action Office Web site at
http://www.psu.edu/dept/aaoffice/.
TEACH Act Statement
The materials on the course Web site are only for the use of students enrolled in this course for
purposes associated with this course and may not be retained or further disseminated.
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University Emergency Procedure
In the event of a University-wide emergency, the course may be subject to changes. Exigent
circumstances may require alternative delivery methods, class materials, and interactions with
the instructor and/or classmates. In addition, there may be revisions to grading policies,
attendance policies, and the course calendar, including assignments and their deadlines.
In the event of a University-wide emergency, please refer to the ANGEL Web site at
http://cms.psu.edu for specific information related to the course. For more general information
about the emergency situation, please refer to the Penn State Web site at http://www.psu.edu or
Penn State Live (PSUTXT) at http://live.psu.edu/psutxt. The latter is a service designed to alert
the Penn State community via text messages to cell phones when situations arise on campus that
affect the ability of the campus students, faculty and staff to function normally.
Syllabus Subject to Change
The class will likely adhere to the information outlined in the syllabus and calendar, but
adjustments may be made based on what actually transpires during the term. Be sure to check
with a classmate after an absence to see if activities and assignments have changed. Remaining
in the course after reading this syllabus will signal that you accept the possibility of changes and
responsibility for being aware of them.