Heidegger and His Critics
Phil 4300W Senior Seminar
Dr. Janet Donohoe
Course
Description: This course serves as a “capstone” to the
study of philosophy at UWG. It is
required for all graduating seniors in philosophy. This semester’s topic is Heidegger and his
critics, thus the course will focus on the philosophy of Martin Heidegger
(1889-1976). We are interested not only
in Heidegger’s philosophy, but also how his philosophy has been received and
critiqued by other major thinkers.
Learning
Outcomes: This course aims to examine current
theoretical and practical issues in the discipline of philosophy; to read and
discuss the debates surrounding the topic of the seminar; to develop, research,
and execute a rigorous philosophical argument relating to the topic of the
seminar; to develop the skills of leading class discussion, and presenting an
academic paper. By the end of the
semester students will be able to:
Requirements: The requirements for this class are fivefold.
a) Class participation (including
editing of anthology) 10%
b) Synopsis paper 20%
c) Class presentations 20%
d) Seminar paper (including drafts) 50%
e) Intellectual Biography (required
for graduation)
Class
Participation: Because this course is a small seminar,
attendance and participation is mandatory.
Each student will be expected to be fully prepared having done the
reading and thought about questions and issues for discussion.
Synopsis
Paper: Students will be required to lead class discussion
of a secondary-source text once during the course of the semester. Each student will need to meet with me prior
to giving his or her class presentation of the text. (Friday afternoons from
2-3 pm are reserved for these meetings).
Presentations should last no longer than 20 minutes. The student must provide a written synopsis
of the secondary-source essay that he or she presents to the class.
Class
Presentations: Each student will be required to present a
near-final draft of their seminar paper and respond to questions posed by their
fellow classmates and professor. This
presentation should be 10-13 minutes with an additional 4-5 minutes for
questions and answers.
Seminar
Papers: Seminar papers should be an original
investigation of a text or texts focusing on a particular issue or problem
raised by the text(s). The paper should
reflect research of secondary sources and should be a representation of active
engagement with theoretical and critical issues currently important in the
field. The result should be a
high-quality philosophical essay suitable for submission to undergraduate
philosophy conferences. Because you will
be submitting multiple drafts of your paper, the editing process will be taken
very seriously. Editing your classmates’
work, including making comments about revision of grammar, style, organization,
and content, is a requirement that will be graded in terms of serious and
thoughtful assistance balanced with respect for other individuals’ ideas.
The
class project of an anthology requires that you submit your final seminar paper
both on paper and in an electronic version.
In order for your paper to be included in this collection, you must
successfully complete all steps in this process and meet minimum criteria for
the paper. Not every paper is guaranteed
to be published in the anthology. The
paper must be of high enough quality for its inclusion.
Intellectual
Biography: Each philosophy major is required to
construct a Senior Portfolio consisting of a) a program advising sheet; b) the
names of two recommenders; c) an example of the student’s best written work; d)
an intellectual biography. You will
write your intellectual biography as part of this course. It should be approximately two pages in
length and should address your growth as a scholar. The intellectual biography might include: a
discussion of a favorite philosopher; first memory of scholarly interest; the
impact of a mentor; and/or, a topic of past, present, or future research.
Late
papers will not be accepted. Class
Presentations cannot be made up.
3. Availability:
I am available outside of class during office hours, or by
appointment. If there are questions or
problems, do not hesitate to see me.
Hours: M, W, F 9:00-11:00 am; 1:00-2:00 pm.
Office:
TLC 2230
Phone: 678-839-4743
e-mail: jdonohoe@westga.edu
4. Book List:
The books listed below should be available in the bookstore.
Heidegger Basic Writings
Heidegger Being and Time
Polt Heidegger’s
Being and Time: Critical Essays
Other articles are available on docutek for those students who may want an even more critical approach to Heidegger. Articles by Carnap, etc may be replaced for some of the articles below.
17 Introduction to critical philosophical methods/Research methods
19 Introduction to Heidegger. Being and Time Introduction Part I.
24 Heidegger Being and Time Introduction Part I.
26 Being and Time /Polt Grondin Essay
31 Being and Time Introduction Part II
2 Being and Time I.I
7 Labor Day—no classes
9 Being and Time/Polt Nicholson Essay
14 Being
and Time I.II
16 Being and Time/Polt Guignon Essay
21 Being and Time I.III
23 Being and Time/Polt McNeill Essay
28 Being and Time I.IV (1-page abstract due/peer editing)
30 Being and Time/Polt Crowell Essay
October
5 Being and Time I.V
7 Being and Time/Polt Figal Essay
12 3-page prospectus due with outline and annotated bibliography/peer editing
14 Being and Time I.VI /Polt deBoer Essay
19 Heidegger Basic Writings “Letter on Humanism”
21 “Letter on Humanism”/Polt Dahlstrom Essay
26 Basic Writings “Building, Dwelling, Thinking” (1st draft due/ peer editing)
28 “Building, Dwelling, Thinking”/Polt Thomä Essay
November
2 IAEP Conference—No Class.
4 Basic Writings “What Calls for Thinking” (2nd paper draft due)
9 “What
Calls for Thinking”
11 Paper Presentations
16 Paper Presentations
18 Paper Presentations
23 Paper Presentations
25 Thanksgiving Break—No Classes!
30 Final
paper draft due/editing workshop
December
2 Working day/anthology title selection (error-free version of paper due on paper and electronically)
Intellectual biographies are due no later than 4:00 pm December 7, 2009.
The seminar paper is central to the class and will probably be far more extensive in terms of the process of writing than you have experienced in other classes.
Because the essay (50% of your grade) will be published in a collection and preserved by the department, your writing is a very public activity. The first important thing to remember is that the class is now your peer group of editors; we begin with a healthy respect for each other’s work but part of your job is to critique, in helpful ways, the progress of your peers’ projects and, in the same way, be willing to use the critiques from others on your own work.
Also, the work of this paper takes up the majority of the class after midterm. This fact has two serious implications: one, you must choose a project early and you must complete a draft early; second, you must show extreme discipline and maturity about scheduling and work. Any student who cannot make this effort may be encouraged to withdraw.
Finally, the paper itself may be longer than others you have done. The projected length is 15 pages—one page more or less should not make a difference, but considering the published collection, essays must all be as uniform as possible both in length and research quality. You should make sure that you use at least 4-8 substantive sources.
Deadlines for the paper process:
August 17: Begin thinking about your essay of the first day of class.
September 28: 1-page abstract due
October 12: 3-page prospectus with outline and annotated bibliography due
October 26: 1st draft due
November 4: 2nd draft due
November 30: final paper draft due
December 2: error-free version due
First do some long hard reflection upon your coursework—review syllabi, readings, conflicts of theories regarding some texts. No philosopher works in a vacuum. Heidegger, like all philosophers, is in dialogue with philosophers of the past and contemporary philosophers are in dialogue with Heidegger. Think about what kinds of philosophical theories Heidegger might be overturning, or reinforcing, or questioning. Or think about more contemporary theories that may have been influenced by Heidegger. There needn’t be direct links, but links that you could flesh out in your paper.
The abstract is a brief summary of what you intend to do in your paper. You should present the thesis of the paper and a general idea of what the argument will be.
The prospectus is a more detailed version of the abstract. It should include a more detailed description of the topic indicating the method you will use in elaborating the thesis of the paper. The prospectus should also include an outline of the parts of the paper showing the clear organization of the argument.
The annotated bibliography should describe and evaluate the subject and scope of a bibliographical research source, such as an article, book, or chapter in a book. It might be helpful to use the following 4-sentence pattern for each entry.
a) a report of the author’s thesis in a that clause, introduced by the author’s name and qualifications, if known, and a rhetorically accurate signal verb, for example, argues, claims, explains, reports, etc.
b) a brief but accurate explanation of the author’s evidence, in other words, the facts, definitions, examples or other support the author uses to develop, prove or explain his or her argument, usually in the same order as the main points in the source.
c) a statement of the author’s purpose or motive (answering the question “Why did the author bother to write this?”), followed by an in order to phrase that identifies the author’s goal, that is, what the author hopes to achieve.
d) a description of the author’s intended audience in answer to the question, “Who exactly is the author addressing?” In other words, what kind of people does the author hope to inform or convince?
(from Margaret Woodward, “The Rhetorical Precis,” Rhetoric Review, vol. 7(1), 1988, pp. 156-63.)
The Department of English and Philosophy defines plagiarism as taking personal credit for the thinking of others as it is presented in electronic, print, and verbal sources. The Department expects that students will accurately credit sources in all assignments. Plagiarism is grounds for failing the course and may result in further consequences of being expelled from the University.