The Examined Life

Welcome to The Examined Life. And welcome to the examined life. The title of this course and the meaning of the preceding sentence both derive from a simple sentence uttered by Socrates, an ancient Greek philosopher, nearly 2500 years ago:

The unexamined life is not worth living.

Now, I suspect that you've heard this quotation--or something like it--before. More, I'm sure that you've already been living some form of the examined life for some time now. This is just to say that, because philosophical questions are questions fundamental to human existence, I suspect that you are already a philosopher in some way. My job in this class is to help you become a better one.

This course brings together about 15 young philosophers, one not-so-young philosopher, some books full of philosophical writings, and an online course website. What can we do with these resources in six weeks? Well, we are going to dwell for some time with the ideas that lie behind Socrates' words, ideas we can get at by asking some questions: What kind of examination is Socrates talking about? What exactly does one examine? And why is such an examination necessary for a worthwhile life (if indeed it is)?

In short, this course is an introduction to philosophy designed to help you gain both a broad understanding of what philosophy is and a good grasp of what several major philosophers (Plato, Mengzi, Xunzi, Descartes, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Mill, Nietzsche, and Zhuangzi) have said when trying to answer some central philosophical questions about reality, knowledge, identity and ethics. It is also designed to give you ample opportunity to improve your native talents in philosophizing. All of this means that, by the end of the course, you will be able to

(1) explain the fundamental positions of the philosophers we read;
(2) analyze and evaluate the arguments that support these positions;
(3) engage in productive conversations about philosophy;
(4) write a quality philosophy paper; and
(5) think more philosophically.

My role will be to introduce and clarify the readings, establish the conditions for productive online discussions, answer your questions, question your answers, and give you feedback on your philosophizing. Why do all of this? Well, if Socrates is right, doing so will help you live a life that is more worth living.

Because we will not meet in person, we will do a number of things quite differently than we would in typical course. Because this is a six-week summer session course, we must do things more quickly than we would in a regular fifteen-week fall or spring semester course. The course will require regular participation on a daily basis M-Th, plus some additional work (reading, writing, etc) on Fri, Sat, and/or Sun (how much of this spills over into the weekend will depend on how you manage your time during the week).

There will be no synchronous component; that is, there are no regularly scheduled times that we will all be online at the same time together (however, I may set up some online office hours later). There are, however, detailed guidelines as to when work needs to be done. For example, on a typical day you will log into the course website; read, watch, or listen to my remarks on the previous day's discussion; read, watch, or listen to my introductory remarks for the next reading; walk away from the computer to read some philosophy; then post and reply in an online discussion board; go away to read a bit more; and finally return to read and respond to other students' posts. You'll have considerable flexibility as to when during the day you do these things (and you may even be able to go mobile by downloading the audio or video files to an iPod) but you'll need to finish each item sometime during the day. For this reason, the course can certainly accommodate people who are working or otherwise occupied during the day or night, in any timezone around the world.

Bear in mind that this is a four credit course, which, when offered on campus in the summer would meet 1.5 hours a day Monday through Thursday and would expect roughly 2 hours a day of work outside of class. It is hard to predict exactly how much time the course will demand but I would say that, roughly speaking, you should expect to put in an average of 12-15 hours a week into the course (this includes reading, participating online, viewing or listening to posted media files, re-reading, getting lost in philosophical thought, studying, writing and rewriting).

I have designed the course this way because philosophy is not something you can cram. It requires regular engagement with other students, opportunities to write and rewrite, guidance from an experienced thinker, and plenty of time to read, ruminate, and reflect. In addition, online courses require an extra measure of discipline on your part if you want to stay on top of the work. The structure will help us avoid the disastrous outcome neither of us wants: you falling behind in your work, struggling to catch up, discovering that there is no way to catch up because the course moves so quickly, then despairing as you realize you won't do as well as you want to in this class.

I taught this course last summer (also online) and here's some of the anonymous feedback I received from 14 students who took the class.

92% (all but 1) of students agreed that the course was 'rigorous and challenging.'
85% (all but 2) of students agreed that the course was 'fun, interesting, compelling, engaging...'
92% (all but 1) of the students said that they 'did not merely read or watch lectures, but actually had a chance to observe how a philosopher answers questions about philosophy and thinks through philosophical puzzles.'
100% of students felt the class did a good job "overcoming our physical distance and creating a common sense of belonging to a class."
70% of the students said that they interacted with their professor as much or more than they do in a typical on-campus course.

I also asked students "Have you met the course goals? If so, what was the most effective part of the class in helping you meet them? If not, what could have been done better?" Here's what they had to say (you'll find all but one are quite positive):

Most responses were positive:

-    Yes I met these goals. I liked reading the lessons when the ideas of the philosophers were laid out for us.
-    All of these goals were met. The most effective part of this class was your lecture notes each day. I would find myself so lost in a reading and you seemed to clarify it perfectly for me. Also your comments on all our posts were very helpful as well.
-    I think I've met these goals reasonably well, though I could definately have done better.[most valuable was the] Disussion board and seminar room threads and your responses to them. Besides the discussions online, mostly your lectures and personal email responses helped me with my papers, though I probably did not improve. I still am not a very good writer, and I dont think that I met this goal. That's something I've got to personally work on, the class or professor couldn't make me a better writer without simply more practice. [also valuable was ] the whole class, and personal reflection time. I'd think alot about this stuff at work and while I was simply day dreaming.
-    I think that all the goals were meet except goal 4. It is hard to say whether or not I really learned how to write a quality philosophy paper because I only wrote two. Not that I am complaining about only having to write one paper, but I think that if we had some like short essays like a one page essay due every week instead of the quiz which covers more topics that it would have helped my writing more.
-    I really enjoyed this class. It allowed me to engage in some indepth discussions which I found to be the highlight. I think the most effective part of the course though was when you would verbally post things. That's all that I have. Thanks.
-    I have met this goals, or atleast i think i have. The most effective tool was the readings themselves. After you get a taste for this philosophical writing you find yourself questioning and analyzing what is being said. It is the repetition that was the most effective tool. For an online course i don't think anything could have been done better except to have the reading assignments posted more clearly.
-    Yes, these goals have definitely been met. I can't pinpoint the most effective part of the class, but I thought the order we read, the explanations of, and discussion about the material all helped. Also, the audio files helped clarify when I was confused.
-    I think that I have met these goals. I have developed my skills, not only as a writer, but as a young philosopher. I was always inclined to think outside the box. I believe that the most effective part of the class was the seminar room because it helped me take a look at what others had to say about the subject as well. I liked to read what others had to say. I also like to see how people responded to me. This way, I think, is the only true way to philosophize.
-    I think I have met these goals. As always, I think I could improve a lot more in each of these goals, but the course definately touched on all five of the goals. I think it was effective reading the text, and then being able to read the remarks. The discussion board was also very good because I was able to see everyones reactions.
-    I think that I have met these goals. To me, the most effective part of the class in helping me meet them was really the combination of different things such as written lectures, audio files, discussions with others, and journal entries. I really liked the variation, and it seems to have caused the success I think I have had.
-    I feel that the "engage in productive conversations about philosophy" was not only the goal that was met the most often, but it also had the most importance for me. I learned to think more philosophically and to argue and debate with purpose.
-    I feel that I have met these goals, at least for a beginning philosopher. I had no idea philosophy was like this, and I am only know regretting that I did not take more of it. I'm a senior now, with plans to go to law school, and wow, a whole four years of philosophy would have been great, but I'm just glad I started at some point. I have a whole new way of looking at arguments, and discussing issues. I can now argue, not only in normal agruments, but speak of ethical and political issues, and look at those arguments from many sides. Honestly this was an amazing course.

One was quite negative:

- If anything, I learned only the basics of what we were theroertically supposed to get out of this course. The blackboard discussion wasn't helpful at all, everyone just repeated what everyone else had already said. I dont think we did much analyzing of any arguments whatsoever. I wouldn't even know where to begin to be able to improve this course.