Philosophy 12 Homework (Sept. 14-18)

The bulk of the homework for this course is reading in advance of lessons and in preparation of the activities for the in-class work. For reading at home, focus on skimming, previewing, taking basic notes, and having a sense of the readings before we will go over them in-class. Do not try to “fully read” or “fully understand” the readings when doing this at home. Most quizzes and journal assignments assess whether you have done this previewing and preparing.

(It is okay, and valuable, to tackle texts and concepts that you don’t fully understand at first. That’s called LEARNING. It is normal to feel unease when tackling new and complex things. Step by step you will figure it out, and we will cover it during class to help you do this.)

We will cover each reading during class. That means that if you do not fully understand a text we will cover it during class. Previewing and preparing, before the lesson or seminar, is essential for being ready to learn about the text during class. In short, there is no other way to understand a difficult academic text other than to preview it first, then go to class to learn more. When you do this, you come prepared with questions, you know the overall topic, and you have a sense of what will be discussed in class.

Philosophy seems hard, especially at first. What makes it seem hard are the new concepts, key terms, layers of meaning, and using “high level” texts. But philosophy is not hard: It just requires a systematic process of breaking things down, looking at each thing closely, and then using synthesis to bring them back into your own understanding. Here are the steps to make it easy to learn this or any other advanced topic or concept: Preview, take notes, read closely, discuss, ask questions, reflect, review. We will do this together, in class, for all of the main concepts. But to do this well, you must preview texts, take some notes of what you preview, and come to class prepared to walk through the next step by step as part of the learning process.

What You Should Have Finished Already: