CBE PHIL 1000 Design Decision Document

Course, Context, Learner, and Instructor Analysis

Learner Analysis
CTE/AAS Students
Mixed, first year students, non-traditional, first semester/first college course
Barriers: difficult to teach how to use text, students struggle with tone, context, and irony, reading comprehension is difficult, lack of understanding of historical context, gravity
of topic is difficult for some students, philosophy should be slowed down and examined, not just a check box
Students like the case studies workshops - specifically talking to each other and seeing their peers’ viewpoints, they like the philosophical spotlights

Course Analysis
No prerequisite listed in catalog
Analytical approach - case studies, philosophical problems (Phil in the blank), philosophical spotlights
OER & instructor concept intro videos, PPT slide, videos, case studies, assignments submitted in Canvas
Activities: Truth or Dare, Phil in the blank, creative approach option, philosophical spotlight

Context Analysis
Leadership skills
Teamwork skills & teamwork within diverse groups
Communicate in writing and speaking convincingly
Writing and analysis
Adaptability and problem solving - creative problem solving

write proposal, keep up with change in professional work

understand professional and cultural issues
connections across disciplines to solve problems
move into unknown regions of thinking
appreciate what we do in this life

Instructor Experience and Preferences

2 FT faculty that teach this course, 4-5 adjuncts that teach (over 13 sections)

Course Goals, Student Learning Outcomes, Competencies, Learning Objectives, and Assessments
Course Name and Description
PHIL 1000: Introduction to Philosophy (HU)

This Course examines the historical development of Western philosophy and philosophical problems concerning truth, reality, & values. The course introduces philosophical
methods of inquiry and argumentation.

Course Goals
Encounter the world with the ability to view the world with a holistic perspective
Recognize the contextual nature of truths

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Develop ability to participate effectively
Invest in the life of their mind
Converse with multiple voices
Navigate conflicting voices and shifting perspectives
Expose assumptions
Challenge their own thoughts
See self as participant in ongoing conversation with understanding of implications
Understand underlying logic of differing arguments
Approach decisions with engagement
Be an active member of larger whole

Outcomes, Competencies, and Objectives

SLO # Competency and Objectives Assessments

1 Competency 1: Explain key terms of philosophy Summative

● Multiple-choice exam
● Define philosophy questions
● Define humanities
● Define key terms in philosophical argument methodology: Premises, conclusion, critique, analysis, inductive, deductive Formative
● Explain key characteristics and methodologies of philosophical reasoning ● Crossword puzzle
● Identify several principles of good philosophical reasoning ● Quizlet
● Explain the steps, purpose, and value of the Socratic Method
● Explain the role of thought experiments in philosophical reasoning
● Identify the subfields of Philosophy: metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics

Notes:
assessment: computer-scored questions: multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, ordering
Possible learning resources:
https://www.valleycollege.edu/open-education-resources/faculty/philosophy.php
https://opentextbc.ca/modernphilosophy/chapter/preface/
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/modernphilosophy/chapter/background-to-modern-philosophy/
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/INTRO_TEXT/CONTENTS.htm
https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/subjects/philosophy

SLO # Competency and Objectives Assessments

1 Competency 2: Describe the historical context of key figures and different schools of philosophy Summative
● Multiple-choice exam

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 ● Identify the major philosophical views of key Presocratics questions
● Describe the historical context of Socrates’ life and teachings (e.g. The Golden Age of Athens, Peloponnesian War,
Socrates’s trial) Formative
● Describe the historical context of Plato’s philosophy (e.g. Plato’s bio, The Academy, dialogues, his critique of democracy) ● Crossword puzzle
● Describe the historical context of Aristotle’s philosophy (e.g. Macedonian Ascendency, Alexander the Great, The Lyceum, ● Quizlet
Aristotle’s bio)
● Describe the historical context of Epicureanism (e.g. the Hellenistic period, Epicurus bio)
● Describe the historical context of Stoicism (e.g. the post-Hellenistic and early Roman period)
● Describe the historical context of the medieval philosophy (e.g. St. Augustine, Rise of Christianity, Charlemagne)
● Describe the historical context of The Enlightenment (e.g. The preceding Renaissance, The Age of Reason, The Scientific
Revolution)

Notes:
assessment: ​computer-scored questions: multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, ordering

SLO # Competency and Objectives Assessments

1 Competency 3: Analyze the philosophical concepts, issues, and perspectives regarding happiness and the good life Summative
● Short-answer exam
Socrates questions
○ Describe the early and later accusations against Socrates ● Signature Assignment
○ Describe Socrates’ response to both sets of accusations
○ Explain The Oracle of Delphi and what the Oracle said about Socrates and Socrates’ reaction Formative
○ Explain how Socrates presents his overall defense of his way of life, through several responses to imagined challenges, in ● Study Guides
the Apology ● Discussion boards
○ Describe Socrates’ overall conception of happiness and the good life, as reflected in the Apology ● Thought Experiment
○ Identify where the Apology fits in the stages of Plato’s writing
Plato
○ Explain Plato’s theory of Forms (his Idealism)
○ Explain how the Allegory of the Cave reflects, through analogy, Plato’s Ontology and Epistemology
○ Identify where the Allegory fits in the stages of Plato’s writing
○ Explain Plato’s Divided Line, and how it reflects the connection between his Ontology and Epistemology
○ Explain how Plato’s metaphysics (Idealism) and epistemology inform his ethics
○ Explain Plato’s notion of the tripartite soul, and how this is reflected in his political ideal of the Philosopher King
○ Describe Plato’s overall conception of happiness and the good life
Aristotle
○ Explain Aristotle’s teleological view of nature (metaphysics)
○ Give an overview of Aristotle’s four causes
○ Explain the key principles of Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics, as described in Book II of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

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 ○ Explain how Aristotle’s metaphysics—Teleological View of Nature, Four Causes, & Eudaimonia and Flourishing—informs
his ethics
○ Describe Aristotle’s overall conception of happiness and the good life
Epicurus
○ Explain Epicurus’s account of Hedonism(e.g. natural vs vain desires, repose, friendship)
○ Explain the four cardinal virtues
○ Explain Epicurus’ ontology of Atomic Materialism
○ Explain how Epicurus’s ontology (Atomic Materialism) informs his ethics (Hedonism)
○ Describe Epicurus’s overall conception of happiness and the good life
Epictetus
○ Explain how Stoicism gets its name
○ Identify the major Stoics and precursors (e.g. Zeno, Diogenes, Marcus Aurelius)
○ Explain how Cynicism (Diogenes) influences Stoicism
○ Explain the Stoic ontology (fatalism/determinism)
○ Explain how Epictetus’s metaphysics (Fatalism) informs his ethics (stoicism)
○ Explain key principles of Stoic Ethics, including the four cardinal virtues
○ Describe Epictetus’s overall conception of happiness and the good life

Notes:

SLO # Competency and Objectives Assessments

1 Competency 4: Analyze philosophical concepts, issues, and perspectives regarding knowledge, truth, and perception Summative
● Short-answer exam
● Explain Scholastic Philosophy questions
● Identify the main Scholastic Philosophers ● Signature Assignment
● Explain why Kant thinks that “Sapere aude!” is/should be the motto for the Enlightenment
Descartes Formative
● Define rationalism, Cartesian dualism ● Crosswords
● Identify key features of Descartes’s style in The Meditations ● Study Guides
● Identify the four steps of Descartes’ Analytic Method ● Discussion boards
● Summarize Descartes’ conclusions in Meditation One and Meditation Two (e.g. radical doubt, “cogito ergo sum”)
● Describe the major points in Descartes’s Trademark Argument for God’s existence (Meditation Three)
● Explain at least one key point of critique regarding Descartes’s Trademark Argument
● Explain Cartesian Dualism, including the relationship between the mind and body, and how he characterizes bodies and
other physical objects (Meditation Six)
Locke & Hume
● Define Empiricism
● Explain the epistemological “Problem of Perception” that Descartes, Locke, Hume, and others are attempting to address

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 ● Explain Locke’s empiricism (e.g. tabula rasa, simple and complex ideas, primary and secondary qualities)
● Define Skepticism
● Explain what Hume’s theory of Skepticism takes from Locke and what he rejects from him
● Explain Hume’s Fork (e.g. relations of ideas and matters of fact)
● Explain how Hume uses his “fork” to critique basic fundamental knowledge claims

Notes:

SLO # Competency and Objectives Assessments

1 Competency 5: Analyze key philosophical concepts, issues, and perspectives regarding identity Summative
● Essay Exam
● Explain the central dilemma underlying the problem of identity ● Signature Assignment
● Explain the tension between the view from the inside and the view from the outside
Descartes Formative
● Explain Descartes’ conception of self/identity (referring to Res Cogitan -- Thinking Substance, Self-Consciousness) ● Study Guides
● Explain the problems with his theory of identity ● Discussion boards
● Explain the problems with dualism
Locke
● Explain the memory theory of identity
● Contrast Locke’s theory of identity with Descartes‘
● Explain the distinction Locke draws between soul, body, and person and how that informs his theory of identity
● Explain the two problems with the Memory Theory (the unreliability of memory, genuine vs. apparent memory)
Aristotle
● Explain the notion of “bodily continuity”
● Explain what Aristotle means by “essence”
● Explain the four Causes and how they answer the question of “what something is” --
● Explain Contrast Accidental versus Essential Change
● Gender and Race Identity
● Explain various approaches to personal and cultural identity from contemporary philosophers (e.g. DuBois, Anzaldua)

Notes:

SLO # Competency and Objectives Assessments

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1 Competency 6: Analyze key philosophical concepts, issues, and perspectives regarding morality Summative
● Essay Exam
● Explain the distinction between the moral frameworks of “The Good” and “The Right” ● Signature Assignment
Mill
● Explain the major principles of Utilitarianism as proposed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill Formative
● Explain and apply Mill’s three tenets of the Greatest Happiness Principle ● Study Guides
● Explain how Mill responds to the primary critiques against Utilitarianism ● Discussion boards
Kant
● Explain the major principles of Kantian Deontology
● Explain why “Autonomy” is so central to Kant’s moral theory
● Explain and apply the First Formulation of The Categorical Imperative
● Explain and apply the Second formulation of the Categorical Imperative
● Explain the difference between Instrumental and Intrinsic value

Notes:

SLO # Competency and Objectives Assessments

1 Competency 7: Analyze key philosophical concepts, issues, and perspectives regarding free will Summative
● Essay Exam
● Explain the tension between the subjective experience of choice and the objective assessments of external factors ● Signature Assignment
● Explain what is at stake in the problem of free will...that is, why it’s such a big problem
● Explain what “compatibilism” and “incompatibilism” mean in relation to the problem of free will and determinism Formative
Determinism ● Study Guides
● Explain the central argument of Determinism, including the considerations of cause and effect ● Discussion boards
Indeterminism
● Explain the basic argument of Indeterminism
● Explain the argument against the indeterminist’s equating of “random” with “free”
Soft-Determinism/Compatibilism
● Explain how David Hume and John Stuart Mill attempt to bring determinism and free will together (e.g. the basic
argument of soft-determinism)
Sartrean Freedom
● Explain why Sartre’s argument for Absolute Freedom leads him to conclude that freedom is accompanied by deep
anguish
● Explain what Sartre means by living in “bad faith”

Notes:

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 SLO # Competency and Objectives Assessments

1, 2, 3 Competency 8: Apply methods of philosophical reasoning Summative

● Essay Exam
● Apply the steps of the Socratic Method to a perennial problem ● Signature Assignment
● Identify textual evidence in support of main idea in texts
● Build arguments based on evidence Formative
● Evaluate philosophical arguments ● “phil-in-the-blank”
● Compare philosophical concepts quizzes with feedback
● Synthesize philosophical arguments ● Intuition Pumps
● Identify current exemplars of philosophical problems
● Apply various philosophers’ theories, concepts and arguments to classic philosophical problems as found in
contemporary and popular culture

Notes:

SLO # Competency and Objectives Assessments

4 Competency 9: Reflect on personal positions and perspectives regarding philosophical problems Summative
● Signature Assignment
● Articulate personal intuitions regarding philosophical problems
● Evaluate personal perspectives regarding philosophical problems Formative
● Develop personal positions regarding philosophical problems ● Intuition Pumps

Notes:

Instructional Strategies
Instructional Approach/Learning Methodologies
Competency-based education modality, semester-based

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Instructional Strategies
Instructional Event Strategies
Motivation Choice of topic for Signature Assignment
Pacing guides
Feedback on their drafts
Content Presentation Thought experiment with video teaser for them
Readings
Lecture videos
Learner Engagement intuition pumps, crossword puzzles, quizlet, padlet, discussion boards
Practice/Application topic study guides (formative work for proctored exam)
phil-in-the-blanks quiz with sample (formative for essay exams)
Assessment 3 exams with multiple-choice and short answer questions
Exam essays (6)
Signature Assignment Essay
Self-reflection Final essay with reflection portion
e-Portfolio

Module Format:
Page: Module Overview
Page: Content
Page: Content
Page: Activity (study guides, crosswords)
Quiz: Phil-in-the-blank
Quiz: Exam
Assignment: Signature Assignment

Learning Resources
Reading packet available at the Bookstore & eReserve

Instructional Technologies
Canvas
Kaltura
Quizlet
Padlet

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High-Level Course Map
Module Learning Outcomes
Course Orientation eLearning SLO: Identify
expectations for the course
and online learning (adapted
from QM)
Module 1: Introduction Competency 1: Identify key
to Philosophy & terms of philosophy
Philosophical
Reasoning
Competency 8:
1 week Apply methods of
philosophical reasoning
Learning Objectives Assessments Topics/Readings/
Learning Experiences
● Identify how to begin the course and where Orientation quiz Course and instructor
to find various course components welcome
● Identify the course structure Practice Submitting
● Identify the purpose of the course Assignments Syllabus
● Identify course goals and major assessments
● Identify school and instructor policies Introduce Yourself Get to Know Your Canvas
● Identify online learning communication Discussion Board Course
etiquette expectations
● Identify expected technical skills Netiquette
● Identify where to find technical support and
various college services Learning and Technology
● Use Canvas to submit assignments and Support
participate in discussions
● Use any LTIs/technology required for course
Comp 1 Formative: Section 1.1:
● Define philosophy What is Philosophy: Course
● Define humanities Intuition Pump Introduction
● Define key terms in philosophical argument Activity
methodology: Premises, conclusion, critique, Lecture video(s)
analysis, inductive, deductive Activity: Consider
● Explain key characteristics and This! Crash Course Philosophy
methodologies of philosophical reasoning (applying the content): lesson 2: Philosophical
● Identify several principles of good What is a Sandwich? Reasoning
philosophical reasoning
● Explain the steps, purpose, and value of the Topic Study Guide Crash Course Philosophy
Socratic Method lesson 3: How to Argue
● Explain the role of thought experiments in
philosophical reasoning Reading: ​The Philosopher’s
● Identify the subfields of Philosophy: Toolbox ​(web article - Gluck
metaphysics, ontology, epistemology, ethics, & Rodriguez)
aesthetics
Comp 8
● Apply the steps of the Socratic Method to a
perennial problem
● Identify textual evidence in support of main
idea in texts
● Build arguments based on evidence
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2: Happiness and the Competency 2: Describe the
Good Life - Ancient historical context of key
Philosophy figures and different schools
of philosophy
5 weeks
Competency 3: Analyze
philosophical issues,
problems, and perspectives
regarding happiness and the
good life
Competency 8:
Apply methods of
philosophical reasoning
Competency 9: Reflect on
personal positions and
perspectives regarding
philosophical problems
Comp 3
Socrates
Plato
Comp 2 Formative: Section 2.1:
● Identify the major philosophical views of key The Examined Life: Socrates
Presocratics Intuition Pump and Athens
● Describe the historical context of Socrates’ Activity ● Lecture Video(s)
life and teachings (e.g. The Golden Age of ● Reading
Athens, Peloponnesian War, Socrates’s trial) Topic Study Guides
● Describe the historical context of Plato’s (multiple choice, short Section 2.2:
philosophy (e.g. Plato’s bio, The Academy, answer) Caves and Shadows: Plato’s
dialogues, his critique of democracy) Allegory:
● Describe the historical context of Aristotle’s Phil-in-the-blank ● Lecture Video(s)
philosophy (e.g. Macedonian Ascendency, (self-graded quiz with ● Reading
Alexander the Great, The Lyceum, Aristotle’s sample essay)
bio) Section 2.3:
● Describe the historical context of (Prototype)​ Virtue and
Epicureanism (e.g. the Hellenistic period, Summative: Human Flourishing: Aristotle
Epicurus bio) ● Lecture Video(s)
● Describe the historical context of Stoicism Proctored Exam ● Reading
(e.g. the post-Hellenistic and early Roman
period) Essay Exam Section 2.4:
Pleasure and Repose:
Signature Assignment Epicurus
Option 1: ● Lecture Video(s)
Your Philosophical Life ● Reading
● Describe the early and later accusations Essay
against Socrates What is your good, Section 2.5:
● Describe Socrates’ response to both sets of meaningful, happy Suffering and Integrity:
accusations life? Epictetus and Stoicism
● Explain The Oracle of Delphi and what the ● Lecture Video(s)
Oracle said about Socrates and Socrates’ ● Reading
reaction
● Explain how Socrates presents his overall
defense of his way of life, through several
responses to imagined challenges, in the
Apology
● Describe Socrates’ overall conception of
happiness and the good life, as reflected in
the Apology
● Identify where the Apology fits in the stages
of Plato’s writing
● Explain Plato’s theory of Forms (his Idealism)
10
 ● Explain how the Allegory of the Cave reflects,
through analogy, Plato’s Ontology and
Epistemology
● Identify where the Allegory fits in the stages
of Plato’s writing
● Explain Plato’s Divided Line, and how it
reflects the connection between his Ontology
and Epistemology
● Explain how Plato’s metaphysics (Idealism)
and epistemology inform his ethics
● Explain Plato’s notion of the tripartite soul,
and how this is reflected in his political ideal
of the Philosopher King
● Describe Plato’s overall conception of
happiness and the good life
Aristotle
● Explain Aristotle’s teleological view of nature
(metaphysics)
● Give an overview of Aristotle’s four causes
● Explain the key principles of Aristotle’s Virtue
Ethics, as described in Book II of Aristotle’s
Nicomachean Ethics
● Explain how Aristotle’s
metaphysics—Teleological View of Nature,
Four Causes, & Eudaimonia and
Flourishing—informs his ethics
● Describe Aristotle’s overall conception of
happiness and the good life
Epicurus
● Explain Epicurus’s account of Hedonism(e.g.
natural vs vain desires, repose, friendship)
● Explain the four cardinal virtues
● Explain Epicurus’ ontology of Atomic
Materialism
● Explain how Epicurus’s ontology (Atomic
Materialism) informs his ethics (Hedonism)
● Describe Epicurus’s overall conception of
happiness and the good life
Epictetus
● Explain how Stoicism gets its name
● Identify the major Stoics and precursors (e.g.
Zeno, Diogenes, Marcus Aurelius)
● Explain how Cynicism (Diogenes) influences
Stoicism

11

3: Modern Philosophy Competency 2: Describe the
historical context of key
3 weeks figures and different schools
of philosophy
Competency 4:
Analyze philosophical issues,
problems, and perspectives
regarding knowledge, truth,
and perception
● Explain the Stoic ontology
(fatalism/determinism)
● Explain how Epictetus’s metaphysics
(Fatalism) informs his ethics (stoicism)
● Explain key principles of Stoic Ethics,
including the four cardinal virtues
● Describe Epictetus’s overall conception of
happiness and the good life
Comp 8
● Apply the steps of the Socratic Method to a
perennial problem
● Identify textual evidence in support of main
idea in texts
● Build arguments based on evidence
● Evaluate arguments
● Compare philosophical concepts
● Synthesize arguments
● Identify current exemplars of philosophical
problems
● Apply various philosophers’ theories,
concepts and arguments to classic
philosophical problems as found in
contemporary and popular culture
Comp 9
● Articulate personal intuitions regarding
philosophical problems
● Evaluate personal perspectives regarding
philosophical problems
● Develop personal positions regarding
philosophical problems
Comp 2 Formative: Section 3.1:
● Describe the historical context of the Intuition Pump Intro to Medieval and
medieval philosophy (e.g. St. Augustine, Rise Activity Modern Philosophy
of Christianity, Charlemagne)
● Describe the historical context of The Topic Study Guides Section 3.2:
Enlightenment (e.g. The preceding (multiple choice, short Galileo and Descartes
Renaissance, The Age of Reason, The answer) Eppur Si Muove - Still it
Scientific Revolution) Moves
Comp 4 Summative: Section 3.3
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Competency 8:
Apply methods of
philosophical reasoning
Competency 9: Reflect on
personal positions and
perspectives regarding Descartes
philosophical problems
Locke
Hume
● Explain Scholastic Philosophy Proctored Exam Cartesian Dualism:
● Identify the main Scholastic Philosophers Meditations
● Explain why Kant thinks that “Sapere aude!” Essay Exam
is/should be the motto for the Section 3.4
Enlightenment. Signature Assignment Foundation of Knowledge:
● Describe why Kant believes people often Option 2 The Age of Enlightenment
remain “unenlightened”
Section 3.5
● Define rationalism, Cartesian, Cartesian Perception
dualism, empiricism
● Explain what Descartes was trying to
accomplish in his Meditations
● Identify key features of Descartes’s style in
The Meditations
● Identify the four steps of Descartes’ Analytic
Method
● Summarize Descartes’ conclusions in
Meditation One and Meditation Two (e.g.
radical doubt, “cogito ergo sum”)
● Describe the major points in Descartes’s
Trademark Argument for God’s existence
(Meditation Three)
● Explain at least one key point of critique
regarding Descartes’s Trademark Argument
● Explain Cartesian Dualism, including the
relationship between the mind and body, and
how he characterizes bodies and other
physical objects (Meditation Six)
● Explain the epistemological “Problem of
Perception” that Descartes, Locke, Hume,
and others are attempting to address
● Define Empiricism
● Explain Locke’s empiricism (e.g. tabula rasa,
simple and complex ideas, primary and
secondary qualities)
● Define Skepticism
● Explain what Hume’s theory of Skepticism
takes from Locke and what he rejects from
him
● Explain Hume’s Fork (e.g. relations of ideas
and matters of fact)
● Explain how Hume uses his “fork” to critique
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4: Special Topics - Competency 5:
Problems in Philosophy Analyze the philosophical
issues, problems, and
perspectives regarding
4 weeks identity
Competency 6:
Analyze philosophical issues,
problems, and perspectives
regarding morality
Competency 7:
Analyze philosophical issues,
problems, and perspectives
regarding free will
Competency 8:
Apply methods of
philosophical reasoning
Competency 9: Reflect on
personal positions and
perspectives regarding
philosophical problems
basic fundamental knowledge claims
Comp 8
● Identify textual evidence in support of main
idea in texts
● Build arguments based on evidence
● Evaluate arguments
● Compare philosophical concepts
● Synthesize arguments
● Identify current exemplars of philosophical
problems
● Apply various philosophers’ theories,
concepts and arguments to classic
philosophical problems as found in
contemporary and popular culture
Comp 5 Formative: 4.1
● Explain the central dilemma underlying the The Ship of Theseus:
problem of identity Intuition Pump The problem of Identity
● Explain the tension between the view from Activity
the inside and the view from the outside 4.2
Descartes Thought Experiments The Trolley Problem:
● Explain Descartes’ conception of self/identity The Problem of Morality
(referring to Res Cogitan -- Thinking Summative:
Substance, Self-Consciousness) 4.3
● Explain the problems with his theory of 3 Essay Exams The Overwhelming Desire
identity Problem: The problem of
● Explain the problems with dualism Signature Assignment Free Will
Locke Option 3, 4, 5
● Explain the memory theory of identity
● Contrast Locke’s theory of identity with
Descartes‘
● Explain the distinction Locke draws between
soul, body, and person and how that informs
his theory of identity
● Explain the two problems with the Memory
Theory (the unreliability of memory, genuine
vs. apparent memory)
Aristotle
● Explain the notion of “bodily continuity”
● Explain what Aristotle means by “essence”
● Explain the four Causes and how they answer
the question of “what something is” --
● Explain Contrast Accidental versus Essential
14
 Change
Gender and Race Identity
● Explain various approaches to personal and
cultural identity from contemporary
philosophers (e.g. DuBois, Anzaldua)

Comp 6
● Explain the distinction between the moral
frameworks of “The Good” and “The Right”
Mill
● Explain the major principles of Utilitarianism
as proposed by Jeremy Bentham and John
Stuart Mill
● Explain and apply Mill’s three tenets of the
Greatest Happiness Principle
● Explain how Mill responds to the primary
critiques against Utilitarianism
Kant
● Explain the major principles of Kantian
Deontology
● Explain why “Autonomy” is so central to
Kant’s moral theory
● Explain and apply the First Formulation of
The Categorical Imperative
● Explain and apply the Second formulation of
the Categorical Imperative
● Explain the difference between Instrumental
and Intrinsic value

Comp 7
● Explain the tension between the subjective
experience of choice and the objective
assessments of external factors
● Explain what is at stake in the problem of
free will...that is, why it’s such a big problem
● Explain what “compatibilism” and
“incompatibilism” mean in relation to the
problem of free will and determinism
Determinism
● Explain the central argument of Determinism,
including the considerations of cause and
effect
Indeterminism
● Explain the basic argument of Indeterminism

15
 ● Explain the argument against the
indeterminist’s equating of “random” with
“free”
Soft-Determinism/Compatibilism
● Explain how David Hume and John Stuart Mill
attempt to bring determinism and free will
together (that is, the basic argument of
soft-determinism)
Sartrean Freedom
● Explain why Sartre’s argument for Absolute
Freedom leads him to conclude that freedom
is accompanied by deep anguish
● Explain what Sartre means by living in “bad
faith”

Comp 8
● Identify textual evidence in support of main
idea in texts
● Build arguments based on evidence
● Evaluate arguments
● Compare philosophical concepts
● Synthesize arguments
● Identify current exemplars of philosophical
problems
● Apply various philosophers’ theories,
concepts and arguments to classic
philosophical problems as found in
contemporary and popular culture

Comp 9
● Articulate personal intuitions regarding
philosophical problems
● Evaluate personal perspectives regarding
philosophical problems
● Develop personal positions regarding
philosophical problems

16