I'm taking Philosophy 406 - "Moral Dilemmas" which is basically Political Philosophy. The bulk of our grade is what he calls "reading responses." Here is his description of the assignment:
Throughout the semester, you are required to write a total of eight responses to the assigned readings. These responses can take a number of forms; you may raise a substantive question about the assigned reading, you may raise an objection to the author’s claim(s), you may present a problem that the author may have overlooked, you may bring up an application that the author does not explicitly discuss, you may compare and contrast what the author says in light of one of the previous authors we have studied, etc. Given that the course focuses (largely) in applied philosophy, it is encouraged that you find examples from real life (e.g., from the news) with which to connect the theories we are reading.
Your response should engage the readings in significant way. That is, quoting a few lines from the readings (or, summarizing a key idea expressed in it) followed by a well-developed and thorough response is ideal. Quoting a large chunk from the text and adding just a couple of lines of your own thoughts is far less than ideal (read: not worth full credit). The responses should be approximately 250 words in length.
Also, these responses are intended to stimulate class discussion, so they need be on the assigned readings for the class meeting. For this reason, you need to be present in class in order to turn in your response. Feel free to drop off your response at the instructor’s desk before the beginning of the class; this way, they can be included to the lecture at appropriate points.
No comments:
Post a Comment