Philosophy of biology Spring 2008
Dr. Carla Fehr
Office hours: 9:30-11:00 at 431 Catt Hall
cfehr@iastate.edu
http://www.public.iastate.edu/%7ecfehr/homepage.html
Objectives
This class will be an examination of pluralism in the philosophy of
biology. We will spend the first half of
the class reading philosophical literature about pluralism and the second half
of the class reading biology literature on a case of pluralism: the evolution
of sex. The students will also work on a
major paper throughout the semester.
Readings:
Readings will consist of handouts and articles that are online. A bibliography of readings will be
distributed during the first week of class.
Contacting the Professor
Contact me by EMAIL at cfehr@iastate.edu.
The subject line of your message must
be exactly “Phil483”. If the subject line does not contain the phrase in
the quotation marks in the previous sentence, I will NOT read your
message. I will answer your message within one business day.
Students with disabilities
Please address any special needs or special accommodations with me at the
beginning of the semester. Those seeking accommodations based on disabilities
should obtain a Student Academic Accommodation Request (SAAR) form from the
Disability Resources (DR) office (515-294-6624). DR is located on the
main floor of the Student Services Building, Room 1076.
Academic honesty
Plagiarism is theft. I expect you to turn in a bibliography of every single
thing that you read for every paper: every book, every article, every web page,
everything. Any ideas or quotations that are not directly from your head
need to be cited. I check. If I catch you plagiarizing even one
sentence or one idea in your papers, I will forward the case to the dean of
students and recommend the harshest possible penalty. If you are found guilty you will fail the
class.
Don’t cheat on quizzes. If I
catch you cheating on a quiz I will forward the case to the dean of students
and recommend the harshest possible penalty.
If you are found guilty you will fail the class.
If you have any questions about what
constitutes academic dishonesty, please consult the Academic Regulations
section of the Iowa State University Catalogue found here: http://www.public.iastate.edu/~catalog/2007-2009/geninfo/dishonesty.html,
or consult the professor.
Quizzes
You will write 4 short quizzes in this class. These quizzes will take up ½ hour of class
time. They will consist of 1-2 paragraph
answers to questions about the readings that we have already covered in
class. You should be prepared to
describe the thesis, major points in the article, and the responses to the
article that we have discussed in class.
Class participation
This class will be run as a seminar.
You need to come to class having done the reading. You need to have an opinion about the thesis
of the article and the argument supporting the thesis. I expect you to bring a critical comment to
class discussion. This means having a
question about content and a discussion question. I don’t expect you to have figured
everything out. But I do expect you to bring evidence that you have made a
serious effort. I will randomly pick a
student to introduce the reading and lead the discussion for most class
periods.
Your participation grade will be based on preparation for class, willingness to ask questions and willingness to respond to the comments and questions of your classmates and professor.
Comment papers
You will write a 1 page paper to hand in every Tuesday. The paper will be a response to the readings
that we will be covering in class that day.
It should be a thoughtful comment or question about the readings that
you are willing to share with the class. Make 2 copies of the paper, one for the instructor and one for yourself. You will turn in the papers in person at the
beginning of the class. You can miss up to two papers. If you hand in and pass the required papers
you will receive 100% on this portion of the assignment. If you do not hand in all the required papers
you will receive a 0% on this assignment. These papers will be individually
graded on a pass fail basis. You will
have a chance to rewrite papers that you fail.
The papers will not be returned to you.
PHIL 483 paper
assignment
You will write a 15-20 page paper for this class. We are going to divide the paper into
different segments each of which you will turn into a classmate and then hand
in to the instructor. You will have a
chance to rewrite every segment. You will be assigned to a writing group, which
will meet once or twice a month outside of class time.
Annotated
Bibliography: Develop a sense of the
discipline and pick a topic.
You will browse through 5-6 issues of Biology
and Philosophy. From each issue you will pick at least 3 articles, only one
of which may be a book review. You will
create an annotated bibliography. Read
the abstract, the introduction and conclusion and write 4-5 sentences
describing the paper. From this
bibliography you will pick an area to work in and a paper topic.
You will meet with your writing group at least once. The writing group assignment is to talk over the area that you are interested in and edit each other’s bibliographies.
You will turn in:
1) Your bibliography.
2) Photocopy of the paper you edited with your markings on it.
You will get a pass fail grade for your editing and for your bibliography.
Part 1: Define the
debate.
This is a 3-5 page section of your paper.
This section of your paper is a very brief literature review. The goal is to orient the reader to the
problem. To describe the issue and what
has already been said about the issue.
This section sets up your entire paper.
You should have the specific problem that you will address in mind and
also the solution that you are going to propose for the problem. If I were doing the assignment I would put
together an outline for the entire paper before I wrote this section. Think about this section of the paper as
giving the reader what she needs to know in order to understand what you are
going to contribute to the philosophy literature.
You will meet with your writing group at least twice. This is where the group can be of the most help to you. First you will meet to talk about your plan for the entire paper. You should explain to your group the general debate, the specific problem that you are going to address and the way that you plan to address the problem. Then you should go and write this section of your paper. You will distribute your paper to your group. You will edit one other group member’s paper. You will make a photocopy of the paper that you edited. You meet to discuss the drafts of your papers.
You will turn in:
1) This section of your paper.
2) Photocopy of the paper you edited with your markings on it.
You will get a letter grade for your editing and for this section of your paper.
Part 2: Pick a
specific problem.
This is a 3-5 page section of your paper.
It is a very important section of your paper. Here you very clearly describe the specific
problem that you will answer in the paper.
You will revise the first section of your paper and write the second section. You will meet with your writing group to discuss your papers and you will edit each other’s papers. You will make a photocopy of the paper that you edited.
You will turn in:
1) A complete version of what you have written so far (i.e. a clean version of part 1 and part 2).
2) Photocopy of the paper you edited with your markings on it.
3) The version of part 1 on which I commented.
You will get a letter grade for your editing, for your revision of part 1, and for part 2.
Part 3: What is
your solution to the problem?
This is a 3-8 page section of your paper in which you clearly describe
and argue for your solution to the problem that you described in part 2.
You will revise the second section of your paper and write the third section. You will meet with your writing group to discuss your papers and you will edit each other’s papers. You will make a photocopy of the paper that you edited.
You will turn in:
1) A complete version of what you have written so far (i.e. a clean version of parts 1, 2, and 3).
2) Photocopy of the paper you edited with your markings on it.
3) The version of part 2 on which I commented.
You will get a letter grade for your editing, for your revision of part 2, and for part 3.
Part 4: Evaluating
your solution.
This is a 3-5 page section of your paper.
What are the one or two greatest weaknesses of your solution? How do you
think they ought to be addressed? Even
if you find that your solution has problems, you can still advance the debate
in an area by clearly describing them.
What is important is that you recognize the weaknesses of your paper and
that you have an idea about how you would begin to tackle those
weaknesses. You can think of this
section of your paper as being advice for the next person who writes on this
topic.
You will revise the third section of your paper and write the final section. You will meet with your writing group to discuss your papers and you will proof read each other’s papers. You will make a photocopy of the paper that you edited.
You will turn in:
1) A complete version of the entire paper.
2) Photocopy of the paper you edited with your markings on it.
3) The version of part 3 on which I commented.
Grading chart and due dates
|
|
Due date |
Grade |
|
Annotated Bibliography |
Feb 5 |
3 |
|
Editing of bibliography |
Feb 5 |
1 |
|
Part 1 |
March 4 |
8 |
|
Editing of part 1 |
March 4 |
2 |
|
Part 1 rewrite |
March 25 |
2 |
|
Part 2 |
March 25 |
8 |
|
Editing of part 2 |
March 25 |
2 |
|
Part 2 rewrite |
April 8 |
2 |
|
Part 3 |
April 8 |
8 |
|
Editing of part 3 |
April 8 |
2 |
|
Part 3 rewrite |
April 29 |
2 |
|
Part 4 |
April 29 |
8 |
|
Editing of part 4 |
April 29 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
Quiz 1 |
January 29 |
5 |
|
Quiz 2 |
February 19 |
5 |
|
Quiz 3 |
March 11 |
5 |
|
Quiz 4 |
April 22 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
Comment papers |
Weekly |
20 |
|
|
|
|
|
Class participation |
Every class |
10 |
|
|
|
/100 |