phil207_2021f

Course Description | Course Schedule

Study Helps & Philosophy Links

Fall 2021

10:20-11:20 MWF

Miller Center, Room 104

Email: fritzman@lclark.edu

Class Email: 21fa-phil-207-f1@lclark.edu

Office: J. R. Howard Hall 223

Office Hours:

12:30-1:30 MWF, 3:00-4:00 MW, and by appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION

His trip to India was a failure (so he judged). Yet one onlooker, studying Isherwood's behavior, saw in that supposed failure a quiet success. Prabhavananda observed that Isherwood failed to have a great life-changing experience in India because in him India and America, East and West, were no longer separate worlds. And, in truth, if Isherwood was not at home in India, nor was he at home in his birth-land England. He was most at ease, perhaps, not at but on the drive to the Vedanta Temple on Ivar Avenue, while the car radio blared, horns honked, and a Hindu and an Enlightenment worldview swirled together in his head. Beguiling charlatans like Madame Blavatsky or Paul Brunton could feel at home in India, for they had only to open their mouths and out spouted eastern wisdom. Isherwood's whining discomfort in India, if its syntax is straightened out, was saying something more complex and more original. His was the new voice of an almost visionary ambivalence that could hover between opposing viewpoints and combine a religious and a secular outlook. The question that had vexed Isherwood as he had exited a Europe toppling into destruction and ruin—"How does one live now?"—had eked out a response somewhere in alien India. How live? By willing to, even when you don't want to; by fudging nothing about yourself, not even what is distasteful; by holding on, if by the thinnest, barest thread, to some ideal; by accepting the discovery that Prabhavananda's spiritual goodwill to others and his own lustful attractions were two sides of the only coin you can pay for the privilege of being in the world—that's how Isherwood did it in India.

Jeffrey Paine, Father India: Westerners

Under the Spell of an Ancient Culture,

(New York: HarperPerennial, 1998),

pages 216-217.

This is an introductory course in the philosophies of India. There are two required texts:

Sue Hamilton,

Indian Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction

Oxford University Press, 2001.

Paperback

ISBN-10: 0192853740

ISBN-13: 978-0192853745

Retail: $11.95

New: Starting at $4.11

Used: Starting at $2.32

Indian Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction is available through the College Bookstore, Amazon.com, or Barnes & Noble.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles A. Moore, editors,

A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy

Princeton University Press, 1967.

Paperback

ISBN-10: 0691019584

ISBN-13: 978-0691019581

Retail: $42.00

New: Starting at $22.98

Used: Starting at $4.32

A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy is available through the College Bookstore, Amazon.com, or Barnes & Noble.

Download a free copy of Microsoft's Office 365 Education— which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Teams—at https://products.office.com/en-us/student/office-in-education.

This is an introductory course in the philosophies of India. This course will introduce you to the six classical philosophies of India: Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Yoga, Sāṅkhya, Purva Mīmāṃsā, and Vedānta. You will also learn about the Védas, the Upaniṣads, Cārvāka, Jainism, and Buddhism. In addition, you will read essays by two recent Indian philosophers, Sri Aurobindo and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

In order to have some understanding of the social and cultural context in which Indian philosophies arose, you will receive a brief overview of Indian history. Next, you will read a short introduction to Indian Philosophy. You will then have the resources to study India's philosophies in Radhakrishnan and Moore's Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy.

Indian Philosophy will enable you to consider how the philosophies of India are similar to, and differ from, those in the West. That will allow you to inquire about the nature and pertinence of demarcations between the West and non-West. This is a course on the philosophies of India, and so its focus is on the study of a culture outside of the United States.

This course will discuss the cultural contexts of Indian philosophies by situating them within Indian history (which will be related to world history, where relevant). It will consider their developments of, and departures from, early Indian religions, Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. It will also investigate the extent to which Indian philosophies themselves become the cultural contexts for subsequent artistic, historical, intellectual, and literary developments.

Students will engage meaningfully with and demonstrate knowledge about a region or regions of the world other than the United States of America (through reading, writing, conversation, presentation and/or first-hand experiences). Topics of study include historical experience, cultural traditions, past and current social and economic realities, or transnational issues.

There are also learning outcomes for students who graduate with a major in Philosophy.

In preparation for each class meeting, you should have read the assigned material. You should arrive in class with prepared questions or comments about something in the assigned reading.

In addition to learning about the philosophies of India, a major goal of this course is to cultivate intellectual abilities which have general application. This course aims to provide the resources which will enable you to develop intellectual survival skills, question what passes as common knowledge and accepted wisdom, evaluate your own and others' positions, and formulate new ideas. Such skills consist in the ability to summarize the assigned material, and to write pieces in which ideas and arguments are articulated, criticized, defended. Such skills also involve developing the ability to think critically about the views of ourselves and others. Critical thinking consists in understanding several sides of a debate, and seeing both the advantages and limitations of an opinion. Learning to question your opinions is as crucial as arguing for them. If you only learn to give reasons for opinions already held, you merely are giving rationalizations for prejudices. You need to learn to think for yourself, developing, defending, and criticizing your beliefs.

In this connection, I am especially concerned that you develop the ability to discuss issues cogently and to write intelligent, reflective pieces in clear, grammatical English. It is important that you learn to think, in a disciplined way, about the books and issues they raise. Part of that discipline consists in being able to analyze, evaluate, and formulate arguments. This involves knowing how to identify basic assumptions, develop a line of reasoning, recognize the steps that lead to a conclusion, and determine whether an argument is sound. In this way, hopefully, you will develop intellectual curiosity and the competencies to reason logically, evaluate critically, communicate effectively, imagine creatively, and appreciate aesthetic and creative expressions of humanity.

You are encouraged to share your questions and observations with the rest of the class, and to engage critically with the material, myself, and each other. By participating in class discussions, you will encounter directly differing interpretations of the material, become aware of the history of these views, and be encouraged to develop your own critical perspectives. In interacting with the material and each other, you will acquire a knowledge and appreciation of self, society, human cultures, and the natural world. I intend that you discover what has been written and said concerning, in the words of Socrates, "the most important things"—questions about human character and the conduct of life. Such skills will enable you to succeed in subsequent courses and in endeavors outside of the classroom. Those abilities also will contribute to your development as educated citizens in a democratic society.

Each student will write a Précis for almost every reading assignment, complete various Research Exercises that teach research skills, and write and present in class one Assessment on a specific reading assignment. There also will be one Argumentative Research Paper (which includes a Prospectus, two Drafts, and a mandatory Final Rewrite). And an in-class oral Presentation of the Argumentative Research Paper on the Final Exam Day.

The Précis, Research Exercises, and Class Participation will be weighted together and will count for 20% of your final grade. The Assessment will count for 20% of your final grade. The Prospectus will count for 5%, the First Draft will count for 10%, the Second Draft will count for 15%, and the Final Rewrite will count for 25% of your final grade. The Presentation will count for 5% of your final grade.

The grading scale is:

A = 93%-100%

A- = 90%-92%

B+ = 86%-89%

B = 83% 85%

B- = 80%-82%

C+ = 76%-79%

C = 73%-75%

C- = 70%-72%

D+ = 66%-69%

D = 60%-65%

F = 0%-59%.

A Précis will be due almost every class session. Each précis will be one side of one typed page—never longer—double-spaced, with 1 inch margins on the right & left sides and the top & bottom. It must be at least 3/4 of a page in length. Use a 12-point Times or Times Roman font. There will be no spelling or grammatical errors in your précis. Your name will be typed in the upper right-hand corner. In each précis, you will summarize—in your own words, without using any quotes—the assigned reading's main claims, as well as the reasons which are given to support those claims. You will not include any opinion, evaluation, or commentary. At the bottom of each précis, or on the back, you will write one question that you have about the reading. This question must written prior to, not during, class.

An Assessment should be approximately 2000 words, typed, double-spaced. You will sign up for a dates on which you will present your assessments. On the day you present, you will distribute copies to all of the persons in this class. This will require, of course, that you have enough copies made so that each member of the class has one. You first will read your assessment; then, you and I will serve as the main resource persons for fielding questions concerning the material. Since the class discussion will be centered around the assessment, it is crucial that you distribute the assessment the class session when you present it, and that you actually be in class to read your assessment.

An assessment is not a summary of the reading. Rather, its primary purpose assessment is to summarize, consolidate, and explicate the central issues, main points, and key motifs of the assigned reading in order to facilitate class discussion of the material. It is important that the assessment contextualize the reading by describing briefly both how the reading is a continuation and development of material which has come before, and how it contributes to the overall trajectory of the thinker's thought.

It is crucial that you critically engage the reading. You might argue that a claim that the author makes is incorrect, for example, or that a criticism in the secondary literature is incorrect. Alternatively, you might argue that an interpretation advanced in the secondary literature is incorrect. The assessment must reflect an acquaintance with the requisite secondary literature. This means that you must incorporate at least three secondary sources you consulted while writing your assessment.

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy will be useful.

Google Scholar and the Philosopher's Index will be vital for the Assessment and Argumentative Research Paper.

The Chicago Manual of Style's Citation Quick Guide is online.

There will be an Argumentative Research Paper, 2000 words, typed, double-spaced. It will be on the same topic as your assessment.

You're welcome to consult the Writing Center, located on the main floor of Watzek Library.

Also useful is the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University.

If you would find it useful to create concept maps, to help write your assessment or argumentative research papers, you can download the software to create them from IHMC Cmap Tools.

All work must be submitted when it is due. Late work will not be accepted and will receive no credit.

This class will be successful only if there is a high degree of participation and attendance, and so I want you in class participating. The final grade for the course will be lowered by a full-letter grade if you miss four class sessions, the final grade will be lowered by two full-letter grades if you miss five class sessions, and you will be withdrawn from the course if you miss six or more class sessions. I will not accept make-up work unless you can document the reason for your absence. Documenting the reason for your absence means providing a note from, for example, your doctor explaining why you were absent. Serious illnesses and emergencies will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Throughout the course you are expected to read carefully the assigned material. It is impossible to do well in this course without reading and studying the books. You should spend a minimum of three hours preparing for each class session. Read the assigned material at least twice and take notes on what you read. You are expected to attend all class sessions, come to class having read thoroughly the assigned material, and to contribute to the discussions.

Gorgias of Leontini maintained that "those who neglect philosophy and spend their time on ordinary studies are like the suitors who desired Penelope but slept with her maids." In philosophy, unlike ordinary studies, there are few right and wrong answers. There are better and worse arguments and ideas, however, usually in direct proportion to thoughtfulness and care. What is important is that you think for yourself, and that you develop and defend your own ideas. It would be an excellent idea to write drafts or outlines of your papers, and to have a comrade read them to check on spelling, grammar, development of arguments, and so forth.

You are strongly encouraged to discuss the class material, your ideas, your puzzles and difficulties with each other. A word to the wise: Find a study partner to discuss things with outside of class. (To see why this is effective for creativity and learning, read Malcolm Gladwell's article, Group Think: What Does "Saturday Night Live" Have in Common with German Philosophy?, The New Yorker, 2 December 2002, pages 102-107).

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When it comes to writing, though, do your own. That is the only way you will get the full benefit of your own efforts. I will be happy to discuss ideas with you, read outlines and rough drafts, and so forth. That is partly why I keep office hours.

A final word to the wise. It is not difficult to do well in this class, but it also is easy to do badly. Let me talk about the bad stuff first. You will receive a major grade reduction—or fail this course—if you do not read the material, seldom participate in class discussions, do not write your assessment or argumentative research paper, plagiarize, cheat, and so forth.

About plagiarizing and cheating. All students are expected to follow Lewis & Clark College's Academic Integrity Policy. Plagiarizers and cheaters will be given an "F" for the entire course (they will not be allowed to drop or withdraw from the course). I also will turn their cases over to the Honor Board; I will recommend that disciplinary penalties be assessed. It is never in your interest to plagiarize or cheat!

Now for the good stuff. With a concerted effort, you will do well in this class. To do well, you must participate in class discussions, read and study the assigned material, write the assessment and argumentative research paper, be in class (almost) all of the time, etc. I do not grade on a curve, and so there is no good reason why you should not get an "A" for the course!

The Writing Center is available for remote consultations on Zoom all semester. There are two ways to work with the Center:

Drop in Peer Tutoring. Tutoring hours will be 3:00-10:00 PM on Sundays-Thursdays. No appointment is needed—just sign in through the website and you can usually see a tutor right away.

Appointments with the Director. You can book consultation appointments with John Holzwarth throughout the semester. Appointments are often available on short notice.

Course policy on disability accommodation. If you have a disability or learning difference that may impact your academic performance, you may request accommodations by submitting documentation to The Office of Student Accessibility. They will notify me of the accommodations for which you are eligible.

COURSE SCHEDULE

As a high-school student, when I asked my Sanskrit teacher whether it would be permissible to say that the divine Krishna got away with an incomplete and unconvincing argument, he replied: "Maybe you could say that, but you must say it with adequate respect."

Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian:

Writings on Indian History, Culture

and Identity, (New York: Picador,

2005), page 5.

Approximate Chronology of Indian Philosophers

Week 1

Monday, August 30:

Introduction to the course.

Read:

Ethan Watters, "We Aren't the World", Pacific Standard.

Joseph Henrich, Steven J. Heine, and Ara Norenzayan, "The Weirdest People in the World?", Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Volume 33:2-3, June 2010, pages 61-83; précis.

You neeed to sign into Watzek's website to access this article.

Malcolm Gladwell's Group Think in the New Yorker.

Indian Philosophy and Hindu Philosophy in Wikipedia.

Jim Pryor's Guidelines on Reading Philosophy.

Wednesday, September 1:

Hamilton's Indian Philosophy, Chapter 1: "Reason and Belief: Richness and Diversity in Indian Thought", pages 1-17; précis.

Discussion of research.

Friday, September 3:

Hamilton's Indian Philosophy, Chapter 2: "The Brahminical Beginnings: Sacrifice, Cosmic Speculation, Oneness", pages 18-33; précis.

Discussion of research.

On Wednesday, sign up for Assessment (which is also the topic of your Argumentative Research Paper).

Week 2

Monday, September 6:

Labor Day.

Wednesday, September 8:

Hamilton's Indian Philosophy, Chapter 3: "Renouncing the Household: The Buddha's Middle Way", pages 34-56; précis.

Sign-up for Assessment (which is also the topic of your Argumentative Research Paper).

Friday, September 10:

Hamilton's Indian Philosophy, Chapter 4: "Issues and Justifications: Language, Grammar, and Polemics", pages 57-69; précis.

Discussion of (annotated) bibliography, reasons for citations, proper quoting (block or in-line).

Exercise for Monday: Find one book and one article (or two articles) that will be relevant to your Assessment. Provide one block quote from the book and one in-line quote from the article (or one block quote from the one article and one in-line quote from the other). List the book and the article (or articles) in proper format for bibliography.

Week 3

Monday, September 13:

Hamilton's Indian Philosophy, Chapter 5: "Categories and Method: Vaiśeṣika and Nyāya", pages 70-83; précis.

Discussion of (annotated) bibliography, reasons for citations, proper quoting (block or in-line).

Wednesday, September 15:

Hamilton's Indian Philosophy, Chapter 6: "Things and No-Things: Developments in Buddhist Thought", pages 84-106; précis.

Discussion of search procedures for articles and books.

Friday, September 17:

Précis on Topic of your Assessment and Paper.

Place your précis in my mailbox, across the hall from Office 222 in J. R. Howard Hall.

Research Exercise for Wednesday: In proper bibliographical format, list two additional articles that you found through Google Scholar or the Philosopher's Index that are relevant to your Assessment.

Week 4

Monday, September 20:

Class canceled.

Wednesday, September 22:

Hamilton's Indian Philosophy, Chapter 7, 8, and Postscript: "The Witness an the Watched: Yoga and Sāṅkhya", "The Word and the Book: Bhartṛhari, Mīmāṃsā, and Vedānta", "From Classical Thought to the Modern Day", pages 107-140; précis.

Discussion on using Google Scholar and the Philosopher's Index.

Friday, September 24:

History of Indian Thought, A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, pages xvii-xxxi.

Also read: Hindu Philosophy in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Discussion on using Google Scholar and the Philosopher's Index.

Exercise for Monday: Submit a 3-5 page Prospectus of your Argumentative Research Paper in which you:

(1) state your topic and, if possible, your thesis.

(2) describe the problem or issue to be treated.

(3) outline your anticipated procedure and probable conclusion.

(4) include an annotated bibliography of works to be consulted (a minimum of six books or articles, with a brief paragraph discussing the relevance of each work to your project).

Week 5

Monday, September 27:

Due: Prospectus of your Argumentative Research Paper.

Wednesday, September 29:

The Védas, A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, pages 3-36; précis.

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J. M. Fritzman

Department of Philosophy

Lewis & Clark College

615 South Palatine Hill Road

Portland, OR 97219-8091

USA

fritzman@lclark.edu