Course Description
In the first half of the class we will study epistemological concepts such as knowledge, justification, and rationality at an abstract level. In the second half of the class, we will look to more applied issues, many of which fall under the heading of ‘social epistemology’. We will look at psychological literature about human cognitive biases and also at literature on group decision making and deliberation with the hope of figuring out ways to improve our thinking.

Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, a student should be able to do the following:

• explain different contemporary issues and views in epistemology
• analyze and critically evaluate the arguments for these positions
• construct clear philosophical prose that addresses these issues.

Texts:
Epistemology:  A Contemporary Introduction by Alvin I. Goldman and Matthew McGrath. Oxford University Press (2015).

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2011).

Grades
The grades will be based on short essays, a midterm exam, and a final essay.

• Short Essays (40%): Periodically throughout the semester, you will be asked to write short essays (perhaps 1-2 pages in length). These short essays are intended to stimulate you to think independently and creatively about the readings for that week. There will be five pieces in all, and I will drop your lowest score.

• Midterm Exam (30%): There will be one midterm examination. The midterm will be divided into two parts, short answer and essay. The short answer section will test knowledge of important concepts, often either by asking for a definition, providing an example to which you must apply the concept, or by asking you to supply an example yourself that illustrates the concept. Questions in the essay portion of the exam will test your ability to reconstruct chains of philosophical argumentation, for example, the back-and-forth between two contrasting views. The essay questions may also ask you critically assess ideas or arguments.

• Final Essay (30%):  One of the most important skills you can gain from studying philosophy is the ability to make a clearly and cogently argued case for a particular perspective. More details about the criteria for argumentative essays will be posted on the course website and will be discussed in class.

Rough Grading Scale:
92—100% A
90—92% A-
88—90% B+
82—88% B
80—82% B-
78—80% C+
70—78% C
65—70% C-
50—65% D
0—49% F

Late Paper Policy:
In the absence of a documented excuse, I will subtract one grade increment per day (lowering a B- to a C+ for example) from assignments submitted after the due date.

Anonymous grading:
I will be grading all of the assignments anonymously this semester. You will upload your assignments into Blackboard and I will not see who they are from before or after I grade them. Only at the end of the semester when I assign final grades will I know who received what grade. There are several reasons for this, but the main one is to ensure fairness in various ways. There is a large literature on implicit biases and other sorts of things that can affect grading and my (and your) behavior in the classroom. Indeed several kinds of judgment heuristics and biases that are discussed in Thinking: Fast and Slow provide good reasons to do this. This does have several effects such as that you will need to pay more careful attention to your progress in the class (for example, I will not know if you have not turned in the latest assignment or if you did worse than usual on a particular assignment). You are still permitted (and encouraged) to come and talk to me about the class, thoughts you might have on an assignment, questions you have about your grade on a particular assignment, etc. In some cases this will destroy the possibility of full anonymity. So be at. For now, I judge this kind of student-teacher interaction to be of more importance than anonymous grading. But anonymous grading is an experiment for me so I am very interested in how it turns out and in what ways I might make it better.

Other Matters:

Academic Integrity:  Cheating and plagiarism are, of course, prohibited in this class just as they are in all university classes.  They will be taken particularly seriously in this class, and any cases that may arise will be treated in a manner consistent with University policy.  These two violations of academic integrity are each defined in the section of the Texas Tech online official publications titled “Academic Integrity.”  Plagiarism is there described as follows:
“’Plagiarism’ includes, but is not limited to, the appropriation of, buying, receiving as a gift, or obtaining by any means material that is attributable in whole or in part to another source, including words, ideas, illustrations, structure, computer code, other expression and media, and presenting that material as one’s own academic work being offered for credit.”  http://www.depts.ttu.edu/studentconduct/academicinteg.php  
            You can find excellent explanations of what specifically constitutes plagiarism as opposed to proper citation, and also tutorials on how to avoid plagiarism at the following websites: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/sources/
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml

Note:  If, at any time, you are at all unclear about what counts as plagiarism, or about whether you are properly citing sources in any of your written work, please just come by and ask me about it.  You do not want to be confused or careless about this serious matter.

Classroom Civility:  It should go without saying that disruptive behavior is not considered acceptable in the classroom. In addition, the study of philosophy, like any other substantial subject, requires a certain level of concentration. And everyone’s attention and concentration is facilitated by an absence of unnecessary distractions within classroom.  In concrete terms, this means you should turn off phone ringers before class starts; keep them in your bag or pocket. You do not need a laptop in class, though you may use one if you use it to take notes. Though note that this leads to temptation not to pay attention as well as you should in class and it is easy to distract yourself and others.

Students with Disabilities:  Any student who, because of a disability, may require special arrangements in order to meet the course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible to make any necessary arrangements. Students should present appropriate verification from Student Disability Services during the instructor’s office hours. Please note instructors are not allowed to provide classroom accommodations to a student until appropriate verification from Student Disability Services has been provided. For additional information, you may contact the Student Disability Services office in 335 West Hall or 806-742-2405.

This is a tentative schedule/reading list: