Course Texts:
     Robert Fogelin, Walking the Tightrope of Reason (Oxford University Press)
     Robert Nozick, The Nature of Rationality (Princeton University Press)
     Robert Audi, The Architecture of Reason (Oxford University Press)

Course Description:  One of the most fundamental concepts in philosophy is “rationality.”  In fact, philosophers love reason and reasoning.  We not only construct arguments and appeal to reasons in support of our views, we also wonder about reasoning itself.  What is the proper way to reason?  How should reason function?  What is the nature of reason and rationality?
        Historically, philosophers have divided reason into two aspects: theoretical reason and practical reason.  Theoretical reason primarily addresses epistemological issues, while practical reason concerns itself primarily with ethical issues.  Beyond this division, however, philosopher also worry about rationality in general, as it applies to thinking and action broadly considered.  Philosophers look at standards for rationality, at what reason can do, and at the limits of the rational.   We have a deep and lastly love affair with reason for it grounds everything that we do.  After all, where reason stops, so too does philosophy.
        Despite the centrality of reason to Western philosophy, the concept has come under a great deal of criticism and discussion in the past several decades.  In addition to everything else that it does, rationality is a normative concept: it characterizes what beliefs we ought to hold and what actions we ought to perform.  For a belief or action to be considered irrational is to say that we should avoid it.  The problem with treating rationality is a normative concept is twofold.  First, do we really understand what we mean when we attribute rationality to a person, or when we claim a belief/action is rational?  Second, who gets to determine what rationality is?  Who decides what it is rational to believe or do?  Even if we can arrive at some sort of consensus about the nature and scope of rationality, how can we know we are correct in our assessment?
        These and other similar questions are  what we will address in the course.  We will examine reason from several perspectives, examining what philosophers have had to say about its limits, its nature, and the relationship between its theoretical and practical components.  Our goal is to answer the question: what is reason?  This is by no means a simple questions, but as with any good philosophical question, its difficulty makes it that much more intriguing.
 

Course Grading:
      In-class presentation and essay:  30%
      Final paper (roughly 15 pages): 70%
 

Course Outline: For each day of class, we will read roughly one chapter from one of our three authors.
            (A couple of  longer chapters will be broken into two smaller readings.)  We will try to follow this outline as written.  The schedule includes a few “open” days where we can catch up if we’re falling behind on our schedule.

Aug. 24:  Course Introduction
Aug. 29:  Fogelin, pp. 1-39 (Introduction and Chapter 1)
Aug. 31:  Nozick, pp. 3-40 (Introduction and Chapter 1)
Sept. 7:    Audi, pp. 3-31 (Introduction and Chapter 1)
Sept. 12:  Fogelin, pp. 41-67 (Chapter 2)
Sept. 14:  Nozick, pp. 41-63 (Chapter 2)
Sept. 19:  Audi, pp. 32-57 (Chapter 2)
Sept. 21:  Open
Sept. 26:  Fogelin, pp. 69-93 (Chapter 3)
Sept. 28: Nozick, pp. 64-93 (Chapter 3, first half)
Oct.  3:   Audi, pp. 61-80 (Chapter 3)
Oct.  5:   Fogelin, pp. 95-125 (Chapter 4)
Oct. 10:  Nozick, pp. 93-106 (Chapter 3, second half)
Oct. 12:  Audi, pp. 81-107(Chapter 4)
Oct. 17:  Open
Oct. 19:  Fogelin, pp. 127-144 (Chapter 5)
Oct. 24:  Nozick, pp. 107-132 (Chapter 4)
Oct. 26:  Audi, pp. 108-134 (Chapter 5)
Oct. 31:  Fogelin, pp. 145-161 (Chapter 6)
Nov.  2:  Nozick, pp. 131-151 (Chapter 5, first half)
Nov.  7:   Audi, pp. 135-168 (Chapter 6)
Nov.  9:   Open
Nov.  14:  Fogelin, pp. 163-170 (Chapter 7)
Nov.  16:  Nozick, pp. 151-181 (Chapter 5, second half)
Nov.  21:  Audi, pp. 171-194 (Chapter 7)
Nov.  28:  Fogelin and Nozick, review
Nov.  30:  Audi, pp. 195-233 (Chapter 8 and Conclusion)
Dec. 5:    Open
 

Course Structure and Objectives:
This course is a true seminar. What this means is that each student should be prepared to talk about the topic/reading for the day. Class discussion will be developed from the readings, so it is your responsibility to read the material for each class closely and carefully. I will act as moderator, referee, coordinator, and as contributor to the discussions. Outside of my explaining technical details and providing necessary background information, I hope that there will be a distinct lack of traditional lecturing.  The success of the seminar will depend on you.
A major objective of this seminar is to help you increase your ability to understand and discuss philosophical issues in a sophisticated and intelligent manner. The seminar is structured to achieve this goal. Most days class will begin with you or one of your classmates providing a brief summary and assessment of the issues in that day’s reading.  Each student will be required to make two presentations during the semester.
 

Class Presentations:
 Each class will begin with a student presentation on the reading material for that class.   I will allow you to chose what days to make your presentation, but the sign up for presentations will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.  Given the number of people enrolled in the class, we may need to have two people presenting on most days.  In that event, the two people sharing a reading should divide it up so that each presents on roughly half the material.  (Only the Nozick and Audi material can have two presenters.)
 Your presentation will include a verbal and a written component.  The verbal component will serve as the introduction to class discussion.  At the beginning of class, you will explain to the class what you take to be the major issues in the reading.  You are encouraged to also critically analyze and show how these issues are related to the other readings/issues/philosophers we have discussed.  The written component will be an essay that summarizes and critically analyzes the material in that day’s reading.  You should base your verbal presentation on your essay.  The essay will be due at the end of your presentation (no late essays will be accepted).  I will grade both the oral and written portions of your presentation.  Each will be worth 50% of your presentation grade.
 

Class Attendance:
Because this is a seminar class, your attendance at each class is expected.  Your attendance is also to your benefit for (at least) two reasons.
First, your class presentation, essay, and final paper must reflect an understanding of the issues and discussions that come up in class.  Should you miss class, you will not be able to demonstrate an adequate understanding of class discussion.  Your grade will thereby profit from your attendance and attention at each and every class sessions (conversely, your grade will suffer from your absence and inattention).  The material we are covering in this course is difficult.  You will need to be in class to master it.
Second, we have 28 scheduled class meetings.  At the end of the semester if you have three or fewer absences, I will add two points to your overall course grade.  Your absences can be for any reason: illness, family emergency, laziness, sick pet, finishing a paper for another class, etc.  More than three, however, and you will not receive the extra points—no exceptions (don’t even ask).
 

Miscellaneous Information:
Academic misconduct (plagiarism, cheating, etc.) will result in no credit for the assignment in question.  I may also refer cases of academic misconduct to the University Judicial Board.

UAH is committed to the fundamental values of preserving academic honesty as defined in the Student Handbook (7.III.A). The instructor reserves the right to utilize electronic means to help prevent plagiarism. Students agree that by taking this course all assignments are subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com.  Assignments submitted to Turnitin.com will be included as source documents in Turnitin.com's restricted access database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism in such documents. The terms that apply to the University's use of the Turnitin.com service, as well as additional information about the company, are described at www.uah.edu/library/turnitin.