Dr. Achim D. Köddermann
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State University of New York, College at Oneonta Phil 390 – 81 – Senior Thesis Spring 2009 Course Syllabus Instructor: Dr. Achim Koeddermann, Chair 325 Fitzelle Hall Telephone #2456 Office Hours: Wednesday 5-6, Thursday 1-2. Meeting Times: 5.30-7 + meetings At SUNY-Oneonta, the Senior Thesis in Philosophy is a written work of about forty typed pages (and preparatory meetings, stretched over one or two semesters), with an attached bibliography, which represents the result of a major independent research effort. Students receive three credits upon the successful completion of the thesis (or up to 6 by agreement between student and instructor). The Senior Thesis (and possibly a presentation) will be evaluated according to the standards of the profession, the syllabus determines details. The written part of the thesis has to carry more than 50 % of the work to be evaluated. The supervisor reserves the right to submit each paper to at least one other professor for evaluation, and to recuse himself from supervision of subjects not qualified to direct or beyond the boundaries of the field of philosophy. In consulting a second, more specialized professor in the department for advice, the student has to bear in mind that such work is not an entitlement, but a privilege. According to the interests and abilities of the students, a Senior Theses may be customized: recent successful examples range from exploratory over apologetic to innovative formats. A typical Senior Theses may examine closely a single outstanding work (eminent text) or different or obscure works of a single author; a shared philosophical question discussed by several philosophers, an interdisciplinary question which examines works (or works of authors) in different disciplines, or the philosophically founded rejection/refutation of a position. If it is innovative, it may also merely consist in the development of a position. The Senior Theses has to reflect a thorough assessment upon examination of original texts, after which an original argument is developed. In refuting some of the counterarguments, the Senior Thesis at Oneonta will not necessitate a public defense IF it demonstrates awareness of the counterarguments and offers answers to them. In from, the Thesis should follow the pattern of Clear and Distinct Cartesian Method. With the help of staff from Milne Library, an Introduction to Library Research will be prepared to assist you if necessary (similar projects referenced here are pursued in Skidmore, Gettysburg colleges or Tufts/ Denver Universities). Supplementary exercises will complement the work: example I Senior Thesis, first Handout: First meeting: thesis exercise: Excerpt from Stanley Fish, The Last Professor, NY Times Jan. 18/09: “…This is a very old idea that has received periodic re-formulations. Here is a statement by the philosopher Michael Oakeshott that may stand as a representative example: “There is an important difference between learning which is concerned with the degree of understanding necessary to practice a skill, and learning which is expressly focused upon an enterprise of understanding and explaining.” Understanding and explaining what? The answer is understanding and explaining anything as long as the exercise is not performed with the purpose of intervening in the social and political crises of the moment, as long, that is, as the activity is not regarded as instrumental – valued for its contribution to something more important than itself.” In view of the Thesis assignment, it is clear that ANY THESIS as application (celebrated before Oakeshott by Aristotle, Kant and Max Weber, among others) can really flourish in today’s educational landscape. Tell us why you think so. Or should the University of Phoenix approach be right? “John Sperling … is refreshingly blunt: “Coming here is not a rite of passage. We are not trying to develop value systems or go in for that ‘expand their minds’” nonsense.”” Make your claim with your thesis project/title in mind. Example II: Write a philosophical THESIS regarding ONE of the goals formulated in President Obama's inauguration address. |
Milne Library, SUNY College at Oneonta
January 2009