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Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2025

Modern Philosophy (Face-to-Face)

PHIL 4120-01

Course: PHIL 4120-01
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2025
Department: FLPH
CRN: 30710

Course Description

This course examines Modern Philosophy through the works of Bacon, Descartes, Kant, the empiricists, and the rationalists. (Fall - Odd Years) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Registration Restriction(s): None

Required Texts

Descartes, R. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, 1999. [First published 1637 & 1641]

Hume, D. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Hackett, 1993. [First published 1748]

Rousseau, J-J. Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. Hackett, 1992. [First published 1755]

*All other texts will be posted on Canvas 

**Be sure to bring the text to class on the day it is being discussed 

Learning Outcomes

Learning objectives and learning skills development 

Learning objectives 

  • Develop a grasp of the main movements within the Modern period of philosophy (16th – early 19th centuries), especially Rationalism, Empiricism, and Transcendental Idealism
  • Articulate an understanding of some of the central value concepts that preoccupied thinkers during this period, especially Beauty, Equality, and Happiness 
  • Explain the lines of influence running between various philosophers from this period while also being able to locate central points of departure and disagreement 
  • Maintain an openness to the philosophical ideas of this period, and be willing to consider the ways in which they shaped the concepts that we have today 
  • Recognize the place of neglected women voices in the history of philosophy, and be able to explain their active contributions to the philosophical debates of their time  
  • Overall, this course will meet several of SUU’s ‘Essential Learning Outcomes’, especially 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, & 11. https://catalog.suu.edu/content.php?catoid=25&navoid=4671#elo
 
Skills development 

  • Slow, engaged reading: The ability to slow down in your experience of reading so that you may properly engage with a piece of text. Slow reading involves: considering alternative ways of understanding a single portion of text; asking questions of the author; considering how the author might respond; and coming to a considered judgment about what the text means to convey and how successful it is at conveying it. (ELO 8)
  • Accurate paraphrase: The ability to accurately paraphrase complex philosophical texts in a way that allows you to clearly express the ideas they contain.  (ELO 4, 7, 8)
  • Critical evaluation: The ability to extract arguments and claims from philosophical texts, reconstruct them in your own way that is true to their intent, and subject them to critical evaluation by asking whether the arguments support their conclusions and if the claims themselves are true or false. (ELO 2, 4)
  • Creative interpretation: Applying the above skills for the purpose of presenting your own interpretation of what a philosopher means, or, alternatively, of how best to understand what a philosopher might’ve meant by what they said when the text is inherently opaque. (ELO 3, 4, 8)
  • Historical contextualization: The ability to locate a philosophical text within its own historical scene for the purpose of increased understanding. This involves deciphering the other philosophical work that it builds and expands on, while also coming to an understanding of ‘who’ its fundamental audience is. (ELO 11)

Course Requirements

Assignments and grading information

Attendance, Participation, and Professionalism (20%)

In this class you are held to a standard of professional conduct relative to your position as students. You will come to class having done the relevant preparatory work (usually reading the assigned texts), which will allow you to be an engaged and active member of the learning experience. This might involve participating directly in discussion, either whole-class or small group (where this is something you are not comfortable with, being active might involve demonstrating that you are an engaged listener, etc.). I also expect you to turn in work on the day that it is due; complete short in-class assignments; and communicate with me about any problems you might be having with the course so that we can work together towards a satisfactory solution that will help you get back on track (I try to be quite responsive over email, so please do not hesitate to reach out). Meeting these standards of professionalism will help the class run smoothly and will promise that we will get a lot out of our time together.

Reading Checks (25%)

Throughout the semester you will be called on to show that you are keeping up with and understanding (to the best of your ability) the reading. These ‘reading checks’ might include completing a short answer question at the start of class, submitting your reading notes for the days reading on Canvas (an hour before class), or orally summarizing for the class some of the key themes and ideas from the previous night’s reading. These are CHECKS, not TRAPS. The intention here is not to ‘catch’ anyone who hasn’t been doing the reading, but to give you some additional motivation to take the reading seriously. 

Two Short Textual Analyses (STA) (20%)

These three short essays will ask you to analyze a specific passage of text, articulating in your own words what the central claims and arguments are that we find in that passage. The aim of these short writing assignments is to practice the skill of philosophical reading and interpretation. Max word limit: 500 words. For the first STA you will be required to submit a draft a week before the due date, which you will then revise in light of my comments before the official due date. 

Final Paper (35%)

Your paper should pick a fight with a piece of secondary literature on one of the philosophers we have discussed in class, and on a particular theme/concept/argument from the text. For example, you could pick a fight with a piece of secondary literature interpreting Descartes’ ontological argument for God’s existence; or Kant’s argument for transcendental idealism. In the process, you should stake out your own interpretation of whatever issue it is you are discussing. 

Additional directions for the final paper:

·        Length: 8-10 pages (~2500-3000 words). Place a word count (WC) at the top of your paper below the title.

·        A draft of your paper is due in class on Nov 18. We will trade drafts, giving peer comments on Nov 20. Missing either the draft or the comments will result in -5 points on the paper.

·        No more than half of your paper should be exposition.

·        Your writing should be clear and minimize jargon, and your paper should be focused and well-organized. Pick a small fight – you don’t have to disagree with everything in the piece of secondary literature you choose.

Course Outline

Provisional reading schedule 

Part I – Preliminaries: The New Science & Enlightenment

Week 1 (Aug 28) 

Thurs: Galileo, excerpt from The Assayer (1623) & Kant, ‘An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? (1784)


Part II – Movements: Rationalism, Empiricism, Transcendental Idealism, and Romanticism 

Week 2 (Sept 2-4)

            Tues: Descartes, Discourse on Method, Part 1 & 2

Thurs: Descartes, Meditations One & Two

 

Week 3 (Sept 9-11)

            Tues: Descartes, Meditation Three 

Thurs: Descartes, Meditation Six & Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, selections from Correspondence with Descartes

 

Week 4 (Sept 16-18)

Tues: Hume, Enquiry, §1-3, p. 1-15

Thurs: Hume, Enquiry, § 4-5, p. 15-37

 

Week 5 (Sept 23-25)

Tues: Hume, Enquiry, §7, p. 39-53

            Thurs: Hume, Enquiry, §8, p. 53-69

 

Week 6 (Sept 30-Oct 2)

            Tues: Kant, Preface and Introduction to The Critique of Pure Reason (Canvas)

            Thurs: Kant, Critique, ‘Transcendental Aesthetic', p. 172-182 (Canvas)

*Secondary: Allen Wood, Kant, Chapters 2-3 (Canvas) 

^^^THIS IS REALLY HELPFUL! HIGHLY SUGGEST READING IT!

 

Week 7 (Oct 7-9)

            Tues: Kant, Critique, ‘Transcendental Aesthetic', p. 182-192 (Canvas)

            Thurs: No class, Sean’s away 

 

Week 8 (Oct 14-16) 

            Tues: No class, fall break 

            Thurs: Kant, Critique, ‘Transcendental Deduction of the Pure Concepts of the Understanding’ (Canvas)

 

Week 9 (Oct 21-23) 

            Tues: Reread the B Deduction + Sean might talk about Fichte & Hegel

            Thurs: No class, Sean’s away 

 

Week 10 (Oct 28-30)

Tues: Friedrich Hölderlin, excerpt from Hyperion, or the Hermit in Greece (Canvas

            Thurs: Karoline von Günderrode, TBD (Canvas)

 

Part III – Concepts: Beauty, Equality, and Happiness 

Week 11 (Nov 4-6)

            Tues: Hume, ‘Of the Standard of Taste’, paragraph #1-18 (Canvas)

            Thurs: Hume, ‘Of the Standard of Taste’, paragraph #19-36 (Canvas)

 

Week 12 (Nov 11-13)

            Tues: Kant, Critique of the Power of Judgment, Introduction, Sec. IV; Book 1, §1-9, p. 89-104 (Canvas)

            Thurs: Kant, Critique of the Power of Judgment, Book 1, §39-40, p. 171-176 (Canvas)

 

Week 13 (Nov 18-20)

            Tues: Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Preface & Part I, p. 10-44

            Thurs: Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, Part II, p. 44-71 

 

Week 14 (Nov 25-27)

            Tues: No class, Thanksgiving break 

            Thurs: No class, Thanksgiving break 

 

Week 15 

            Tues: Emilie du Châtelet, ‘Discourse on Happiness’

            Thurs: No reading, last day – keep talking about EdC

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

Late work 

Life happens. It is fine to turn in work late provided you communicate with me in a timely fashion about your situation and whatever predicament kept you from completing your work on time. This is a bit of professional conduct that I expect from you. Though of course exceptions can be made in certain emergency situations, in general I ask that you keep an open line of communication with me regarding any matters that are interfering with your ability to complete the work for our course. If you have not communicated with me about what is going on with you, and then work comes in late, it will be graded accordingly. 

Late writing assignments: I have no hard and fast policy on how much your grade on a writing assignment will suffer if it is late, though the longer you go without turning it in, the more likely I am to penalize the assignment in some respect. The key is that you communicate with me in a timely fashion about any problems you might have with turning your work in on time. 

Attendance Policy

 
Attending and being absent from class 

Philosophical thinking blossoms and thrives in conversation, and the classroom is where this happens. Thus, I expect you to come to class; this is part of your professionalism grade. That said, here’s my full attendance policy. 

You can miss four classes without it having any technical negative impact on your grade (I say ‘technical’ because of course missing classes may put you behind in other ways, like understanding the material based on discussion, rather than merely reading the text). As far as these four absences are concerned, it does not matter to me whether you are missing class with a documented illness/injury, a family emergency, or simply because you feel like sleeping in. Because of the equivalency of these four acceptable absences (meaning, they have no technical negative impact on your grade), you do not need to communicate with me about them. In fact, I will take communication of this kind as you trying to make an exception for yourself, as if you are hoping to save an acceptable absence for later by sending me a message about an absence that would count as one of your acceptable four. After you have missed four classes, you lose a full letter grade on your full-semester professionalism grade until that grade reaches an F. Say you miss four classes, but at the time of your 4th absence your professionalism grade is an A. The next class you miss, it goes down to a B; the next class, a C; etc.

The rationale for this policy is this: It is unprofessional to sign-up for a class which you intend to miss more than four meetings of; and it makes even less sense to sign-up for a class which you plan to miss eight meetings of (that’s nearly 20% of the course!). 

‘But I missed four classes and now I am sick/have a family emergency’! Right! This happens! And because it happens, you should think carefully about using your 4 acceptable absences. Now of course, things happen, and so exceptions may be granted to this policy in certain situations. If you find yourself in that situation, please do not hesitate to communicate with me. But, for example, ‘work scheduled me for class time’ is not an excuse after your 4th absence; neither is ‘I didn’t hear my alarm go off’ or ‘I was up late studying’. 

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.