Policies & Assignments

Course Vision

In Philosophy as a Way of Life, you will become:

Truth-Seeking: Passionate about the truth, actively seeking it in open-minded dialogue with others

Self-Reflective: Recognizing and evaluating your own deeply-held philosophical views

Dialogue-Promoting: Willing and able to engage in respectful dialogue about deep and controversial issues

Learning Objectives

In order to begin to embody the course vision, you will develop the following three skills related to the course vision:

(1) Closely reading philosophical texts and analyzing their key arguments.  By the end of this course, you should be able to identify and comprehend the main principles and arguments in major philosophical texts.  You should be able to reflect on how the philosopher is attempting to persuade their reader and the virtues and/or vices of their methods.  And you should be able to compare these arguments to those of other philosophers, arguments you come across in everyday life, and your own philosophical positions.

(2) Contributing to a sustained interpersonal dialogue.  By the end of this course, you should be able to ask strong questions designed to learn about another person’s philosophical viewpoint.  You should be able to actively listen and incorporate personal evidence into your philosophical insights. You should be able to sincerely articulate your views and responsibly identify and address philosophical differences with others within a diverse ~15 person team.

Assignments and Grading

PhiLife assignments are all opportunities to make progress on course learning goals. Check links for assignment descriptions and grading standards:

• All Deadlines and Grading Information
• All PowerPoint Presentations

Notes

• Note-Taking Guide

Dialogue Groups

• Dialogue Group Lesson Plan
• Leading Dialogue Group
• Dialogue Attendance

Extra Credit Assignments

• The Ethics of Cancel Culture

Success in Philosophy as a Way of Life requires constant attendance, engaged participation, careful reading, and (most importantly) timely, successful completion of all assignments. There is no curve for the course–your grade is determined purely based on the effort you put in and your achievements over the course of the semester.  The teaching team wants you to grow in this class and to score as well as possible on every skill, so please talk to us if you want to strategize about how to reach for higher grades or if you do not understand how you are doing. 

Absences and Late Work

Instructors reserve the right not to accept late work. Instructors will assess requests for extensions on a case-by-case basis, taking into account individual circumstances, whether the extension is requested in advance (to the extent possible), and whether students have an official university excuse.

If a student receives an excused absence for a day on which credit is given for an in-class activity or assessment (e.g. HQ Trivia), the student will be expected to make up that activity as soon as possible. Students should contact their instructor with the official excuse and make arrangements with their instructor and TA as appropriate.

University Attendance Policy: Excused absences include documented illness, deaths in the family and other documented crises, call to active military duty or jury duty, religious holy days, and official University activities. These absences will be accommodated in a way that does not arbitrarily penalize students who have a valid excuse. Consideration will also be given to students whose dependent children experience serious illness.

KU University Policies

Free Tutoring: On-campus tutoring and writing assistance is available for many courses at KU. For more information, visit …

Students with Disabilities: Students with disabilities needing academic accommodation should register with and provide documentation to the Student Disability Resource Center

This syllabus and other class materials are available in alternative format upon request. For more information about services available to KU students with disabilities, contact  ADD

Sexual Harassment Policy: It is the policy of the University that its employees and students neither commit nor condone sexual harassment in any form. See the University’s Sexual Harassment Policy

Academic Honor Policy: The KU University Academic Honor Policy outlines the University’s expectations for the integrity of students’ academic work…..

Syllabus Policy: Except for changes that substantially affect the implementation of the grading statement, this syllabus is subject to change with advance notice.