Spring 2026 Phil 1001 Sections 115, 116, 123
Shortcut Links To Phil 1001 Course Webpages
Syllabus Part 1 of 2
Welcome!
Instructor: Prof. Richard Taylor, MU Philosophy Department
Course Location: Wehr Chem 106
Office Hours at Marquette Hall 437: Tuesdays 3:30-5; AMU Cafeteria 5:15-6 pm; Thursdays AMU Cafeteria 5:15-6 pm. I can also meet in person or online via TEAMS other days and times by appointment. Email: Richard.Taylor@Marquette.edu
After discussing BRAINS in several ways, we will turn to an explanation of our course through Aristotle’s conception of the four causes (Final, Formal, Material and Efficient) and the Neoplatonic conception of the six causes (which adds Instrumental and Paradigmatic).
Final Causes: Purposes and Goals to be achieved
Course Learning Objectives/Outcomes
Core Learning Outcomes
This course is part of the Marquette University Core. This course introduces the following Core learning outcomes:
Responsible and Ethical Communicators
Marquette students will be able to use responsibly and ethically written, spoken and visual communication to express ideas, create meaning, build relationships, foster understanding, and advocate for a better tomorrow.
Moral and Ethical Actors
Marquette students will be able to articulate appropriate professional and personal judgments that are rooted in an ethical and moral foundation and informed by Catholic, Jesuit thought. They will seek to analyze the sources and implications of inequity for a stronger community and a just society.
Citizens with Purpose
Marquette students will develop a sense of purpose professionally, personally, and as global citizens who demonstrate critically reflective discernment processes that are rooted in their theological, intellectual, and personal commitments.
Course Learning Objectives and Assignments
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
(1) Articulate their own deepest philosophical questions: Articulate their own fundamental questions about the nature of the human condition, moral value, and the meaning and purpose of human life in relation to a variety of philosophical approaches to these questions. Students should be able to express in writing and orally how their own experiences have made these questions relevant for them and may influence their preliminary answers to these questions.
(2) Explain how past and present philosophers have asked and attempted to answer these and related questions: Explain how a variety of philosophical approaches ask and attempt to answer questions about the nature of the human condition, moral value, and the meaning and purpose of human life and the logical connections philosophical approaches make among these ideas (e.g., how a philosopher’s understanding of human nature or the human condition bears on their understanding of morality and meaning/purpose of human existence).
(3) Demonstrate facility with a variety of critically reflective philosophical processes of discernment: Demonstrate facility with a variety of critically reflective processes of discernment philosophers use to address fundamental questions about the human condition, moral value, and the meaning and purpose of human life.
Formal Cause: Course Syllabus. See the Detailed Syllabus page: HERE.
Material Causes: Texts studied
Instrumental Cause: Your instructor
Paradigmatic Cause: You as a manifestation of Human Being
Required: Note that you do not need to have purchased books before 12 January.
(1) Plato Republic, C.D.C. Reeve, tr., Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2012.
(2) Augustine. On Free Choice of the Will, Thomas Williams, tr., Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 1993 (Available free online through Marqcat.)
(3) Selections of other materials to be made available through the instructor.
Students should also budget ca. $20 for required copying.
Efficient Causes: You are the efficient cause of your learning. I have a function in this but I do not put knowledge and understanding into you. Those are realizations and perfections of your nature taking place in you. Rather, I act as a stimulant and, as Socrates would have it, as a midwife assisting you in bringing birth to knowledge and understanding in yourselves. You earn your grades by your own effort and engagement with the course. I provide them by observation.
GRADING POLICY
Participation Grade: 20%. As the Captain in Star Trek frequently says, “Engage!” This engagement in class discussion and your Note Sheets are 1/5 of your entire grade. Be sure to build this part of your grade by being active in class.
Homework Notes (Link) are part of the 20% Participation Grade along with Class Discussion. Homeworks will be graded in this way: E quite excellent, + very good, ✓ good, ok minimally okay, X poor or inadequate. These are recorded on my own grading sheets. Homeworks are returned to you at class. Again, homework represents only part of the Participation grade.
Quizzes will be 20% of your final course grade. In grading the lowest 3 of 13 quiz grades will be excluded from the final grade calculation for quizzes. The quizzes are T/F and there are 10 questions, 1 point per question. Normally I will not announce in advance that there will be a quiz. Again, there will be 13 quizzes that are graded but the lowest 3 quizzes will be dropped in the final calculation of the quiz grade. There are no make-up quizzes. Missed quizzed will be graded as 0/10 and counted among those three dropped. Note: Quizzes are designed to be completed by students in 6 minutes. Students will have up to 9 minutes to complete then if necessary.
In sum: 3 Exams at 20% each, Quizzes 20%, Participation (Note Sheets, Classroom Discussion) 20%.
This Course’s Final Grading Scale:
A 93-95; A- 90-92; B+ 87-89; B 84-86; B- 81-81; C+ 78-80; C 75-77; C- 72-74; D+ 69-71; D 66-68; D- 60-65. Below: F.
ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION AND MAKE UP POLICIES
See here for Marquette’s policies: http://bulletin.marquette.edu/undergrad/academicregulations/#attendance
Regular attendance is required. Every single absence means missing something very important. This course is very challenging and will require hard thinking and a great deal of reading as you learn how to think philosophically. What you learn may change your thinking about life. Excessive or regular absences may require removal from the course or substantially lowered grade for Participation. What is excessive regarding absences? More than two. Talk to me in person before or after missing a class.
There will be no make-up quizzes.
There may be some announced opportunities for extra credit for enhancing quiz grades.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
See here for Marquette’s policies: https://bulletin.marquette.edu/undergrad/academicregulations/
ACCOMMODATION OF DISABILITIES
Please see me before or after your first time in class to discuss this matter. See here for Marquette’s policies: https://bulletin.marquette.edu/resources-opportunities/disability-services/. Suitable accommodations will be made in accord with Federal and State law.
THE WRITING CENTER
The Ott Memorial Writing Center is a place for all Marquette writers! Our trained peer tutors can help you brainstorm ideas, plan or revise a draft, or fine-tune any piece of writing. You can drop in or make an appointment online; you can also meet weekly with a tutor who can help you stay on top of your writing, including coursework and special projects for school, work, or just for you!
I recommend that you consider taking advantage of the Writing Center (located on the second floor of the library) early and often during the course of the semester. The Writing Center is a free service for all students and can provide assistance with nearly every step of the writing process in either 30 or 60-minute appointments. https://www.marquette.edu/writing-center/
ELECTRONIC DEVICES
Technology provides us with wonderful tools but they can be distracting and time and focus wasting. For you truly to learn in this class, I must have your full attention for our philosophical studies. (I have sat in on classes in which students were emailing, browsing and otherwise wasting their class time on laptops or phones or tablets. Humans often find that they can resist anything, except temptation!)
Use of electronic devices (phones, computers, tablets and the like) in class is not permitted with exception made for students with MU registered academic accommodations.
So Take Special Note: In this class electronic tools (e.g. computers, tablets, phones) are not permitted in the room. Why? Scientific studies have shown that they hinder brain and thought development. Homeworks must be done in handwriting. Why? Scientific studies have shown that handwriting improves thought and understanding. Exams will be mostly handwritten. Students are forbidden to use AI tools in studying for this class. If use of AI is detected in a homework or on an exam, the case will be taken to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for plagiarism. Why? You are beginners in complex philosophical brain tasks of thinking and use of AI undermines your ability develop your learning ability with your most important tool, your brain.
The NPR show On Point on 1 January 2026 was focused on brain development and learning and the question of whether AI hinders brain development and thinking. Guests were national and international experts. “Does AI dumb you down?” A recent study shows that people using AI to write for them experience some negative cognitive effects. What is it about the act of writing that improves our thinking? Link. Handwriting was the key.
CONSUMPTION OF FOOD AND DRINK IN CLASS
Consumption of liquids in class is encouraged as vital hydration or attention stimulation (coffee, tea, water, sodas). But consumption of food in class is prohibited except when pre-approved by the instructor on the basis of medical need.