Syllabus
8 quarter hours
Credit
awarded in: ethics, political philosophy, chronic illness and disability studies
Stephen Beck 360-867-5488 becks@evergreen.edu Office: Lib 3227 (Mailbox: L 3220)
Joli Sandoz 360-867-6850 sandozj@evergreen.edu
Office: COM 205 (Mailbox: COM
301)
Sharon Wendt 360-867-6588 wendts@evergreen.edu Office: Lib 3225 (Mailbox: L3220)
What's
the best way to respond to disability and chronic illness (and any significant
difference) personally, politically, professionally? We'll study several
frameworks of ethics and political philosophy relevant to the lives of disabled
and chronically ill people, including the ADA and roles of helping
professionals. This program is for anyone who wants to learn how to do
practical philosophy, reflect on chronic illness and disability in particular,
and think about significant difference. Program content relates to careers in
counseling, social work, health care, social justice activism and public policy
development. Credit will be awarded in ethics, political philosophy, and
chronic illness and disability studies.
Guiding Questions
What do we as human beings owe each other? How do significant differences — especially those in physical or mental abilities, or in physical or mental health — impact our obligations and our responsibilities to each other? How can we best give and receive from each other in emotionally charged circumstances? How does our perception of ourselves as healthy or ill, abled or disabled, affect our sense of self, our identity, and the meaning we find in our lives and those of others? How do we define health, and happiness? Does significant difference significantly affect our definitions?
Important Note
Please abide by the spirit of Evergreen’s air quality policy! This means refraining from wearing “scented products” — natural or artificial perfume or fragrances — to class, or in any public space on campus. (Cologne, aftershave, hair spray, anti-static dryer sheets, strong-smelling lotions and some brands of deodorant are frequent sources of problematic scents that may also be allergens. Products without fragrance are available in many brands.) Also, please do not come to class in smoke-saturated clothing (tobacco or wood smoke), or hand in written work on paper or in folders or notebooks that smell of tobacco or wood smoke. The full text of the official Evergreen policy can be accessed at http://www.evergreen.edu/user/pol_proc/g-air.htm .
By the end of the quarter, each of us will be farther along in her or his ability to be mindful, both intellectually and emotionally, in our social and professional interactions with people significantly different from ourselves, and in emotionally-charged circumstances.
In addition, each of us will have a better understanding of the following, as measured by improved ability to apply relevant concepts to practical situations:
Social contract theories of ethics (concerning the nature of our rights and duties)
Virtue ethics (concerning the nature of the good life and ideals of character)
The social construction of difference, especially chronic illness and disability
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Selected concepts of “self”, “identity,” and “health in illness/disability”
Selected issues and techniques in communicating across significant difference
By the end of the quarter, each of us will have improved his or her abilities to:
“Upper
division” is a designation on the faculty evaluation of student (that is, the
official record of your credit earned), which indicates that your performance
was at the junior/senior undergraduate level. There is no requirement to earn any
upper-division credit in order to graduate, unless you are pursuing a B.S.
degree — in which case, you need 45 upper-division science credits, which we
cannot award in this program. If you are planning to attend graduate school in
any field (not just science), you may decide that you want to upper-division
credit to show on your transcript.
Individual Evergreen faculty have different policies regarding upper-division credit. Some faculty never designate any credit as upper-division, preferring to reflect the quality of the students’ work in the evaluations themselves. Some faculty prefer to ask students to successfully complete extra work, rather than or in addition to performance at a certain level. It’s important to remember that, like credit in general, “upper division” must be earned — it’s not automatically awarded because a particular course or program is designed as an upper-division course. (And you may be able to earn it in a “lower division” course, depending on the faculty.) If you are interested in upper-division credit, please let us know by Wednesday, April 9. We will discuss specific requirements with you at that point. But in general, we will expect your attendance and spoken and written work to reflect and demonstrate a deeper level of engagement with course content and with learning than is generally expected of first and second year students.
You are expected to write a formal self-evaluation and an evaluation of faculty for your seminar leader. Please include your self-evaluation in your portfolio (due Wednesday, June 4). You may submit your evaluation of faculty directly to Sharon Wendt, program secretary, located at Library 3225. Please note that our evaluation of you will reference your self-evaluation, and Evergreen will not consider your transcript complete without it. Please take special care with the grammar and spelling of all evals you write; when you apply for a job or for graduate school, others will read them to determine your skill in writing. Your evals also become part of faculty hiring portfolios read by Evergreen deans.
o Evaluations are to be placed on the proper forms, available in Library 1414 (Student Support Services), on computers at Evergreen computer centers, and at http://www.evergreen.edu/ academiccomputing/download.htm. (But don’t wait until the last minute and expect to grab them off the web address on your home computer – many people have trouble accessing the forms this way.)
We will also give you a student evaluation of the program to fill out during class time. This document is not official, and is your chance to provide feedback on the course materials, content, etc.
Faculty Evaluations of Students
Our overall assessment of your work will be based primarily on the fact and quality of your participation during class sessions and activities, and on your portfolio of written work. Evaluations for students in half-time programs are generally one paragraph long. We plan to base our official evaluation of your work in the course learning objectives above.
Course
Requirements and Credit Policy
· Attendance at all class sessions, if at all possible. However, please do not come to class when you are contagious! And you must make the decision about where attendance fits into the management of your condition, if you are a person living with CID. One “free” absence (no make up) per quarter is our standard policy. For additional misses, it is your responsibility to initiate a make-up conversation with your seminar faculty. We reserve the right to accept work instead of attendance for one additional missed class only (that’s two total) before reducing the amount of credit awarded to you at the end of the quarter. Again, it’s up to you to initiate a “make up” discussion with faculty.
Please remember . . .
· Attendance does not by itself guarantee credit or a good faculty evaluation of student, which students earn through active participation, grasp of course content as demonstrated in verbal and written work, and projects (when applicable).
· Faculty in Evergreen’s Evening and Weekend Studies programs and courses cannot award incompletes. Credit awards are made at the end of Week 10. The amount and type of credit will be based on the amount and type of work successfully completed at that time. If you need a particular type of credit -- including upper division credit, or credit with a certain title -- please negotiate this with your seminar faculty early in the quarter.
· The campus air quality policy makes presence in Evergreen’s classrooms possible for a number of students and faculty who could not otherwise be there.
Thanks!
Class
Meeting Times
|
Week |
Date |
Day |
Time |
Due |
Class Session Content |
|
|
|
Week 1 |
Apr 2 |
Wed |
6 to 10 pm |
0 pages reading |
Introduction to program, participants, concepts |
|
|
|
Apr 5 |
Sat |
9:30 to 4:30 |
43 pages reading 1-2 page paper |
Computer workshop Doing philosophy Concepts related to ethics and philosophy |
|
||
|
Week 2 |
Apr 9 |
Wed |
6 to 10 pm |
41 pages reading 1-2 page paper |
What are chronic illness and disability? |
|
|
|
NO SATURDAY CLASS |
|||||||
|
Week 3 |
Apr 16 |
Wed |
6 to 10 pm |
47 pages reading 1-2 page paper |
Intro to American with Disabilities Act Rawls,
from Political Liberalism |
|
|
|
Apr 19 |
Sat |
9:30 to 4:30 |
38 pages reading |
Doing philosophy: ADA & social contract theory Rawls, from A Theory of Justice |
|
||
|
Week 4 |
Apr 23 |
Wed |
6 to 10 pm |
45 pages reading 1-2 page paper |
Experiencing CID selections from Habermas |
|
|
|
NO SATURDAY CLASS |
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|
Week 5 |
Apr 30 |
Wed |
6 to 10 pm |
25 pages reading |
Negotiating Self and Identity in CID MacIntyre,
from After Virtue |
|
|
|
May 3 |
Sat |
9:30 to 4:30 |
135 pages reading |
Negotiating Self and Identity in CID MacIntyre, Dependent Rational Animals |
|
||
|
Week 6 |
May 7 |
Wed |
6 to 10 pm |
61 pages reading 1-2 page paper |
Virtue Ethics: The Virtues CID as difference |
|
|
|
NO SATURDAY CLASS |
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|
Week 7 |
May 14 |
Wed |
6 to 10 pm |
28 pages reading 1-2 page paper |
Virtue Ethics: Virtues in relation to
others
Relating to Difference in
Practitioner/Client Setting
|
|
|
|
May 17 |
Sat |
9:30 to 4:30 |
51 pages reading |
Doing
philosophy: Exploring professional/client relationships |
|
||
|
Week 8 |
May 21 |
Wed |
6 to 10 pm |
18 pages reading 1-2 page paper |
Is difference valuable? Doing
philosophy: Reconciling the public and the private |
|
|
|
NO SATURDAY CLASS |
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|
Week 9 |
May 28 |
Wed |
6 to 10 pm |
51 pages reading 1-2 page paper Presentation (or 5/31) |
Presentations Doing philosophy: A case study exploring the concept of “human” (Part 1) |
|
|
|
May 31 |
Sat |
9:30 to 4:30 |
31 pages reading Presentation (or 5/28) |
Presentations Doing philosophy: A case study exploring the concept of “human” (Part 2) |
|
||
|
Week 10 |
June 4 |
Wed |
6 to 10 pm |
0 pages reading Portfolio due |
Wrap up |
|
|
|
NO SATURDAY CLASS |
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|
Wk 11 |
June 9 –13 EVALUATION APPOINTMENTS AND GRADUATION |
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|
Evergreen’s ·
Interdisciplinary
learning
·
Learning across significant
differences |
|
|
|
Expectations of an Evergreen
Graduate 1. Articulate and assume responsibility for your own work ·
Conducting an
individually directed research project ·
Maintaining an
up-to-date portfolio and academic plan 2. Participate
collaboratively and responsibly in our diverse society ·
Conducting internships and community service projects 3. Communicate creatively and effectively ·
Presenting in a
public forum ·
Creating works of
art, music or poetry ·
Demonstrating
information literacy 4. Demonstrate integrative, independent and critical
thinking Writing about,
discussing, analyzing scientific research articles, mathematical proofs,
charts Writing about,
discussing, analyzing works of art, performance, arguments 5.
Apply qualitative, quantitative, and
creative modes of inquiry appropriately Making estimates and
critically evaluating their limits of validity
Formulating good questions based on need for information; identifying
potential 6.
As a culmination of your education,
demonstrate depth, breadth, and synthesis of learning and the
ability to reflect on the personal and social significance of that
learning Generate theoretical
models, compare predictions with observations Understand issues of
academic freedom, copyright, and plagiarism Create written work or works of art Write a summative
self evaluation |