Philosophy 1630: Requirements
There will be a mid-term examination on 14 October, in class, and a final examination, during the final examination period, on 15 December at 2pm. There will also be nine problem sets.
Final grades will be determined by a variety of factors.
- The first and most important factor is that all of the problem sets must be completed and submitted for marking. I'll let you off once, if you do miss one. Failure to submit all (but one) of the problem sets will automatically lead to a grade of NC. It is, quite simply, impossible to learn this material without doing a lot of problems, and students should actually plan to do a lot more problems than are actually assigned. Please note that the requirement is that the problem sets should be "completed", and by that I mean that one must give them a proper effort. Simply turning in a piece of paper with a few random jottings does not count as completing a problem set.
- If you do all of the problem sets, then it is impossible to do worse in this class than you do on the final exam. That is: If you get an A on the final (and have turned in all the problem sets), you will get an A for the course; if you get a B on the final, you cannot get worse than a B for the course, though you can still get an A, if other factors suggest an A strongly enough.
- It is impossible to fail the class if you give it what I regard as a proper effort.
- A presumptive grade will be determined by performance on the two exams, with about twice as much weight being given to the final. Borderline cases will be decided by performance on the problem sets. Exceptionally good or bad performance on the problem sets may move a grade up or down.
Problem sets are due in class on the day specified on the syllabus. I will not accept late problem sets. On the other hand, you will find that I am quite prepared to grant extensions, so long as they are requested in advance, that is, at least twenty-four hours prior to the class in which the problem set is due. Extensions will not be granted after that time except in very unusual and unfortunate circumstancess. Please note: Because I am so willing to grant extensions, exploitation of my reasonableness will be taken badly.
Let me emphasize again something said above. As with any mathematical subject-matter, it is impossible to learn this material without doing a lot of exercises. The book contains many more exercises than are assigned, and students are encouraged to do additional exercises to improve their understanding of the material. Students are also encouraged to work on the problems together—though, of course, submitted material should be a student's own work.