Class: Tu,
W, Th 8:00 – 10:30 in C121 Instructor: Dr. Rob Pfaff
Office
Hours: TuWTh
(and
by appointment)
Office: S 304A
Phone: 866-6380
email: pfaff@saintjoe.edu
This seminar will explore some of the
ethical issues involved in reconciling faith with intellectual pursuits. It should not be necessary to choose one over
the other. Rather, both faith and reason
should point to common truths. This
seminar will look for common goals in seeking truth and at ways of seeking
truth consistent with different fields of study.
The required texts for the course are
available at the College Store:
Jeffrey Olen, Julie C. Van Camp, Vincent
E. Barry, Applying Ethics: A Text with
Readings, 9th ed, Wadsworth, 2007.
Pope
John Paul II, Fides et Ratio / On the
Relationship between Faith and Reason, Pauline Books & Media, 1998.
COVERAGE
The
material will be covered on or about the dates indicated below. If warranted, this schedule may be revised as
the semester progresses. Students may
propose specific topics they want to make sure we cover.
|
Date |
Class Activity |
Graded Work |
|
5/13 |
General Ethics, Olen Chapter 1,
2 |
|
|
5/14 |
General Ethics, Olen Chapters
2, 3 |
|
|
5/15 |
Olen Chapters 6, 8 |
1-Pager 1 due |
|
5/20 |
Olen Chapters 9, 10 |
Research Paper Proposal due Exam |
|
5/21 |
Olen Chapters 11, 12 |
|
|
5/22 |
Fides Chapters 1 –
3 |
1-Pager 2 due |
|
5/27 |
Fides Chapter 4 |
|
|
5/28 |
Fides Chapters 5 –
7 |
|
|
5/29 |
Discussion/Projects/Wrap |
1-Pager 3 due |
|
6/3 |
Library time |
Research Paper Rough Draft due (turnitin) |
|
6/4 |
Library time |
|
|
6/5 |
Research Presentations (if needed) |
|
|
6/10 |
Research Presentations |
|
|
6/11 |
Research Presentations |
|
|
6/12 |
Research Presentations |
Research Paper Final Draft due (turnitin) |
ITEMS FOR GRADING
The
following activities will take place or be due at the times stated above.
|
1
Exam |
50 pts |
|
Research Paper |
200 pts |
|
Oral Research Presentation |
100 pts |
|
3 1-Pager Lit Commentaries |
15 pts ea |
|
Class participation |
100 pts |
Your
grade will be determined from the sum of your scores on the graded work. You
are responsible for topics covered in the texts, even if they are not covered
in class. You are also responsible for
topics covered in class, even if they are not covered in the texts.
We
will begin developing topics for research papers early in the term. Many of the nuts-and-bolts items are addressed
at the end of this outline. The paper is
to be a multidisciplinary exploration of your own values on an ethics issue in
the modern world. I will try to keep you
on task by calling for a proposal and a rough draft of your research paper; you
should reflect on your topic often. On
the rough draft, I will primarily be reading for content and organization of
your work. I will also mark spelling and
grammar errors when I notice them.
However, eliminating typos and grammar and spelling errors from your
final draft is entirely your responsibility.
On
the subject of the research paper, I have been seeing more plagiarism in the
past few years. Therefore, you will
submit both drafts of your research paper to www.turnitin.com. We will discuss this as submission time
approaches.
The
library time referred to in the schedule above needs clarification. I do not mean that we will meet in the
library for those five class periods.
Rather, class will meet only if needed during that time. Instead, we will all spend a lot
of time in the library. Not only will
you be working on your own in the library, but I will work individually with
each of you to ensure you find all the relevant information for your paper.
In addition to turning in the research
paper, you are required to give an oral presentation on your paper to the class
and potentially to outside referees.
Your presentation is to last 20 minutes (you will be penalized for
deviating greatly from the 20 minutes) with a few minutes for questions. As this is the capstone course in your
education at Saint Joe, this presentation is to be formal. As such, think of it as your first big
presentation at your new job. That
includes visual aids, such as PowerPoint, overheads, slides, and/or
handouts. It also includes getting
dressed up (As in ties for the gents and skirts/dresses/nice slacks for the
ladies. Capris and “hip-huggers” are not
professional dress. Suits are always
acceptable…).
The 1-pagers are due each week stated
above. You are to look for an article in
the popular press (news magazines, science magazines, etc.) dealing with an
ethical issue associated with the relationship of faith and reason and write a
short summary of it and a personal commentary on it (minimum one page, hence the
term 1-pager). The only acceptable
newspaper is the Wall Street Journal. No WWW pages may be used, with the exception
of those web pages offering electronic versions of print articles. The key here is that the article needs to
have been subjected to editorial control or peer review. The 1-pager may be hand written but put it on
decent, untorn, 8½” x 11” paper. Attach
a photocopy of the article to it. Note: MSNBC,
CNN, and similar sites are not newsmagazines.
Attendance in class is
essential for making this a successful course.
Therefore, you may miss 1 class during the term without any
penalty. The only limitation is that you
cannot take a free day if you are scheduled to present to the class. For more than 1 absence, your course grade
will be docked 5% per missed day. For
example, if you miss 4 days of class during the semester, 1 is “free,” and the
other 3 will result in a 15% reduction in your semester point total.
The grade cut-offs are
below. The percentage cut-offs apply to
the graded activities as well as to the final grade.
|
Grade |
Percent |
Grade |
Percent |
|
A |
93% |
C+ |
77% |
|
A- |
90% |
C |
73% |
|
B+ |
87% |
C- |
70% |
|
B |
83% |
D+ |
67% |
|
B- |
80% |
D |
60% |
The
exam is to be taken at the scheduled time; 1-pagers and the papers are due at
the beginning of the class period on the due date. Late papers will be docked 20% of their value
for each day (or fraction thereof) they are late, starting at the due time;
therefore, a paper that is 1 hour late will be docked 20%, after 8:00 the next
day, the penalty is 40%, etc. If a
conflict arises which prevents completing a task at the scheduled time, I may,
at my discretion, give an extension.
Requests for extensions must be made prior to the start of the scheduled
due time. A telephone message is
sufficient. Requests made after the
scheduled due time will not be considered.
Also, it is my policy not to approve dropping the course after the
College’s drop date.
I
trust I don’t have to belabor the issues of academic honesty. You are about to enter the professional world
where absolute honesty is expected. And,
after all, this is an ethics class!
Nevertheless, if I become aware of any breech in academic honesty, your
score on the effected task will be reduced to a zero.
If
you are a student with a disability, kindly meet with me immediately to discuss
the accommodations you will need during class activities, examinations, and out
of class assignments in order to participate fully and demonstrate your
abilities.
Research Paper
Guidelines
You will need to
research a topic in the ethics of some societal issue. It does not need to be an issue in volunteerism. I expect to see at least 20 full MEANINGFUL
pages of text, so don’t choose a topic that is too narrow or for which little
information is available. Conversely,
don’t choose a topic so broad that 20 full pages of text is only a superficial
treatment. I will consult on topics, and
give feedback through the two proposal drafts, but the final choice is yours.
This paper is to
be multidisciplinary. That is, it must
cover the issue you choose from at least two academic subject areas
(like law, psychology, biology…whatever are appropriate) as well as ethics.
Further, this is
an objective research paper. You need to
be objective, presenting all sides of the issue. It may lead you to a position, which should
be discussed last, but you may not start the paper from a position.
The structural
rules:
§ The paper is to
have a minimum of 20 full pages of text.
§ Use 8½” x 11”
paper.
§ The margins are
to 1” on all sides.
§ Use 12-point
Times New Roman or 10-point Arial font.
§ It must be
double spaced.
§ The pages must
be numbered.
§ You should have
a cover page with the title, date, and your name.
§ References, illustrations,
etc., should be placed at the end of the paper.
§ You need to have
references, not a bibliography.
Note: Different formats (MLA, APA,
§ Do not overuse
direct quotation. In general, quotation
should only be used if it is historically important or if the quote states an
idea in a particularly poignant way.
Your analysis and synthesis of the information is essential.
§ You must have at
least as many references as you have pages of text. That is, if your paper is 21 pages, you must
have at
least 21 references; if the paper ends up being 25 pages, you must have
at
least 25 references. You don’t
need to introduce a new reference on each page; this just sets the number of
references needed. Also, a reference is
a source document. For example, if you
cite one article or book 15 times, it is still only one reference.
§ Also, even
though some referencing formats don’t require you to list page numbers in the
citations of referenced books, I do.
§ You should use The Everyday Writer to make sure you understand
rules of grammar and citing sources.
Beyond it covering an ethics
topic, your paper should do four things.
First, it should review past knowledge, including theories and
practices, on the topic, that is, give a history of your topic. Second, it should discuss what the current
theories and practices are. Third, it
should present what researchers think the future study of the topic is likely
to reveal. Fourth, discuss how this
topic (its theories, what is known and how it’s studied) fits into your own
value set. That is, from the perspective
of Christian humanism and perhaps with the guidance of your Christian Humanist
Manifesto, analyze and attempt to resolve the issue. Obviously, the history of the topic and the
current theories require references. The
future predictions can be referenced to researchers, but you can also venture
your own predictions. The value
assessment probably won’t be referenced unless you find citations backing up
your beliefs.
For a research paper,
newsmagazines (such as Time and Newsweek), encyclopedias, dictionaries,
and newspapers are NOT acceptable references, except as stated below. Journals, monographs, and higher-level
magazines, such as Scientific American,
American Scientist, and Nature are suitable as references. The key here is that you are to use peer
reviewed literature for your sources.
Webpages in general are not acceptable sources. When in doubt on the suitability of a
reference, please consult me.
Because journals have a
significant lag time in publication, events occurring within the past six
months or so will not yet be in them.
So, for events since
Also recall that
you will submit your paper to www.turnitin.com. We will discuss details of the submission as
the time approaches.