# First Day

## January 6th, 2020

- We inhabit less of a classroom and more of a sardine-fish training program at the moment; quarters are tight
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- "What's a student doing teaching this class?" Good question!
    - We're being taught today by Professor Andrew Culbreth, who's a Phd. candidate for Philosophy over at Emory University
        - "On Canvas right now it says that Dr. Robert Kirkman is your professor due to a paperwork mix-up, but I'll actually be delivering all the lectures (although he's graciously agreed to handle any questions he receives about the course until we fix things)"
            - Professor Culbreth's taught several courses at Emory and Agnes Scott, but he's excited to be teaching his first course here at Tech!
        - Email: andrew.james.culbreth@emory.edu
            - "By next week, I should have a Georgia Tech email set up instead"
    - So, Professor Culbreth specifically works in the history of philosophy, and even MORE specifically is writing his dissertation on Greek philosophy

- "The course registrar says that this course on Modern Philosophy is SUPPOSED to be from Descartes through to the early 20th century; just as a heads-up right now, we'll actually ONLY be going through to the early 19th century, so if you're interested in people like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Mill, Heidegger, and so forth, we sadly won't get to them"
    - If those names mean NOTHING to you, great! We won't cover them, but we WILL cover many others!

- This is a class called "modern" philosophy, so why are we looking at the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries?
    - In history, the "modern" period is usually seen as the early 1900s; in normal usage, we usually say that RIGHT NOW is a "modern" time
    - In philosophy, though, this period from just after the Renaissance in the 1500s through to the early 1800s is usually called the modern
        - Why? In brief, because the philosophers of this time viewed themselves as reacting against previous philosophers whom they perceived as misguided, and thus as "modern" philosophers
    - We'll particularly focus on the emergence of modern science, and a bunch of questions that arose from that - does science have limits? Are there things it can't understand? Can true knowledge ever actually come from empirical evidence? How do things like universal laws play into the thought of this age?
        - We'll start wrestling with these things right at the start with Descartes and Galileo, and end with Kant, who tried to set science and philosophy on firm logical foundations for the future

- Hopefully in this class you'll see the parallels between the development of philosophy and the development of science, and I hope you come to a greater self-understanding of your own ideas
    - "Even though these people lived hundreds of years ago, it's surprising to see how they're still shaping people's thoughts today"
        - Studying philosophy, too, reminds us that we often take ideas for granted, and need to self-assess things critically
    - This class does NOT assume you've taken a philosophy class before, but it wouldn't hurt; here, we will focus a bit more on the history of philosophy, and refining your arguing skills

- Let's go to logistics!
    - There IS a required textbook for this class, called "Modern Philosophy, 3rd Edition"
        - Most of our readings will be from this, so PLEASE get a copy - you'll actually need it!
    - For course policies, I typically ask that you do NOT use laptops or other technologies in-class
        - As good as students are, computers can be distracting and tempting even to the best of us, and in a discussion-based class like this I'd prefer to keep that to a minimum
        - If there're accessibility concerns over this, PLEASE see me about this if it'll be a real issue, and I can make an exception for you
    - The rest of the course policies are in the syllabus; obviously, I expect you to follow them as grown semi-adults
        - A few relevant ones:
            - You get 2 free unexcused absences; after that, you'll need an excuse or else risk losing quite a bit of your grade
    - Grading-wise, the grades'll be based on:
        - Participation and Attendance (5%)
        - 5 Online "Philosophical Letters" (20%)
            - Here, you'll try to argue for/against a position, "responding" to the readings we do in class via short ~500 word posts
        - 2 Argument Analyses (30%)
            - Here, you identify, analyze, and evaluate specific philosophical arguments in more detail than the letters
        - An In-Class Midterm (20%)
        - A Take-Home Final (25%)
    - Every class, you'll have some readings due (usually 5-10 pages each); the schedule of readings should be on the syllabus
        - There'll be a LOT of readings in this class, and while they're interesting, many of the readings are difficult: they're written in an older style, and often contain pretty intricate arguments
            - "Don't be scared if you read something and it isn't immediately obvious what they mean; this class is supposed to make you better at that stuff, but be aware this class isn't a cakewalk"

- Alright; since this day was really just supposed to be going over the syllabus, we'll get out a little early today! Do your Bacon and Galileo readings for Wednesday, and see you later!