MIDTERM REPORT PRESENTATIONS

We'll begin in March with 3 or 4 ten-minute presentations per class. If you have a topic preference, indicate it in a comment below. (Include your section #.) Otherwise, topics will be assigned. Post your request by Feb 24, the complete schedule will be announced here Friday the 26th. Everyone in each section should have a different topic, or at least focus on a different aspect of their topic (coordinate your report with classmates working on similar topics, to avoid redundancy).

Some possible topics:

• George Berkeley's idealistic empiricism
• David Hume's skeptical empiricism
• Leibniz vs. Voltaire and the "best of possible worlds"
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau's social contract
• Immanel Kant's "Copernican Revolution"
• Immanuel Kant's "Categorical Imperative"
• Jeremy Bentham's "Felicific Calculus"
• Hegel's "Zeitgeist"
• Arthur Schopenhauer's Pessimistic Philosophy 
• John Stuart Mill's On Liberty
• Charles Darwin's impact on philosophy
• Soren Kierkegaard's "Leap of Faith"
• Karl Marx's utopian vision
• Charles Sanders Peirce's pragmatic philosophy 
• William James's pragmatism
• Nietzsche's"Ubermensch"
• Nietzsche's "Eternal Recurrence"
• Freud's theory of the unconscious and dream symbolism
• Bertrand Russell's "Why I Am Not a Christian"
• Bertrand Russell's "Conquest of Happiness"
• A.J. Ayer's Logical Positivism
• Jean-Paul Sartre's Existentialism
• Simone de Beauvoir's Feminist Existentialism and "The Second Sex"
• Albert Camus's Myth of Sisyphus
• John Rawls's Theory of Justice
• Alan Turing and Artificial Intelligence
• Peter Singer's ethics
• [Topics in How the World Thinks, Fantasyland]

Your report should tell us more about your topic than is mentioned in our texts. In other words, do some research. You can share your screen and show us a powerpoint or prezi (etc.) or video excerpt, if you like... or you can just talk to us, extemporaneously or from notes or a script. 

In addition to the presentation, post a brief summary including sources (which you can cite via hyperlinks embedded in your text) and a couple of discussion questions. You're in charge of the discussion, during and/or after your presentation. Have fun, and teach us something.

You'll need to become an author on the CoPhi site prior to your presentation date, so you can post your summary. Send me an email to request an author invitation. Phil.Oliver@mtsu.edu.

And it should go without saying: when presenting, turn your camera on.

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MIDTERM REPORT PRESENTATIONS

Mar 2 #4 Haven, Leibniz/Voltaire; Austin, Locke’s social contract; Caleb Conder, George Berkeley’s idealistic empiricism; James Currie, David Hume’s skeptical empiricism. #7 Jacob, George Berkeley; William W., Leibniz/Voltaire; Branesha, David Hume; Nicholas, Rousseau’s Social Contract. #8 John, George Berkeley; Kyla, David Hume; Jasmine G, Leibniz/Voltaire; Noah, Rousseau’s Social Contract

Mar 4 (Kant, Bentham, Hegel, Schopenhauer) #4 Kassidy, Schopenhauer; Ashley Wagner, Kant; Justin C., Bentham; Urielle, Hegel. #7 Paroh, Schopenhauer's pessimism; Janai, Kant; Koltin, Bentham; Alexis, Hegel. #8 Cameron, Kant; _____, Bentham; Colby, Hegel; Jonathan, Schopenhauer

T 9 Mill, Darwin, Kierkegaard, Marx-LH 24-27, FL 21-22, HWT 23-24. #4 Gracie, Marx's vision; Patrick S, Mill; Archie, Kierkegaard; Karter S, Darwin. #7 Vernon, Kierkegaard’s “Leap”; Sydney, Marim, Darwin's impact; Andrew, Marx's vision; Aaron, Mill. #8 Aalayis, Darwin; Joshua, Kierkegaard's "Leap of Faith"; Patrick, Karl Marx's Utopian Vision; Andrew L., Mill.

Th 11 Peirce & James, Nietzsche, Freud-LH 28-30, FL 23-24, HWT 25-26. #4 Prophetess, Nietzsche's Eternal Recurrence; Brandon, Nietzsche’s Ubermensch; Graham, Peirce; Kendall, Freud. #7 Austin, Nietzsche; Raegan, Freud; Caitlin, Wm James; #8 Matthew, Nietzsche's "Eternal Recurrence"; Sean, Nietzsche’s Ubermensch; Keylee, Nietzsche on morality; Rebecca, Freud

Mar 23 (Russell, Ayer, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus) #4 Chloe, Bertrand Russell's "Why I Am Not a Christian"; Jasmine, Russell’s Conquest of Happiness; Dylan, Sartre’s Existentialism; Ashley, Simone de Beauvoir's feminist existentialism #7 Morgan, Russell's Conquest of Happiness; Ash Warner, Sartre’s Existentialism; Kallie, Ayer; Porter, Camus #8 Pai Ning, "Why I am Not a Christian" by Bertrand Russell; Derica, Russell’s Conquest of Happiness; Amanual, A.J.Ayer; Ivan, Camus

Mar 25 (Wittgenstein, Arendt, Popper & Kuhn, Foot & Thomson) #4 Tyanna, Wittgenstein; Matah, Hannah Arendt; Alayna, Popper's & Kuhn's philosophy of science; Lisa, Foot's & Thompson's thought experiments #7 Ahmad, Wittgenstein; Karson, Hannah Arendt; Ryan, “deterritorialization”; Austin D., Foot's & Thompson's thought experiments #8 Kevin Pierce, Wittgenstein (or Socrates?); Liam, Hannah Arendt (or Cosmic Philosophy); Connor, Pascal’s Wager

Mar 30 (Rawls, Turing & Searle, Singer) #4 Jacob, Alan Turing and Artificial Intelligence; Ethan, Rawls's Justice; Kirolos, Peter Singer; Ernest, Emptiness; #7 Renee, John Rawls & racial inequality/justice; Chris H., Turing & AI; Haley, Peter Singer; Kendra, Gnostic Christians on evil #8 William, Rawls; Carter, Turing & AI; Kelvin, Hector Zagal & Aristotle

April 1 (FL 31-32, WGU -p.122) #4; Sheeven, "Wild" religion (see FL ch.31); Morgan K., Religion in America (see FL ch.32); Dylan, Natality and mortality (see WGU ch.2); Alexondra, Peripatetic philosophy (see Gymnasiums of the Mind) #7 & #8 If you missed your presentation date and would still like to present (and have been approved to do so), you may present your report today.