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Philosophy 102: WebCT Introduction to Philosophical Inquiry
Frequently Asked Questions

Table of Contents

1. How do I log on to Blackboard?
2. Where do I find out my Blackboard password?
3. This online course is confusing. Can you please email me and tell me what I supposed to do?
4. How do I use Lander email. My email account doesn't work. What do I do now?
5. Can I read ahead and finish the class or the message board posts early? How can I  make up late or missed message board posts?
6. I don't use Microsoft Word so my tests are not DOC files. Can I just cut and paste the test into the email message itself?
7. How can I know how many times I have posted to the Discussion Board?
8. Why do I have to fill out a profile page? Where is it anyway?
9. Do I have to give personal information on the profile page?
10. What is the purpose of this course?
11. What kinds of things are studied?
12. Is Introduction to Logic a prerequisite for this course? Does this course fulfill any University requirements? 
13. My advisor says this course does not fulfill the logical and analytical thought General Elective Requirement.  Why not? It's a philosophy course.
14. How to I get extra-credit in this course?
15. What counts as a good essay answer on tests? Could you give me some examples? 
16. If I do the objective questions on tests by myself, how could you possibly tell if other students are academically dishonest and work together?

  https://mylander.lander.edu/cp/home/displaylogin

The MyLander portal uses one User Name/one Password logon for Lander University-related accounts: Bearcat Web, Blackboard (WebCT), and your Lander Webmail.

For additional help in logging in to WebCT, see this page which should be updated on a regular basis:  Lander University WebCT Log In .

"The first part of your Lander University issued email address is your Blackboard ID. For example, if your Lander student email address is sarah.field@lander.edu , your User Name is sarah.field. Your Password is your Bearcat PIN number.

Where do I go to log in?

From Lander's homepage, you can click on the Blackboard icon on the right side of the page.  You can also type in the following address in the address field of your Internet browser  to access Lander's Portal:
 https://mylander.lander.edu/cp/home/displaylogin."

From Blackboard at Lander University
 

Start with the ReadMe1 file on the on the philosopher server here: Homepage for WebCT Online Philosophy Course. Then during the first week do the following one step at a time:

(1) Read the ReadMe1 file.
(2) Read and print out the Syllabus.
(3) Print out the Course Schedule.
(4) Register for the mwforum Discussion Board.
(5) Begin the assigned reading.

Log into Bearcat Web and you can access your email account information under the link "Personal Information." More information about your account is given here and here with the email policy by the Office of Information Technology Services.

First check to see if you have typed your email address correctly.  Approximately, 30% of email addresses are mistyped.  

Second make sure you have deleted all unnecessary messages in your Inbox so that there is still room left to receive email. 

To verify that your email account works, email a test message to yourself from a friend's email account or some other account you have set up from another vendor. Highest rated free email accounts are G-mail, Hotmail, and Yahoo.

Much of the learning from the online course comes through the discussion with class members.  The Philosophy Forum message board is the online equivalent of class participation in an on-campus course. Just as an absent student cannot contribute to a class, so likewise a late post on an old topic cannot shed light on the next week's assignments. 

If students were to work through the readings at different times, the current discussion topics would be disparate and the depth of discussion would be scattered and lessened.  For this reason, there are no make-ups for missed message board posts. 

Often students who wait until just before posts for the week are due are unable to post in time because some unexpected situation comes up.  It's always a good idea to post as you read throughout the week not only to insure you have adequate time in which to post but also to insure that you can get feedback on your posts.  Posting just before the deadline results in few, if any, persons reading a post on that subject in the subsequent week when the posting topics are different.

You are free to read ahead so long as discussion comments and tests are completed according to the Assignment Schedule. The readings listed in the Course Schedule are the minimum number of readings for this course; you are encouraged to consult as many  of the  recommended links and sources listed in the course notes and tutorials.

You do not have to use MS Word for this course.  In your word processing program, with the document you are working on open, click on "File" and then click on "Save As."  Click on the down arrow in the File Type drop-down box and choose "DOC."  If "DOC' happens not to be listed, then choose the rich text alternative "RTF."  The screenshot below illustrates the process with OpenOffice:

Do not cut and past the file into the text of the email.  I use the files to insert  comments and evaluation, to save them to hard disc for plagiarism checks, and occasionally to look at the hidden meta-data file information to verify originality and date of composition.

If you click ``Options,'' you can find out how many times you have posted as well as find out about other personal data. To do so, click ``Info'' on the same line as your username on the Profile page. Next, click on the ``Posts'' link for a list of all your messages. For more information read the topic "mwforum Discussion Board" in the WebCT Syllabus.

 When you log in to the mwforum Philosophy Message Board for the first time, you must enter personal information on your Profile page. To accomplish this, log in to the mwforum Message Board and click on the "Option" link at the top of the page.

When the Profile page loads, you can change your password to a more easily remembered password if you wish to do so. Choose a simple easily remembered password and record the password in your philosophy notebook.

Also, on this page, be sure to enter your real name so that your posts can be credited. Unless your real name is recorded here on the Profile Page, credit might not be assigned to your posts since the recording program does not have a name assigned to the post.

For more information, read the topic "Profile Page" in the WebCT Syllabus.

You need to state your full name, and you should simplify your password.  All other information should be kept blank if you wish it to be confidential.  Your full name needs to be on the Profile Page so that your posts and comments can be credited. If you hide your email address, other persons who wish to respond to your post cannot do so directly. (Sometimes someone might want to respond to your posts, but does not want to do so publicly.)

The specific purposes of Introduction to Philosophic Inquiry are:

[1] to learn to identify arguments, to evaluate and counter them, and to construct good arguments,
[2] to obtain the ability to relate arguments to one another and to appreciate persistent, sustained thought on a topic,
[3] to analyze philosophical essays and obtain facility in the clear, complete, and methodical statement of personal views,
[4] to obtain the ability to justify and defend personal views once they are clearly and completely stated and to develop a personal ideology,
[5] to gain skill in asking interesting, productive, and insightful questions,
[6] to recognize how all aspects of living are rationally and causally interrelated,
[7] to recognize the difference between a thoughtful question and a philosophic problem,
[8] to study classic, influential, and abiding arguments concerning the structures of knowledge, belief, and value,
[9] to understand how concepts can be systematically clarified through philosophical analysis, and
[10] to apply usefully the several methods of philosophical reasoning in everyday life and ordinary language.

The general purpose of Introduction to Philosophical Inquiry is to introduce some of the main problems of philosophy, including

w Are ethical principles relative?
w Are all persons really at heart egoistic?
w What are the best proofs for God’s existence?
w How can truth be established?
w Are there causal determinants of choice?
w Of what does reality exist?
w Are ethical and artistic judgments subjective?
w Is there a purpose and meaning to life?

In this Introduction to Philosophical Inquiry you will learn how to inquire into complex problems and begin to formulate your own philosophy. You will learn effective methods of inquiry, analysis, and criticism.

Philosophy 102: Introduction to Philosophical Inquiry has no prerequisite.  This course complements Philosophy 103: Introduction to Logic but you need not have taken that course to do well in the Introduction to Logic course. They are entirely independent courses.

Philosophy 102: Introduction to Philosophical Inquiry meets the Humanities General Elective Requirement for many majors.

Philosophy 102: Introduction to Philosophical Inquiry does not meet the logical and analytical thought requirement, although it does meet the humanities elective requirement for many majors.

This logic course is sometimes confused with Philosophy 103: Introduction to Logic, which does meet the logical and analytical thought requirement for many majors.

Extra credit as make-up work is not offered in this class for two main reasons. First,  extra or ``replacement'' work is less important than the topics chosen and scheduled for this class, and second,  extra credit is not an adequate substitute for the learning basic ideas of the course. Additionally, the offering of extra credit often conflicts with the legal and ethical requirements of equal opportunity since all persons have the right to the same class policies.

In general, answering essay questions on tests should be similar to writing a paper where you reconstruct the philosophies in terms of your own thought and words. Clarify your understanding of the question carefully, as if you were explaining the philosophy slowly and carefully to a younger brother or sister.

If the question asks for your own analysis, then feelings, religious beliefs, and political views should be totally avoided unless you give good logical reasons, verifiable empirical evidence, or insightful examples supporting your views. In general, for an adequate answer to test questions about 400 to 450 words are necessary to cover the scope of the questions asked.

There are two detailed analyses of the grading of example essay questions available for this course:

(1) Essay examples analyzed from the point of view of specific criteria and ranked from exceptionally good to very poor with respect to a question on  Paley's Design Argument. 

(2) Essay examples ranked according to criteria with respect to a question on James' Significance of Life.

Whether or not students work together on objective questions can be often known conclusively through statistical tests, if the questions are well-designed.

If academic honesty could not be checked, I would not use this method of testing for an open-book test. (Even so, since so many students have not passed the course recently, I strongly recommend that if you are a student who doubts the efficacy of the software that you do your own research on the question or calculate the probabilities for yourself.)