- How Many Posts: The minimum number of critical comments posted to the Philosophy Forum is one post per week. In order to obtain full credit for posting, the comment should demonstrate knowledge, insight, and awareness into the reading or lecture for the week.
- Subject of Posts: For full credit, be sure the subject of the post reflects the content of your post and as precisely as possible. In this manner, specific posts can be much more easily located. Avoid relative subject titles such as ``Test,'' ``Post,'' ``Question,'' ``Chapter 3,'' ``Comment,'' ``Week 2,'' ``Question,'' or ``Weeks' Reading'' which carry little information as to content. Construct a topic which accurately portrays the content of the message such as "Why Be Moral,'' ``The Soul in Socrates,'' or even use abbreviations such as ``Hard/Soft Determinism Diff?.'' (Choosing a title is difficult since the Philosophy Forum program limits the number of letters in a title.)
Rather than just naming the subject as very general category such as the name of a chapter or the name of a philosopher, please take a moment to state the subject more specifically as shown in the examples above. (I realize precise subjects are difficult to compose because of the text-length limitation of the Philosophy Forum Program).
- Comments: The comment should give reasons supporting the point of the post. Try to avoid comments such as ``I agree with'' ``I disagree with,'' ``I believe,'' or ``I feel'' unless reasons are given explaining why you agree or disagree. Please be careful not to write for a specific already established discussion thread ``I agree with everybody'' since usually different points of view have been presented. Philosophy is based on rational discourse rather than feelings of likes or dislikes. Do not state your religious beliefs unless you are providing objectively rational or empirical evidence or support for your views. For the purposes of this course, reason through problems without relying on religious beliefs.
Comments should be critical and show a serious attempt to understand the philosophy presented for the week. Statements of agreement or disagreement with the readings must be accompanied by reasons, grounds, or evidence for your view. Try to avoid personal stories unless they give insight into the philosophy. It is always relevant to state difficulty in understanding after an attempt to explicate a philosophical point of view in your own words. Asking for confirmation of your interpretation of the author is a standard way of posting.
- Threaded Messages: If your comment is in relation to another post, click on the blue hyperlink ``Reply'' just above the message you are commenting on. You can practice such threaded messages anonymously by not logging in and using the Testing Lounge Area at the top of the Philosophy Forum Board.
- Read All Messages: Answers to questions on tests appear on the Philosophy Forum. Many times in the past students have missed questions on a test even though they have been clearly answered on the Philosophy Forum.
- How to Copy and Paste: You can ``copy and paste" your message into the ``Message Body" area, if you want to compose it separately in a word processing program or text editor. With your mouse, highlight the text in your word processing program, and for the Copy, press the Control Key and the letter ``C'' at the same time. For the Paste, click the mouse anywhere in the Message Body area, and press the Control Key and the letter ``V'' at the same time.
- Late Posts or Working Ahead: Important! No credit is given for posts on readings from past or for future weeks since the value of posting is for class discussion and understanding of current topics rather than based on already considered or topics yet to be assigned. Much of the learning from the online course comes through the discussion with class members. 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 less insightful. You are free to read ahead so long as discussion comments and tests are completed in accordance with the course assignment schedule. It's a good idea to post more than the minimum number of posts just in case one or more of your posts are not critical. Also, you are encouraged to consult as many of the recommended links and sources listed in the course notes and tutorials as is necessary for clear understanding as well as providing information for helpful comments on the Philosophy Forum.
Again posting once a week is not a guarantee that you will receive full credit for posting. Note that your post must have critical content of some kind-even if your post is to ask for help in understanding a philosopher or reading.
For information on how to post messages to the Philosophy Forum, see the Section ``Philosophy Forum'' in 3.8.
