Course Syllabus

Fall 2025 | PHI-1010-VO01 - Introduction to Philosophy

Online Class

Online courses take place 100% online via Canvas, without required in-person or Zoom meetings.

Faculty

Zachary Young
View Faculty Credentials
View Faculty Statement
Hiring Coordinator for this course: Collin Lee

General Education Requirements

Humanistic Perspectives

Note

Many degree programs have specific general education recommendations. In order to avoid taking unnecessary classes, please consult with additional resources like your program evaluation, your academic program catalog year page, and your academic advisor.

Courses may only be used to meet one General Education Requirement.

Course Description

In this course, students explore fundamental issues of philosophy such as existence, the purpose of life, right and wrong, the nature of happiness, appearance and reality, knowledge and speculation. These issues are explored through reading and discussion of major philosophers, ancient through contemporary.

Essential Objectives

1. Identify major trends and issues in philosophical thought.
2. Place major philosophers in historical context.
3. Define and identify examples of major philosophic concerns such as the nature of truth, the investigation of ethical questions, the nature of being and the self and how these concerns apply to social justice problems.
4. Identify themes common to ancient through contemporary philosophic thought.
5. Analyze philosophic problems and positions for applying principles and insights from class readings and discussions.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV computer recommendations Support page.

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

This course only uses free Open Educational Resources (OER) and/or library materials. For details, see the Canvas Site for this class.

Methods

IMPORTANT—This course is designed to not be difficult. If you participate weekly, you might even find that you enjoy the material!

Course Structure & Weekly Topics

- Part I inspired by classical Western philosophy.

- Part II based entirely on C. Robert Mesle’s Process-Relational Philosophy: An Introduction to Alfred North Whitehead (Templeton Press).

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Week 1 – What’s Real and Why Should I Care?
Metaphysics, epistemology, and the origin of philosophy in wonder.

Week 2 – Is Everything Always Changing? Or Is Something Permanent?
Heraclitus and Parmenides on flux, stillness, and the foundations of metaphysics.

Week 3 – Are We Living in a Shadow World?
Plato’s Forms and Aristotle’s substance: two classic visions of reality.

Week 4 – Does Time Mean Anything to God?
Boethius, Augustine, and Aquinas on eternity, divine knowledge, and the structure of existence.

Week 5 – Can You Trust Your Mind?
Descartes, Hume, and Kant on doubt, reason, perception, and the limits of knowledge.

Week 6 – How Do We Find Our Own Voice?
Emerson on Kant, transcendentalism, self-reliance, and the call to trust the inner light.

Week 7 – How Shall We Live Deliberately?
Thoreau on simplicity, conscience, and cultivating a life in harmony with nature and principle.

Week 8 – Midterm Exam

Week 9 – What If Reality Is More Like a Song Than a Machine?
Mesle’s Preface and Chapters 1–2: reality as dynamic becoming, not static being; imaginative generalization as a path to a unified worldview.

Week 10 – Are You Your Mind, Your Body, or Something Else Entirely?
Chapters 3–4: experience as the foundation of existence; the unity of body and mind; “experience all the way down.”

Week 11 – What Is Anything, Really?
Chapters 5–6: process replaces substance; reality as a web of relationships and causal connections; Whitehead in contrast with Hume and Kant.

Week 12 – Is Power About Control—or Connection?
Chapters 7–8: critique of domination, hierarchy, and coercion; relational power as mutual influence, love, and transformation.

Week 13 – Philosophy at the Movies!

Week 14 – What Makes Freedom Possible, and How Do We Speak the Future?
Chapters 9, 10, and Appendix: creativity as the root of freedom; the future of process-relational thought; Whitehead’s terminology and tools for transformation.

Week 15 – Final Exam

Due by 11:59 PM on the last official day of the semester.

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity

Apply Now for this semester.