Final Grades

For all my classes final grades were completed yesterday afternoon and they should have rolled over - that is become permanent - at midnight. That means any changes I make will have to be done via the paper chase through the various deans - and will have to wait until they have all returned from the holiday break. If you receive a grade you did not expect please email me and I will explain why the grade entered was what it was. For the most part, those with less than an A received the grade because I was missing work. I understand that some had problems with email and resending your work until I get it - checking to figure out why it is not going through - should do the trick. But it will be after next semester starts before things can be changed. If the various assignments were not finished before the due dates there is no obligation on my part to change the grade but I would much rather everyone get an A if possible. That is just so much nicer for everyone. I did have several students say they did not turn in a term paper. Notice that is worth 25 percent of the grade, so unless there are reasons, without a term paper the grade would be C or lower. Some sent in extra work that might have ameliorated that somewhat. At least one person said they sent everything but all I received were a few quizzes. In such a case a grade of D is my way of avoiding the issues associated with an F and is actually easier to fix if we figure out what happened to all the emails that ended up in the Cloud - which is a real thing now. In any case, I hope everyone has a great holiday break, uses any free time to read more great books, and prepare for next semester. Regarding that, my syllabi are not updated yet but should be available through Blackboard.

Finals week

It has been an exciting week here in Lake Woebegone! We have had a week of finals with only one day left for me - maybe some of you have a Saturday class? In any case, it has been wonderful reading all of the papers as they come in. As usual I am only following the papers that come in. I do not notice the papers that are missing until the last few days when I have to turn in grades and I start going through everything while plugging in the grades on line based on what papers I have. Keep note of any papers you have sent me that I have not responded to since that might mean I didn't get them. You can always resend them. Duplicates are not a problem for me since they can only be saved in one place each and it will be clear that I already have one if I do. My deadline (I hate that word) is Wednesday night. So anything I do not have by Tuesday may not get counted toward your grade and once they are plugged in on line and they "roll over" they are fixed unless we go through a deliberately miserable paper process to change them.

Thursday classes

These are the last meetings prior to finals week when we are on a different schedule. Check the syllabus. The syllabus is right. The quiz question for Introduction to Philosophy today was what movie would you like to see on the final session (if you are coming)? For History of Philosophy the question was, regarding Machiavelli's advice to the Prince, how would youtube videos impact the validity of his advice?

Tuesday classes

For Introduction to Philosophy the quiz question was have you ever felt you and your mother did not understand one another? (This is a play on the hypothesis by Quine called the Indeterminacy of Translation.) For History of Philosophy the question was which movie would you like to watch on the final session?

Tuesday classes before Thanksgiving Holiday

For History of Philosophy on the last lecture discussing Aquinas the question I posed was how does seeing what Aquinas achieved make you feel towards his treatment of dogma? It seems to make it possible for science to be reconciled with scripture through inventive interpretation. What do you think about that? (Or do you disagree with my interpretation of Aquinas?) For Introduction to Philosophy today I asked what everyone plans on doing for Thanksgiving?

Friday Logic

The quiz question today was with regard to a long argument - what are the five major points that Jared Diamond describes as central to whether a civilization survives or fails in his presentation and book Collapse?

Thursday classes

Quiz question for Introduction to Philosophy today was what do you think of Emanuel Swedenborg's claim that he was the Second Coming of Jesus? Quiz question for History of Philosophy - not a very good one I admit - what are your plans for Thanksgiving? (I suppose this is mostly an advertisement to encourage those who can to go to the UAA Thanksgiving Feast from 11 to 1 on Thursday next week at the Gorsuch Commons.