Philosophy: The Big Picture

About This Course

This course will take you on an exciting adventure that covers more than 2500 years. Along the way, you’ll run into some very strange characters. For example, you’ll read about a man who hung out on street corners, barefoot and dirty, pestering everyone he met with questions. You’ll read about another man who climbed inside a stove to think about whether he existed. Despite their odd behavior, these and other philosophers of the Western world are among the most brilliant and influential thinkers of all time. As you read about them, you’ll see where many of the most fundamental ideas of Western civilization came from. You’ll also get a chance to ask yourself some of the same questions these great thinkers pondered. At the end, you’ll have a better understanding of yourself and the world around you, from atoms to outer space and everything in between. Prerequisites:  None

Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to...

• Define philosophy
• Describe what philosophers study
• Identify questions that philosophers ask
• Explain what it means to do philosophy
• State what philosophy can do for you
• Explain why myth has been called the “cradle of philosophy”
• Describe how Western philosophy first began in ancient Greece
• List some of the questions that the earliest philosophers pondered
• Identify pre-Socratic philosophers and state how they answered the questions
• Explain how the earliest philosophers laid the foundations for science
• Give an overview of the classical period of ancient Greece
• Describe Socrates’ life and the Socratic method
• Outline the events of Plato’s life and his main ideas
• Summarize Aristotle’s life and his major contributions
• State the general aims of Hellenistic philosophy
• Describe the philosophy of cynicism
• List the ideas of the Epicureans
• Describe stoic philosophy
• Identify the basic views of the skeptics
• Describe the rise of Christianity in Medieval Europe
• List the main influences on philosophy during the Middle Ages
• Explain how Saint Augustine defended the Catholic Church
• Describe the scholastic philosophy of Saint Anselm
• Identify the contributions of Saint Thomas Aquinas
• Outline major changes that occurred in Europe from 1400 to 1800
• Identify influences on Renaissance philosophers such as Erasmus
• Describe the rationalist philosophies of Descartes and Spinoza
• Describe the empiricist philosophies of Locke and Hume
• Explain how Kant combined rationalism and empiricism
• Describe approaches to philosophy that began in 19th century Europe
• List the main contributions of the German philosopher Georg Hegel
• Summarize the philosophies of Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche
• Identify the main ideas of Karl Marx and Jeremy Bentham
• Describe the philosophy of pragmatism
• Summarize an overview of analytic philosophy
• List the basic tenets of phenomenology
• Identify the main ideas of existentialism
• State how philosophy has changed your thinking

Course Outline:

Unit 1: The World of Wonder

Unit 2: From Mythology to Philosophy

Unit 3: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

Unit 4: Hellenistic Philosophy: How Can Humans Be Happy?

Unit 5: Christianity and Philosophy in the Middle Ages

Unit 6: The Rise of Modern Western Philosophy

Unit 7: Western Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century

Unit 8: Western Philosophy in the Twentieth Century

Resources Included: Online lesson instruction and activities, opportunities to engage with a certified, online instructor and classmates, when appropriate, and online assessments to measure student performance of course objectives and readiness for subsequent academic pursuits.

Additional Costs: None

Scoring System: Michigan Virtual does not assign letter grades, grant credit for courses, nor issue diplomas. A final score out of total points earned will be submitted to your school mentor for conversion to their own letter grading system.

Time Commitment: Semester sessions are 18-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1 or more hours per day in the course to be successful. Summer sessions are 10 weeks long: Students must be able to spend a minimum of 2 or more hours per day, or about 90 hours during the summer, for the student to be successful in any course. Trimester sessions are 12-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1.5 or more hours per day in the course to be successful.

Technology Requirements: Students will require a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube.

Please review the Michigan Virtual Technology Requirements: https://michiganvirtual.org/about/support/knowledge-base/technical-requirements/

Instructor Support System: For technical issues within your course, contact the Customer Care Center by email at CustomerCare@michiganvirtual.org or by phone at (888) 889-2840.

Instructor Contact Expectations: Students can use email or the private message system within the Student Learning Portal to access highly qualified teachers when they need instructor assistance. Students will also receive feedback on their work inside the learning management system. The Instructor Info area of their course may describe additional communication options.

Academic Support Available: In addition to access to a highly qualified, Michigan certified teacher, students have access to academic videos and outside resources verified by Michigan Virtual. For technical issues within the course, students can contact the Michigan Virtual Customer Care by email at customercare@michiganvirtual.org or by phone at (888) 889-2840.

Required Assessment: Online assessments consist of formative and summative assessments represented by computer-graded multiple choice, instructor-graded writing assignments including hands-on projects, model building and other forms of authentic assessments.

Technical Skills Needed: Basic technology skills necessary to locate and share information and files as well as interact with others in a Learning Management System (LMS), include the ability to:

• Download, edit, save, convert, and upload files
• Download and install software
• Use a messaging service similar to email
• Communicate with others in online discussion or message boards, following basic rules of netiquette
• Open attachments shared in messages
• Create, save, and submit files in commonly used word processing program formats and as a PDF
• Edit file share settings in cloud-based applications, such as Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
• Save a file as a .pdf
• Copy and paste and format text using your mouse, keyboard, or an html editor’s toolbar menu
• Insert images or links into a file or html editor
• Search for information within a document using Ctrl+F or Command+F keyboard shortcuts
• Work in multiple browser windows and tabs simultaneously
• Activate a microphone or webcam on your device, and record and upload or link audio and/or video files
• Use presentation and graphics programs
• Follow an online pacing guide or calendar of due dates
• Use spell-check, citation editors, and tools commonly provided in word processing tool menus
• Create and maintain usernames and passwords

Additional Information: None