ASSignments

GC1Y 1100 Critical Thinking: SciFi & Philosophy, Fall 2013

Section 20: MW 2:00-3:15PM, Arts & Sciences 353

Section 21: TR 3:30-4:45PM, Arts & Sciences 368

In Class Activities

1. Philosophical Questions and Passages

In order to get to know some of your peers and help everyone become accustomed to discussing philosophical issues, today we're going to

1. divide into groups of 4-5,
2. articulate or extrapolate the key philosophical question posed by the article,
3. explain the article's main philosophical concept, and
4. explicate two significant passages from the article.

Here are the article groups:

1. John Pollock, "Brain in a Vat" (TR 3:30 Natasha Markowich)
2. Nick Bostrom, "Are You in a Computer Simulation?" (MW 2:00 Thomas Ariano)
3. Plato, excerpt from The Republic (TR 3:30 Daniel Wenum)
4. René Descartes, excerpt from The Meditations on First Philosophy
5. David J. Chalmers, "The Matrix as Metaphysics" (MW 2:00 Wesley Lemons)

2. Brainstorming the Philosophical Essay

Spend five minutes on your own brainstorming a possible topic for the upcoming philosophical paper by answering the following questions:

1. What philosophical question(s) does the short story or film pose?
2. What philosophical conflicts or debates does the short story or film illustrate?
3. To what philosophical conclusions does the short story or film come?
4. Which two philosophical essays include concepts that are aptly applied in the short story or film?

Next, find a partner and spend ten minutes sharing and evaluating each others' answers to the above questions.

3. Composing an Annotation for an Annotated Bibliography

After discussing Dark City as a class, let's break into groups of 3-4 in order to practice writing an annotation for the annotated bibliography coming up in the Book Summary and Group Project. Each 75-100 word annotation should summarize and evaluate Knight and McKnight's scholarly journal article "What Is It to Be Human? Blade Runner and Dark City" by

1. identifying the question, issue, or topic that the source is investigating,
2. defining the source's thesis or conclusion regarding Dark City, and
3. explaining how the essay helps your literary and philosophical understanding of Dark City text.

4. Robocop

Let's break into groups of 4-5 members to have a structured discussion of the four main issues of the film. Elect secretaries to report to the class your group's findings on its assigned issue.

1. News and Commercials: What do the news and commercials tell us about the world in which the film is set? How does the dystopic, crime-ridden world contribute to the conflict between technology and humanity?
2. Criminals and Corporations: Describe the criminal and corporate organizations in the film. Compare and contrast their motives and actions, and comment on Rick Jones' employment of Clarence J. Boddicker.
3. Ethics of Policing: Discuss the ethics of privatizing and militarizing the police force. Discuss the ethics of the police force going on strike.
4. Ethics of Technology: Discuss the ethics of creating cyborgs by erasing memories, programming the mind, and replacing body parts with machine parts.

5. Make Up Day (TR 3:30 Section Only)

Due to my attendance at a conference at which I'm presenting a paper, class is cancelled on Thursday, November 5. We will make up the work during Week 13. For Tuesday, November 12, read Golumbia, Golub, Duchesne, and Derecho. In class, you will be divided into groups, collaboratively write an annotation (like the Book Summary and Group Project annotations) on your group's one assigned article, and present your annotation to the class. Then, Group Project 2 Forever War and Group Project Presentation 3 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will present.

Two Discussion Board Responses

The scheduled discussion board responses serve three purposes:

1. to practice responding to philosophical and literary ideas,
2. to share initial understandings of texts to the discussion board the weekend before in-class discussion, and
3. to practice informal presentation skills and direct class discussion.

Philosophical Response

Summarize and evaluate—appreciate and interrogate—one of the philosophical readings for the scheduled day. What is the main idea of the text and how does it function in human life? What questions do you have of the main idea and how do you assess the value and validity of the idea?

Literary/Filmic Response

While avoiding plot summary, analyze the characters and conflicts and posit what main thematic and philosophical ideas the story or film suggests. What are the core issues of the work, and with what philosophical concepts does the work tarry? How do you respond or answer back to the ideas posed by the story?

Informal Presentation

Without simply reading your written response, you will also be responsible for a brief, informal presentation, which should either introduce the philosophical essay by defining key points and terms and main ideas and broaching issues for class discussion or introduce the short story/film by explaining key characters and conflicts and themes and broaching questions for class discussion.

Parameters

• Length: 2-3 pages for the paper, 3-5 minutes for the informal presentation
• Format: MLA style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
• Due Dates:
  • The response is due in two places in GeorgiaVIEW on the Friday before we are scheduled to discuss the text in class.
    • The Philosophical Response is due in both GeorgiaVIEW > Discussions > Discussion Board Response and GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Philosophical Response
    • The Literary/Filmic Response is due in both GeorgiaVIEW > Discussions > Discussion Board Response and GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Literary/Filmic Response.
  • The informal presentation is due on the day we are scheduled to discuss the text in class.
  • If you fail to submit the summary to GeorgiaVIEW Discussions by the day before scheduled class discussion of the work, you will not be allowed to present and you will fail the assignment. It is your responsibility to note the schedule; you will not receive reminders.
• Grades: You will be graded on your ability to analyze the main ideas of the texts as well as informally present those ideas to the class. Retrieve your graded assignment in GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Philosophical or Literary/Filmic Response approximately one week after you present to the class. Due to GeorgiaVIEW limitations, I cannot return your graded paper unless and until you upload it to the Dropbox.

Sign Up

Sign up for two responses, one Philosophical (P) and one Literary/Filmic (L), at least two weeks apart.

 

The syllabus schedule provides complete author and title information regarding the texts below.

 

GAV Due Date	Present-ation Due Date	Text	MW Student	TR Student
F, 8-23	M, 8-26 T, 8-27	1 Pollock, 2 Bostrom, 3 Plato, 4 Descartes, 5 Chalmers	P1 Thomas Ariano	Daniel Wenum
			P2 Wesley Lemons	Natasha Markowich
	W, 8-28 R, 8-29	Bradbury	L1 Anika Snyder	Dylan Browning
		Heinlein, "They"	L2
F, 8-30	T, 9-3	The Matrix	L3 XXX	Taylor Lancaster
			L4 XXX	Joseph Hutto
	W, 9-4 R, 9-5	Inception	L5 Noland Brogdon Charlie Faber	Daniel Jones
			L6 Garret Fricks	Alan Carson
F, 9-6	M, 9-9 T, 9-10	6 Dennett, 7 Olson, 8 Parfit	P3 Taylor Wilson
			P4 Kelli Block
	W, 9-11 R, 9-12	9 Kurzweil, 10 Huemer, 11 Goldman	P5 Blake Nipper	Taylor Lancaster
			P6 Jen Edwards	Bob Podsiadlo
F, 9-13	M, 9-16 T, 9-17	Dick, "Minority..."	L7 Catherine Allen	Crystal Pham
		Dick, "Remember..."	L8 Thomas Ariano	Meg Robinson
F, 9-20	M, 9-23 T, 9-24	Dark City	L9 Nic Stadler	Miranda Austin
			L10 Ryan Butz Katy Gramling	Samantha Barrow Bob Podsiadlo
	W, 9-25 R, 9-26	12 Asimov, 13 Clark, 14 Block	P7 Maddie Kaufman	Dylan Browning
			P8 Elizabeth Kelley	Meg Robinson
F, 9-27	M, 9-30 T, 10-1	15 Clark, 16 Dennett, 17 Kurzweil	P9	Hannah Greene
			P10 Brandon Swords	Charlie Langston
	W, 10-2 R, 10-3	Asimov	L11 Jen Edwards	Brian Warstadt
		Gibson	L12 Maddie Kaufman	Chris Fairey
F, 10-4	M, 10-7 T, 10-8	Blade Runner	L13 Daniel Mills	Brett Johns
			L14 Taylor Wilson Wes Guzman	Zach Brown Ben Blizzard
	W, 10-9 R, 10-10	18 Annas, 19 Schneider, 20 Leslie	P11 Rachel Autrey	Zach Brown
			P12 Lauren Hargrove	Daniel Jones
F, 10-11	W, 10-16 R, 10-17	21 Anderson, 22 Bostrom	P13 Catherine Allen	Samantha Barrow
			P14 Ryan Butz	Brian Warstadt
F, 10-18	M, 10-21 T, 10-22	Wells	L15 Lauren Hargrove	Emily Randall
			L16 Blake Nipper	Hannah Greene
F, 10-25	W, 10-30 R, 10-31	RoboCop	L17	Daniel Wenum
			L18 Rachel Autrey	James Iocovozzi
F, 11-1	M, 11-4 T, 11-5	Belk	P15 Jonathan Kass	Ben Blizzard
		Roesler	P16	Mitch Hammond
	W, 11-6 R, 11-7	Golumbia	P17 Daniel Mills	Marin Becker
		Golub	P18 Garret Fricks	Alan Carson
F, 11-8	M, 11-11 T, 11-12	Duchesne	P19 Jeremy Colwell	Crystal Pham
		Derecho	P20 Kelvin Nwanze	Chris Fairey
	W, 11-13 R, 11-14	Pierson-Smith	P21 Katy Gramling
		Lamerichs	P22 Wes Guzman	James Iocovozzi
F, 11-15	M, 11-18 T, 11-19	23 Bradbury, 24 Sider	P23 Anika Snyder	Miranda Austin
			P24 Charlie Faber	Elliott Greer
	W, 11-20 R, 11-21	25 Lewis, 26 Deutsch, 27 Hanley	P25 Nic Stadler	Brett Johns
			P26	Emily Randall
F, 11-29	M, 12-2 T, 12-3	Heinlein, "Zombies"	L21 Brandon Swords Kelli Block	Elliott Greer
		Spinrad	L22 Kelvin Nwanze Wesley Lemons	Natasha Markowich
	W, 12-4 R, 12-5	La Jetée	L23 Jonathan Kass	Marin Becker
			L24 Jeremy Colwell	Mitch Hammond

Philosophical Essay

We have discussed the nature of reality and the self with the help of philosophers such as Pollock, Bostrom, Plato, Descartes, Chalmers, Dennett, Olson, Parfit, Kurzweil, Huemer, and Goldman. As a class, we have applied their philosophical concepts to short stories by Bradbury, Heinlein, and Dick as well as the films Inception and The Matrix (TR section only). Many of you have written philosophical or literary responses to these texts. For the first formal paper, you will interpret a short story or film through the lens of a philosophical concept in a 4-5 page essay. Choose a short story or film on the syllabus up to Tuesday, September 17. Write a well-focused, well-organized, thesis-driven essay, formatted in MLA style, that combines philosophical and literary analysis of the short story or film, making sure to incorporate pertinent ideas from at least two of the philosophical texts we have read so far. Beside quoting and analyzing significant passages from both philosophical and literary texts, your essay should answer the following questions: What philosophical question(s) does the text pose? What philosophical concept(s) does the text convey? What conflict(s) and theme(s) does the text suggest, and how do the conflict(s) and theme(s) apply the philosophical questions and ideas?

Parameters

• Length: 4-5 pages
• Format: MLA style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
• Due Date: GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Philosophical Essay on Thursday, September 19
• Grades: Your essay will be graded on thesis, organization, understanding of the philosophical concepts and questions, and literary analysis. Retrieve your graded assignment in GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Philosophical Paper approximately two weeks after submission.

Book Summary

You will annotate the essays in an edited book collection from Wiley's The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series or Open Court Publishing Company's Popular Culture and Philosophy Series about a science fiction or fantasy novel, film, comic book, or video game. These books are called secondary sources that critically comment upon the primary text of the novel, film, etc.

 

After signing up below, request your book from interlibrary loan or purchase your book through an online bookstore like Amazon or direct from the publisher.

 

While a normal annotated bibliography requires you to summarize books, book chapters, and scholarly journal articles for a research paper, the bibliography you annotate in this class focuses solely on the chapters in your scholarly book on a science fiction or fantasy product. You should annotate at least 10 critical essays from the collection. Each 75-100 word annotation should summarize and evaluate a research source by

1. identifying the philosophical issue or question that the essay is investigating,
2. defining the secondary source's thesis or conclusion regarding the primary text's philosophical theme, and
3. explaining how the essay helps your understanding of the primary text.

After you've written the annotations, write 2 pages summarizing the dominant philosophical trends and issues you see running through the entire book.

Parameters

• Length: at least 10 75-100 word entries followed by a 2 page summary of the philosophical trends and debates
• Format: MLA style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
• Due Date: GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Book Summary on Thursday, October 24
• Grades: Your assignment will be graded on the quality of annotations and ability to summarize the philosophical debates. Retrieve your graded assignment in GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Book Summary approximately two weeks after submission.

Sign Up

Book	Publisher	MW Student	TR Student
The Matrix	Open	1 Jonathan Kass
Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Open	2 Lauren Hargrove
The Lord of the Rings	Open	3	1 Taylor Lancaster
Harry Potter	Open	4 Kelli Block	2 Brett Johns
The Matrix (2: More)	Open	5 Wesley Lemons
Star Wars	Open		3 Dylan Browning
Superheroes	Open	6 Maggie Kaufman
The Chronicles of Narnia	Open	7 Katy Gramling	4
The Undead	Open
Battlestar Galactica	Open
Star Trek	Open		5
The Legend of Zelda	Open	8 Kelvin Nwanze	6 James Iocovozzi
The Wizard of Oz	Open		7 Elliott Greer
The Transformers	Open
Supervillains	Open		8 Natasha Markowich
The Golden Compass	Open
World of Warcraft	Open	9 Rachel Autrey	9 Miranda Austin
Zombies, Vampires	Open
Doctor Who	Open	10 Thomas Ariano	10 Marin Becker
Dune	Open	11 Daniel Mills
Halo	Open		11 Alan Carson
Inception	Open
Philip K. Dick	Open
Neil Gaiman	Open	12 Catherine Allen
The Walking Dead	Open	13 Wes Guzman	12 Daniel Wenum
Dungeons and Dragons	Open
Planet of the Apes	Open
Futurama	Open		13 James Iocovozzi
Frankenstein	Open
Ender's Game	Open
Supernatural	Blackwell	15 Ryan Butz	14 Emily Randall
Ender's Game	Blackwell	16 Garret Fricks
Superman	Blackwell
The Hobbit	Blackwell	17 Jennifer Edwards	15 Meg Robinson
Spider-Man	Blackwell	18 Jeremy Coldwell
Game of Thrones	Blackwell	19 Nic Stadler	16 Brian Warstadt
The Avengers	Blackwell		17 Hannah Greene
The Walking Dead	Blackwell	20 Taylor Wilson	18 Crystal Pham
The Hunger Games	Blackwell	21 Nolen Brogdon
Inception	Blackwell	22
Green Lantern	Blackwell
True Blood	Blackwell
Lost	Blackwell	23 Brandon Swords	19 Mitch Hammond
Harry Potter	Blackwell	14 Charlie Faber	20 Samantha Barrow
Iron Man	Blackwell
Alice in Wonderland	Blackwell	24 Anika Snyder	21 Daniel Jones
Final Fantasy	Blackwell
Twilight	Blackwell
Heroes	Blackwell
Terminator	Blackwell		22 Bob Podsiadlo
X-Men	Blackwell	25 Blake Nipper
Watchmen	Blackwell		23 Zach Brown
Batman	Blackwell		24 Chris Fairey
Battlestar Galactica	Blackwell
Lost (2: Ultimate)	Blackwell

Group Project

As a class we have discussed various philosophical issues in multiple short stories and film from mostly American authors. Individually, you have written about the philosophical concepts explored in a single literary or filmic text in the philosophical essay, and you have read and summarized a book in the Popular Culture and Philosophy series. Next, as a group, you will research and analyze either a prominent science fiction or fantasy author or a science fiction or fantasy genre (but not studied in the book summary assignment), by interpreting one of the author's or genre's significant texts, explaining the author's or genre's science fiction or fantasy context and tradition, and articulating the predominant philosophical questions of the author or genre while comparing and contrasting the philosophical concerns to a few in-class readings. Your group will compose an annotated bibliography that summarizes your 12 best research sources and give a presentation to the class that interprets the author or genre's representative text, explains the literary tradition from which the author or genre derives, and articulates the author's or genre's core philosophical issues. Each 75-100 word annotation should summarize and evaluate a research source by

1. identifying the question, issue, or topic that the source is investigating,
2. defining the source's thesis or conclusion regarding the author, genre, or text being researched, and
3. explaining how the essay helps your literary and/or philosophical understanding of the author, genre, or text.

Topics

Possible authors include, but are not limited to:

1. Douglas Adams, Great Britain
2. Margaret Atwood, Canada
3. Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina
4. Stanislaw Lem, Russia

Possible genres include, but are not limited to:

1. mecha, Japan

2. biopunk, America

3. cyberpunk anime or manga, Japan

4. steampunk, Great Britain

 

Provide two possible, researchable topics for professor approval by Wednesday, October 2 (MW Section) or Thursday, October 3 (TR Section).

Preliminary Bibliography

Provide a tentative list of 5 scholarly journal articles and 5 books/book chapters by Wednesday, October 9 (MW Section) or Thursday, October 10 (TR Section).

Parameters

• Annotated Bibliography: Use the Research Methods handout to find at least 12 high quality sources on your topic, at least 3 of which must be scholarly books or book chapters, at least 3 must be scholarly journal articles, the rest may be comprised of lengthy magazine articles and web sources that make substantial claims. Neither reference sites like Wikipedia and Sparknotes nor student created websites are appropriate sources. When in doubt, ask your instructor if the source is apt. Each source must be accompanied by a 75-100 word annotation (see instructions above).
• Presentation: 15 minute presentation in which all group members participate and teach the class about the text, the author or genre from which the text comes, and the philosophical issues of the author or genre (compare and contrast these concerns to a few of our in-class texts).
• Format: MLA style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
• Due Date: GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Group Project on the scheduled presentation date. Note: Due to the limitations of GeorgiaVIEW, all group members must submit the same annotated bibliography to their individual dropboxes in order to have their grade returned in GeorgiaVIEW.
• Group Policy: Each group member is responsible for staying connected with the group, attending meetings, actively participating in meetings, doing her delegated work, i.e., contributing her fair share to the project. In order to hold singular members accountable in a team project, each group member should individually compose and submit to GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Group Project - Individual Evaluation a paragraph that assesses their own performance and their peers' service to the assignment. If it becomes apparent that a group member did not participate (skipped meetings, didn't complete her assigned work, etc.), that member will be assessed individually rather than receive the group grade.
• Grades: Your project will be graded on the quality of research, annotations, textual interpretation, and philosophical understanding. Retrieve your graded assignment in GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Group Project approximately one week after the presentation.

Sign Up

Group	MW Topic/Students	TR Topics/Student
1	genre: self-made superheroes text: Iron Man	author: Neil Gaiman text: Stardust
	1 Rachel Autrey	Natasha Markowich
	2 Taylor Wilson	Emily Randall
	3 Anika Snyder	Hannah Greene
	4 Lauren Hargrove	Crystal Pham
2	genre: post-apocalyptic cli-fi anime author: Hayao Miyazaki text: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind	genre: social science fiction author: Joe Haldeman text: Forever War
	5 Jen Edwards	Chris Fairey
	6 Maddie Kaufman	Ben Blizzard
	7 Daniel Mills	Mitch Hammond
	8 Catherine Allen	Brian Warstadt
3	genre: post-apocalyptic scifi text: Planet of the Apes	genre: satirical scifi text: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
	9 Jonathan Kass	Bob Podsiadlo
	10 Ryan Butz	Marin Becker
	11 Wes Lemons	Samantha Barrow
	12 Kelvin Nwanze	Dylan Browning
4	genre: time travel text: Back to the Future	genre: children's anime text: Pokemon
	13 Charlie Faber	Alan Carson
	14
	15 Katy Gramling	Taylor Lancaster
	16 Jeremy Colwell	Daniel Jones
5	genre: alien invasion text: Invasion of the Body Snatchers	genre: apocalyptic scifi text: Artificial Intelligence
	17 Blake Nipper	Zach Brown
	18 Wes Guzman	Miranda Austin
	19 Garret Fricks	Daniel Wenum
	20 Kelli Block	Brett Johns
6	author: Douglas Adams text: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	author: Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. text: "Harrison Bergeron" or Slaughterhouse-Five
	21 Thomas Ariano	Meg Robinson
	22 Nolan Brogden	Elliott Greer
	23 Nic Stadler	James Iocovozzi
	24 Brandon Swords

Reflective Essay

At this point in the course, you have 1) written short responses to short stories, films, and philosophical essays, 2) written a full-length essay proving how a short story or film applies philosophical concepts, 3) summarized a book illustrating how philosophy applies to a science fiction or fantasy work, and 4) worked in groups to analyze, research, and teach to the class the philosophical conflicts and themes of a science fiction work. For the learning beyond the classroom component of the course, you will participate in a science fiction and fantasy social activity—such as a role playing board game like Dungeons & Dragons, massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG) like World of Warcraft, a Renaissance fair, or a convention like Dragon Con in Atlanta—and then write an essay critically analyzing the experience. For instance, you could attend Dragon Con and compose a reflective essay thinking about how the experience affected your sense of self and/or reality, in the philosophical ways we've been discussing, like Pierson-Smith's and Lamerichs', to support your ideas. Your essay has three goals: first, describe and analyze the social experience you attended and/or participated in; second, reflect upon the experience by making a claim about the key philosophical ideas that are in play, and, third, incorporate ideas from two applicable philosophical essays from our course.

Parameters

• Length: 4-5 pages
• Format: MLA style in Word or RTF format (I suggest using this template)
• Due Date: GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Reflective Essay on Tuesday, November 26.
• Grades: Your essay will be graded on your analysis of the experience, your reflections on the philosophical concepts, and your integration of two supporting philosophical articles. Retrieve your graded assignment in GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Reflective Essay approximately two weeks after submission.

Exam

You have responded both informally and formally to both literature and philosophy, you have researched the philosophy informing science fiction, and you have reflected upon a participatory science fiction or fantasy experience. For the final assignment, you will be examined on the literature and philosophy we have collectively studied on the syllabus after the formal philosophical essay (Week 6 through Week 16, Dark City and Schneider 115-60 through Heinlein, Spinrad, and La Jetée; the exam does not include book summaries, group projects, and reflective experiences).

 

SciFi

Dark City

Isaac Asimov, “The Bicentennial Man”

William Gibson, “Johnny Mnemonic”

Blade Runner

H. G. Wells, A Story of Things to Come

RoboCop

Ray Bradbury, “A Sound of Thunder”

Robert Heinlein, “All You Zombies—”

Norman Spinrad, “The Weed of Time”

La Jetée

 

Philosophy

Deborah Knight and George McKnight, “What Is It to Be Human?: Blade Runner and Dark City”

Isaac Asimov, “Robot Dreams”

Andy Clark, “A Brain Speaks”

Ned Block, “The Mind as the Software of the Brain”

Andy Clark, “Cyborgs Unplugged”

Daniel C. Dennett, “Consciousness in Human and Robot Minds”

Ray Kurzweil, “Superintelligence and Singularity”

George J. Annas, “The Man on the Moon”

Susan Schneider, “Mindscan: Transcending and Enhancing the Human Brain”

John Leslie, “The Doomsday Argument”

Susan Leigh Anderson, “Asimov’s ‘Three Laws of Robotics’ and Machine Metaethics”

Nick Bostrom, “Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence”

Russell W. Belk, “Extended Self in a Digital World”

Christian Roesler, “The Self in Cyberspace: Identity Formation in Postmodern Societies and Jung’s Self as an Objective Psyche”

David Golumbia, “Games without Play”

Alex Golub, “Being in the World (of Warcraft): Raiding, Realism, and Knowledge Production in a Massively Multiplayer Online Game”

Scott Duchesne, “Stardom/Fandom”

Abigail Derecho, “Archontic Literature: A Definition, a History, and Several Theories of Fan Fiction”

Anne Pierson-Smith, “Fashioning the Fantastical Self: An Examination of the Cosplay Dress-up Phenomenon in Southeast Asia”

Nicole Lamerichs, “Stranger Than Fiction: Fan Identity in Cosplay”

Theodore Sider, “Time”

David Lewis, “The Paradoxes of Time Travel”

David Deutsch and Michael Haywood, “The Quantum Physics of Time Travel”

Richard Hanley, “Miracles and Wonders: Science Fiction and Time Travel”

 

In class on Monday, December 2 and Tuesday, December 3, we will generate topics from which the questions will be generated. The topics will be posted here on Wednesday, December 4.

 

MW 2:00 Section Topics

1. reality
2. identity
3. morality
4. time travel and free will
5. AI and sentience
6. scifi participation and performance

TR 3:30 Section Topics

1. the real self in the virtual world
2. morality and ethics
3. literary themes across scifi narratives
4. the nature of humanity in technologically advanced societies
5. scifi participation and performances
6. time travel multiverses and paradoxes

In order to prepare for the in class, closed book essay exam, I strongly recommend that you create a study guide based upon your annotations of the reading, the discussion board responses, and your class notes. For each short story or film, note the key characters and their traits, core conflicts, philosophical themes, and pertinent quotations. For each philosophical essay, note the key questions and issues, philosophical concepts and conclusions, and pertinent quotations. This guide will look very similar to an annotated bibliography. After creating the study guide, I suggest applying various readings into the comparative topics, noting that not every reading will be appropriate for every topic, and constructing potential comparative thesis statements. Although you will not know the exact questions, you can practice putting different readings into comparison and contrast, and this will help you prepare for the actual essay exam.

 

In the 135 minutes of exam time, you will write three thesis-driven essays, from a choice of five or six questions, spending about 45 minutes writing each essay, and comparing and contrasting philosophical concepts and literary work. Bring your own blue book or notebook paper.

Parameters

• Length: 3 essays with comparative thesis statements and sufficient textual support to prove your analysis
• Time: 135 minutes total, 45 minutes per essay
• Due Date:
  • MW 2:00 Section: Tuesday, December 10 from 3:30-5:45PM
  • TR 3:30 Section: Thursday, December 12 from 1:00-3:15PM
• Grades: Your exam will be graded on the quality of your comparative theses, as well as your knowledge and analysis of the topic and essays. Final grades will be available in PAWS after Wednesday, December 18. If you want to know your exam grade, request it in the dialogue box in GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Exam Grade by Thursday, December 12 and it will be returned there by Wednesday, December 18. If your exam earns a B or below and you would like feedback, please ask for it at the start of spring semester. Due to FERPA, grades cannot be emailed.