Assignments

GC1Y 1000 Critical Thinking: SciFi & Philosophy, Spring 2015

Section 26: MW 3:30-4:45PM, Arts & Sciences 366

Section 25: TR 5:00-6:15PM, Arts & Sciences 366

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

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

Here are the article groups:

John Pollock, "Brain in a Vat"
Nick Bostrom, "Are You in a Computer Simulation?" (3:30 Matthew Kuhn, 5:00 Betsy Luttrell)
Plato, excerpt from The Republic (3:30 Ian Moran)
René Descartes, excerpt from The Meditations on First Philosophy
David J. Chalmers, "The Matrix as Metaphysics"

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:

What philosophical question(s) does the short story or film pose?
What philosophical conflicts or debates does the short story or film illustrate?
To what philosophical conclusions does the short story or film come?
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 Romney's scholarly journal article "Games Pixels Play" by

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

4. Questioning Humanity

Today, let's divide into our project groups in order to spend five minutes finalizing and then submit our two potential topics to GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Group Project. Next, spend 15 minutes discussing the following questions about robots and humanity in your group's short story assigned from the three stories we read today. Students who responded to the stories on GeorgiaVIEW will report their responses and their group's discussions.

Here are the stories and respondents:

Isaac Asimov, "The Bicentennial Man" (Nicholas Griffith, Olivia Granger)
James Causey, "The Show Must Go On" (Caitlin McKeon)
Brian W. Aldiss, "Who Can Replace a Man?" (Dani Tawil, Kyle Mitchell)

Here are the questions:

How are robots characterized in the story, i.e., what is their core trait?
How are humans characterized in the story, i.e., what is their core trait?
What is the core conflict in the story and how is it resolved?
What does the story say about humanity?

Two Discussion Board Responses

The scheduled discussion board responses serve three purposes:

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

Philosophy 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?

Fiction 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 Sunday before we are scheduled to discuss the text in class.
  - The Philosophy Response is due in both GeorgiaVIEW > Discussions > Discussion Board Response and GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Philosophy Response
  - The Fiction Response is due in both GeorgiaVIEW > Discussions > Discussion Board Response and GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Fiction 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.
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 > Philosophy or Fiction 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. Here's how to calculate your course grade.

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

GAV Due Date	Present-ation Due Date	Text	3:30PM Student	5:00PM Student
S, 1-18	W, 1-21	Pollock, or Bostrom	P1 Matthew Kuhn	Betsy Luttrell
S, 1-18	W, 1-21	Plato, Descartes, or Chalmers	P2 Ian Moran	Raeshawn Williams
S, 1-25	M, 1-26	Heinlein	F1 Hayden Shields	Franky Filto
	M, 1-26	Borges	F2 Will Borgognoni	Janileyah Thompson
	W, 1-28	Inception	F3 Luke Johnson	Rachel Norris
	W, 1-28	Inception	F4 Perry Heilbron	Paul Miles/Sean Montgomery
S, 2-1	M, 2-2	Dennett, Olson, or Parfit	P3 Parker Sutliff	Lauren Kirby
	M, 2-2	Dennett, Olson, or Parfit	P4 Graham Gordon	Franky Filto
	W, 2-4	Kurzweil, Huemer, or Goldman	P5 Rachael Jones	Bryce Warren/Paul Miles
	W, 2-4	Kurzweil, Huemer, or Goldman	P6 Dani Tawil	Jordan Randall
S, 2-8	M, 2-9	Leiber	F5 Heather Hensley	Lindsey James
	M, 2-9	Dick	F6 Kevin Tormeno	Spencer Frost
	W-2-11	Dark City	F7 Lynnie Sears	Mickell Dennis
	W-2-11	Dark City	F8 Jonathan Kaplan	Raeshawn Williams
S, 2-15	W, 2-18	Asimov, Clark, or Block	P7 Josh Havrilla	Janileyah Thompson
S, 2-15	W, 2-18	Asimov, Clark, or Block	P8 Perry Heilbron	Olivia Granger
S, 2-22	M, 2-23	Clark, Dennett, or Kurzweil	P9 Erin Cross	Rachel Norris
	M, 2-23	Clark, Dennett, or Kurzweil	P10 Abbi Schelkopf	Spencer McCollum
	W, 2-25	Asimov	F9 Nicholas Griffith	Olivia Granger
		Causey	F10	Caitlin McKeon
		Aldiss	F11 Dani Tawil	Kyle Mitchell
S, 3-1	M, 3-2	Blade Runner	F12 Ian Moran	Betsy Luttrell
	M, 3-2	Blade Runner	F13 Parker Sutliff/Ryan Starr	Lauren Kirby
	W, 3-4	Annas, Schneider, or Leslie	P11 Lynnie Searsha	Mickell Dennis/Shelby Munyan
	W, 3-4	Annas, Schneider, or Leslie	P12 Heather Hensley	Brandon Wharton
S, 3-8	M, 3-9	Anderson or Bostrom	P13 Luke Johnson	Troup Ackerman
	M, 3-9	Anderson or Bostrom	P14 Nicholas Griffith/Parker Sutliff	Sean Montgomery
	W, 3-11	Sutton	F14 Erin Cross	Nicholas Bourne
		Boucher	F15 Abbi Schelkopf	Brandon Wharton
		Sheckley	F16	Spencer McCollum
S, 3-22	W, 3-25	Cline (1-189)	F17 Alexis Yi	Shelby Munyan
S, 3-22	W, 3-25	Cline (1-189)	F18 Graham Gordon	John Smith
S, 3-29	M, 3-30	Cline (190-372)	F19 Josh Havrilla	Katie Flom
	M, 3-30	Cline (190-372)	F20 William Makepeace	Ryan Agnew
	W, 4-1	Belk	P15
	W, 4-1	Roesler	P16 Kevin Tormeno	John Smith
S, 4-5	M, 4-6	Golumbia	P17 Ryan Starr	Ryan Agnew
	M, 4-6	Golub	P18 Will Borgognoni	Kyle Mitchell
	W, 4-8	Duchesne	P19 William Davis	Spencer Frost
	W, 4-8	Derecho	P20 Mitchell Johnson	Nicholas Bourne
S, 4-12	M, 4-13	Pierson-Smith	P21 William Makepeace	Sarah Finch
	M, 4-13	Lamerichs	P22 Alexis Yi	Lindsey James
	W, 4-15	Bradbury	F21 Mitchell Johnson	Sarah Finch
	W, 4-15	Sider	P23 Jonathan Kaplan	Caitlin McKeon
S, 4-19	W, 4-22	Lewis, Deutsch, or Henley	P24 Andrew Newmark	Katie Flom
S, 4-26	M, 4-27	Heinlein	F22 William Davis	Bryce Warren
	M, 4-27	Spinrad	F23 Andrew Newmark	Jordan Randall
	W, 4-29	Twelve Monkeys	F24 Matthew Kuhn	Troup Ackerman

Philosophical Essay

We have discussed the nature of reality and the self with the help of philosophers such a 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 Heinlein, Borges, Leiber, and Dick as well as the films Inception and Dark City. 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 Wednesday, February 11 (besides the short stories and films mentioned above, you may write about the recommended short stories by Bradbury, Lem, and Dick as well as the recommended films Oblivion and The Thirteenth Floor). 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: GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Philosophical Essay on Monday, February 16
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 > Course Work > Dropbox > Philosophical Paper approximately one to two weeks after submission. Due to GeorgiaVIEW limitations, I cannot return your graded paper unless and until you upload it to the Dropbox. Here's how to calculate your course grade.

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

identifying the philosophical issue or question that the essay is investigating,
defining the secondary source's thesis or conclusion regarding the primary text's philosophical theme, and
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 > Course Work > Dropbox > Book Summary on Wednesday, March 25.
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 one-two weeks after submission. Due to GeorgiaVIEW limitations, I cannot return your graded paper unless and until you upload it to the Dropbox. Here's how to calculate your course grade.

Sign Up

Book	Publisher	3:30 Student	5:00 Student
The Matrix	Open
Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Open	1 Lynnie Sears
The Lord of the Rings	Open	2 Luke Johnson	1 Ryan Agnew
Harry Potter	Open		2 Rachel Norris
The Matrix (2: More)	Open
Star Wars	Open	3 Mitchell Johnson	3 Sarah Finch
Superheroes	Open
The Chronicles of Narnia	Open	4 Will Borgognoni	4 Spencer MeCollum
The Undead	Open
Battlestar Galactica	Open
Star Trek	Open		5 Lauren Kirby
The Legend of Zelda	Open	5 Alexis Yi	6 Shelby Munyan
The Wizard of Oz	Open		7 Caitlin McKeon
The Transformers	Open	6 William Makepeace	8 John Smith
Supervillains	Open
The Golden Compass	Open		9 Spencer Frost
World of Warcraft	Open
Zombies, Vampires	Open
Doctor Who	Open		10 Janileyah Thompson
Dune	Open
Halo	Open	7 Matthew Kuhn
Inception	Open	8 Ryan Starr
Philip K. Dick	Open
Neil Gaiman	Open
The Walking Dead	Open	9 Heather Hensley	11 Franky Filto/12 Troup Ackerman
Dungeons and Dragons	Open
Planet of the Apes	Open	10 Graham Gordon
Futurama	Open
Frankenstein	Open	11 William Davis
Ender's Game	Open	12 Jonathan Kaplan	13 Lindsey James
Jurassic Park	Open	13 Abbi Schelkopf
Avatar	Blackwell
Dungeons and Dragons	Blackwell
Supernatural	Blackwell		14 Jordan Randall
Ender's Game	Blackwell	14 Ian Moran
Superman	Blackwell
The Hobbit	Blackwell		15 Katie Flom
Spider-Man	Blackwell	15 Parker Sutliff	16 Paul Miles
Game of Thrones	Blackwell	16 Nicholas Griffith	17 Nicholas Bourne
The Avengers	Blackwell	17 Josh Havrilla	18 Mickell Dennis
The Walking Dead	Blackwell	18 Dani Tawil	19 Kyle Mitchell
The Hunger Games	Blackwell	19 Erin Cross
Inception	Blackwell	20 Kevin Tormeno
Green Lantern	Blackwell
True Blood	Blackwell
Lost	Blackwell	21 Perry Heilbron
Harry Potter	Blackwell		20 Olivia Granger
Iron Man	Blackwell	22 Andrew Newmark	21 Bryce Warren
Alice in Wonderland	Blackwell		22 Sean Montgomery
Final Fantasy	Blackwell
Twilight	Blackwell
Heroes	Blackwell
Terminator	Blackwell
X-Men	Blackwell
Watchmen	Blackwell		23 Brandon Wharton
Batman	Blackwell
Battlestar Galactica	Blackwell		24 Betsy Luttrell
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 12-15 best research sources (12 for 4 member groups, 15 for 5 member groups) 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

identifying the question, issue, or topic that the source is investigating,
defining the source's thesis or conclusion regarding the author, genre, or text being researched, and
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:

Douglas Adams, Great Britain
Margaret Atwood, Canada
Jorge Luis Borges, Argentina
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, February 25 in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Group Project.

Preliminary Bibliography

Provide a tentative list of 5 scholarly journal articles and 5 books/book chapters at least two weeks before the presentation date in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Group Project.

Parameters

Annotated Bibliography: Use the Research Methods handout to find 3 high quality sources on your topic per group member (a 4 member group would have 12 sources). At least 4 sources must be scholarly books or book chapters and at least 4 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 > Course Work> 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, and doing her delegated work, in other words, contributing her fair share to the project. In order to hold singular members accountable in a team project, each group member must individually compose and submit to GeorgiaVIEW > Dropbox > Group Project - Individual Evaluation a paragraph that assesses their own performance (what meetings you did and did not attend, what work you did and did not do) 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, and so forth), that member will be assessed individually rather than receive the group grade. Grades will not be returned until all members complete the individual evaluation.
Grades: Your project will be graded on the quality of research, annotations, textual interpretation, and philosophical understanding. Retrieve your graded assignment in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Group Project approximately one week after the presentation.

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Group	3:30 Topic/Students	5:00 Topics/Student
1	date: Monday, 3-30 genre: space opera text: Star Wars	date: Monday, 3-30 genre: cyberpunk text: The Terminator
	1 Erin Cross
	2 Will Davis	Lauren Kirby
	3 Josh Havrilla	Shelby Munyan
	4 William Makepeace	Janileyah Thompson
2	date: Wednesday, 4-1 author: Stephen King text: Under the Dome	Wednesday, 4-1 genre: post-apocalyptic scifi text: The Planet of the Apes
	5 Heather Hensley	Mickell Dennis
	6	Spencer Frost
	7 Abbi Schelkopf	John Smith
	8 Dani Tawil	Brandon Wharton
3	date: Monday, 4-6 genre: dystopian scifi text: Lowry, The Giver	date: Monday, 4-6 genre: science fantasy text: Alice in Wonderland
	9 Ian Moran	Sarah Finch
	10 Ryan Starr	Katie Flom
	11	Caitlin McKeon
	12 Kevin Tormeno	Rachel Norris
4	date: Wednesday, 4-8 author: Ray Bradbury text: "The World the Children Made"	date: Wednesday, 4-8 genre: military scifi text: Card, Ender's Game
	13 Graham Gordon	Ryan Agnew
	14 Luke Johnson	Olivia Granger
	15 Jonathan Kaplan	Betsy Luttrell
	16 Matt Kuhn	Spencer McCollum
5	date: Monday, 4-13 genre: military scifi text: Niven, Ringworld	date: Monday, 4-13 genre: time travel text: Back to the Future
	17 Will Borgognoni	Troup Ackerman
	18 Perry Heilbron	Nicholas Bourne
	19 Mitch Johnson	Franky Filto
	20 Andrew Newmark	Lindsey James / Sean Montgomery
6	date: Wednesday, 4-15 author: Joss Whedon text: Dollhouse	date: Wednesday, 4-15 genre: space opera text: Star Wars
	21 Nicholas Griffith	Paul Miles
	22 Katie Lynn Sears	Kyle Mitchell
	23 Alexis Yi	Jordan Randall
	24	Bryce Warren

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 Monday, April 20.
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. Due to GeorgiaVIEW limitations, I cannot return your graded paper unless and until you upload it to the Dropbox. Here's how to calculate your course grade.

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 (Wednesday, February 18 through Wednesday, April 29; the exam does not include book summaries, group projects, and reflective experiences).

SciFi

Asimov, "Robot Dreams"
Asimov, "The Bicentennial Man"
Causey, "The Show Must Go On"
Aldiss, "Who Can Replace a Man?"
Blade Runner
Sutton, "Soul Mate"
Boucher, "Balaam"
Sheckley, "Seventh Victim"
Cline, Ready Player One
Bradbury, "A Sound of Thunder"
Heinlein, "All You Zombies—"
Spinrad, "The Weed of Time"
Twelve Monkeys

Philosophy

Clark, "A Brain Speaks"
Block, "The Mind as the Software of the Brain"
Clark, "Cyborgs Unplugged"
Dennett, "Consciousness in Human and Robot Minds"
Kurzweil, "Superintelligence and Singularity"
Annas, "The Man on the Moon"
Schneider, "Mindscan: Transcending and Enhancing the Human Brain"
Leslie, "The Doomsday Argument"
Anderson, "Asimov's 'Three Laws of Robotics' and Machine Metaethics"
Bostrom, "Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence"
Belk, "Extended Self in a Digital World"
Roesler, "The Self in Cyberspace: Identity Formation..."
Golumbia, "Games without Play"
Golub, "Being in the World (of Warcraft): Raiding, Realism, and Knowledge..."
Duchesne, "Stardom/Fandom"
Derecho, "Archontic Literature: A Definition, a History, and...Fan Fiction"
Pierson-Smith, "...An Examination of the Cosplay..."
Lamerichs, "Stranger Than Fiction: Fan Identity in Cosplay"
Sider, "Time"
Lewis, "The Paradoxes of Time Travel"
Deutsch and Haywood, "The Quantum Physics of Time Travel"
Hanley, "Miracles and Wonders: Science Fiction and Time Travel"

In class on Monday, April 27, we will generate topics from which the questions will be generated. The topics will be posted here on Wednesday, April 29.

3:30 Section Topics

created realities
constructed identities
ethics and morality
the limits of the human mind
scifi socialization and performance
theories and stories of time travel

5:00 Section Topics

created realities
the enhanced self
ethics and morality
consciousness and technology
scifi socialization and performance
ethics and paradoxes of time travel

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:
- 3:30 Section: Tuesday, May 5, 1:00-3:15PM
- 5:00 Section: Friday, May 8, 6:00-8:15PM
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 May 13. In order to read and assess all the exams and papers in my four classes by the final grade deadline, I will not be giving feedback on final project this semester. If you want to know your exam grade, request it in the dialogue box in GeorgiaVIEW > Course Work > Dropbox > Exam Grade by Friday, May 8 and it will be returned there by Wednesay, May 13. Due to FERPA, grades cannot be emailed. I am happy to provide exam feedback at the beginning of fall semester if you email me to set up a conference. Here's how to calculate your course grade.