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Lectures

Tuesday / Thursday 2:30 - 3:45 pm
August 31 - December 9, 2021

Format

Lectures will be delivered live through Zoom for the first two weeks of term.
Instruction is presently (at late August) planned to return to in-person instruction on Tuesday September 14.
Access Zoom through the lecture course page in Canvas.
Lectures will be recorded for later consultation.
A216 Public Health-Crabtree has been assigned. Since the lectures will be given remotely, this room will not be used in the first two weeks of term. For those weeks, please access the lectures with your computer through Canvas.

Instructors

John D. Norton, jdnorton@pitt.edu
 Office hours: Tuesday, Thursday 3:45  - 4:45 pm immediately after the lecture. Held in Zoom for first two weeks of term.

(Normal contact, likely unavailable in COVID 19 conditions: Room 1109B CL. 412-624-5878)

Course website

Course materials will be posted at the course website
http://www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/paradox/document_list.html
Click here http://www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/paradox/document_list.html
All assignments and tests will be submitted through Canvas.

General Education Requirement

This course satisfies the "course in philosophical thinking or ethics" requirement among the General Education Requirements in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.

Assessment

Short tests There will be 6 short, open-book tests, roughly one each two weeks. (Schedule) The grade is the best 5 of 6.	35%
Assignments An assignment is due each week for submission by the start of the Tuesday class meeting. The assignment grade is the best 10 of 13.	35%
Term paper The term paper is due Monday December 13. A topic preview is due Thursday November 18.	30%

Short Test

The short tests will examine material covered roughly in the preceding two weeks. They will be offered in Canvas in the 24 hours after the lecture on Thursday, according to the schedule. The tests are open book, require short answers (usually a sentence or two) and should only require 15-30 minutes of time to complete.

Policy on Missed Tests and Late Assignments

   No make up tests will be offered. Since the test grade is the best 5 of 6, one missed test is automatically forgiven. It is strongly recommended that this one forgiven test be used only when illness or emergencies preclude participation.
   Assignments are due each week at the start of the Tuesday class meeting. Late assignments are not accepted. Since the assignment grade is the best 10 of 13, three missed assignments are automatically forgiven. It is strongly recommended that these forgiven assignments be used only when illness or emergencies preclude participation.
(An exception is made for students who add the course after the start of term. Assignments due prior to the date on which the class was added may be submitted in the week after the course was added)
   For added flexibility, a universal makeup assignment is offered to all students. The makeup assignment is a second term paper conforming to the term paper guidelines, but only 500 words in length, due at the same time as the term paper, Monday November 30, 11:59pm. (oops) Monday. December 13.

Texts

The primary text for the class is available on this website as the online text Paradox.

Supplmentary texts

... that may be useful as background reading and for selection of a term paper topic:

Michael Clark, Paradoxes from A to Z. 3rd ed. Routledge 2012.
This a useful compendium of paradoxes presented in brief, accessible forms. Some of the paradoxes are minor and unimportant.

R. M. Sainsbury,  Paradoxes. 3rd. ed. Cambridge UP, 2009.
This is a more detailed, but still accessible treatment of many important paradoxes.

A. W. Moore,  The Infinite. 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2019.
This text covers notions of infinity only. It is rich in details and includes much history.

Alexander R. Pruss,  Infinity, Causation and Paradox. Oxford Univ. Press, 2018.
This is technically the most advanced of the supplementary texts. Parts are challenging but rewarding if mastered.

These texts have NOT been ordered through the campus bookstore since the online, primary text has ample material for the entire course. If you are interested in these supplementary texts, you should borrow them from the library or purchase through an online vendor.

Special Needs

If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and Disability Resources and Services (DRS), 140 William Pitt Union, 412-648-7890, drsrecep@pitt.edu, or 412-228-5347 for P3 ASL users,as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course. For more information, see http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/drs/

The Undergraduate Dean of Arts and Sciences has requested instructors to alert all students to University of Pittsburgh Policy 09-10-01, "E-mail Communications Policy."