Professor Shelton Woods
- Plenary Sessions: Monday and Wednesday: 10:30 a.m. 11:20 a.m.
- Location: Micron Center for Materials Research (MCMR) 205
- Friday: Discussion Sections D009 D028 D029 D049
- Email contact: swoods@boisestate.edu
- Phone: (208) 426-3349
- Office Hours: Mon and Wed: 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.; Tues-Thu-Fri: 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
- Click HERE to make an office appointment
Syllabus and Schedules
Course Overview
This course is designed to expand your analytical and communication skills. More importantly, we designed this course because your years in college will shape who and what you become. So we will explore formative questions that humans have asked throughout history, including: Where is happiness found? What is love? Why is Eastern and Western spirituality so different?
After successful completion of this course, a student will be able to:
- Articulate worldviews from multiple perspectives including those who are Buddhists, Muslims, Theists, Materialists, and followers of Confucius
- Understand the need for a multidisciplinary approach in studying the past and present
- Explain the tragic consequences of not respecting other cultures and their worldviews
- Work collaboratively to produce an articulate answer to life’s most important questions
Discussion Sections
Discussion Grade Breakdown:
Required Library Assignment: 75 Points
Midterm: 100 Points
Participation (Oral Presentation): 75 Points
If you miss a discussion section you will lose participation points for that day. Every unexcused absence in discussion group after one absence reduces your final plenary quiz score by 30 points. Part of your participation points is an oral presentation during one of the last two discussion sections where you will orally present a case for answering one of the seven big questions that we will discuss throughout the semester. More details on this assignment will be given during early discussion sections.
All discussion sections meet on Friday:
D009 7:40 a.m. – 8:10 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. ILC 213 Dr. Woods
swoods@boisestate.edu
D028 9:00 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. ILC 213 Mandee Snowden-Edmonds
mandeeedmonds@boisestate.edu
D029 12:00 p.m. – 12:50 p.m. RFH 302 Mandee Snowden-Edmonds
mandeeedmonds@boisestate.edu
D049 1:30 p.m. – 2:200 p.m. RFH 302 Mandee Snowden-Edmonds mandeeedmonds@boisestate.edu
Syllabus
WEEK ONE: Course Introduction; Life’s Biggest Questions
Monday, August 19: “Introduction; Ideas have consequences”
Wednesday, August 21: “Life’s biggest questions”
Read Shadow Divers chapter 1
Watch the Ted Talk: Devdutt Pattanaik: “East vs. West — The Myths that Mystify”
Friday, August 23: Discussion Section
WEEK TWO: Thee World vs. My World
Monday, August 26: “Life’s Biggest Questions II”
Read Shadow Divers chapter 2; and Becoming a Learner Introduction and chapter one
Wednesday, August 28: “Introduction to China’s Worldview”
Read: “The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes” by Malcolm Gladwell. Download The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes for the reading.
Friday, August 30: Discussion Section
WEEK THREE: How to understand China
Monday, September 2: (Holiday)
Wednesday, September 4: “The Preeminent Chinese Thinker”
Read Shadow Divers chapters 3 and 4; and Becoming a Learner chapters two and three
Friday, September 6: Discussion Section
WEEK FOUR: Mencius and the Buddha
Monday, September 9: “China’s Other Options”
Read Shadow Divers chapter 5
Wednesday, September 11: “The Teachings of the Buddha”
Read Shadow Divers chapter 6
Watch the Ted Talk “Buddhism: The Habits of Happiness” “Buddhism: The Habits of Happiness”
Friday, September 13: Discussion Section
WEEK FIVE: The Great Change
Monday, September 16: “The Great Divergence”
Read Shadow Divers chapter 7; Becoming a Learner, chapters 4 and 5
Wednesday, September 18: “China’s Humiliation”
Read Shadow Divers chapter 8
Friday, September 20: Discussion Section
WEEK SIX: A New Prophet
Monday, September 23: “The Rise of Islam”
Watch “Islam Empire of Faith: Part 2 The Awakening”
Wednesday, September 25: “Islam in the Modern World”
Read Shadow Divers chapter 9
Friday, September 27: Discussion Group
WEEK SEVEN: Socrates
Monday, September 30: “Socrates and questions”
Read Shadow Divers chapters 10 and 11
Wednesday, October 2: Shadow Divers chapter 12
Friday, October 4: Discussion Section
WEEK EIGHT: Moses and the Carpenter
Monday, October 7: “Moses and the Personal One”
Read Shadow Divers chapters 13 and 14
Wednesday, October 9: “Jesus of Nazareth”
Watch C.S. Lewis’s “The Shocking Alternative”
Friday, October 11: Discussion Section
WEEK NINE: The African Scholar and Europe Changes
Monday, October 14: “Augustine””
Read Shadow Divers chapter 15 and Epilogue
Wednesday, October 16: “Europe’s subtle changes”
Read Kalanithi Forward and Prologue
Friday, October 18: Discussion Section
WEEK TEN: Discovery and Reason
Monday, October 21: “Europe’s Overt Changes”
Watch Dr. John Lennox at Duke University “Dr. Lennox at Duke University”
Wednesday, October 23: “Pascal and Descartes”
Read Kalanithi pages 19-38
Friday, October 25: Discussion Section
WEEK ELEVEN: Hobbes and Locke
Monday, October 28: “Hobbes”
Read Kalanithi pages 39-67
Wednesday, October 30: “Locke and Hobbes”
Friday, November 1: Discussion Section (Exam); Inquiry Microcourse must be completed
WEEK TWELVE: Happiness and Misery
Monday, November 4: “I just want to be happy;” John Stuart Mill
Read Kalanithi pages 68-88
Wednesday, November 6: “Mill and Happiness”
Read Kalanithi pages 88-115; Review chapters 1,2,3 of Becoming a Learner
Friday, November 8: Discussion Section
WEEK THIRTEEN: Marx and a New Society
Monday, November 11: Exploitation and Alienation
Read Kalanithi pages 119-139
Wednesday, November 13: Nietzsche’s World Against Slave Morality
Read Kalanithi pages 140-166
Friday, November 15: Discussion Section
WEEK FOURTEEN: Let’s Take a Leap of Faith: The Existentialists
Monday, November 18: “Are we really trapped? Jean Paul Sartre”
Read Kalanithi pages 167-199
Wednesday, November 20: “No Exit; Albert Camus”
Friday, November 22: Discussion Section Cancelled
WEEK FIFTEEN: Where do we go from Here?
Monday, December 2: “Is there Truth?”
Wednesday, December 4: “This is How I live”
Read Kalanithi Epilogue
Friday, December 6: Discussion Section Cancelled
Course Success
Grades
Grades: Plenary quiz score: 70% + Discussion group grade 30% = 100%
The letter to percentage grade is as follows:
A = 100 – 94
A – = 93 – 90
B+ = 89 – 87
B = 86 – 84
B- = 83 -80
C+ = 79 – 77
C = 76 – 74
C- = 73 – 70
D+ = 69 – 67
D = 66 – 64
D- = 63 – 60
F = 59 – 0
Discussion Grade Breakdown:
Required Library Assignment: 75 Points
Midterm: 100 Points
Participation: 75 Points
We won’t “give” you a grade at the end of the semester, you will earn the grade that you receive. There are objective criteria that determine what grade you earn. These things include your quiz scores and your discussion group score. There will be additional elements when it comes time for us to record your grade. For example, attendance is absolutely key and will be noted. As noted in the Attendance Policy, more than one unexcused absence from discussion group meetings will affect your final grade (each subsequent unexcused absence will reduce your final quiz score by 50 points). Failure to complete the Library Assignment will result in failure for UF 100. It will make a difference if you pay attention in class and participate in discussion groups. During class, you are only to use your smartphone and other devices that can connect to the internet for this class. If you are found to be using your device for other purposes other than this class, you will lose 200 points from your final quiz score. There will be no second warning, this is your one warning.
Attendance Policy
Attendance at both plenary and discussion sections is mandatory. An excused absence is when you have let me know before class that you are ill or an accident has prevented you from participating in the class. Every unexcused absence in discussion group after one unexcused absence reduces your final plenary quiz score by 50 points. Each unexcused absence in plenary meeting after one unexcused absence will reduce your final plenary quiz score by 50 points. All quizzes are closed notes and closed books, and the penalty for cheating on a quiz is failure for the class. Also, you must be present in class to take the quiz. Taking the quiz for someone else, or taking the quiz remotely or helping someone take the quiz remotely without the professor’s permission will result in the failure of the class, dismissal from the Honors College, and placed on your University Academic Dishonesty Record.
It is a requirement that you meet with Dr. Woods for a 15 minute meeting in his office. You must meet with him by October 15, 2024. You will lose 100 points from your final quiz grade if you fail to meet with Dr. Woods. His office hours are (MOUNTAIN TIME) Monday and Wednesday 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.; Tuesday/Thursday/Friday 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. You can make an appointment with Dr. Woods through this link: Make an appointment with Dr. Woods Make sure that your scheduled appointment is during the posted Mountain Time office hours. If you have any trouble making an appointment or the office hours do not match your schedule email Dr. Woods at swoods@boisestate.edu or you can call his office (208) 426-3349. His office is in the Honors Building (176)
Laptop Computer and Mobile Devices
Laptops, i-Pads, and i-Phones are to be used only for taking quizzes during class time. Looking at your phone during lecture (without prior permission) will result in 200 points taken away from you final quiz score.
Canvas
This course is also on Canvas. You can find similar information on that site as you do on this one. However, throughout the semester we will post announcements on the Canvas site and you will also be able to see your grades on that site.
Make-Up Quizzes
Inputting quiz answers for someone who is not present or taking the quiz while not in the classroom will be treated as academic dishonesty with the lightest penalty being failure of the class, and the most severe being expulsion from the university. If you are ten minutes late to class and the quiz is given at the end of the period, you will be given credit for attendance but not the quiz. If you take the quiz at the beginning of class and then leave the classroom within ten minutes of finishing the quiz without prior permission from Dr. Woods, you will earn a zero on the quiz, and will be counted absent for that class. Students are responsible to check their quiz score after each quiz and immediately contact Dr. Woods if there is no grade noted for that quiz. If a student disputes a particular grade or if there is no grade noted in the Canvas grade book for a quiz, the student must contact Dr. Woods within 24 hours of the quiz. No make up quizzes are allowed.
Textbooks for The Biggest Questions, Fall 2023
“This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question, What makes a life worth living?” The New York Times Book Review
Becoming a Learner by Matthew L. Sanders – “The primary purpose of college isn’t learning a specific set of professional skills; the primary purpose of college is to become a learner.” Matthew Sanders
“Robert Kurson’s status as an undiscovered pleasure among Chicago readers is about to change, I suspect, in a hurry. Shadow Divers is so culturally astute and terrifyingly suspenseful that it should reach the sort of audience John Berendt, Susan Orlean, Jon Krakauer and Laura Hillenbrand have recently earned. Kurson’s new focus is the larger historical world–a world of U-Boats, forensics and lung-crushing pressure–and his prose is, as always, plain gorgeous.” Review of Shadow Divers