GE Assessment for
PHIL105: Critical Thinking and
PHIL110: Introduction to Philosophy
Dr. Leslie C. Miller, Mesa State College, Fall 2005
Both courses list the same 2 objectives for assessment, thus the assessment tools may be identical.
OBJECTIVE 1—Students will be able to think critically and recognize issues across a broad spectrum of subjects.
OBJECTIVE 2—Students will be aware of the great moral, ethical, and philosophical questions which have endured through the ages.
Students will be able to think critically and recognize issues across a broad spectrum of subjects.
Read the following two quotations from prominent 20th century thinkers and then select the best answer for each of the questions.
Talk of democracy has little content when big business rules the life of the country through its control of the means of production, exchange, the press and other means of publicity, propaganda and communication. —John Dewey
But, that's the whole point of corporatization—to try to remove the public from making decisions over their own fate, to limit the public arena, to control opinion, to make sure that the fundamental decisions that determine how the world is going to be run—which includes production, commerce, distribution, thought, social policy, foreign policy, everything—are not in the hands of the public, but rather in the hands of highly concentrated private power. In effect, tyranny unaccountable to the public. —Noam Chomsky
If these two thinkers are correct and our democracy has turned into a corporate plutocracy, then what would you expect to be the function of higher education?
Cultivation of the intellect/enabling life-long learning
Worker development/job training
Preparation of citizens for the responsibilities of living in a democracy and making important policy decisions.
Tax shelter for the rich.
Based solely on these two passages, it would be reasonable to say that the authors believed
that citizens are genetically too stupid to make democratic decisions.
that the business community has the interest of citizens at heart.
that there is some sort of antipathy between corporate business practices and democracy.
that if the public took control of the private institutions holding the power, everything would be fine.
Students will be able to think critically and recognize issues across a broad spectrum of subjects.
by Robinson Jeffers
Then what is the answer?- Not to be deluded by dreams.
To know that great civilizations have broken down into violence,
and their tyrants come, many times before.
When open violence appears, to avoid it with honor or choose
the least ugly faction; these evils are essential.
To keep one's own integrity, be merciful and uncorrupted
and not wish for evil; and not be duped
By dreams of universal justice or happiness. These dreams will
not be fulfilled.
To know this, and know that however ugly the parts appear
the whole remains beautiful. A severed hand
Is an ugly thing and man dissevered from the earth and stars
and his history... for contemplation or in fact...
Often appears atrociously ugly. Integrity is wholeness,
the greatest beauty is
Organic wholeness, the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty
of the universe. Love that, not man
Apart from that, or else you will share man's pitiful confusions,
or drown in despair when his days darken.
For the questions below, select the best answer, that is, the one with the most textual justification, construed quantitatively.
What is the eternal philosophical question to which this poem is offered as the answer?
What is humanity’s place in the universe?
What is the definition of “integrity”?
How should one live?
What is the ultimate source of value in the universe?
The author believes
in the Great Chain of Being.
that the universe was created for humanity’s use.
that violence is essential for ethics to have value.
that objective value exists independently of humanity.
Students will be aware of the great moral, ethical, and philosophical questions which have endured through the ages. (“Moral” and “ethical” mean exactly the same thing, so there are only two things here of which to assess awareness.)
Of which of the following are you unaware we covered?
What it means to live well.
The value of reason in ethics.
The need to be ethical.
The ethical need to question authority.
Of which of the following are you unaware we covered?
Thinking skills necessary for thinking ethically.
Methods of deception others use to control you.
Intellectual honesty and integrity.
Common unethical advertising techniques.
Of which of the following areas are you unaware we covered?
Ethical means of evaluating arguments.
Ethical means of reconstructing arguments.
Ethical versus unethical uses of reason.
The possibility of evil resulting from an unquestioning acceptance of social and governmental institutions.
Students will be aware of the great moral, ethical, and philosophical questions which have endured through the ages. (“Moral” and “ethical” mean exactly the same thing, so there are only two things here of which I can assess awareness.)
Of which of the following are you unaware we covered?
Some of the enduring philosophical questions.
Reading some primary sources in philosophy.
Coming to an understanding of the philosophical works we read.
The application of course content to improve your life.
We covered them all.
Of which of the following are you unaware we covered?
The detrimental effects of management and business on education.
Some of the social institutions and cultural norms that inhibit rational thought.
Some of the social and professional drawbacks to thinking critically and philosophically.
The need to think about the philosophical foundations of social and political institutions.
We covered them all.
Of which of the following are you unaware we covered?
The objectivity of truth.
The nature and scope of philosophical progress.
The relationship between philosophy and the other disciplines.
The responsibility of autonomous individuals to identify and rationally justify their fundamental philosophical beliefs.
We covered them all.