Course Information

Course PHI 103LEC GRA: Introducing Philosophy, Politics & Economics (PPE): Ideas That Shape Your World
UB Learns
Semester Fall 2024
Units 3.00
Time Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 10:00AM–10:50AM
Location Talbert Hall 115
Instruction P (In Person)
Documentation Syllabus
   
Instructor Professor David Emmanuel Gray (he/his)
Contact Park Hall 118
degray@buffalo.edu
Zoom Meeting ID: 716 645 3983 & Passcode: 14260
Student Meetings Tuesday, Thursday: 12:00PM–2:00PM
   
Course Assistant Michael Xenos, mpxenos@buffalo.edu

Activities

There are a lot of activities here! The good news is this means that most of them are low-stakes. So if you miss something here or there, it need not have a devastating impact on your final grade.

Schedule

Date Class Meeting Topics / Readings Activities*
8/25 (Sun)   Early-bird activities (introductory survey, honor agreement & syllabus annotation) due by 11:59PM (midnight).
8/26 (Mon) What is PPE? (Topic #1)
Gray, Course Syllabus. 		 
8/27 (Tue)   Orientation activities (introductory survey & honor agreement) due by 11:59PM (midnight). If you did all the early-bird activities, then you are already done with this too!
8/28 (Wed) What is PPE?
No reading. 		🧪 Civic action activity due in class.
8/29 (Thu)   🗃 Professional photo due by 11:59PM (midnight).
8/30 (Fri) Guest Speaker: Hannah Giarrizzo, Assistant Director of Community Engagement, Office of Student Engagement, University at Buffalo  
9/1 (Sun)   ✏️ What is PPE? due by 11:59PM (midnight). If you did all the early-bird activities, then you are already done with this too!
9/2 (Mon) 🛠 Labor Day 🛠  
9/4 (Wed) Understanding Arguments (Topic #2)
Harrell, What Is the Argument?
Optional Videos (recorded for my Ethics course, but they should still be very helpful for us):
Gray, “Statements”
Gray, “Arguments”
Gray, “Parsing Arguments”
Gray, “Diagramming Arguments” 		 
9/6 (Fri) Understanding Arguments
No reading. 		🧪 Change making letter diagram due in class.
9/7 (Sat)   9/11 Day of Service with Tunnels to Towers Foundation from 8:30AM to 1:00PM (counts as 3 hours towards the volunteer activity).
9/8 (Sun)   ✏️ Understanding arguments due by 11:59PM (midnight).
9/9 (Mon) Social Norms (Topic #3)
Muldoon, “Social Norms”. 		🧪 Joint venture ultimatum due in class.
🧪 Unilateral decision due in class.
9/11 (Wed) Social Norms
No reading. 		 
9/13 (Fri) Guest Speaker: Carl Remmes, Career Design Consultant, Career Design Center, University at Buffalo  
9/15 (Sun)   ✏️ Social norms due by 11:59PM (midnight).
9/16 (Mon) Commitment Problems (Topic #4)
Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons”. 		🧪 Happy fishing activity due in class.
9/18 (Wed) Commitment Problems
No reading. 		🧪 Red/blue activity due in class.
🗃 Making professional connections due by 11:59PM (midnight).
9/20 (Fri) Guest Speaker: Carl Remmes, Career Design Consultant, Career Design Center, University at Buffalo  
9/22 (Sun)   ✏️ Commitment problems due by 11:59PM (midnight).
9/23 (Mon) Negotiating a Job Offer (Topic #5)
Lax & Sebenius, “The Negotiator’s Dilemma”. 		🧪 New recruit negotiation due in class.
🧪 Change making letter draft due by 11:59PM (midnight).
9/25 (Wed) Negotiating a Job Offer
No reading. 		🗃 Informational interview scheduled due by 11:59PM (midnight).
9/27 (Fri) Peer Evaluations of Change Making Letter
No reading. 		🧪 Change making letter peer evaluations due in class.
9/29 (Sun)   ✏️ Negotiating a job offer due by 11:59PM (midnight).
9/30 (Mon) Opportunity Costs & Sunk Costs (Topic #6)
MacNeil, “How the Sunk Cost Fallacy Influences Our Decisions”. 		 
10/2 (Wed) Opportunity Costs & Sunk Costs
No reading. 		🧪 Change making letter due by 11:59PM (midnight).
10/4 (Fri) Mailing Your Change Making Letters
No reading. 		🧪 Change making letter mailed due in class.
10/5 (Sat)   Community Day from 9:00AM to 1:00PM (counts as 4 hours towards the volunteer activity).
10/6 (Sun)   ✏️ Opportunity costs & sunk costs due by 11:59PM (midnight).
10/7 (Mon) Legitimacy & The Social Contract (Topic #7)
Rawls, “Procedural Justice”. 		🧪 Lake Erie cleanup negotiation due in class.
10/9 (Wed) Legitimacy & The Social Contract
No reading. 		🗃 Informational interview report due by 11:59PM (midnight).
10/11 (Fri) Organizing an Activity Discussion
No reading. 		 
10/13 (Sun)   ✏️ Legitimacy & the social contract due by 11:59PM (midnight).
10/14 (Mon) 🍁 Fall Break 🍁  
10/16 (Wed) Why Vote? (Topic #8)
Brennan, “The Ethics and Rationality of Voting”. 		🧪 Buying your vote activity due in class.
10/18 (Fri) Why Vote?
No reading. 		 
10/20 (Sun)   ✏️ Why vote? due by 11:59PM (midnight).
10/21 (Mon) What Is the “Will of the People”? (Topic #9)
Peterson, An Introduction to Decision Theory. 		🧪 Creating a voting scheme due in class.
10/23 (Wed) What Is the “Will of the People”?
No reading. 		🧪 Organize an activity: update 1 due by 11:59PM (midnight).
10/25 (Fri) Guest Speaker: Carl Remmes, Career Design Consultant, Career Design Center, University at Buffalo  
10/27 (Sun)   ✏️ What is the “will of the people”? due by 11:59PM (midnight).
10/28 (Mon) Markets & The Invisible Hand (Topic #10)
Read, “Only God Can Make a Tree—Or a Pencil”. 		🧪 Bills tickets auction due in class.
10/30 (Wed) Markets & The Invisible Hand
No reading. 		🧪 Organize an activity: update 2 due by 11:59PM (midnight).
11/1 (Fri) Markets & The Invisible Hand
No reading. 		 
11/3 (Sun)   ✏️ Markets & the invisible hand due by 11:59PM (midnight).
11/4 (Mon) How May We Most Effectively Help Others? (Topic #11)
MacAskill, “Worms and Water Pumps”. 		🧪 Charitable giving investigation due in class.
11/6 (Wed) How May We Most Effectively Help Others?
No reading. 		🧪 Charitable giving decision due in class.
🧪 Organize an activity: update 3 due by 11:59PM (midnight).
11/8 (Fri) Guest Speaker: Hannah Giarrizzo, Assistant Director of Community Engagement, Office of Student Engagement, University at Buffalo 🧪 Root cause tree activity due in class.
11/9 (Sat)   Veterans Day of Service from 9:00AM to 1:00PM (counts as 3 hours towards the volunteer activity).
11/10 (Sun)   ✏️ How may we most effectively help others? due by 11:59PM (midnight).
11/11 (Mon) Fairness: Equality or Entitlement? (Topic #12)
Nozick, “Distributive justice”. 		🧪 New grading scheme selection due in class.
11/13 (Wed) Guest Speaker: R.J. Haq, Assistant Director of Civic Engagement, Office of Student Engagement, University at Buffalo  
11/15 (Fri) Guest Speaker: Carl Remmes, Career Design Consultant, Career Design Center, University at Buffalo 🧪 Volunteer activity report due by 11:59PM (midnight).
🧪 Design your life activity due in class.
11/17 (Sun)   ✏️ Fairness: equality or entitlement? due by 11:59PM (midnight).
11/18 (Mon) Structural Injustice (Topic #13)
McKeown, “Structural Injustice”. 		 
11/20 (Wed) Structural Injustice
No reading. 		🧪 Organize an activity: update 4 due by 11:59PM (midnight).
11/22 (Fri) Structural Injustice
No reading. 		 
11/24 (Sun)   ✏️ Structural injustice due by 11:59PM (midnight).
11/25 (Mon) Updates on Organizing an Activity
No reading. 		🧪 Organize an activity: update 5 due in class.
11/27, 29 🦃 Thanksgiving Break 🦃  
12/2 (Mon) Urban Segregation (Topic #14)
Kahlenberg & Quick, “Attacking the Black–White Opportunity Gap That Comes from Residential Segregation”. 		🧪 Parable of the polygons activity due in class.
12/4 (Wed) Updates on Organizing an Activity
No reading. 		 
12/6 (Fri) ❄️ Class Cancelled ❄️
Stay warm, stay safe! 		 
12/8 (Sun)   ✏️ Urban segregation due by 11:59PM (midnight).
12/9 (Mon) Guest Speaker: Thomas Murdock, Clinical Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, Operations Management and Strategy, School of Management, University at Buffalo  
12/11 (Wed)   🧪 Organize an activity report due by 11:59PM (midnight).
12/16 (Mon) ❄️ Presentations Cancelled ❄️
Stay warm, stay safe! 		 
12/18 (Wed)   🧪 Letter to future students due by 11:59PM (midnight).

* All times are for Buffalo (Eastern Standard) Time. Also, do not forget that every class meeting will have some sort of group discussion activity. Professional development activities are marked in red, social annotations in purple, and experiments in PPE in green.