Dear Philosophy 125 Registrants and Wait-listees,

It's exciting to see so many people registered and/or waiting to
register for our philosophy 125 (Metaphysics) course this semester!

Here are a few (five, to be exact) announcements -- intended to set the
stage for the first days (and weeks) of class.

(1) Right now, there are 100 people registered and 20 more on the
waitlist.  Unfortunately, we will not be able to accommodate 120
students, so (I am sad to say) some of you will not be able to take the
course in the end.  However, do not lose hope yet (and do not have false
hope -- see below).  Two things will be helpful in thinning the herd.
First, there is a TWO (2) PREVIOUS PHILOSOPHY COURSE PREREQUISITE for
this course.  I will be strictly enforcing this prerequisite.  What this
means is that IF YOU HAVE NOT TAKEN TWO OR MORE PREVIOUS PHILOSOPHY
COURSES, YOU SHOULD DROP PHIL 125 NOW. Second, there is bound to be some
shifting of registrants during the first weeks of the semester.

(2) Everyone (registrants & waitlistees) should come to class Tuesday
with the following information (preferably, written on a 3x5 card):

(a) Name 
(b) Year 
(c) Major 
(d) Number of previous philosophy courses
(e) A (brief!) answer to "Why do you want to take this course?"

(3) The course website is at:

	http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~fitelson/125/

In particular, I urge you all to look at the course syllabus page.

	http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~fitelson/125/syllabus.html

I will be going over this on day 1, and it would help if you have
already looked at it by then, and formed whatever questions you might
have in advance.  The syllabus page is rather detailed, and it contains
lots of content.  For instance, you will see that all of the
supplementary or further readings for the course are available (in
either HTML or Acrobat PDF version 6 format) on our syllabus page.

I will make extensive use of the website during the semester (so
bookmark it!).  For instance, all lecture notes will be posted (by 9am
on the day of each class -- including day 1) on our lecture notes page. 
I advise you to look at (or, better still, print out) the lecture notes
BEFORE coming to class. Ideally, you can then just make notes on my
lecture slides, rather than trying to re-write what's already been
written by me.  The slides will be posted in both "1-up" and "4-up"
(that is, 1 slide per page and 4 slides per page) PDF formats.

(4) Please read the introductory chapter of Loux's text ("Contemporary
Introduction") for day 1.  I will be discussing this on day 1, as an
overview of the subject matter of the course (after the administrative
stuff is out of the way).  Again, it's especially nice if you come to
class armed with questions (this is always useful)!

(5) Discussion sections (for both undergrads and grads) will be arranged
as soon as possible (this will also be done in class).  Have your
schedules with you on day 1, so that you can decide which section times
will (or won't) work for you.  Ultimately, the section assignments (and
times/locations) will be posted on our sections page.

That's it, for now.  I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!


All best, 
Branden


P.S.  A copy of this email message (and all other email messages and
announcements) will be posted on the course home page.