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Instructions
Purpose:
This assignment is designed to give you the opportunity to address key course learning outcomes by demonstrating your ability to:
· Describe and distinguish key concepts in one main subfield of philosophy,
· Discuss a core philosophical problem in an informed and thoughtful manner,
· Analyze and interpret ancient Greek or Roman philosophical literature at a collegiate level of competency, and
· Articulate and defend a position on a philosophical topic, using appropriate reasons or evidence.
In other words, you are to take what you have learned and do your own thinking about it.
Product:
Please write an essay that defends one of the listed theses using the method below in 3-5 pages (double-spaced, readable 12-point font such as Times New Roman, 1-inch margins.) Your essay does not need a title page or bibliography (as long as the textbook and videos linked to in PAWS are the only sources used), nor should you include your name on your paper. The essay is to be submitted as a .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .rtf file in the Assignments (located under Assessment) area of PAWS by the date and time listed above.
Topic:
As the focus of your essay, please choose one of the following theses.
To live the best human life, one must minimize pain through the enjoyment of simple pleasures.
To live the best human life, one must practice not reacting emotionally to things beyond one’s control.
In life, it is necessary for us to create meaning for ourselves and to take ownership of our lives by rebelling against the universe’s impersonal forces that are trying to grind us to dust.
A meaningful life is one in which a person is committed to and gets satisfaction from doing things that the rest of humanity can recognize as having genuine value.
To find meaning in life, we must find a way of living that is intrinsically worth living, but having goals that we try to achieve will mostly leave us dissatisfied.
The purpose of life is to produce future generations of humanity and everything that we do that serves that purpose is meaningful when we do it, even if nothing that we do has any other lasting effect.
Method:
After you choose one of the thesis statements above, your analysis should proceed through the following basic stages:
In your first paragraph,
Make the thesis statement that you chose the first sentence of the first paragraph of your paper.
The rest of your first paragraph will describe the question that your thesis answers or the problem that it solves and will explain why we should care about answering that question or solving that problem.
The next few paragraphs of your paper will identify a philosopher from this unit of the course readings who argues in support of your thesis and will present in your own words that philosopher’s argument in support of the thesis. Be sure to mostly paraphrase the philosopher, quote only the most important short phrases and technical terms, and cite properly when explicating the argument found in the readings!
The next paragraph (or two) of your paper should offer your own reasons or evidence to support your thesis. (The kind of evidence you offer depends on the question that you presented in 1b.) Remember to illustrate your points with specific examples whenever you can. This is where you should be doing your own thinking!
The next paragraph (or two) should respond to an objection to your argument that could be raised by another philosopher that we have studied in this unit who would give an opposing answer to the question that you posed. This means that you need to do three things in this section: identify the objecting philosopher, present his argument against your thesis, and then refute his objection by presenting an effective counterargument.
The final paragraph of your paper should:
Conclude your essay by summarizing what you have accomplished,
And close your paper by repeating the thesis statement with which you began your paper as your final sentence.
Sources:
You do not need and should not use any sources other than the course readings to write this essay, but all regular academic standards will be enforced regarding the originality and use of sources in your papers. You are strongly discouraged from using any outside material or text-generators when writing this paper, and it will be submitted to TurnItIn.com and other AI-writing detectors to be reviewed for plagiarism, originality, and academic integrity.
Quotes from the reading should be kept as short as possible, preferably under ten words. Quotes do not speak for themselves, but require explication, which is typically twice the length of the quote. When quoting statements from the textbook, you should identify the source material that the textbook is presenting. The titles of Platonic dialogues, of other ancient works, and of books should be in italics, and names of individuals should be presented as they appear in the textbook. Include quoted words in quotation marks, and then after the closing quotation mark place a parenthetical note that includes an abbreviated title of the textbook that is either underlined or in italics, followed by a comma, and the page number. Note that punctuation is placed outside the parentheses, so that it looks like this: In the Apology, Socrates says that he is “attached to this city by the god . . . [as] a kind of gadfly” (p. 8, sec. 30e).
You may refer to the assigned videos, but it is not required. If you do so, you should follow the statement drawn from the video with a parenthetical note that includes, at a minimum, the title of the video as well as a notation of where in the video I can find the material to which you are referring. For example, Marc Nelson claims that “most of Epicurus’s ideas are more useful today than they ever have been” (“Epicureanism: Ancient Answers to Modern Questions,” TEDxOgden, video, at 2:50).
Grading Criteria: (Total 120 Rubric Points; Up to 150 Course Points)
You must use the thesis that you selected as the first sentence of the first paragraph and the last sentence of the last paragraph of your paper. (10 points)
You must defend your thesis effectively throughout the essay. You must be respectful of those who might disagree with you, but you must consistently take the position that your thesis represents the best solution for virtually all people under almost all circumstances. (10 points)
You need to be able to explain in the introductory paragraph what problem your thesis solves and why we should care about finding a solution to that problem. (10 points)
Your argument in support of your thesis should be presented in a coherent, logical, and convincing order that leads to your conclusion. (10 points)
Your argument should demonstrate a solid comprehension of the argument in support of your thesis that is presented by one of the philosophers that we have studied in this unit, and you must attribute the argument to the correct philosopher. (10 points)
You should quote and cite sources properly as you use them. Full credit cannot be awarded if no sources are cited. (10 points)
You must provide additional coherent reasons or compelling evidence to support your thesis. (10 points)
You must present at least one objection to your argument that emerges from another philosopher that we have studied in this unit. (10 points)
You must refute the objection to your argument that you presented. (10 points)
You must write a coherent essay that reads well as prose, not a checklist. (10 points)
You must proofread your essays well. (10 points)
You must submit your essay on time. (10 points for on-time submission, 6 for submission within 48 hours of due date, and 2 or fewer points for exceptionally late submission)
