Write a review of the work you read including all of the following elements.
● Supply a general introduction giving basic information about the work
○ Inform the reader of the author, date, provenance, genre, purpose, etc. of the treatise.
This is the only section that will require a modicum of outside research.
○ This section of the paper should serve to orient the reader to what follows, not to narrate everything that is known or suspected in scholarship about the treatise. If it takes more than one moderately sized paragraph, you’ve missed the purpose of this section.
● Summarize the contents and structure of the work (brief, i.e., one or two paragraphs, is fine).
● Trace central themes of the work back to philosophical sources (Platonic, Aristotelian), commenting as well on any points of tension between religion and philosophy you may detect.
● Recount any particularly striking theme or image or passage, and tell why it struck you.
● Conclude with some general assessment of the work/excerpts as a whole.:
○ That is, take a personal position (agree, disagree) and indicate reasons; or indicate advantage/disadvantage for particular purposes; or some other mode of assessment.
Technical Details:
Length: 1000 words, +/- 250 (ca. 3pp. in double-spaced Times New Roman 12 pt. font with 1’ margins)Citation:
• Parenthetical, in-text citation is sufficient (parentheses belong inside punctuation).
• Refer to page number or to section number (whichever makes more sense).
NB: Assignments neglecting to cite the source of quotations or themes will receive no credit.
Read one of the following two works/excerpts
• Averroes, Decisive Treatise
• Maimonides, Guide (selections)
