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Metaphysics Evaluative Essay Guide
Students are expected to submit twelve, 250-word essays during the semester. Together, these will count as 40% of your course grade. I will assign six of the articles; the remainder will be at your discretion. Essays are due at the beginning of the class period in which the corresponding reading is discussed.
Note: this is a strict
length limit – roughly speaking, 250 words is one page typed and double-spaced.
Each essay should be a critical evaluation of one important point made in the corresponding reading. Given the limited length, you will need to select very, very narrow topics for your critical evaluation – students are strongly encouraged to discuss their topics with me prior to writing.
Your evaluation
should include (1) a brief recap of the claim presented in the reading, (2) an
explanation as to why the matter is problematic, and (3) either a brief outline
of how the problem may be resolved or of the repercussions of the leaving the
matter unsettled.
Ideally, your
evaluative essays will be able to stand on their own – that is, based solely
upon your essay, an intelligent person unfamiliar with the class or subject
matter should be able to grasp the issue at hand, why it is problematic, and an
explanation of a possible resolution or of the problem’s repercussions.
As “experts,”
those submitting essays will be expected to take the lead in our general
discussion of the articles on which they have written.
Needless to say,
these essays must be typed and double-spaced and submitted at the beginning of
class on the date due.
The articles
for the six required evaluations:
1.
Either
a.
Aristotle:
De Anima
b.
Descartes:
Second Meditation
2.
Locke:
“Of Identity and Diversity”
3.
Either
a.
Dennett:
“Did HAL Commit Murder?”
b.
Hauser:
“Why isn’t my Pocket Calculator a Thinking Thing?”
4.
Rowe:
Cosmological Argument
5.
One
of
a.
Augustine:
What is time?
b.
c.
Aristotle:
Time is the measure of change
6.
Either
a.
Knox:
“Towards a Philosophy of Humor”
b.
Park:
“The Function of Fiction”