Essay One -Fall 2009                   

Requirements:

1. Your essay should be word-processed, double-spaced, one-inch to one and one-half inch margins. It should be spell-checked. Pages Numbered. Font no smaller than 12 point.

2. You should have a cover page with title, date, prompt, and your name.

3. Number each paragraph. Bold your thesis. After the end of the essay, attach an OUTLINE of the essay with the thesis clearly stated and at minimum a line for each paragraph.

4. Each essay should be approximately three pages long (not including the title page or Works Consulted/ Reference/Bibliography page).

5. You must include a Works Consulted/Reference/Bibliography Page. I will assume that you have read and understood Turabian 7^th edition on when and how to cite sources and include quotations. CAREFUL AND CORRECT CITATION IS REQUIRED. WHEN IN DOUBT, CITE. Remember that simply paraphrasing or changing every third word is not OK. Quote and cite or radically summarize and cite. Use quotation marks when quoting or indent if quote is five lines or longer. Guessing at where your information comes from is not OK. Use page numbers in your in-text citations, footnotes or endnotes. Book or journal titles are italicized or underlined. You need not consult any other sources than what we have read for class. Those sources and any other sources you consult must be included in your Works Consulted/Reference List and cited in-text or in footnotes/endnotes. Turabian 7^th ed. (Chicago Manual of Style) and MLA 2009 are the preferred forms.  Click Here for   some examples.

6. Your essay should define any key terms used, use examples to illustrate and support your argument where appropriate, and discuss likely alternatives or respond to at least one objection. Remember that the injunction to evaluate includes both strengths and weaknesses. 

Grading:    Essays will be graded for both form and content as indicated in the Grading Rubric. You should use these points as one guide in proof-reading drafts of your essay. Note: Information on setting the grammar checker in WordPerfect and MS Word is on my Philosophy Tools site.  

Choose ONE of the following prompts: 

1.  What is most and least compelling about Glaucon’s devil’s advocate argument in the sections of Republic, Bk II that we read?  Be sure to define terms, use examples, and discuss likely alternatives or respond to at least one objection. 

2.  Susan is taking eighteen credits and working ten hours a week.  She is pretty overwhelmed. She tells Plato she is considering cheating on her math test: 

Many people I know have cheated without being caught.  Besides, different teachers have different rules for tests.  Some allow you to bring in a list of formulas.  Others don’t.  There aren’t universal standards.  So why shouldn’t I bring in some formulas?  Abstract concepts like honesty and goodness are just that.  Abstract and not down to earth. Give me something concrete that I can get my hands on any day!  This is the real world. There are no absolutes.  If I get good grades, who cares about cheating?  I’ll be able to get a good job, buy a new car and get a nice apartment. That will make me a lot happier than being "just", whatever that is.  

Based on the sections we read in Plato’s Republic (especially the section on the Myth of the Cave) and his Theory of Forms, A. How might Plato respond to the views Susan expresses?  AND  B. Pick one aspect of the response and explain why Susan should or should not be convinced. 

3.  How does Aristotle understand happiness (eudaimonia)?    How does he arrive at this understanding?  Would you define it differently?  Why or why not?   In your answer be sure to define key terms, use examples, discuss likely alternatives, and respond to at least one objection. 

4.  Do you think Aristotle’s conception of a moral virtue as a mean between extremes is of use to people today?   Argue your position.  In your essay, be sure to explain his view, and create a modern example to illustrate .  Use courage or temperance as the virtue in question.  Be sure to cover his key points such as a mean between excess and defect, relative to the nature of the virtue itself, etc.   

5.   Write a dialog between Aristotle and Augustine on the summum bonum.    Be sure to refer to passages from the texts we have read, define any terms you use, and point out similarities and differences between their views. 

6.  How are the problems of free will and evil related in the passages of Augustine we read?  Discuss one strength and one weakness of Augustine’s treatment of the interrelationship of these problems. 

7.    Compare and contrast how one of the texts we have read and a modern film address a particular question, issue, or problem.  Lay out the question/issue/problem and explain how the philosopher's text addresses it.  Then show how a film addresses the same issue.  Be sure to provide examples/quotations from the film and the philosopher's text(s).   Only movies in the IMDB.  Not "The Matrix", please.   

8.  ****Wild Card. Write on a topic of your choice based on our readings in this section of the course.   However, you must have the instructor approve your topic.  You may talk to me after class, visit me in my office, or contact me via email to request approval.  One concern is not making the topic/thesis too broad.