Questions:
Instructions:
For the first essay, you will be expected to give an interpretation of a passage that we have read together and discussed, and then raise an objection to the position you ascribe to the text.
The essay as a whole is expected to be between 750-1000 words (which should be roughly 3-4 pages, though I will be going by word count and not page count).
For the draft, you are only expected to give the interpretation – you will decide upon an objection in consultation with me, after you have received feedback on your draft.
The draft should be between 400-600 words long.
You may freely cite any material we have used during classes. Do not consult outside texts. You may consult one another. If you do, be sure to credit your peers for their help in a footnote.
Prompts:
1. On Meno pgs. 70-72 and 77-8, Socrates and Meno discuss what has come to be called Meno’s Paradox. The conclusion of Meno’s Paradox is that inquiry is impossible. Carefully reconstruct the argument they consider for this Paradox.
Be sure to clarify all of the important concepts you use in reconstructing the argument. And be sure to quote the text to support your interpretation of the argument they consider for this Paradox.
2. In Meditation 1, Descartes offers several different skeptical arguments – i.e., several different arguments aimed to show that we do not know a great many things we initially think we know.
Pick one of his arguments and carefully reconstruct it. Make sure to state as clearly as you can what beliefs it targets.
Be sure to clarify all of the important concepts you use in reconstructing his argument. And be sure to quote the text to support your interpretation of that argument.
3. On Sources of Knowledge pgs. 107-10, Kern offers a transcendental argument to show that we have the capacity to know the world through perceiving it. Carefully reconstruct her argument.
Be sure to clarify all of the important concepts you use in reconstructing his argument. And be sure to quote the text to support your interpretation of that argument.
4. Explain Hobbes’s conception of the state of nature (i.e., the state in which there is no common power uniting people with one another) in your own words, and reconstruct one of his arguments for his conception of the state of nature (consider Hobbes, Leviathan, pgs. 83-6).
Be sure to clarify all of the important concepts you use in reconstructing his argument. And be sure to quote the text to support your interpretation of that argument.
5. Hobbes argues that a contract (or covenant) entered into out of fear is still a valid contract or covenant. Carefully reconstruct his argument for this claim.
Be sure to clarify all of the important concepts you use in reconstructing his argument. And be sure to quote the text to support your interpretation of that argument.
