First Paper

Requirements

The paper must be 5-8-pages in length, typed and double-spaced. (Five pages is approximately 1,250-2,000 words, or 6,250-10,000 characters.) Keep a copy when you hand in your paper.

Your papers should concern one of the assigned topics, presenting the relevant positions clearly and briefly and assessing their strengths and weaknesses using examples from the texts when appropriate. Note that if you get a position wrong, you are unlikely to assess it well. There is rarely only one correct interpretation of anything, but—whatever your interpretation—you must document it by giving page or line references to the passages on which the interpretation is based. Do not use quotations unless the precise wording of a passage is crucial. Explain the views in your own words.

The paper is not primarily a research paper. You may do supplementary research if you wish, but the main requirement is that you must show that you have read the relevant texts carefully, thought about them, and made some sense of them. Do not report the views of others. Struggle with the texts on your own.

Page references to the assigned texts should be given in parentheses in the body of a paper. When you consult works other than the assigned texts, list them in a bibliography with additional acknowledgment given to any writer who influenced your thinking. The Chicago Manual of Style is a useful reference for other matters of style.

Advice

The main thing I shall be looking for in your paper is a clear thesis, stated in a sentence or two in the first paragraph of the paper, that you successfully defend by either giving good arguments for it or by undermining obvious or standard arguments against it. The thesis need not be one, like, "there are contingent identities," that solves a substantial philosophical problem. It might be, for example, that Kripke's notion of a rigid designator is not subject to the problems Gibbard claims, because ….

A "book report," which explains the views in the texts and in secondary sources you have consulted without giving your own reasons and analysis will receive a poor grade, however thorough, accurate, and well researched it may be. You may wish to consult How to Write a Philosophy Paper before beginning to write your paper. Some of the links there will have suggestions about how to formulate a good thesis.

It is very important to express yourself clearly and precisely: So long as I can understand you, I don't care, but, given the subtlety of the ideas being discussed, I won't understand you if you are not as clear and precise as possible. Don't confuse the reference of a term with its meaning or the idea of a thing with the thing itself: even if you are not confused, if the exact literal meaning of what you have written is not correct, I shall end up confused when reading your work. When you introduce a claim, make sure it is clear whether you are taking it be an assumption, a controversial claim requiring discussion, a hypothesis introduced so you can refute it, something you intend to establish or whatever. In addition, when you introduce a claim, make sure it is clear whether the claim is yours, something you take a philosopher (who? page reference?) to have claimed that you are reporting, something you take a philosopher (who? page reference?) to have claimed that you are endorsing, or disputing, or whatever. When you wrap up an argument, do you think you have established something, shown that an argument against it is inconclusive, shown it can't be right, given additional reasons for doubting it, …?

I shall use GradingRubric to grade your papers. Look at it. That will give you a sense of what I shall emphasize. The descriptions of what various subgrades mean are only intended to be indications of a standard—they do not, and were not intended to, cover all cases.

Plagiarism Warning

If you quote from any work, paraphrase it, or your work has been substantially influenced by it, you must note that explicitly—in the case of direct quotation, the use of quotation marks will suffice. Failure to acknowledge sources or to note quotation or paraphrase constitutes plagiarism—intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise, which is the ultimate academic crime—see the Code of Conduct in the ABOR Policy Manual, beginning at 5-301.C. Any cheating, fabrication, or plagiarism may result in a failing grade for the work concerned or for the course, at Professor Lavine's discretion, and he may recommend additional penalties ranging from making the infraction a permanent part of your academic record to expulsion from the University, in accordance with the UA Code of Academic Integrity.

Using any source, and that includes simply being substantially influenced by it, without citation constitutes plagiarism. If you read up on the paper topic (for example, looking it up in Wikipedia or the Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy), keep track of what you read so that you cite it appropriately. "I forgot to attach the bibliography" and the like is not an acceptable excuse.

Topics

1. Carnap thinks that metaphysical questions only have answers with respect to an adopted framework. Quine disagrees. Explain and defend one of the sides, either by arguing for it or by undermining arguments against it.
2. Adams thinks that the question whether every thisness is a suchness is a metaphysical question that is in some respects independent of the question about language whether there can be rigid designators. Quine, Kripke, and Gibbard only provide answers to the question about rigid designators. Are they failing to confront the central question, as Adams implies? Offer a plausible argument on their behalf against Adams, and either support it or attack it.
3. Is there a definite answer to the question, "How many objects are in room 311 Social Sciences?" What would Quine say? Carnap? Geach (as described by Perry)? Give some good reasons for preferring one of their answers over the others.
4. Can there be contingent identity statements? Evaluate at least the main arguments we have considered for and against, giving reasons why you think they either do or do not provide support for one or another answer.
5. You may write on a topic of your own choosing. You must, however, get my approval, either in office hours or after class by 18 February.

-- ShaughanLavine - 13 Feb 2008