Suggested Topics and Advice for the Second 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.) If you are enrolled in 540, your paper must be douple that.
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
- What is realism, according to Austin, Dummett, and Wright? Assess their views.
- Is there a definite answer to the question, "How many objects are in room 311 Social Sciences?" What would Putnam say? Price? Yablo? Hirsch? Chalmers? Give some good reasons for preferring one of their answers over the others. Discuss any three of the authors mentioned.
- Putnam thinks that conceptual relativity is incompatible with metaphysical realism. Horgan and Timmons attempt to show that they are compatible. So does Hirsch. Compare, contrast, and assess the views of Horgan and Timmons and that of Hirsch.
- You may write on a topic of your own choosing. You must, however, get my approval, either in office hours or after class, by 30 April.
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ShaughanLavine - 25 Apr 2008