Terms of the assignment
- Choose one or more articles from the Reader.
- Write a 5 to 7-page paper on the text(s) of your choice.
- You must submit your paper by Dec 9, 2006.
- Include the following headings:
_______________
0. Introduction
Tell me which text(s) you have chosen to write about and how you will go about doing it.
1. Summary of the text's or texts' main ideas
This must be done in your own words.
What are the metaphysical (about being), epistemological (about knowing), and ethical (about doing) ideas being put forward
in the text(s) that you have chosen to write about.
2. Presuppositions and consequences
First, every idea that an author suggests is based on said (explicit) or unsaid (implicit) presuppositions. What are, according
to you, the presuppositions behind the ideas presented in the text(s)?
a) What are the metaphysical presuppositions of the text(s)
b) What are the epistemological presuppositions of the text(s)
c) What are the ethical presuppositions of the text(s)?
Second, philosophical ideas have consequences. For instance, if you say that a foetus is a living being but
not a human being, destroying it can never be qualified as "murder." It will amount to killing a living
being, but not a human being.
To what consequences would the ideas espoused in the article(s) of your choice lead if they were followed through?
Mention more than two.
3. Critique
At this point, you must offer your own critique of the above.
Tell me what you agree with and why, as well what you disagree with and why.
4. Questions arising
What questions would you still like to ask about the subject matter dealt with in the article(s) on which you are
writing your paper?
This is your chance to show me that you can raise philosophical questions of your own from the viewpoint of being,
knowing, and/or doing.
Good luck!
