Philosophical Paper Assignment 2
Write a philosophical paper on one of the following arguments:
- Spinoza's argument that "One substance cannot be produced by another substance."
(This proposition VI of part I of Ethics. This can be found here.
You'll have to read various "definitions," "axioms," and previous "propositions" to
understand the argument.)
- John Searle's argument in "Prospects for the Social Sciences" (chapter 5 of
MBS) that "there will be no laws of wars and revolutions in the way
that there are laws of gases and nutrition." (quote from p.77)
- Harry Frankfurt's argument in section I of "Necessity and Desire" that "we
cannot unequivocally accept the doctrine that it is morally preferable to allocate
resources to those who need them rather than to those who only desire them."
- Harry Frankfurt's argument in sections II and III of "Necessity and Desire" that
"Free volitional needs have no inherent moral interest ..."
- Harry Frankfurt's argument in "On Bullshit" that "bullshit is a greater enemy of
the truth than lies are." (quote from p.132 of TIOWWCA)
Here are some guidelines:
- The argument should be carefully and completely laid out.
- Premises and conclusion should be clearly identified.
(See "Identifying
and Formulating Arguments")
- The paper should include clarification of
positions, distinctions, premises, and arguments.
- There should be critique of the argument.
- The paper should display insight into the issue.
- The paper should be fair to several sides of the issue.
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Note: For this assignment you need not use
any materials apart from those in the class texts (or indicated in the
assignment) -- indeed you are
encouraged not to. However, no matter what sources of information you use
-- even the textbook -- be sure to make adequate attribution (e.g. in
footnotes). You are expected to do your own work. Use of
unacknowledged sources (e.g., books, friends, tutors, web sites, other
papers) for
this assignment constitutes cheating.
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This paper should be submitted electronically
to rlee@uark.edu. The
paper should be submitted as a "rich text format" (.rtf) file.
(You'll need to use a "save as" command to get your document
into this form.) Submissions after the due date risk
incursion of a penalty for lateness.
Please put your name and topic number on your paper.
Richard Lee,
rlee@uark.edu,
last modified: 24 October 2006