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.]
- Hume's argument in Part I of "Of Miracles" that we have
overwhelming evidence ("direct and full proof") "against the existence of any
miracle."
- David Hume's argument in "Of Suicide" that in committing suicide a person
does not do great wrong to "neighbor and society"
- Jeremy Bentham's argument in An Introduction to Morals and
Legislation (p.82) that "Every coercive law creates an offense." [Be sure you
explain important distinctions and tease out the various bits of the argument.]
- John Stuart Mill's argument in Utilitarianism V that a certain
"distinction coincides with that which exists between justice and other obligations
of morality." (pp.133f) [Of course you'll have to explain important distinctions.]
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: 20 March 2008