Assignment task:
1. In this section of the paper, say which of the three views of the human person you think is most likely to be true. The three views, again, are dualism, physicalism, and hylomorphism. This section should be one sentence.
2. Give what you think is the strongest argument that the view you chose in part 1 is true.
* Be sure to explain step by step how the argument leads to its conclusion. Your argument can be one of the ones we discussed in class, or some other argument that you think is strong. This section of your paper should be one-three paragraphs long.
3. Say which premise of your argument (from sec. 2) is the weakest, that is, the premise of the argument that is most likely to be false. This should take one sentence. All arguments have premises, even if they are not formal arguments. Think of your premises as the "parts" of your argument, the steps it takes to reach its conclusion. In this section of the paper your job is to find and state
* In class we sometimes expressed arguments formally, that is, in a valid form with numbered premises. For this paper I recommend that you express your argument informally, that is in ordinary language. However, if you would like to express the argument formally, you may, but be sure that the argument is valid! If you decide to express your argument formally, it is a good idea to run it by the teacher before the final version of the paper. 2 what you think is the weakest part of your argument. This section should be one sentence.
4. Give what you think is the strongest argument against the premise you chose in section 3. The idea of this section is that you are giving an objection to that premise of your argument, from the point of view of someone who thinks the premise is false. Note that the objection should be specifically against the premise you chose in section 3, not against some other part of your argument. Depending on what your objection is, it is sometimes useful to indicate that it comes from the point of view of someone who holds one of the other two views of the human person. So, for example, if you are arguing for hylomorphism, you might raise an objection from the point of view of a dualist. Or your objection might be more "universal," that is, an objection that anyone might raise. The important thing is to choose the strongest objection you can come up with. This section should be one-two paragraphs long.
5. Give a response to the objection you gave in section 4, defending your view against it. This should take no more than two paragraphs. There are two possible strategies that you might choose for doing this:
(a) The most common strategy is to simply respond directly to the objection in 4, arguing that it does not give us good reason to think the premise is false.
(b) In some cases, rather than trying to argue directly against the objection, you may want to revise your argument from 2 so that the objection given in 4 is no longer a threat to it. If you take this route, you will need to explain (i) how you are revising the argument and (ii) why your revision avoids the objection in 4. If you are in doubt about which of these two startegies to use in responding to the objection, probably you should just choose strategy (a). Section 5 of the paper should be one-two paragraphs long.
6. End your paper with a brief conclusion in which you explain whether and why you think the argument is sound, in the end. If you are not sure whether it is sound, say that, then explain why you are unsure. This section should be one paragraph long.