Essay Assignment
Parameters:
1. Papers should be roughly 1200-1450 words in length.
2. They should be double-spaced, black/white, 12 pt. type (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri)
3. They should not be mere regurgitations of class notes. Use your own brain. "Compare and contrast really means to do just that...."
4. They should try to describe as best you can the relevant arguments, including identification of the central issue about which an argument is being formulated.
5. They should not contain BS, e.g. "Since the dawn of man..."
6. They should contain properly quoted material with exegesis of the same along with proper in-text citation, e.g. (Dworkin 13).
Write an essay on the following:
In On Liberty Mill writes, ""All that makes existence valuable to anyone depends upon the enforcement of restraints upon the actions of other people".
In the Euthyphro, Socrates asks, "Is the pious being loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is being loved by the gods"(Euthyphro lines 10-11)?
These statements and questions apparently represent two different ways of conceiving of moral value and its origin. Write an essay in which you carefully explain each of these views and suggest some ways in which they are similar and different.
Then complete your essay by writing on ONLY ONE of the following topics:
(a) Discuss what these conception of moral value means for the relation between morality and religion for Plato and Mill respectively. (Make sure to find and cite relevant texts.) Try to make some determination about whether or not they are correct.
OR
(b) Try to make some determination about what is more valuable in relation to happiness - individual liberty (whether or not you can do as you like) or virtue (what kind of person you are and character you have). Justify your response.
What I Look For
1. A stated thesis. This is a vital ingredient of any good paper. It tells the reader what the central claim is.
2. A stated plan for developing the thesis. In the first paragraph, briefly say how the central idea will be developed. "I will show X, then Y and then Z"
3. Textual usage: Make sensible use of texts to demonstrate meaning, as sources of evidence or interpretation.
4. Development, lucidity, coherence: The points supporting the thesis should be related to each other, and not be contradictory to one another. To the extent possible one point should follow more or less naturally from the next.
5. Clarity: Some sign that you understand the basic issue or problem, and argument discussed in the text or in class for or against.
6. No BS: BS is relatively easy to spot. Its only purpose is to fill space. These papers aren't that long. Make every word count. Here are some examples of common BS on philosophical essays. (BS need not be false to still count as BS.) The test for BS is probably a lot like Judge Learned Hand's test for pornography. If it looks like porn it probably is.
a. "Since the dawn of time, man has thought/questioned/etc. ....."
b. "Descartes was born in...."
7. Imagination and Engagement: This is not easy to quantify and may be the most difficult thing to do; however, I want you to try to engage with the problem. Introduce your own view of the matter - provided that you provide an argument for it.
Thesis: A thesis is the claim that you are proposing to discuss, whose truth you are proposing to demonstrate. It is the most difficult part of formulating a philosophical essay.
Sample 1
"In this paper I will show how deontologist and consequentialist moral theories differ from one another when discussing if suicide is right or wrong in certain situations. In order to show this, I must show and discuss theories in which a deontologist or Kantian type believes. Secondly, we must also see and discuss the theories that which the consequentialist, or Millian type believe. We will also discuss how each of these groups reason with the question of is it ever permissible to commit suicide? Among the moral theory of suicide, we will also take the Categorical Imperative and the Greatest Happiness principle into consideration."
1. Does this paragraph have a thesis? If so, what is it?
2. Does it have a plan for developing the thesis? What is the plan?
3. Is it clearly written? Why or why not? (or where is it and where is it not?)
4. Does it contain much BS or does it more or less get to the point?
Sample 2
"The argument has been made numerous times about whether or not suicide is ever justified. Kant gave a scenario of a man who was reduced to despair by a series of misfortunes and was contemplating taking his own life. The man asked himself it taking his own life would be contrary to his duty to himself, and he asks whether the maxim of his action could become a universal law of nature. Suicide is never permissible because from most philosophical standpoints, it would not be doing anyone any good. In the first paragraph, I will explain why it is not permissible to commit suicide. I will then discuss...."
1. Does this paragraph have a thesis? If so, what is it?
2. Does it have a plan for developing the thesis? What is the plan?
3. Is it clearly written? Why or why not? (or where is it and where is it not?)
4. Does it contain much BS or does it more or less get to the point?
Sample 3
"Due to its widespread effects and its irreversibility I believe that it is never permissible to commit suicide. Doing so is both an injustice to the person taking their own life, as well as to their loved ones. I am going to use Kant's categorical imperative to provide the deontological view on why suicide is immoral. Following that I will introduce utilitarianism...."
1. Does this paragraph have a thesis? If so, what is it?
2. Does it have a plan for developing the thesis? What is the plan?
3. Is it clearly written? Why or why not? (or where is it and where is it not?)
4. Does it contain much BS or does it more or less get to the point?