SUGGESTIONS FOR PAPER TOPICS
The following are possible topics for your paper. You must respond to ONE of these question sets. In general, be sure to include the arguments of AT LEAST TWO, preferably THREE, of the AUTHORS we have been reading this semester, as well as your own thoughts on the matter (and be clear which is which!). The more details you can provide (relevant ones, of course), the better. You do not need to use additional texts for this assignment, nor do I recommend it. As written, these are not complete paper topics! You will need focus on a more particular claim and develop it, based on these more generalized questions.
1. A scholar once mentioned that ideally, students should understand themselves as knowledge producers, not knowledge consumers. In what ways would the authors we have been reading support or oppose this idea? Do you see yourself, in this class, as more of a producer or consumer of knowledge? What is your understanding of the difference between the two? Can you be both? Are you necessarily both?
2. What determines a person's identity? Is there such a thing as a soul? If so, what is it? Discuss whether these authors claim (or do not acknowledge) that a person's role in a social context is significant for philosophical reflection. Do you agree with this claim? Why or why not? What might be the significance of some kind of group identity in understanding one's own identity?
3. What, if anything, infringes on our abilities to make free choices, according to these authors? How free do you think humans are to make their own decisions? What impact does this perceived level of freedom have on your sense of ethical responsibility?
4. One of the standard distinctions made in western thought is between objectivity (being universal, dealing with facts, true outside of self) and subjectivity (being value-laden, dealing with the way things are perceived by the individual). In what ways do the authors rely on, or explicitly reject, this distinction? Are these authors correct about what is or is not subjective or objective? What do you think of this distinction?