Your term paper will be on a topic of your choosing, so long as it is comparative in nature and addresses at least one of the major traditions of Asian philosophy discussed in this class. It will be worth a maximum of twenty points (the same as one of the exams). Specific requirements are detailed on the reverse side of this page, but broadly speaking, your criteria are as follows:
Your topic should be legitimately interesting to you, addressing a question you're sincerely interested in answering.
Your topic should be comparative in nature. You can compare two of the Asian traditions covered in this class, or compare one of those traditions to another philosopher or philosophical school you're familiar with from some other philosophy class.
Done well, comparative philosophy delves deeper than merely saying two theories agree about X but disagree about Y. Look for apparent similarities and then show the subtle differences between them. Show obvious differences and then find the common ground one wouldn't expect to find.
Your topic must be original and must be written by you. If there is evidence that the author of your term paper is not the same author of your exams, UD's Honor Code authorizes me to fail you for the course.
You may write on any subject you choose, so long as it meets the criteria listed above. Below is a list of possible essay topics, but consider it fodder for a brainstorming session, not an exhaustive list. You may choose to write on any of the topics on this list, but you're also encouraged to come up with a comparative topic of your own.
Hierarchical social orders and social control in Confucianism and Hinduism
The duty-based ethics of bushido and Kant, or the Bhagavad Gita and Kant
Confucianism and care ethics, or Confucianism and Aristotle on virtue ethics
Feminism and early Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, or Soto Zen
Dao in Confucianism and Daoism
Finding the Daoism in Dogen
The role of the sage in Confucianism and Daoism
Comparing the Daoist sage to the bodhisattva
Buddhist and Daoist epistemology
The role of nature in Shinto and Daoism, or Shinto and environmental science, or Shinto and deep ecology
The role of Confucianism or Daoism in modern Chinese culture
Comparing Confucian compassion and Buddhist compassion
Comparing Buddhist compassion and compassion in Roman Catholicism
Comparing Confucian role ethics and care ethics
Daoism and ecofeminism
Requirements:
7-8 properly formatted pages, following the rules and guidelines laid out in "Instructions for Writing Well in This Course", with the following amendments:
Use Times New Roman in 14-point font for all text except for Chinese or Japanese characters. (Using these characters is not required. If you do choose to use them and you'd like some help, I will be happy to assist).
The use of, and reference to, scholarly sources, including at least one primary source in print and at least three secondary sources in print:
Most of the topics listed on the previous page require the use of two primary sources, not one, since the assignment is comparative in nature.
Please do not ask me how to use Chicago style citations. Ask Dr. Google.
Please do not ask me what the difference is between primary and secondary sources, and please do not ask me what the difference is between scholarly sources and sources that ain't scholarly. Ask Dr. Google or ask a librarian. (A general guideline is this: if it comes from a university press, it's scholarly; if it doesn't, it's suspect.)
You may use online sources as well, but these are not sufficient by themselves. You need to do more for this paper than surf the web.
You are certainly encouraged to collect digital copies of journal articles via interlibrary loan, but in almost all cases, when you cite them you'll cite the original print medium, not a URL.
If you use sources in other languages, in your citations you must translate the names of the sources into English to demonstrate that they are scholarly in nature.
Preliminary work:
A proposed paper topic along with a preliminary bibliography (which may include texts you haven't read yet; the purpose of the preliminary bibliography is just to prove you've chosen a viable topic).
The more detailed the outline is, the better I can help you predict how well you'll do on the paper.