1. papers is to be a defense of or an attack on a particular position or claim from the previous section’s readings or speakers (Leo Tolstoy, A confession)
2.The claim used must be appropriately narrow. (You can’t defend “Life is good.”)
3.The claim must make an application of the broad philosophical question to concrete issue relevant in our lives today. (What Does It Mean to be Human>The Terri Schaivo case)
4.The claim must be fairly important to the work in which it appears. (You may not take an incidental reference to the weather as your starting point.)
5.The claim, and any other material from any resource, must be used in light of the author’s own understanding. (You may not twist the author’s words or take things out of context.)
6. paper must make extensive use of all relevant assigned readings.
• we must announce our thesis as the final sentence of the first paragraph of our paper. A thesis is not a topic or a question. It is a statement that is possibly controversial and requires some argument to establish. For instance, suppose you wanted to attack Socrates’ implied claim that what we take for reality is really just a shadow play compared to the truly real. In that case, your thesis could be: “Socrates’ view that we are constantly deceived about reality is false.” None of the following would be acceptable as theses:
o “Is Socrates’ skepticism about our knowledge of reality justified or not?”
o “This paper is about Socrates’ skepticism about our knowledge of reality.”
o “I believe (feel, think, am convinced) that Socrates’ view that we are constantly deceived about reality is false.”
• After we have announced an appropriate thesis at the end of our first paragraph, we should argue in favor of it in the following way.
o First, spend a paragraph explaining the single most convincing argument in favor of our thesis.
o Second, spend a paragraph explaining the single most convincing argument against our thesis.
o Third, spend a paragraph explaining why the argument against our thesis does not succeed.
o Finally, write a concluding paragraph claiming that our thesis has been established, and explaining why the thesis is important to us or to the reader.
o In all cases, there must be good, clear transitions between these sections, so that the reader is not confused.
• SPECIAL NOTE ON ARGUMENTS: An acceptable thesis assumes that there are reasonable people who disagree with you, whom you are trying to convince. Therefore, your arguments must be persuasive from the point of view of those you are trying to convince. In essence, you are trying to show how some things they already believe or have good reason to believe imply that they should accept your thesis. For instance, suppose that your thesis is “Abortion is always immoral.” You would not want to hang your argument on an interpretation of scripture, because presumably some of those who support abortion rights are not believers in the authority of scripture, and so would not find your argument convincing even if your interpretation of scripture is irrefutably correct. If on the other hand, your thesis was “Christians should always oppose abortion,” then an argument from scripture would be more effective. But even then, if the best available objections are from a non-Christian perspective, giving a scripture-based, or even faith-based answer will be inadequate.
• SOURCES: from the assigned readings for a given unit, your paper must cite all sources relevant to your topic. In other words, though your anthropology paper may not focus on, for instance, Rene Descartes’ view of the human person, if you argue against the concept of the “disembodied self” and do not take account of Descartes’ position, you have not done justice to your topic.
• One-source papers are unacceptable. On the other hand, if you feel that all the assigned readings relate to your topic, your topic is too broad.
• All sources used must be used in accordance with the author’s understanding. That is, you may not take an author out of context, or twist the words to mean what they clearly do not. (Showing that the author contradicted him or herself is another matter – it is not only allowed, but encouraged. Plus, it’s fun!)
• All references to readings should be documented parenthetically within the text, using proper APA documentation form. Failure to document at all is plagiarism.
• You are not REQUIRED to use sources outside our text (Bowie, G. L, Michaels, M., & Solomon, R. (2011). Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy, 7th Edition, Publisher: Wadsworth ISBN: 978-1-4390-4396-7), but if you do then you must attach a References page with the sources formatted exactly,
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