Assignment: Students will write a 3 to 4 page typed paper on a philosopher of their choice as long as the person selected has an entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.  A works cited list is in addition to the 3 to 4 pages. Papers can be longer as long as they are on topic.  Use 12 font size, please! 

Paper Requirements: 

Topic/Philosopher Selection: Each student must submit the choice of philosopher to the instructor prior to turning in the paper via email. Also, this is how the first 10 points of the paper are earned. The sooner the student informs the instructor of the selected philosopher, the sooner the instructor can offer assistance.  You may email me through the Canvas system or at my email addresses:  jgioia@nunez.edu

Paper outline: For this particular assignment, a set format is required. The outline is as follows:

1. Introduction: Introduce the philosopher and his or hers most important work or works and significant contributions. Answer the following question in the form of a thesis statement: In your opinion, does Philosopher X make a significant contribution to philosophy? Why?  Be prepared to back up your point of view! 

Sample Thesis Statement: Philosopher X makes a substantial (or not) contribution to metaphysics (or another subfield(s) to philosophy) because he or she…

Thesis statements can vary, but the example above should help you when deciding where you stand on a particular philosopher.

II Body

Depending on the particular philosopher, you may have to further elaborate on the multiple works of the person. Also, you will want to include  a paragraph or two on biography. Please do not get carried away with biography. Often times, there is some event(s) that occur, which influence the perspective of the philosopher. Include any influences on the person by other philosophers.

Include a discussion of one of the most relevant topics or theories that the person contributes to his/her discipline. You may include a quote or two relevant to the discussion, but do not use too many quotations in your paper. Explain the contribution and why you think it is important. Include any later philosophers who were directly or indirectly influenced by your choice. Be sure to include parenthetical citations (in-text citations) for your sources. If you do not know what in-text citations are, ask! You must show where you are getting the information from (SEP or IEP). 

III Conclusion: Like introductions, conclusions are specialty paragraphs and can “make or break” your essay. Your conclusion should have a restatement of your thesis and evidence of your thinking about the person and his/her contributions to philosophy. You may want to consider such questions as, is the contribution still relevant today? Has the theory become outdated? Is it time to look carefully at this philosopher again?

Following the conclusion, provide your works cited list (and consulted, if you look at sources for information but do not actually use it in the paper).

Paper Sources: Every student will be required to use the following sources:

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

https://plato.stanford.edu (Links to an external site.)

The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

http://www.iep.utm.edu (Links to an external site.)

The ONLY other source you are allowed to use, is the writings of a particular philosopher, and that, too, must be cited. Do not list Wikipedia as a source. You can certainly look at it for a starting point, but do not use it as a source for the paper. All citations should be in MLA format as best at possible. You may abbreviate the required sources in the paper as follows: SEP and IEP. The SEP and IEP usually provide some guidelines or can even generate the proper citation form for you. Any deviation from the instructions can result in a “0” out of a possible 100 points. 

If you choose someone like Renee Descartes, I do not expect you to read all of his Meditations for this assignment. You should look a part of it but do not have to read entire works. Your instructor is simply looking for evidence that you know something about a philosopher in more depth than you did before and can articulate that in a short paper.

Paper editing: It is expected for you to use proper punctuation, spelling, and grammar in your paper.

A scoring matrix (rubric) will be provided for you to help you as you write your paper/reflection.

List of some possible philosophers (there are many, many more—feel free to look through the index of philosophers offered by the SEP and IEP): 

Ancients:

Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Epictetus, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Laozi

Medieval:

St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Anselm, Boethius, Averroes (Ibn Rushd),

Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Maimondes, William of Ockham

Modern:   Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, Rene Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Benedict Spinoza, David Hume, John Locke, Imannuel Kant, Voltaire, John Stuart Mill, Fredrich Nietzsche, Margaret Cavendish, W.E. B. DuBois, Frederick Douglass

Contempory: Martin Heidegger, Bertrand Russell, Alan Turing, Karl Popper,

Hillary Putnam, Philip Hallie, Hannah Arendt, Philippa Foot, Louis Pojman,  

Simone de Beauvoir, Jane Addams.

• You can also take a look at the philosophers listed in your main textbook (again—the person must have an entry about him or her in BOTH the SEP and IEP)

You should use a 12 point font for the paper and double space the text. 

Do not add a title page; the first page of your paper should look like the following:

Charlotte Lennox (your name)

Instructor Gioia

PHIL 1100

April 14, 2022

Your own title: Doubting Descartes’ Claim of Rationalism in Meditations

Section 1: Introduction

    Indent fives spaces and begin your paper….

Sample of a parenthetical citation and works cited list: 

From             Seneca: A Lesson in Roman Stoicism and Politics

    While Seneca acknowledged the important work in theory that his predecessors proclaimed, he felt that the pursuit of philosophy should be an action.   Seneca still defended Stoicism and reinforced such ideas as individuals actually having control over their respective happiness. This is a stark rejection of Aristotle’s claim that happiness is partially dependent upon instances outside of individuals’ control.   The key issue is knowing what is in the control of people and what is not. Virtue ends up being in the control of people when circumstances are not (Wagoner, 8).    

(Please double space the text of your paper)

From Works Cited List:

Wagoner, Robert. “Lucius Annaeus Seneca.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

http://www.iep.utm.edu/seneca/ (Links to an external site.)