header
QUICK LINKS[Home]
[French Version]
[CV]
[RESEARCH]
[TEACHING]
[PHL501]
[HC 395]
[Photos]
[Jalisco]

[Login]

contact
Webmaster
Contact

PHIL302: MODERN PHILOSOPHY -- FIRST PAPER

This is a take-home paper assignment.

The paper should be between 800 and 1200 words, 12 points - double spaced. Any paper outside the limits will automatically receive a C. A wordcount should appear in your paper.

It should fulfill the requirements of an argumentative paper. Typically: YOU HAVE TO DEFEND A SPECIFIC THESIS, and your paper should follow the format: introduction, three or more arguments, and conclusion.

To see what I expect from your paper, you can also consult my grading guide and the grading sheet (link on main course web page) .

- THE PROSPECTUS IS DUE ON 10/2: a prospectus contains: a tentative title, and one paragraph giving your main arguments. It should no more than 300 words.

- THE PEER REVIEW TAKES PLACE ON 10/9, THERE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY NO LATE PAPER ACCEPTED

- FOR THE FINAL VERSION OF THE PAPER, DUE ON 10/16, GRADES WILL BE LOWERED BY ONE LETTER GRADE EACH DAY AFTER THE DUE DATE

Turning in a prospectus and showing up for the peer review with a complete draft of your paper is mandatory. Failure to do so will result in your grade being lowered by one letter grade (per offense). Please read the appropriate section in Part I of the course notes about prospectuses and peer reviews.

Your paper should be turned in either in a paper form directly to me, or by email:

1. to lebihan@iit.edu

2. as an attachment in word, text or pdf format.

3. with, as subject of your email, and as name of the document attached: PHIL302-YOURLASTNAME-PAPER1

Moreover, your paper, paper or electronic, should have

1. A cover with your name and the topic chosen

2. A title (not the topic)

3. pages numbers and word count.

I will not accept papers unless they are under the format required.

TOPICS:

  1. In what sense, if any, has Descartes proved that reason, or clear and distinct perception, is superior to sense perception? Take a stance and justify your answer.

  2. At the end of Meditation VI, Descartes writes:

    "[...] I ought no longer to fear that falsity may be found in matters every day presented to me by my senses. And I ought to set aside all the doubts of theses past days as hyperbolical and ridiculous, particularly that very common uncertainty concerning sleep. which I could not distinguish from the waking state; [...]" (EMP 122)

    But in the First Meditation, he had written:

    "[...]there are no certain indications by which we may clearly distinguish wakefulness from sleep that I am lost in astonishment." (EMP 89)

    What criterion does he give in the remaining of the last paragraph of Meditation VI for distinguishing between sleep and wakefulness? What in the context of Meditation I made such criterion unacceptable for rejecting the hypothesis that we may be dreaming all the time? Why can Descartes accept it now?

footer