Epistomology

1. You should not include any biographical information concerning the author(s) of the reading(s) that you choose to write about unless this is of intrinsic philosophical interest. Submissions whose first pages comprise such information will be graded accordingly. 2. There must be ample evidence that you yourself have read the reading(s) you have chosen. If your paper consists of little more than biographical information and general philosophical remarks, from Internet sources, that are not keyed to passages within the chosen readings, then your grade for the paper will suffer. 3. On your first read-through of the selection you have chosen, you might have in mind the following questions: (a) At whom is the author’s article directed? Whose is the author’s intended audience? Typically, that audience will turn out to be other philosophers or students of philosophers? Does the author seem to have in mind philosophers inclined to a certain philosophical doctrine? Or are the author’s words merely directed at those who have asked themselves certain philosophical questions without having arrived at any particular conclusions? (Write up answers to these questions; they might serve as the basis for a first draft.) (b) What is the author’s topic? To what area of philosophy does that topic belong? (c) What is the author’s claim with respect to his chosen topic? Does the author present an argument for his claim? What are the grounds for the claim? Is the author’s argument convincing? If not, can you see a way to improve the author’s argument so as to make it more convincing? In general, you might try to apply Toulmin’s Six-Point Method of Argument Analysis here, identifying in writing how each of Toulmin’s six points is applicable. For example, are there philosophical objections that the author is recognizing in advance and attempting to rebut? (d) Does your author’s introduce technical terms? If so, give some example of such terms and of how the author uses them. (e) Does your author rest his case on certain distinctions? If so, can you make sense of those distinctions? This is especially important in the case of ancient writers, who frequently make distinctions that may make little sense on the face of it. Can you provide a sympathetic interpretation that enables you to make sense of these distinctions? 4. You may also find the “Notes and Questions” at the end of each selection helpful. Indeed, one or two of the questions raised there may provide the germ of your paper. 5. There should be a bibliography, which might include just our course anthology. Citations should be minimal. If all your citations are to our course anthology, those after the first one should be abbreviated—just a page number should suffice. 6. Lastly, the most important determiner of your grade will be the instructor’s sense of the extent to which you yourself became engaged with the reading(s) you chose