Essay instructions

The assignment should be 4 full pages long with 12 point font and double-spaced. Please don't monkey around with the formatting to make your paper seem longer.

Please cite a page number with any quote from the assigned textbook. If you use multiple sources please cite an author name or title as well as the page number for each quote.

One of the trickiest things about writing a philosophy paper is narrowing your essay topic to focus on some important part of an argument in close detail.

Here are some suggested topics to help you narrow your focus. Feel free to write about one of the options below. If you want to write about another topic, I'd encourage you to send me an email with your proposed topic, so that I can let you know if I think it is too broad.

Some Topic Options:

1. Kant and Mill disagree on whether it would be morally justified to lie for altruistic purposes. Explain each philosopher's reasoning. What flaws can you find in their arguments? Whose argument is stronger? Why?

2. Peirce is very critical of the deductive (a priori) methods that Descartes used. Explain his criticism. How does it relate to Descartes' project? How might Descartes respond to those criticisms? Do you agree with one more than the other? Why?

3. Explain how Russell's reasoning for relying on empirical evidence. How does that relate to Quine's discussion of his verification theory of meaning? What do you think the proper role of sense evidence is when forming our beliefs?

4. Explain Quine's notion of holism. How does this relate to Kuhn's explanation of how scientific revolutions work? What would a theory that takes both of these philosophies into account say about how we ought to form our ordinary beliefs?