Get an Expert Solution to these questions. Click on the WhatsApp button below.
Paper Topic: Whose epistemology do you prefer? Plato’s, or Aristotle’s? Whose metaphysics do you prefer? Why? Or, do you prefer the ancient Greek poets, or one of the Pre-Socratic philosophers, or the Sophists? What is it that makes you prefer one over all the others? What do you dislike about the others that pushes you towards any one of them?
How to go about writing this paper:
- First, consider your initial intuitive reaction to the Poets, Pre-Socratic philosophers, Sophists, Plato, and Aristotle. Who did you prefer? Why?
- Next, if you haven’t already, do the reading. Make sure you reread CoP, pgs 245-6 and Melchert, pgs 182-4. These pages offer up a good summary of the differences between the two that will help refine your initial intuitive response. If one is still uncertain, it might help to do more reading or review the lectures outlines posted on Moodle.
- Write a rough draft.
- Then research the topic by consulting secondary sources beyond Melchert and Pojman. Go to the library and do a word search in the library catalogue. Go to the stacks and browse through the books you find there, looking at the titles or table of contents to see if any are related to your subject. Or go to the reference librarian and ask for help in locating articles or books on the topic. Try to find scholarly articles in JSTOR, or do a Google search and see what you can find.
- Then incorporate your research into your paper. Include reference citations.
- Reread the final draft and polish it before you turn it in.
Structure of the paper:
A good philosophical argument attempts to prove its conclusion by providing reasons or evidence to support it. A philosophy paper begins by stating your hypothesis, or what it is you seek to demonstrate. Then give examples that support your hypothesis and build upon it like a staircase, ultimately leading up to and supporting your conclusion.
Make sure you understand the epistemology (theory of knowledge) and metaphysics (vision of what is ultimately real) of each philosopher. If you argue some point about Plato’s epistemology or Aristotle’s metaphysics but have it wrong, your paper will be flawed. Note with a footnote where an issue is discussed in the text so that I know you consulted the text and read the material on it.
Your paper should be an argument offering evidence as to why you think one philosopher’s overall vision of reality is superior to the other. State what it is you are trying to prove and how you arrived at this view, your thesis, in the first paragraph and then use subsequent paragraphs to provide evidence to support it. The final paragraph should end with a strong conclusion.
Good papers are your own arguments, not just ones that regurgitate class notes or the text. Take a position and defend it. You will be graded not on what your opinion is, but on how well you argue and defend this position.
Do not attempt to write the paper the night before it is due. Try to write the rough draft at least a week ahead of the due date so that you have lots of time to polish it, think about it, and consult secondary sources.
If you have any problems whatsoever, email me or stop by during my virtual office hours (TTh 11-12). If you want a rough draft reviewed, contact the Loyola Writing Center, found in Maryland Hall, Room 57, and ask for help. You can set up an appointment at www.loyola.edu/writingcenter/, or call them at 410-617-5415.
Though you may find material on the internet, you must footnote it and put it into your own words. Do not take plagiarize by cutting and pasting off the internet. If you do so, you will fail the course.
The papers should be 5 pages, double spaced, size 12 font.
Footnotes:
Use a footnote to reference each quote or idea which is not your own.
Consult The Chicago Manual of Style for sample footnote citations. To insert a footnote using Microsoft Word, click on References, then Insert Footnote. Here is an example of Melchert’s Great Conversation.[1] Here is an example from Pojman’s Classics of Philosophy.[2]
For sample citations visit: www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
For sample Internet citations visit: www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite7.html
Rubric – how your paper will be graded:
- Content (strength of argument): Is it a convincing argument? Is the thesis stated clearly in the first paragraph? Does the paper adhere to the thesis or paper topic? Are the examples supporting the thesis relevant? Are any counterarguments examined and/or refuted?
- Structure (argument design): Does it follow a staircase structure in which the argument builds upon itself? Does the paper end with a strong conclusion? Does the paper have good paragraph (one idea or example per paragraph) and sentence structure (no run-on sentences or sentence fragments)?
- Research: does the paper correctly state the philosopher’s position and cite passages from the text to confirm this position? Did the author research the topic and include references to secondary sources which help define and expand the substance of the paper?
- Footnotes and citations: if you do not cite either primary text in the body of the paper (at least several times), your overall grade will automatically be reduced a full letter grade. A bibliography is not enough, as it is too general.
- Grammar: correct spelling and punctuation. Reread the rough draft to eliminate any grammar mistakes. Make sure each sentence flows and is continuous with what precedes it and comes after it.
[1] Norman Melchert and David R. Morrow, The Great Conversation, Volume I: Pre-Socratics through Descartes (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019), p 155.
[2] Plato, Plato’s Republic, in Classics of Philosophy, ed. by Louis Pojman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 174.
