The paper (4-6 pages long) is due Wed., Mar. 13, in my office, Gates-Blake 228, by 4:30pm. Gates-Blake is the building connected to Cobb. (The 4:30pm limit is mostly because Gates-Blake gets locked at some point in the evening--I'm not sure exactly when.)
As was the case with the first two papers: the below
topics are suggestions. If you want to write on another topic, feel
free to do so. It might be a good idea, however, in that case, to
check with me and/or Megan first.
Note once again that the topics tend to have many
sub-questions. You need not (and probably should not) try to answer
all of them. (You certainly should not just answer them one
after another in order--that would make a bad paper.) I put them
there to suggest various directions for thinking about the topic, and
in particular to head off superficial or excessively simple ways of
thinking about it.
Due to the nature of the texts we've most recently
been reading, many of the topics below have something to do with
knowledge about God. But not all of them do, and there is no general
requirement that papers must focus on that.
If you do write on a theologically-oriented topic, I
expect you to discuss in detail at least Hume and Descartes, possibly
also others (St. Anselm, Leibniz, Cervantes, Spinoza, Maimonides,
etc.). Most of the other topics are designed so that it should be easy
to use Hume for them, too, but, on the other hand, you might be able
to write a good paper about them and not say much about Hume. (In that
case, however, you would definitely have to make serious use
of the Fourth and Sixth Meditations, along with other
things, probably including Cervantes and/or Leibniz.)
The intent of the paper is to discuss the views or
attitudes manifested in the reading, rather than your own opinions on
the topic--though of course you can't and shouldn't completely keep
your own ideas out of it.
If you're using the editions I ordered, you can
refer to the readings just by giving the page number. If you use a
different edition and/or some other source, please give at least
enough bibliographical information that I can find it if
necessary. There's no need for a separate bibliography or title page.