The paper (4-6 pages long) is due Mon., Jan. 26, in class.
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 Justin first.
Note 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.
This paper is supposed to be related to the material
we're reading up through Descartes's First
Meditation. Whichever topic you write about, you should try to use
both Descartes and Cervantes. If you want, in addition, to refer to
things we read after the First Meditation (or to anything
else, for that matter--e.g. things from last quarter) you should
feel free to do so, as long as (this is important) it is still clear
that your paper was written for this course. (If you want to write on
a topic that does not involve both Descartes and Cervantes, you should
definitely check with me; if you do check with me, moreover,
I'll almost certainly discourage you from doing this.)
The intent of the paper is to discuss the views or
attitudes manifested in the reading, rather than your own opinions on
the topic. Of course you can't and shouldn't completely keep your own
ideas out of it, but your argument as a whole should aim at
establishing something about what the authors and/or their characters
mean. Your thesis should be your own, original idea about that.
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.