The paper (4-6 pages long) is due Wed., Feb. 9, 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 Part One of
Don Quixote and the reading from Descartes's Discourse and 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 our metaphysics readings, or form 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 assignment and 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.