Short Writing Assignment #2 for PHIL 120 (Fall 2009)
Instructor: Dr. Jan Garrett
Most recent alteration: October 19, 2009 Three short papers are due over the course of the semester, at the Friday session of the third, seventh, and twelfth weeks of classes, unless you are notified otherwise.
The second short paper is due Wednesday, October 21, for those writing on Plato; Friday, October 23, for those writing on Aristotle or the (Classical) Hebrew view.
Because I want to encourage a reasonable distribution of topics, no more than twelve persons may write on Plato and no more than twelve may write on the Old Testament. Please check with me when you have decided on your preference. I'll let you know whether the topic is oversubscribed.
The best way to begin preparing for these papers is to read the appropriate textual material well in advance and work through the corresponding Study Questions that have been provided on the course website. Be engaged in the classroom discussion of these texts in the weeks before the SWA is due.
Start work on these papers several days before they are due, so you can revise your original drafts while consciously paying attention to the virtues of good papers, also known as Intellectual Standards, and trying to ensure that you have followed the requirements stated below.
Incidentally, such intellectual standards are normally used by teachers in evaluating written work in subjects like ours. You might as well be aware of what they are.
The papers should be in essay style, broken into paragraphs of no more than ten lines each. Papers may be from 600 to 800 words in length. They should be double-spaced and employ complete sentences, most of them declarative sentences. How the sentences are related to one another should be clear.
On the first page of the paper, put your name, email address, assignment indicator (SWA 1, SWA 2, etc.), class and section (e.g., 120-002), the date the assignment is being turned in, and the word count. Please do not forget the word count.
Quantity
If you have not written 600 words of original composition, you have probably not done enough.
When figuring the word count, do not include any quoted material in your word count.
Documentation
Do not fail to properly quote material taken directly from the textbook. Document your direct quotations using embedded page numbers, for instance (11) for page 11 of the textbook. Plagiarism is an academic offense. Please read and be sure to understand this FAQ page on plagiarism.
If you use any outside sources, please minimize borrowing passages from these for purposes of writing the paper. If you do directly cite an outside source, be sure to cite accurately and provide an accurate bibliographic reference to your source. Plagiarism is an academic offense.
I reserve the right to require that you supply me with a copy of your outside source, so that I can check your use of sources.
For a sample short writing essay on a philosophical topic, this may be helpful, but pay attention to the note at the beginning.
Options for Discussion in this SWA (SWA 2):
Plato, chapter 4, in Ten Theories.
Aristotle, chapter 5 in Ten Theories.
Hebrew Bible / Old Testament, chapter 6, pp. 107-118 in Ten Theories.
General Instructions Explain in your own words the particular philosophy of human nature on which you have chosen to write. Focus on the human nature, diagnosis, and prescription sections of the chapter (or half chapter, in the case of chapter 6) in Ten Theories. Touch on the encompassing world view or metaphysics as necesssary. (Obviously, if writing on the Hebrew perspective, the view of God must be dealt with, although not to the point of slighting the other aspects.) Space permitting, present a reasoned criticism of the view. The task is to show you've understood the essentials and could explain them to somebody else.