1 MICHAELMAS TERM 2013 ESSAY TOPICS: JUNIOR FRESHMEN SHP, TSM and PPES GENERAL REGULATIONS Essays must not exceed 2000 words in length. All essays must be presented in wordprocessed form. Students are required to submit their essays via Turn-it-in with a hard copy handed into the Philosophy Department. It is important for students to complete ESSAY COVER SHEETS in full when submitting essays to the Department student name, year, degree category (SHP, TSM, PPES). It is important to include the name of your Teaching Assistant on the cover sheet as this helps with distribution of essays. (Essay Cover Sheets with these headings are available from the Dept. Office). IMPORANT NOTICE Throughout the year Single Honor Philosophy students must submit a total of EIGHT essays (TWO essays for each of the four Philosophy modules) TSM students must submit a total of FOUR essays (TWO essays for each of the two Philosophy modules) and PPES students must submit a total of TWO essays (ONE essay for each of the two Philosophy modules). SHP students must write FOUR essays in the Michaelmas + FOUR essays Hilary Term. TSM students must write ONE essay in the Michaelmas Term + THREE essays in Hilary Term. PPES students must write ONE essay in Michaelmas Term + ONE essay in Hilary Term. Students must not submit more than one essay for a given course component. It is up to the student for which component he or she decides to submit an essay at each of the specified dates during the term. Essays must be handed in at the philosophy department office (or placed in the essay box nearby) by 2.00 P.M. on the day specified. An essay may be accepted up to one week late with the loss of 10 marks. It will not be accepted after the lapse of one week. In regard to late essays, extensions may be granted by agreement of the JF Convener (Prof Paul O Grady pogrady@tcd.ie ) which must be obtained before the regular date of submission, and may be granted only for medical or ad misericordiam reasons. Material already assessed in essays may not be used again in examinations. Submission Dates Michaelmas Term 13/1 st Semester Weeks 1-7 no essays Week 8 (Monday 11th November 13) SHP x 1 essay Week 9-11 no essays Week 12 (Friday 13 th December 13) SHP x 2 essays TSM/PPES x 1 essay
2 Hilary Term 14/2 nd Semester Week 1 (Monday 13 th January 14) SHP x 1 essay to be taken from the Michaelmas Essay Titles. PI1001+ PI1006: Central Problems in Philosophy A & B Essay titles Component 1: Epistemology (Prof. Paul O Grady) 1. Must there be basic beliefs which are non-inferentially justified? Reading Bonjour L. The Structure of Empirical Knowledge, Harvard 1985, chs 1 2 J.Dancy and E.Sosa (eds), A Companion to Epistemology, Blackwell, 1992 entries on: foundationalism, coherentism. Robert Audi, Epistemology, 1998, ch.7 B. Russell, The Problems of Philosophy, 1912, chs.1-5 Is Relativism Self-Refuting? 2. Reading Baghramian, M. Relativism, Routledge, 2004 Blackburn, S. Truth, Penguin, 2005 Boghossian, P. Fear of Knowledge, OUP, 2006 O'Grady P. Relativism, Acumen 2002, Essay titles Component 2 of PI1001: Moral Philosophy (Dr. Alice Walla) TBA following Reading Week. PI1002 + PI1007 : History of Philosophy I A & B Essay titles Component 1: Introduction to Ancient Philosophy (Prof. Vasilis. Politis) For bibliographies, please consult my site (https://sites.google.com/site/yannos1934/) 1. Critically consider Parmenides argument for the impossibility of change. Give special consideration to just one of the following themes/topics relevant to his argument: the notion of change; the notions of being and notbeing; the distinction between appearance and reality; the relation between thinking and being. 2. Critically consider Plato s method of inquiry in the early dialogues. Use just one dialogue for illustration (e.g. the Euthyphro). Give special consideration to the issue of what types of question are central in these inquiries; and to Geach s criticism of Plato s demand for general definitions. 3. Critically consider Socrates arguments in the Gorgias against those who think that the good life is a life of power, power understood as desiresatisfaction. Concentrate on just one or two arguments in the dialogue. Give special consideration to what account of the good life, and of power, Socrates instead upholds.
4. Critically consider Plato s theory of forms. Use Republic, end of book V; Phaedo 99 f.; and Parmenides, up to 135. Give special consideration to the issue of how Plato s forms are related to (are similar to and different from) the essences that the What is it? question asks for. 5. Critically consider Aristotle s hylomorphic account of physical reality. Use Physics, books I-II. Give special consideration to what Aristotle means by form and matter, and how these form a single inseparable whole when they form a physical substance. Essay titles Component 2: Medieval Philosophy (Donall McGinley) TBA following Reading Week. PI1003: Topics in Philosophy I Essay titles Component 1 of PI1003: Metaphysics (Dr. Niall Connolly) 1. What is the correct account of personal identity? Reading Suggestions: John Locke, Book 2, chapter xxvii of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (reprinted in John Perry ed. Personal Identity) Thomas Reid, Of Identity Of Mr. Locke s account of our Personal Identity (reprinted in Perry ed. Personal Identity) Joseph Butler Of Personal Identity (reprinted in Perry ed. Personal Identity) David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, Book I, Part IV, section vi (reprinted in John Perry ed. Personal Identity) Harold Noonan, Personal Identity Sydney Shoemaker, Personal Identity: a Materialist Account, in Metaphysics: the Big Questions, edited by Van Inwagen and Zimmerman. Sydney Shoemaker, Personal Identity and Memory, (reprinted in Perry ed. Personal Identity) Richard Swinburne, Personal Identity: the Dualist Theory, in Metaphysics: the Big Questions, edited by Van Inwagen and Zimmerman. Bernard Williams, The Self and the Future, The Philosophical Review, vol. 79, no. 2 (1970), reprinted in John Perry ed. Personal Identity Derek Parfit, Personal Identity in John Perry ed. Personal Identity, also in Glover, ed. The Philosophy of Mind, and in Honderich & Burnyeat eds. Philosophy As It Is Derek Parfit, Reasons and Persons, Pt.3. Derek Parfit, Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons in Metaphysics: the Big Questions, edited by Van Inwagen and Zimmerman. Thomas Nagel, Brain Bisection and the Unity of Consciousness, in Synthese vol.22 (1971), reprinted in John Perry ed. Personal Identity Eric Olson, The Human Animal 2. Do we have free will? Or 3
4 Is free will compatible with determinism? Reading suggestions: Thomas Pink, Free Will: a very short Introduction R.E. Hobart, Free Will as Involving Determinism and Inconceivable without It Mind 63, (1934). Reprinted in Metaphysics, the Big Questions eds. Van Inwagen and Zimmerman A.J. Ayer Freedom and Necessity in his Philosophical Essays. Reprinted in Gary Watson ed. Free Will R.M. Chisholm, Human Freedom and the Self, in Gary Watson ed. Free Will, also in Watson, Free Will 2 nd edition, and in Metaphysics: the Big Questions, edited by Van Inwagen and Zimmerman. Timothy O Connor, The Agent as Cause, in Metaphysics: the Big Questions, edited by Van Inwagen and Zimmerman. Peter van Inwagen, The Mystery of Metaphysical Freedom in Metaphysics: the Big Questions, edited by Van Inwagen and Zimmerman. Harry Frankfurt, Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person, reprinted in Gary Watson ed. Free Will and in John Martin Fischer ed. Free Will Harry Frankfurt, Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility, in John Martin Fischer ed. Free Will, and in Gary Watson ed. Free Will 2 nd edition. Peter Strawson, Freedom and Resentment reprinted in Gary Watson ed. Free Will and in John Martin Fischer ed. Free Will Thomas Nagel, Moral Luck in his Mortal Questions, reprinted in Gary Watson ed. Free Will Anthologies: John Martin Fischer ed. Free Will Gary Watson ed. Free Will, and Free Will 2 nd. Edition Robert Kane ed. The Oxford Handbook of Free Will (contains mostly advanced papers) Online Resource: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/dfwintroindex.htm (many of the papers listed above can be found here) Essay titles Component 2 of PI1003: Political Authority (Dr. John William Devine) TBA following Reading Week PI1004: Topics in Philosophy II Essay titles Component 1 of PI1004: Meaning (Dr. Thomas McNally) 1. Discuss the relation between the following two claims: (i) Language is a tool for communicating with other people. (ii) The meanings we attach to the words of our language are determined by our private mental states. Are the claims really incompatible? If so, which claim should be abandoned? 2. Discuss and critically evaluate the view that meaning is a normative notion. 3. Is it possible for there to be a solitary language (i.e. a language that only one person uses)?
5 Readings for the above titles will be given by Dr.McNally during his lectures. Essay titles Component 2 of PI1004: Truth (Dr. Niall Connolly) 1. What is Truth? Or 2. Critically assess two theories of Truth Reading suggestions: On the Correspondence Theory of Truth: Russell, Bertrand: Chapter 12 of The Problems of Philosophy - On the Nature of Truth and Falsehood ; reprinted in his Philosophical Essays and in Horwich Ed. Theories of Truth Austin, J. L, Truth, reprinted in his Philosophical Papers, in Truth, ed. Blackburn and Simmons, and in Theories of Truth ed. Horwich On the Coherence Theory of Truth: Blanshard, Brand: The Nature of Thought Vol. 2, chapter xxvi Hempel, Carl: On the Logical Positivists Theory of Truth Analysis Vol. 2, no. 4 1935 (reprinted in Horwich ed. Theories of Truth) Russell, Bertrand: The Monistic Theory of Truth in his Philosophical Essays On the Pragmatic Theory of Truth: James, William: Pragmatism, especially chapter VI Pragmatism s Conception of Truth (reprinted in Horwich ed. Theories of Truth) Russell, Bertrand: William James conception of Truth in his Philosophical Essays General: Kirkham, Richard, L - Theories of Truth, A Critical Introduction Blackburn, Simon - Truth, a guide for the perplexed Horwich, Paul ed. Theories of Truth contains many other important papers (most of them difficult)
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