Friday Philosophy Picnic

In case I neglect to invite you in class, please come, and bring a philosophical friend, to the annual Philosophy picnic on Friday, 4-7 pm, behind 100 Porter Street (in case of rain -- possible thunderstorms! -- we'll probably be next door in the FPA gallery and kitchen).

Deadlines

Per our conversation this week, I will look for your completed essays on Friday, May 4th, before the departmental cookout that afternoon. Book analyses are of course due at the exam, which is 8am(!) on Thursday, May 10th.

Book Analysis Guidelines

I promised I would give you parameters for your book analyses later, and today is later.

Your analysis should be concise (less than five pages in manuscript format), thoroughly edited with respect to all items on the writing checklist (explaining in footnotes all stylistic deviations from those rules), and contain:

• Your name, and the date (that of our final examination period, when the piece is due)
• The title, author(s)/editor(s), publisher, and year of publication of the book
• An opening paragraph identifying the central conceptual issues and claims which the book addresses
• A précis of the author’s positions and reasoning about those issues
• A systematic comment on the author’s reasoning, noting what you take to be its most important strengths, as well as any significant weaknesses or oversights

Please edit out any popular review-y tics like how much you enjoyed the book, whether you'd recommend it to your friends, etc.

CRITO outlines

Good work on your drafts. Now I want you to do an analysis of your essay using the CRITO outline format below. You should probably be able to do it on a single page. Please let me have these by the end of next week.

Conclusion:  Begin by stating your central claim or thesis in the form of a declarative sentence (followed by a brief explanation of its terms, if necessary). Your conclusion (thesis) should be explicit and clear, substantive, particular, and the object of possible or actual reasoned debate.  It should be something you believe to be true, in which you have a genuine interest, and for which you think you can give compelling reasons. Often you won’t know exactly what your thesis is until you have written a very preliminary draft of the paper.

Reasons:  Summarize briefly each of the reasons (premises, evidence, examples...) you will muster in support of your conclusion. They should be collectively sufficient to convince a thoughtful reader of the truth (accuracy, credibility) of your thesis. State each one as a single, short, declarative sentence.

Inference:  Put the central argument of your essay into standard form (list each reason as a single statement, followed by the conclusion), so as to be certain that it is sufficient to constitute a valid deductive, or strong inductive, argument for your conclusion.

Truth:  Consider the probable truth or falsity of each of your reasons in turn, so as to assess the soundness (if deductive), or cogency (if inductive) of your central argument.

Objection:  As far as the argument proper is concerned, if you have satisfied C, R, I, and T, your work should be complete. However, it is possible (and in actual practice quite likely) that you have missed something: a different perspective from which some element of your argument may be wanting, or some crucial piece of overlooked evidence or interpretation. Therefore, it will strengthen your argument to give full and respectful consideration to the strongest possible objection you can raise to some aspect of your of it. Ask yourself: what if a reasonable and intelligent person thought your conclusion, or one of your reasons, or the inference itself, had somehow missed the mark?

After presenting the strongest possible objection to your argument and according it serious consideration by developing it fully and sympathetically, respond to it as completely and respectfully as you can. It is better to acknowledge that you cannot definitively answer an objection than to attempt to deny or avoid its force.

Essay Drafts

A reminder that I would like to see full-scale drafts of your essay projects next week. Let's say by Friday at 5.

Also, of course, I presume you will be reading the books you have selected (has everyone spoken with me about a book?) and taking detailed notes toward your analysis, so as not to be doing it at the last minute (I have to read these things, remember!).

Essay projects

Apologies for not returning your drafts and annotated bibliographies yesterday. I read and commented on them over break, and then conveniently misplaced them. As soon as I sort out my piling system, I'll give them back to you. Meanwhile, please forge ahead constructing your arguments.

Refining the Circle-ocracy

I thought our class on Monday went unusually well, due in large part I am sure to my own comparative silence. I don’t expect I will be able to restrain myself so readily when it doesn’t actually hurt to speak, but perhaps we can continue with some of the same procedures, such as each speaker calling on the next. Also, I would like to suggest that we refrain from raising our hands until after each speaker has finished, so we are more inclined to say something thoughtful in direct response to that person’s comment.