Description
This assignment is both to get you used to writing/analyzing philosophy papers and for me to assess your writing for the rest of the quarter. Please respond to one of the questions provided below this description in 200-600 words. It does’t matter if you get it “right”, as long as you write a response!
You may respond in any style you prefer (dialogue, essay, etc) but you MUST also include an OUTLINE
Actions
of your response which clearly presents the:
Thesis/Central Argument
Logical Necessity (how your arguments follow from each other) and
Synthesis (how your arguments or examples are connected to each other) of your essay.
The outline must be included for credit. Plagiarism of this assignment is an automatic fail for the course.
A) What does it mean for something to be “good”? Is it good because it’s useful? Good because it has metaphysical properties? Good because someone thinks so? Something else?
B) How do you know when you’ve done something ethically correct? Alternately, how do you know when you’ve done something ethically wrong?
C) Do rational beings, such as humans, have a “natural” sense of right and wrong?
D) Do your thoughts (or other non empirical/ non physical world things, like your responses to hypothetical situations) have any moral/ethical content?
E) How does identity affect what types of things are considered good? Do different types of identities (cultural, gendered, personal) carry more weight than others?
