Philosophy - The basic elements of Plato's philosophy, through his theory

Philosophy Question

Final exam (essay)

Due date and length of essay: Your final exam is an essay assignment.  It should be approximately 1000 words. 

Essay topics: This final exam assignment is an essay, and not a long research paper.  You must submit the essay here on Blackboard.  You must write your essay on one of the following topics - as you can see below, there are three topic options to choose from.

Option 1: We have explored the basic elements of Plato's philosophy, through his theory of morality and the state.  In many ways, Plato's philosophy is based upon his theory of the 'objects of knowledge.'  For example, the keyboard I am writing at is clearly an 'object.'  In a certain sense; according to Plato, there are also 'objects of knowledge.' 

Write an essay which discusses and clarifies how Plato sees the relation between objects - like keyboards, cars, etc. - and 'objects of knowledge.'  Make sure your essay includes content on why this relation is important to Plato in the first place.  Also, organize your essay so that it incorporates one of the relevant Platonic arguments (epistemological, metaphysical, or semantic) that the text treats.  The best essays usually incorporate just one of these arguments rather than trying to handle more than one of them; for the purposes of this essay, a solid interpretation of one of these arguments is quite sufficient. 

Finally, conclude your essay by discussing the extent to which you agree or disagree with Plato on the objects/objects of knowledge issue (and explain why!)

Option 2: Read p. 455 - 458 in the textbook (p. 410 - 414 in the 7th edition).  These pages deal with Hume's position on the issue of God.  In your own words, discuss the argument from design, and then summarize any two of Hume’s critiques against this argument.  In the concluding part of your essay, discuss whether you accept the argument from design, or Hume’s critiques (there is room for a qualified position here).  As you write your essay, you should be able to gain some insight into how Hume’s position sees the relationships among science, religion, and philosophy.  Also, many modern and contemporary philosophers have been influenced by Hume's basic empiricist position.  A good essay would make a solid attempt at discussing these relationships, and you might want to think about this especially in the concluding part of your essay.  Be sure to give reasons for your position!

Option 3:  How and why does Descartes develop the ‘cogito’ in Meds. 1 and 2?  As we know, this also leads to Descartes’s mind-body dualism, as we have seen it developed in the Meditations.  How convincing is this Cartesian mind-body dualism, and how does this dualism relate to the mechanistic conception of the universe?  Or in other words, where does this dualism 'fit in,' with respect to the mechanistic conception of the universe (the closing few pages of the Descartes chapter should help you with this).

Citations/referencing: Research which extends beyond course content is not required for this essay.  As you write your essay, I would strongly suggest that you keep your references under control by limiting yourself to the readings we have covered in this course.  Always be careful about reaching out to other primary and secondary sources that we have not used in the course, because to do this in a way that improves the quality and final grade of your essay is harder than it looks, especially as this is an introductory course.

In any case, if you do make citations or references, then please do so in simple fashion: in-text parenthetical citation (last name of author, page number, such as 'Melchert, 409').  If you do use other sources, then in addition to the in-text parenthetical citation, put a list of the other sources cited at the end of the essay.  You can make this list according to any style you wish, as long as it has the usual bibliographic information and is formatted consistently.