Explanation of the paper assignment
The paper's audience
The audience for your paper is a reasonable person who has taken this class, learned and understood everything we have covered, and starts off disagreeing with your thesis.
Parts 1 and 2
The general idea behind parts 1 and 2 is that, together, they should be able to convince your audience that your thesis is true. In Part 1, you argue for your thesis. In Part 2, you respond to the objections that would be raised by the authors we have read.
Part 1
Part 1 must explain what your thesis means. Any unclear or ambiguous terms should be explained. Given this explanation, your audience members should be able to think of example situations and determine if these fit the antecedent(s) of the conditional(s) in your thesis. (If this is not possible, then no one can be convinced by Part 1, since no one knows what you are trying to claim)
Part 1 must contain an argument for your thesis. The argument must give evidence that your thesis is true, evidence which could convince the audience. The argument should address every aspect of your thesis: if your thesis has multiple conditionals, or multiple conditions in the antecedent(s), you must argue for all of these.
Part 2
Part 2 must explain what each author we've read would think about you have said. For each author, would they agree with your thesis? Would they agree with the points you have made arguing for your thesis? (They might have no opinion on any of this; if so, say why) If they would disagree with anything you have said, identify what they would disagree with, and why they would disagree with it (that is, what would they say to try to convince someone that you are mistaken?). These points of disagreements are objections to your views; they are objections that your audience will know of, which must be addressed in order to convince your audience.
Part 2 must respond to each of these objections.
For each objection an author would raise, you must explain why it does not show that your thesis is false. Your response must be the sort of response that could satisfy your audience (who, remember, starts out disagreeing with you). This will require giving evidence that your audience would find compelling.
I will grade part 1 without reading any of parts 2, 3, and 4. Similarly, I will grade part 2 without reading 3 or 4. So what you say in these parts has to stand on its own.
Part 3
In Part 3, you must give a reasonable, and novel, counterexample to your thesis.
This must be a specific counterexample, which is significantly different from any we have covered in class, or anything that was in the reading. You must clearly explain the specific situation that is your counterexample. And you must clearly explain why someone would think that this is a strong counterexample to your thesis.
To get an A, you must both give a counterexample to your thesis that could convince a reasonable person that your thesis is false, and you must also clearly explain why a reasonable person could be convinced by it, in a way that shows that you understand (some of) those who disagree with you.
Part 4
In Part 4, you must respond to the counterexample given in Part 3. You may not change your thesis, nor change any part of the objection from Part 3.
Your response should be able to convince a person who was originally compelled by the example in Part 3.
If your response shows that there is a better counterexample to your thesis than the one in Part 3 (e.g. it focuses on a detail of Part 3 that could easily be changed to make Part 3 a better counterexample), that is bad for your grade.
If Part 3 is a weak or bad counterexample to your thesis, then you cannot get a good grade for Part 4; this is because Part 4 does not demonstrate your ability to really engage with people who disagree with you.
Grading standards
You will get a separate grade on each section (except the thesis), which will be combined to give your overall paper grade.
Thesis:
These criteria on the thesis are a minimum bar for a passing paper. If you far exceed them, it's not going to push your grade up. But if you fail to meet them, it will be very hard to get a passing grade on the whole paper. This is because your thesis is what makes sense of everything else you say in the paper.
1. Your thesis is either pre-approved or Brian has approved it in writing. Theses that are different in any meaningful way from what has been approved can potentially result in an F.
2. Your thesis is not trivial (a thesis is trivial when the antecedent and consequent mean the same thing). Trivial theses can potentially result in an F. A thesis can be graded down for being somewhat trivial.
3. Your thesis is the first sentence of the paper (or first two sentences, if you have a two sentence thesis).
Part 1: Argument
20% of your grade.
4. Any terms in your thesis that are vague, ambiguous, or unclear are defined or explained early in your paper. A reader should be able to think of example situations and determine exactly what your thesis says about them.
5. The argument gives evidence which could be compelling to a reasonable person who has understood the course material and started out not agreeing with your thesis. (You may have to explain why this evidence would be compelling)
6. The evidence is sufficient to establish that your thesis is true (rather than partly true, or close to the truth).
7. It is clear and well explained how the evidence supports your thesis, and why the evidence is sufficient to establish that your thesis is true.
Part 2: Discussion of authors
40% of your grade
8. For each author we have read: you correctly explain what the author would seem to think about your thesis, and about the arguments you give for your thesis.
9. Where an author would disagree with your thesis or something you said in part 1, you clearly and correctly explain the author's reasons for disagreeing with you (not just what they think, but why they think it).
* In many cases, an author will not have explicitly considered ideas like yours, but it will still be clear from the reading that they would disagree with you if they had thought about it. I expect you to notice and talk about this.
* Where an author would seemingly disagree with you, explain that seeming disagreement as well, even if you end up arguing that the author would not really disagree with you.
10. You respond to each disagreement. This involves either explaining why the author would not really disagree with you, or why the author is mistaken and your view is correct.
10a. This response must be clear, and must be able to able to convince a reasonable person who initially agreed with the author.
Part 3. Novel objection
20% of your grade
11. Gives one counterexample your thesis. This must be significantly different from anything discussed in class or in the readings. (If your thesis has two conditionals in it, you should only discuss a counterexample to one of them)
11a. I am looking for a counterexample. This must be a specific something that contradicts your thesis, not just a general sort of disgreement.
11b. This must be a counterexample to your thesis. So it must show that the thesis is false, not just that one of your arguments in part 1 doesn't work.
12. The counterexample is plausible, relevant to the thesis, and not ruled out by what is said in Part 1. A reasonable person who had read Part 1 and taken this class could think that this counterexample disproves your thesis.
12a. It must not be the case that small changes to the counterexample would clearly make it a better counterexample.
13. You explain why the counterexample is relevant to the thesis, why it shows that the thesis is false, and why a reasonable person would believe it is a strong counterexample.
Part 4. Response to the novel objection
20% of your grade
Note: If part 3 is very weak, then part 4 cannot get a high grade. A response to a bad objection does not demonstrate philosophical understanding.
14. Gives an argument that the objection does not show your thesis is false.
14a. This must not misinterpret the objection.
14b. This does not change the thesis.
14c. The response does not rely on details of the counterexample that could easily be changed.
15. The response gives evidence which could be compelling to a reasonable person who was initially convinced by the example from Part 3.
16. The evidence is sufficient to show that the counterexample does not disprove your thesis.
17. It is clear and well explained how the evidence responds to the counterexample.
18. The response does not change or misuse the meanings of any terms discussed in class or in the reading.
19. The response does not rely on any misunderstandings of concepts or arguments from class or the reading.
General standards:
These apply to the entire paper.
20. Any discussion of ideas, terms, or arguments from class or the readings is correct and accurate (This is extremely important; mistakes about class material can bring down your grade significantly).
21. The meaning of every sentence is clear.
22. No significant grammar/spelling/word choice errors.
23. No use of quotations unless absolutely necessary. I will generally not read anything in quotation marks. I should be able to skip everything in quotes and still understand your paper.
Formatting
Your grade will be reduced 1/3 of a grade (e.g. from a B+ to B) for each of these rules you break.
* ID page: after the last body page, add a new page with nothing on it but your name; put your name at the bottom of this page. This allows us to grade all papers anonymously.
* Do not put your name, or any other identifying marks, anywhere on the paper except for your ID page.
* Single spaced, 1" margins, 12 point font (Times New Roman or something very similar; I recommend Garamond).
* No introduction or conclusion. Your first sentence is your thesis.
* Must be in .doc or .docx format.
* The file name must be "[your student id number] [course number] PAPER 1.doc" or ".docx".
* Please label "Part 1," "Part 2," "Part 3," and "Part 4" of your paper (see above for what goes in each part).
* If you are writing on a thesis that was not pre-approved, you must have gotten approval by email from Brian. If you did, please put a footnote after your thesis saying "This thesis was approved by Brian on [date]."
Length
* The paper can be as long as you want. However, if it goes over 3 pages (excluding bibliography and ID pages), you will be marked down for any unnecessary material ("unnecessary" meaning "not needed to fulfill the above grading standards"). Going over 3 pages is fine as long as it is done to satisfy the above grading standards.