Paper Assignment One Philosophy 131
First paper assignment

The paper has several parts.
* It will have a thesis. The thesis must have a very specific format. Either it must be from the list below, or I must approve it in writing.
* It will give an argument that your thesis is true.
* It will respond to all the obvious objections to your argument or thesis; these are all the objections that come directly from what we covered in class.
* It will explain a non-obvious objection to your thesis. This is an objection we have not covered in class. You must do your best to make this look like a good objection (even though you don't believe it is a good objection, since you believe your thesis).
* Finally, it will explain why the non-obvious objection does not work, and so why your thesis really is true.

The grading standards are here.

Pre-approved theses:

You may not change any aspect of these theses (except to fill in the brackets in each) without my written approval. These theses contain two conditionals; you must argue for both, but only have to give a counterexample to one. For each of the following, everything in italics should be considered the thesis. "Wrong" and "permissible" mean "morally wrong" and "morally permissible."

* If [conditions] then it is permissible for one person to euthanize another. If [those conditions are not met] then it is wrong. [You can also have the thesis Whenever one person euthanizes another this is wrong.]

* If [conditions], then it is wrong for a person to choose to have a child. If [those conditions are not met] then it is permissible. [By "choose to have a child" I mean that A is choosing to try to become pregnant; the paper does not have to argue about the choice to stay pregnant or to have an abortion] [You can also have the thesis Whenever a person chooses to have a child, this is permissible.]

* If [conditions] then it is wrong for A to try to continue to live. If [those conditions are not met] then it is permissible for A to try to continue to live.

* If [conditions] then it is wrong for a parent to not try to induce love for their child. If [those conditions are not met] then it is permissible. [You can also argue that it is always wrong, or always permissible, to try to induce love for one's child.]


Possible additional topics
Theses on these topics must be approved by me; that is, if you write on one of these, I have to have approved, in writing, the exact thesis your paper is about. Your proposed thesis should have the same structure as those above; that is, it should tell me "If [conditions] then such and such is wrong; if not, then it is permissible."

* Do certain people have an obligation to try to become parents?
* Might people have duties to induce love for their siblings? Their spouse? Their parents?
* What duties to do we have to help people make decisions about euthanasia?
* Are there conditions where it is wrong to choose to die?

If you would like to write on something different from what I have listed here, you are welcome to do so as long as you get your thesis approved by me in writing.

A note on trivial theses (this applies to both pre-approved and novel theses) Here's an example of a trivial thesis: "If A cannot form justified beliefs by trusting B, then it is not reasonable for A to trust B." That's not worth writing about: the antecedent and consequent mean basically the same thing. Trivial theses are no good because there are really not informative. You are not allowed to write about trivial theses.

Deadlines
Thesis proposal due: Sep 29, 8pm. Turn in by email to your TA, in the body of your email, not as an attachment. Subject line 131 OUTLINE PAPER 1.
Draft due: Oct 13, 8pm, email it to your partner (as an attachment) and cc your TA. Subject line 131 DRAFT PAPER 1.
Comments due: Oct 18, 8pm, email to your partner and cc your TA. Subject line 131 COMMENTS PAPER 1
Paper Due: Oct 20, 8pm by email; subject line 131 PAPER 1 FINAL.