Philosophical Case Study

You may write on any topic covered in the course. I will also provide topic suggestions early in the class to help you in choosing a topic. In each paper, you must minimally incorporate at least three reputable academic sources: these would include academic books or academic (“professional” or “scholarly”) journal articles. In this way, the papers are research based. However, the primary goal of the papers is to encourage the student to argue clearly, carefully, and compellingly for or against one of the positions brought up in the course. For example, if the student disagrees with Thomas Aquinas’ views on the soul, then the student must clearly, respectfully, carefully make a philosophical case against his views while incorporating the kinds of academic sources mentioned above to support one’s case. Or, for example, if the student agrees with Blaise Pascal’s Wager, one must similarly make a careful, respectful, rigorous, and well sourced argument in favor of this position. In short, the papers should be an argument defending your own philosophical views on a given topic, but this argument must be informed by, interact with, and cite relevant reputable sources.