Academic Writing paper

Writing Assignment: There will be a writing assignment this semester designed to assess students’ ability to reconstruct and evaluate philosophical arguments. This assignment will be used to determine whether students have met the Gordon Rule Requirements by demonstrating college-level writing and so must display the following virtues: MLA style, three pages double side space 1) a clearly defined thesis 2) adequate support for thesis 3. organized clearly and logically 4. utilizes the conventions of standard edited American English 5. presented in a format appropriate to the assignment Detailed instructions on the writing assignment will be given in class. • Writing Assignment Outline You do have some freedom in creating your outline, but be sure your outline follows a logical structure. Also, be sure the basic points you explained in your prospectus are included in your outline. You have already done a good bit of work towards the outline in the prospectus so use it to help you. The following is the 'skeleton' of a sample outline: 1) Introduction: characterize philosophy/explain what philosophy is 2) Explain what philosophical question/issue you are interested in discussing 3) Explain a philosopher's view that attempts to answer that question/addresses that issue 4) Evaluate the view you explained 5) Advance your own view/conclusion The following is a sample outline. The outline you submit for the assignment should look something like this, but of course, will be 'filled in' with your own content: 1) Philosophy is the discipline that deals with non-empirical questions 2) An important question within epistemology is: "What is truth?" 3) C.S. Peirce and William James (pragmatists) believe that truth is what is fated to be accepted by all who investigate the matter using empirical evidence, or the method of science 4) The pragmatic theory of truth is superior to other theories of truth because it is grounded in reality and places reason and experience equally at the foundation of knowledge 5) While I agree with the pragmatic theory of truth, I think Peirce goes too far when he contends that science will eventually answer all meaningful questions. In my view, concepts such as justice, equality, and human rights cannot be fully addressed through empirical evidence. *First Paragraph For this assignment, draft a first paragraph for your paper. For our writing assignment this semester, paragraphs should be no less than 5 sentences, but no more than 9. A paragraph with 5-7 complete sentences will be ideal. This paragraph can change and probably will change as we complete the process. The goal of this assignment is for me to give you comments on your writing before you start your first full draft. *Final Paragraph/Your Views For this assignment, draft a paragraph explaining the views you hope to advance in concluding your paper. I expect that for most students, this paragraph will change significantly as you come to understand the philosopher(s) or arguments you will be writing about. The goal of this assignment is to demonstrate that you can advance a claim and argue for it.