Posted: April 1st, 2015

Augustine: Man of Faith

Topic:
1. Augustine: Man of Faith? – Many people argue that faith plays a greater role than does reason in coming to know and establish a relationship with the divine. Where do you think Augustine would side on this issue? Cite passages from the text and show how/when he deduces things about God via the power of reason, and when he submits to faith and revelation. Is he more a man of faith or a man of reason?
2. Descartes: Piece of Wax – Carefully examine Descartes’ rumination on the piece of wax in Meditation 2. What things about the wax does he know from experience? What things about the wax does he know through the innate rational power of his mind? After you have fully presented Descartes’ views, critique or defend them. Is his assessment of how we acquire knowledge convincing? Do you think we learn more via experience than he lets on? Do you think we learn more via our reason than he lets on?
3. That May Be True in Theory – In Kant’s Conflict of the Faculties, he argues that philosophy has incontestable jurisdiction to comment on more practical fields like theology, law, and medicine. In many ways, he is arguing that you cannot put into practice a body of knowledge without reckoning with the theory behind it (philosophy being said theory). What do you think Kant would make of the phrase “That may be true in theory, but does not apply in practice?” What do you make of this phrase in light of Kant’s comments?
?4. Áske¯sis – In the Genealogy, Nietzsche argues that the ways in which we view and treat ourselves are structured by the lingering after-effects of both noble and slave moral systems. Choose a practice that people today do in order to take care of themselves in some way, some practice that people think makes them better, and analyze it. Do current narratives on this practice appear to arise from a noble way of thinking? A slave way of thinking? Or is Nietzsche’s presentation inadequate for addressing this practice? Examples include diet, exercise, bathing, education, art, masturbation, blogging, etc.?

!!!Instructions
Remember also that you 1.) must have a clear thesis and plan for proving your thesis in the introduction; 2.) may not use any unassigned texts or resources; 3.) must scrupulously cite the text.
More is expected of students when writing these longer papers, as opposed to the smaller reflection papers. While students are not expected to summarize or explain all aspects of the work they are discussing, it is expected that students will adequately contextualize their position within the work as a whole, and clarify any plot, argument, or definition within the text that is integral to understanding their position.

“Grading Rubric”
Questions I ask myself:?1.) Does the paper pay close attention to the text? Has the text been understood on its own terms, or have students forced their understanding onto the text? Are quotes used appropriately and properly cited? Are students selectively ignoring passages in the text which might challenge their position? Have students made a genuine effort to learn from the text in some way??2.) Does the student express a clear opinion of his/her own? Are there convincing reasons for believing in the plausibility of this opinion? Has the student considered alternate opinions? Is it a creative opinion, or is it something obvious or expected??3.) Is there a balance between the use of the text and the student’s opinion? Is the student inappropriately rambling off an unfounded opinion? Does the paper read like a summary or a book report, with too much text dominating the paper??4.) Is the paper well-organized? Do the points flow into one another and create a clear and easy-to-read paper? Are there irrelevant or pointless paragraphs which don’t support the thesis? Is there even an explicit thesis? Does the paper “spin its wheels,” in that it goes on for pages without saying anything new? Have all technical terms been adequately defined, so that any intelligent reader can follow along??
Best Practices
•    Be as specific as possible. ?
•    Ground your claims in the text. ?
•    If you assert a personal belief of your own, be prepared to fully defend it. ?
•    Write for an educated reader, but one unfamiliar with the issue at hand. Contextualize, ?define, clarify. ?
•    Be open to having your opinions changed. Be open to agreeing with the author. In short, ?be open to learning something while writing! ?
•    Treat yourself like a genius. You will only write an amazing paper if you believe you are ?capable and set out to achieve this goal. ?
•    If you cannot clearly explain to a stranger what your paper is about in 2 sentences, you ?have a clarity problem. ?

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