And for this essay, I want you to write a “popular” philosophical essay, of the sort that appears, e.g., in The Stone at the New York Times. (Other examples include: aeon, quillette, the pebble, the blog of the American Philosophical Association, and others I cannot think of right now.) The theme of your essay is, shockingly, “What is Philosophy?” Here are two ways I could imagine an essay beginning:
People often think of philosophy as … But as philosopher Graham Priest has argued …
Graham Priest is typical of philosophers, when he claims that philosophy is … But in point of fact, philosophy is …
Your essay should make reference to at least one of the authors we have read (obviously, it doesn’t have to be Priest!). Whether that reference is supportive or critical is up to you. I have in mind 500-1,000 words, at least a page and no more than three.
I recommend you start from your four sentence essay, aiming to expand each sentence into a paragraph. (Notice how my two examples above described sentences one and two.) The four-sentence essay assignment gives me the rubric I will be using to evaluate your essay. I’ll ask the following questions, derived from the corresponding sentences:
1: Is there a plausible perspective laid out here, one worth criticizing or arguing with?
2: Does this “thesis” represent a real alternative to the perspective laid out in 1? And is it itself made plausible (via the “because” clause)?
3: Is there an objection here that (a) would occur to a reader, and that (b) someone sympathetic to the thesis in 2 would need to attend to?
4: Is this a satisfying reply to the objection?
Each of these four responses gets 10 points: you get 8/10 for recognizably trying to do what I’ve asked. Thus, you get 32/40 for following the instructions. You get 9/10 for—if I squint—thinking that the answer to the question above is “yes”—and you get 10/10 if your paragraph contains real insight. (Half points are possible.)
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