Write a philosophy paper on one of the topics deriving from the second half of our term.

Write a philosophy paper on one of the topics deriving from the second half of our
term. In other words, write a paper on one of the following two topics:
 What makes science science?
 Do human beings have free will?
 Should reparations be paid to descendants of slaves in the US, to African Americans in
general, or to some group(s) of Americans specified in some other way?
 Should we modify our idea of the good life, or the successful life, in this time of climate
change?
You choose which of these four questions you would like to write on. Since each of these issues is really
a giant question, I recommend breaking off some small part of the issue and pursuing a related and
smaller sub-question, one that would be more amenable to treatment in a 6-8 page paper. For
example, you might write about Kitcher’s understanding of science, and how some philosophers might
disagree with him. Or you might discuss problems in Hume’s compatibilist position on free will.
Remember, too, that if you’re going to write on one of the last two topics, you are expected to write a
philosophy paper, not a history paper or an environmental sciences paper.
I am requiring two outside sources (beyond our textbook, I mean). I assume you’ll be referring to our
textbook, too. Here are the places I’d start for my research:
 Plato.stanford.edu: This is the online version of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The
articles here are excellent and cover almost everything. Moreover, every article has a pretty
decent bibliography, so any article here can lead you to other interesting sources.
 The Philosopher’s Index. This is an online database that you have access to because you’re
students at Webster. Go to the Webster Library website, click on “databases,” and you’ll be
able to find it under the “humanities” heading. This database indexes all the major philosophy
journals and a whole bunch of minor ones. So this is another great source.
Remember this: a research paper in philosophy has to make a point, or argue for a thesis. “Research”
doesn’t mean summary. So don’t just pick an issue and summarize different views about it. You need to
argue a point. And by “argue,” I mean argue rationally, giving reasons, pointing out weaknesses in
opposed arguments, making your assumptions clear, drawing inferences about further consequences,
etc.

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