choose a topic from the list below. Each topic consists of a statement or thesis. The essay must consist of an argument or set of arguments in favor or against that statement. You will not be graded for whether you agree or disagree with the statement but for the force and clarity of your arguments. That is, you will be graded for how well you understand the relevant concepts and for how rationally persuasive are your reasons for or against.
1)Observations can’t confirm or disconfirm a theory because observations are theory-laden.
2)The dogmatism that accompanies commitment to a paradigm during a period of normal science is bad for science and should be replaced by the critical attitude that is characteristic of scientific revolutions.
3)The view that theories that belong to different paradigms are incommensurable leads to relativism about scientific knowledge.
4)The reason why our best scientific theories posit unobservable entities such as sub-atomic particles rather than angels and demons is not that sub-atomic particles are real while angels are mythological. The reason is rather that sub-atomic particles are much more useful myths for predicting future experience in light of past experience than angels or demons.
5)Characteristic features of what it is to be human, such as morality and freedom, could never be explained scientifically.
6)While both scientific theories and methods of theory assessment have changed through history, the process of scientific change nonetheless exhibits lawful patterns (e.g. Barseghyan’s scientonomy or Laudan’s reticulating model of scientific change). Second, begin reading about it. Find relevant articles/sources and generate a bibliography. Ideally, your bibliography should have representatives from both (or all) sides of a particular debate. Try to discern the central or most important underlying question addressed by the literature. Formulate your point of view, and contrast it with other points of view that others have taken or may reasonably take. Think about the arguments that have been, or could be, given for or against your view. Your draft does not need to be in essay form. It should convey the structure of the essay that you will eventually produce. Your ‘draft’ should have the following elements: 1. A synopsis or abstract (roughly 200-250 words) (5 points)
2. A statement of your paper. (1.5 points) 3. The context of your thesis (e.g. what other views might one take, the debate that your thesis contributes to) (1.5 points) 4. Outline. This should clearly show the structure of your essay. It should comprise: major headings, minor headings. A sentence or more under each stating what the section will argue (or say). (3 points) 5. An annotated bibliography. This should comprise a list of the relevant literature. Each entry in the bibliography should be accompanied by a very short statement conveying what the paper says (its thesis), its relevance to your paper, and (if relevant) what section(s) of your paper (as per 4 above) it pertains to. (4 points) A good ‘draft’ will inform the reader about the subject matter, the author’s position on the debate, and will demonstrate to the reader that the author has done a sufficient amount of research to understand the issue and the state of play in the literature. There is no required length or word limit. But bear in mind that this is the preparatory phase for the production of an essay that when completed will be roughly 1500 words in length
