Principles of Inquiry Position Paper Assignment

Basic assignment: Write a 6-10 page paper in which you explain and support your position on one of the philosophical issues we have discussed (or will discuss) in this course. See the list of suggested paper topics for ideas.

Process: Your paper must go through three stages: a topic proposal (about a paragraph), a rough draft (which I will return with comments) and a final draft.

Some Explanations and Guidelines

1. Students sometimes have difficulty grasping the kind of paper I am asking you to write.

a. It is not a research paper. You do not need to read anything but the assigned class readings.

b. I am asking you to express your own personal opinion (something you may have been taught to regard as too subjective or as inappropriate for academic work). But I am also asking you to subject your opinion to a careful, critical examination before you express it. You may find that your opinion changes in the course of this examination. In particular, I want you to examine carefully the arguments and reasons offered by those whose opinions are opposed to your own, and to show in your paper that you have given those reasons and arguments a fair hearing.

c. I will be evaluating your paper primarily by assessing how clearly you state your position and the reasoning behind it; how alert you are to the variety of possible alternatives and objections to your position that might come from other philosophical perspectives; how accurately you have explained the arguments of those who disagree with you; and how cogent and thorough your replies to those arguments are.. I will not be judging your paper on the basis of my opinion about the correctness of your position.

2. Taking a position is not the same thing (necessarily) as taking a side. You may find yourself wanting to stake out a "middle ground" position. Or your position may be that no definite opinion on the topic can be adequately defended. Any position is O.K. as long as it is clearly explained and carefully reasoned.

3. Be sure to state your position clearly. Even if you are uncertain or ambivalent, explain carefully the nature of and reasons for your uncertainty or ambivalence. Be sure to make clear to your reader what question(s) you are trying to answer.

4. Support your position, as best you can, with reasons and arguments. Try to find reasons that will have some chance of persuading those who disagree with you. (In other words, avoid "preaching to the choir", i.e., giving reasons that will only seem like good reasons to those who already agree with you.) This is hard. Do the best you can.

5. Try to explain and rebut the most important or most common objections to your position. (I am assuming that you will have encountered views opposed to your own in the readings and class discussions.) What will count as an adequate reply to an objection depends on what sort of objection it is. But, in general, try to explain why the objection should not convince a reasonable person to reject your view.