Mind and Body Phil 336

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Instructions

Mind-Body Essay Assignment 

Now that you have successfully read and analyzed the arguments surrounding the mind/body problem,  you are now ready to bring everything you have learned together in a short essay. The purpose of the Week 6 Essay Assignment is to give you an opportunity to demonstrate your analytical abilities using the knowledge you have gained over the last four weeks:. For this essay, you don't need to conduct any “research” in the library or on the Internet . Everything you need to know to complete this essay is already in this course.

Technical requirements of the Mind-Body Essay Assignment:

· 4-5 pages 1000-1250 words  (more is ok, less is not)

· Submit a Microsoft .docx (not .pages or .pdf)  

· Double Spaced, 12pt Times New Roman font, 1” right and left margins  

The purpose of the Mind-Body Essay Assignment:  

· To give you experience closely analyzing a philosophical problem that we have been studying 

· To give you experience synthesizing the ideas and arguments we have been studying into a cohesive argument 

· To demonstrate that you can accurately summarize, describe or paraphrase the ideas and arguments we have been studying 

  In your essay, address the following philosophical question(s) analytically: 

Is the human mind only physical?  

How this essay will be graded 

Clearly, there are many “answers” to this question as you have discovered over the last weeks. But for the purposes of this course, your “answer” is less important than demonstrating (1) that you understand and can accurately describe the philosophical problem, including coherently addressing counterarguments to your position (2)  that you can break down the philosophical problem into relevant parts and connect these parts coherently, and (3) that you can integrate relevant ideas and arguments from the course readings into a cohesive position. In other words, your grade for this essay will depend on  how well you do analytical philosophy,  and not whether you think you got the “right” answer. 

Structure your essay like any other college essay, with an introduction that outlines your position and an argumentative thesis statement, a body consisting of three or four sections discussing the arguments and counterarguments that favor and don't favor your position, then a conclusion that summarizes your position and offers a larger context for the issue. In addition, at the beginning of your essay in the introduction, spend at least a paragraph defining the key technical/philosophical terms that you will be using in your essay.  Assume your reader is new to the question and to the philosophical issue.  

Your essay should have the following basic structure: 

1. Introduction 

· Describe the philosophical problem as accurately as possible 

· Include a clear argumentative thesis statement 

· Define key technical/philosophical terms that you will use in the essay 

2. Body 

· Demonstrate in an organized fashion the strength/validity of each the arguments that favor your view  

· Address in an organized fashion each of the counter arguments that don’t favor your view 

3. Conclusion 

· Summarize your position and why the arguments favor your view 

· Offer a larger context in which your position is helpful to understand 

Remember to use analogies, metaphors, examples, and other tools of reasoning in order to explain what you mean. Cite only the readings or supplemental resources provided in this course for weeks 3-6.  No external internet resources are allowed that are not part of the required reading lists or supplemental resources. You may use your conclusions from the Week 4 Aristotle and Descartes Textual Analysis assignment. 

Three Key Expectations of the Mind-Body Essay Assignment: 

· Present the philosophical problem accurately and precisely; address counterarguments seriously. 

· Break down the problem into relevant parts 

· Integrate relevant ideas and arguments from the course resources coherently