Intro Phil

Essay Resources and Topics

This list of resources is intended for use and guidance for the essay you will write in Lesson 2 of this class.  See the lesson 2 folder for more directions on the essay assignment.

These names and articles listed are included for research purposes. Articles can be reviewed or downloaded from Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org) and other public domain sources. Articles not designated as from Wikipediacan be found at Gutenberg Project (http://www.gutenberg.org/), a source for e-books of historical and cultural significance.

• Aquinas, Thomas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas
  • Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae)
  • Summa Theologica, Part I (Prima Pars) From the Complete American Edition
• Aristotle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle
• Atomism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomism
• Descartes, Rene http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes
  • Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext93/dcart10.txt
• Epictetus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epictetus
  • Golden Sayings of Epictetus (main page) http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/e#a452
  • Selected Discourses of Epcitetus (main page) http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/e#a452
• Heidegger, Martin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger
• Hume, David http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume
  • A Treatise of Human Nature
• James, William
  • Lectures of (A Pluralistic Universe)
• Kant, Immanuel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant
  • Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals (main page) http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/k#a1426
• Kierkegaard, Soren http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soren_Kierkegaard
• Locke, John http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke
  • An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 1 MDCXC, Based on the 2nd Edition, Books 1 and 2 http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/l#a2447
  • An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume 2 MDCXC, Based on the 2nd Edition, Books 3 and 4 http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/l#a2447
  • Second Treatise of Government http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/l#a2447
• Marcus Aurelius http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius
  • Marcus Aurelius's The Meditations http://classics.mit.edu//Antoninus/meditations.mb.txt
• Marx, Karl http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx
  • Communist Manifesto
  • The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
• Mill, John Stuart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill
  • The Subjugation of Women (About on wikipedia)
  • The Contest in America http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/m#a1705
• Nietzsche, Friedrich http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nietzsche
• Plato: Biography, Works, Metaphysics's, Epistemology, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato
  • Plato's Seventh Letter http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/seventh_letter.1b.txt
  • Protagoras (Plato) Discussion of the work at Wikipedia
  • Sophist (Plato) Discussion of the work at Wikipedia
  • Theaetus (Plato) Discussion of the work at Wikipedia
• Pre-socatic Philosophy
• Socrates
• Wittgenstein, Ludwig: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein
• Additional information: http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Greek-Philosophy-Philosophers.htm

ASSIGNMENT

Write a three to four page (750 -1000 words) essay. Pick an article from the list at Essay Resources on the course menu.  Find a scholarly article that has been written by one of the philosophers being studied throughout this course. You may use the Internet to download articles.  If you have any questions, be sure to ask your instructor. 

• If you cannot find an article that you want to write about, ask your instructor for permission to choose another topic.
• Choosing a quote page is not acceptable. (A quote page is a list of quotes from a particular philosopher.)
• Some of these articles are quite lengthy. You may read first approximately 700 to a 1000 words of your chosen article and write about the portion you read.
• Summarize what you read and then write your own reflections. Consider the following: What have you learned in this class? Have your perspectives or ways of thinking changed or clarified? How do you feel about the article you read? How does it pertain to your life?
• Be sure to cite your source.