Philosophy critical thinking

CRITICAL THINKING

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY ASSIGNMENT

In the “Crito”, Socrates argues that the right thing to do is to stay in prison and accept the punishment of death rather than escaping, as his friends had planned for him. Your assignment is to develop, explain, clarify, and support a thesis either supporting or criticizing Socrates’ reasons for staying.

Your paper should begin with a clear explanation of the argument you will be discussing. In other words, focus on one of Socrates’ reasons for staying rather than escaping, and explain in detail and without any criticism what his reasoning is.

After explaining the issue and what Socrates argued for, you will need to support your thesis with an argument. For this part, I want you to rely on the argument forms we will learn in class (module 10). You will need to ensure that (a) you have given reasons to think that your premises are true and (b) your argument is valid.

Finally, you will need to add an addendum in which you translate your argument from English to PL, along with the required dictionary, and then provide a truth table demonstrating that your argument is valid.

There is no length requirement for this paper, but I would expect it to take around 3-5 pages of typed, double-spaced material. The addendum does not have to be typed, but can be hand-drawn instead.

The paper is due on Monday, June 20th, and can be emailed to me (although if your truth table is hand drawn, you will need to find a way to scan it if you choose to email it to me), or turned in to the philosophy department office.