Concept from Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, or Arendt
1. Pick one philosopher we have discussed this semester and one concept, argument, or theory related to the philosopher you have chosen.
2. Write a short essay explaining the philosopher’s understanding of the concept, argument, or theory as if you were writing a short encyclopedia article.
3. This is not an argumentative essay, it is explanatory, demonstrating knowledge of the topic and of primary and secondary sources.
4. There should be at least two short quotations per page.
There should be at least three direct quotations from the primary text in the overall essay.
These primary quotations should relate directly to the topic at hand.
Additional Information:
1. Essays should be written in the third person.
2. No personal opinion should be given about the topic under discussion.
3. Explain the key aspects of the topic by referring to the philosopher’s primary text, and by quoting directly from this and the secondary material.
4. If you decide to include counter arguments, use other well-known philosophers’
counter arguments, not your own counterarguments. For example, Bertrand Russell has numerous interesting counterarguments directed at many philosophers in his History of Western Philosophy. Counter Arguments should not take up more than one page of the overall essay.
