Sample Assignment
Philosophy of Mind
Paper Topics
Moss
Paper Topics
Moss
Directions:
(A) Choose one of the following passages/topics. (B) Re-construct the argument in the passage of your choice. As you reconstruct the argument, make sure to put the argument in your own words. Never quote! (C) Offer thoughtful and creative criticism of the argument. (D) Lastly, consider how the philosopher could respond to your criticism and overcome the impasse you present. You are not required to use outside sources.
Passages from De Anima
I. That perceiving and practical thinking are not identical is therefore
obvious; for the former is universal in the animal world, the latter
is found in only a small division of it.
II. Further, speculative thinking is also distinct from perceiving-I mean that in which we find rightness and wrongness-rightness in prudence, knowledge, true opinion, wrongness in their opposites; for perception of the special objects of sense is always free from error, and is found in all animals, while it is possible to think falsely as well as truly, and thought is found only where there is discourse of reason as well as sensibility. For imagination is different from either perceiving or discursive thinking, though it is not found without sensation, or judgment without it.
III. That this activity [imagination] is not the same kind of thinking as judgment is obvious. For imagining lies within our own power whenever we wish (e.g. we can call up a picture, as in the practice of mnemonics by the use of mental images), but in forming opinions we are not free: we cannot
escape the alternative of falsehood or truth.
IV. Further, when we think something to be fearful or threatening, emotion is immediately produced, and so too with what is encouraging; but when we merely imagine we remain as unaffected as persons who are looking at a painting of some
dreadful or encouraging scene.
V. * Choose your own passage/topic.
* Please discuss and approve the passage with me in advance!
(A) Choose one of the following passages/topics. (B) Re-construct the argument in the passage of your choice. As you reconstruct the argument, make sure to put the argument in your own words. Never quote! (C) Offer thoughtful and creative criticism of the argument. (D) Lastly, consider how the philosopher could respond to your criticism and overcome the impasse you present. You are not required to use outside sources.
Passages from De Anima
I. That perceiving and practical thinking are not identical is therefore
obvious; for the former is universal in the animal world, the latter
is found in only a small division of it.
II. Further, speculative thinking is also distinct from perceiving-I mean that in which we find rightness and wrongness-rightness in prudence, knowledge, true opinion, wrongness in their opposites; for perception of the special objects of sense is always free from error, and is found in all animals, while it is possible to think falsely as well as truly, and thought is found only where there is discourse of reason as well as sensibility. For imagination is different from either perceiving or discursive thinking, though it is not found without sensation, or judgment without it.
III. That this activity [imagination] is not the same kind of thinking as judgment is obvious. For imagining lies within our own power whenever we wish (e.g. we can call up a picture, as in the practice of mnemonics by the use of mental images), but in forming opinions we are not free: we cannot
escape the alternative of falsehood or truth.
IV. Further, when we think something to be fearful or threatening, emotion is immediately produced, and so too with what is encouraging; but when we merely imagine we remain as unaffected as persons who are looking at a painting of some
dreadful or encouraging scene.
V. * Choose your own passage/topic.
* Please discuss and approve the passage with me in advance!
