Essay Assignment: Topics and Instructions

NB: Before starting your essay, you should read this entire document as

well as the information in the ‘Essay Assignments: Grading Criteria and

Helpful Information’ folder found in Unit 5.

The articles given below are from The New York Times. Non-subscribers are

limited to the number of articles they can read, but the Dallas College Library

has full access to The New York Times. You can access The New York Times via

this DCCCD Library web page.

Choose one of the topics below.

Topic 1: Women in Philosophy

For this topic, you will be researching the history of women in philosophy,

current attitudes toward women in philosophy, and the goals of feminist

philosophy. As well as including specific discussion of both articles below, your

essay should meet the essay requirements listed below topic 3.

“Feminism and the Future of Philosophy”

“Women in Philosophy? Do the Math”

Topic 2: Free Will/Determinism

Chapter 7 of our text deals with the problem of free will. Or, we could also call

it, the problem of determinism. Read this article from The New York Times and

write an essay that discusses the article in relation to at least one of the

arguments/problems related to free will/determinism in Chapter 7. In addition

to a summary of the article provided for this topic, your essay must include

reference to chapter 7 of our text as well as at least one reference to an

article/entry in either The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy or The Stanford

Encyclopedia of Philosophy, through quotation and/or paraphrase. Rather than

your opinion on the problem of free will/determinism, your essay should

be a discussion of various arguments made by philosophers about the

problem of free will. In addition to the above specifications, your essay should

meet the essay requirements listed below topic 3.

Topic 3: Social Media

To write on this topic, you will need access to Netflix.

After watching The Social Dilemma, write an essay that approaches one or more

of the issues raised in the film from a specifically philosophical perspective. I

emphasize this focus because one could easily write an essay about the issues

http://libguides.dcccd.edu/c.php?g=701415

https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/summary
https://www.iep.utm.edu/
https://plato.stanford.edu/
https://plato.stanford.edu/

raised in the film while never discussing anything philosophical. Your essay

should be explicitly philosophical; to achieve this focus, you should discuss

issues from the film in relation to philosophers/philosophical theories you have

encountered thus far in our course. Obviously, many of the philosophers you

have read never heard of computers, let alone Facebook or Google (Plato,

Aristotle, Nietzsche, Descartes, Hume, and the list goes on), but that doesn’t

mean that their ideas cannot be connected to the issues we face today (that’s

why we still study these people, right? Their ideas are still relevant!). In addition

to discussing specific points from the film, your essay must include reference to

at least one reading from our text as well as at least one reference to an

article/entry in either The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy or The Stanford

Encyclopedia of Philosophy, through quotation and/or paraphrase.

Regardless of the topic you choose, your essay must include the following:

• A heading done according to MLA

• An original title

• An introductory paragraph that contains your thesis (see this VERY

helpful advice on how to write your intro/begin your essay, and if you are

unsure of how to write a thesis, read this advice on developing a thesis)

• Body paragraphs that develop and support your thesis (here is some

excellent advice on how to structure body paragraphs)

• A minimum of 3 full pages (your works cited page doesn’t count as a

page)

• A conclusion (see this VERY helpful advice on how to conclude your

essay)

Your essay should be double-spaced, in Times New Roman 12 point font; your

paper should be written in Standard English and done in MLA format. You must

include a MLA works cited page that includes all sources referenced in your

essay.