Write an essay of about  2000-2500  words on one of the following topics. Try to explain clearly the views and arguments you discuss and your own view of the topic. You should also try to identify the greatest weaknesses of views and arguments you discuss, and whether you think they can be replied to

Introduction to Philosophy:The Examined Life

Term Paper

Write an essay of about  2000-2500  words on one of the following topics. Try to explain clearly the views and arguments you discuss and your own view of the topic. You should also try to identify the greatest weaknesses of views and arguments you discuss, and whether you think they can be replied to.

Be selective. In the space available you will not be able to discuss every aspect of the topic! Select and focus on just a few of the points or issues you think the most central or interesting. Work hard on expressing points clearly in your own words. Try always to make it clear to the reader which of the views discussed are merely mentioned for the sake of the discussion and which, if any of them, you wish to endorse.

Essays should  be typed double-spaced, with wide margins. Any standard format is acceptable (APA, MLA, Chicago). Your essay must be researched; two external sources are mandatory. Always keep a copy of an essay you submit. Make sure your name is clearly marked on the essay.

The final version of the paper must be based on an earlier draft. Drafts may not be extensive or detailed; however, they are supposed to provide an outline of your argument to be developed in the final version of your essay.

The Imperfection Argument (74-76) offers Plato’s solution to the problems of the origin of our knowledge of ideas and their identification in the objects of sensory experience. Discuss and critque it, pointing both to the argument’s problems – if you see any – and to its consequences for metaphysics and epistemology. Do you believe Plato’s solution is the only possible or at least most likely true, or rather some other answers are available as well and perhaps more convincing? Justify your position.

1. Descartes hails as a great victory over the “Evil Demon” the claim that despite every doubt, he cannot be deceived in thinking that he exists. Just what, in particular, does he really have the right to know, based on that claim? Discuss the consequences of Descartes’ argument in the context of his Meditations and overall philosophical project.