INTRODUCTION TO THE PROJECT
The goal of this project is to produce a term paper that exhibits:
i) that you have independently read and made appropriate steps to understand academic sources pertaining to your topic,
ii) that you are able to communicate your work in a scholarly manner, and
iii) that you have chosen a topic that is relevant to the course material.
Specifications of the term paper:
Length:
Recommended Length: 5 pages, double spaced with 12pt font (~1250 words), not including title page or bibliography
Page Limits: 4-6 pages, double spaced with 12pt font (~1000-1500 words), not including title page or bibliography
Note: good scholarly writing is usually concise but readable, so focus on clearly-written, information-rich writing, do not needlessly or casually bloat your word count
Style:
The paper must follow consistent rules for style that allow you to include scholarly citations
There are a number of style guides that different fields use for this purpose (e.g., CMS, APA, MLA), any of which may be used provided you are consistent
You should include source and page citations in the text, in footnotes, or in endnotes for any piece of information you are referring to or any quote you give
You should include bibliographic references for any source you cite, either in footnotes or endnotes or in a separate references section at the end of the paper
You should include a separate title page with the title of your paper, your name and student number, along with the course code and professor’s name
Topic requirements:
A topic from ancient, medieval, and/or renaissance philosophy must be a major part of the topic of your paper (in general, texts written in the 1600s or later are too modern).
Although the course focuses on “western” philosophy and its elaboration in the Latin Christian medieval tradition, you may pick a topic from a suitable period of non-western philosophy (e.g. Chinese or Indian philosophy) or from other medieval traditions (i.e., Jewish, Greek Christian, and/or Muslim).
Provided a relevant topic from ancient, medieval, and/or renaissance philosophy forms a major part of the topic of your paper, you may compare this topic or otherwise bring in other topics from outside the ancient, medieval, and renaissance periods. For example, you may relate a topic from philosophy in these periods to issues in modern philosophy, or you may relate a topic from philosophy in these periods to a topic from an academic field other than philosophy (e.g., a topic in science, art, religion, etc.), or you may relate a topic from philosophy in these periods to some other appropriate topic (e.g., to a book, film, political phenomenon, personal experience, etc.).
Note: you are free to choose how exactly you are approach your topic. For example, your paper may be informative, in the sense of simply informing me in a scholarly way about the topic. It may be argumentative, in the sense of adopting a certain stance or interpretation concerning a given issue and arguing for that stance or interpretation. It pay present a debate on the topic without arguing in favor of either side of the debate. However, it is not adequate to simply give me your opinion about some topic. The tools you should use for scholarly writing are (i) research, in other words you should share information which is the result of studying academic sources pertaining to yout topic; and, (ii) argument, in other words you should provide reason or evidence in favor of any position or claims you adopt beyond those established by your research.
Research requirements:
You should show me evidence that you have independently read and taken appropriate steps to understand at least two academic sources.
These can be journal articles, encyclopedia articles, book chapters, video or audio lectures or presentations, etc.
However, they should be academic sources: that is, they should be sources written by someone with an academic background in the field and presented for an academic audience.
You may make use of more popular sources as well, but if you are using popular sources, you should also make an effort to go further and look up additional academic sources on your topic, per the above.
Your sources should inform you about the major part of the topic of your paper, i.e. the part of your topic that relates to ancient, medieval, and/or renaissance philosophy.
You may also use sources pertaining to other aspects of your topic (i.e. if you’re also discussing themes outside of ancient, medieval, and/or renaissance philosophy) and you should use sources to inform yourself about any aspect of your topic, however you should not only use sources pertaining to themes outside of ancient, medieval, and/or renaissance philosophy.
Your sources should be clearly indicated in the relevant footnotes, endnotes, or bibliography section, and you should cite them in the text of your paper where appropriate.
Picking a Topic
If you need help picking a topic, consider these questions:
i) What topics pertaining to the history of philosophy have you heard of before, which interest you?
ii) Would you be interested in pursuing a topic that connects the history of philosophy to one of the other fields you are studying?
iii) What sorts of topics do you find interesting more generally?
Aside from these sorts of questions related to your own interests, a good guide for a research topic is that you should pick one that is feasible to research. Remember that you are expected to independently read at least two sources, which will serve as the basis of your term paper. So you should ask yourself, what topic will you be able to look up and inform yourself about in this way? If you’re not sure what topic to pick, a good idea is to start doing some research just be reading broadly about relevant topics, to learn about what sorts of things other people have researched, and see if any of them might interest you. Consult the page on research tips for some resources to help with this.
Sample topics, which you can use or which might encourage some of your own thoughts:
What philosophical analysis can be made of other writings of ancient Greek literature, e.g. those of the Greek epics (Homer), tragedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, or Euripides), comedy (Aristophanes), or history (Herodotus, Thucydides)?
Summarize the thought of one of the other Presocratic philosophers (e.g. Xenophanes, Parmenides, Zeno of Elea, Melissus of Samos, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Leucippus, Democritus, Diogenes of Apollonia, the Pythagoreans, or the Stoics).
Discuss a famous theme from Plato (e.g. the allegory of the cave, the theory of love in Plato’s Symposium, or the death of Socrates).
Summarize or discuss a position from ancient philosophy of nature which we didn’t cover (e.g., Stoic physics or Epicurean physics).
Summarize or discuss a position from medieval philosophical anthropology, ethics, or political philosophy we didn’t cover (e.g., Augustine’s position on free will, Aquinas’ natural law theory, Ficino’s position on the immortality of the soul).
Summarize or discuss how a contemporary philosopher appropriates or develops ancient or medieval thought (e.g., Martha Nussbaum on Greek tragedy, Pierre Hadot on the Stoicism of Marcus Aurelius, Rosalind Hursthouse on Virtue Ethics, Alasdair MacIntyre on ancient and medieval ethics).
Discuss a connection between a theme in ancient or medieval philosophy and a theme in modern thought (e.g., Plato’s position on the mathematical foundations of nature and the development of modern physics in Galileo and onwards, Epictetus’ position on Stoic ethics and recent work applying it to psychotherapy).
Some more specific sample topics relating to ancient philosophy, in case thee above suggestions were too broad:
For Presocratic Philosophy:
Ancient Atomism: Democritus and Epicurus
Zeno’s Paradoxes and Eleatic Philosophy
Aristotle’s Response to Zeno’s Paradoxes
The Role of Pythagoreanism in Presocratic Philosophy
For Plato:
The Euthyphro Dilemma
The Death of Socrates
Mathematics or Physics in Plato’s Timaeus
Thrasymachus and Socrates on Justice in Plato’s Republic
For Aristotle:
Aristotle’s Poetics
Aristotle’s Theory of Rhetoric
Plato and Aristotle on Friendship
The Critique of Aristotelian Physics in the Scientific Revolution
For Hellenistic Philosophy:
Stoic Physics or Stoic Logic
Stoicism and Epicureanism on Free Will
Stoicism and Psychotherapy
Stoicism and Christianity.
The Basics – Planning Your Paper:
A basic framework for scholarly writing is the “three part” essay format:
1) Introduction
Clearly indicate your thesis, or, more generally, what it is you expect to accomplish in your paper.
Clearly but briefly indicate how it is you will accomplish this. E.g., note that you will rely on certain evidence or offer certain arguments in order to accomplish your goal.
2) The Body of the Paper
Present the evidence or research you are using to communicate your thesis or accomplish your goal.
Present any arguments you are offering to defend certain claims that go beyond what your research itself already shows.
When presenting an argument, clearly indicate both the premises and the conclusion of your reasoning.
Unless you can expect the reader to accept all your premises at face, provide evidence for them.
Consider any significant counter-arguments to your position, particularly if they are obvious or popular/influential.
Present any discussion you are offering to clarify your evidence and/or arguments and to clarify and accomplish your thesis or main goal.
3) Conclusion
Clearly reiterate your thesis, or, more generally, what goal you expect you have accomplished in your paper.
If appropriate, briefly indicate any significant issues you have had to leave out, or further research that ought to be done pertaining to your thesis/goal.
The Basics – General Writing Tips:
Scholarly writing should be clear:
Pay attention to tone, sentence structure, and word choice in your sentences: make sure you are clearly communicating your point.
Pay attention to how you separate paragraphs: in general, each paragraph should express one main point.
Pay attention to how you organize your paragraphs: your paper should be logically organized as a whole, and so much as possible each paragraph should naturally lead to the next one as you progressively carry out the goal of your paper.
Never leave your reader struggling to guess at your meaning!
Do not assume your reader is familiar with any of the ideas you reference, but rather make sure to clearly explain them when you introduce them.
Particularly in student writing, write as if your professor or TA is not familiar with the topic (i.e., as if you are explaining it someone who has never studied it themselves), so that you are sure to clearly explain all of your references and all of your reasoning
Scholarly writing should be argumentative:
By “argumentative” I do not mean combative, but rather I mean you should focus on presenting an argument elaborating and defending your case.
Think of this like you are an attorney arguing in front of a jury: try to convince your reader about whatever it is you’re trying to say in your paper!
Your personal opinions are often not helpful in this regard; focus on citations you can give to other scholarship supporting your claims and on arguments you develop in the paper itself.
When reviewing and editing your paper, imagine your reader asking themselves “Why should I believe that?” whenever they encounter any claim of yours. If your paper doesn’t answer this question, you have some more work to do to polish up your argument!
Scholarly writing should be concise:
In general, your focus should always be on (i) conveying information you’ve acquired through research, and (ii) providing a rational argument to persuade your reader to adopt some stance or interpretation you have regarding the information you have presented.
In general, do not adopt an overly dramatic or formal tone to convey your scholarly intent. Scholarly intent is conveyed, rather, through clear, concise, informed, and well-reasoned writing.
Do not needlessly bloat your writing by being verbose or peppering it with opinioned asides!
Clear, argumentative, and concise writing takes work:
1) Start by making a rough outline of what you intend to write.
2) Then write out a rough draft of your paper.
3) Then review and edit your draft to improve it.
