PHIL 440A: Paper #1 (8-10 pages)

The Normative Question. See deadlines below. There is a separate handout of Paper Guidelines. Please make sure you review the Paper Guidelines before turning in your papers. PAPERS THAT DO NOT COMPLY WITH THE GUIDELINES WILL BE PENALIZED. Undergraduates—especially those who have not taken an upper level philosophy course before—are encouraged to have a draft of your paper read by one of the tutors in the Philosophy Writing Center (Condon 529). The paper has three parts (only part (a) is to be posted on Peer Review):

(a) What is the normative question? What is Korsgaard's answer to it? This is the expository part of your paper. You may order the discussion in any way you wish, but by the end of this section, you should have explained the relation of Korsgaard's view to moral voluntarism; substantive and procedural moral realism; reflective endorsement as represented by Hume, Williams, and Kant; and moral relativism. You must also explain (not argue against—that comes later) the role of the private-public distinction in her argument that reason commits us to moral obligations to others. Use her discussion of pain to illustrate her position on this question.

(b) Critically evaluate Korsgaard's answer to the normative question. A good critical evaluation requires you not only to raise objections to Korsgaard's position, but to consider how she would reply.

(c) What is your answer to the normative question? Explain your answer. Then consider how Korsgaard or others whom we have read might object to it and reply to their objections.

SUBMISSION DEADLINES:

BY MIDNIGHT ON MONDAY, APR. 28: Draft of part (a) of Paper #1 should be uploaded to the PHIL 440 Peer Review site as Paper #1. Before you submit your draft, check to make sure it has all the items on the peer review checklist (available on the PHIL 440 Web). Make sure you save your draft as a Web page (HTML format) and that you upload it as a Web page (HTML format). If you upload it and it doesn't look right, the problem is almost surely that either you did not save it as a Web page or you did not upload it as a Web page. If so, you can delete it (from the Edit menu) and try again.

BY MIDNIGHT ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30: Comment on two drafts in Peer Review. When you comment on a paper, it is your job to make sure that the paper you comment on has satisfied all of the items on the peer review checklist (available on the PHIL 440 Web site). Do not comment on a draft unless you have some suggestions for improving it. Do not be the second to comment on a posting, unless all postings have at least one comment; do not be the third to comment on a posting unless all postings have at least two comments. No more than three comments per posting.

BY MIDNIGHT ON MONDAY, MAY 5: Final version of Paper #1 submitted to PHIL 440 Electronic Dropbox in Word DOC format or in HTML format. The filename should begin with your last name.