Short Paper Assignment
• Use Times New Roman, 12 pt. font, double-spaced.
• Use page numbers.
• Print and submit a hardcopy to me at lecture on the due date
• Staple!
• Word Count: 800 – 1000 (include word count on first page)
• Due date:
• Lateness penalty: 2/3 grade per 24-hour period
Additional Instructions/pointers:
• If you make a claim, give an argument for it.
• Quote the text you are discussing only very sparingly, if at all. I want to see that you can
accurately reconstruct the relevant claims and argument(s) in your own words.
• Do not incorporate any outside readings or sources (e.g. Wikipedia), but do cite the sources
assigned from the course that you discuss.
• Say no more than what the prompt asks you to say.
• Be creative in thinking of the required reasoning per the end of the prompt. However, aside from
the reasoning you come up with, this is not an assignment that asks you to be creative. So don’t,
for example, propose your own terminology or theory.
• Don’t wait until the night before the deadline to start writing your paper. That will not turn out well
for you!
Write an essay in response to exactly one of the following prompts.
Prompt 1
Reconstruct Quine’s argument against McX regarding Plato’s beard. In doing so, be sure to explain all
relevant background concepts and terminology (write as though the reader of your paper, although
intelligent, is not antecedently familiar with Quine’s work). Is Quine’s argument sound? Answer the
preceding question by stating and critically assessing what you take to be the best objection to Quine’s
argument. (The objection need not be original with you—it may, for example, come from Armstrong or
Armstrong’s exchange with Devitt. In any case, your assessment of it must reflect your original thinking.)
Prompt 2
According to Lewis, true modal claims like
(1) It is (metaphysically) possible for New York City to be a popular ski destination
are true in virtue of facts about merely possible individuals, counterpart relations, similarity, etc.
Thoroughly explain Lewis’s account of the metaphysics of modality, using (1) as your guiding example. In
doing so, be sure to explain all relevant background concepts and terminology (write as though the reader
of your paper, although intelligent, is not antecedently familiar with Lewis’s work). Is Lewis’s account
convincing? Answer the preceding question by stating and critically assessing what you take to be the
best objection to Lewis’s account. (The objection need not be original with you—it may, for example,
come from Lewis’s own discussion (via my lecture notes). In any case, your assessment of it must reflect
your original thinking.)
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