Essay Questions

Word Count: 2000
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Choose and answer one of the following questions.  If there is another question you’d like to explore but still relevant to a topic covered in weeks 1-6, please consult with the subject coordinator before beginning:
1.    Hard determinists believe that humans have no free will because we are determined just like any other physical system in the universe while libertarians believe that, on the contrary, we are free.  After describing each position, argue for which side do you think is the more reasonable to adopt?

2.    Libertarians about free will appeal to indeterminism in order to assure the existence of human freedom.  Do you think the facts they provide for motivating indeterminism are sound, or do you think they provide questionable interpretations about the nature of people and physical systems?  Even if indeterminism is true, perhaps at the quantum level, do you think this helps the libertarian? Why or why not?

3.    Recent findings from neuroscience have begun to paint a dim picture of one’s ability to be in conscious control of oneself.  Do you think that these and similar scientific findings cast doubt on the reality of free will?  Or do you think that these results overreach by attempting to answer philosophical disputes?

4.    Compatibilists think that being considered free is consistent with being physically determined while incompatibilists disagree.  Which side makes the better case?  Outline and assess.

5.    One way people have made sense of talk of necessity and possibility is through possible worlds where, for instance, a necessary truth is one that is true in all possible worlds.  This raises the interpretative question of whether or not to treat uses of possible worlds in analyzing modality as referring to actually existing other worlds instead of fictitious objects.  Do you side with those who treat possible worlds as concrete entities or with those who interpret them away as useful fictions? Present an argument for your case.

essay questions

Consider questions 1 and 2 in light of the fact that a nine-year-old boy named Dillon, who is legally blind, has been allowed by his parents and his coach to participate on a children’s football team.

1)      Each of the Abrahamic traditions admonish that one should honor one’s parents. If Dillon’s parents are major football fans, does he have an obligation to honor them by playing the sport, in spite of his visual handicap?

2)      American moral thought demands equality under the law. If Dillon were forbidden to be on the football team would this be a denial of his rights?

3)      Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made moral appeals against structural racism in America, drawing from both, the Judeo-Christian Bible, and the founding documents (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights and subsequent Amendments) Read His “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” (link found in lecture notes) and identify 2 instances where he draws from the Judeo-Christian tradition-(that were not discussed in class or lecture notes.), and 2 instances where he draws
from the founding documents-(that were not discussed in class or lecture

essay questions

Consider questions 1 and 2 in light of the fact that a nine-year-old boy named Dillon, who is legally blind, has been allowed by his parents and his coach to participate on a children’s football team.

1)      Each of the Abrahamic traditions admonish that one should honor one’s parents. If Dillon’s parents are major football fans, does he have an obligation to honor them by playing the sport, in spite of his visual handicap?

2)      American moral thought demands equality under the law. If Dillon were forbidden to be on the football team would this be a denial of his rights?

3)      Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made moral appeals against structural racism in America, drawing from both, the Judeo-Christian Bible, and the founding documents (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights and subsequent Amendments) Read His “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” (link found in lecture notes) and identify 2 instances where he draws from the Judeo-Christian tradition-(that were not discussed in class or lecture notes.), and 2 instances where he draws
from the founding documents-(that were not discussed in class or lecture