John Rawls and John Dewey's Perceptions on Education and Democracy

Please pick one of the following topics to write on. You may also develop your own topic, but must get my approval in advance.

Peirce/Russell
Compare and contrast Pierce and Russell. At the simplest level, you can compare their views. Do they think the external world exists and what arguments do they make to prove their view? Do they think science describes the external world and what arguments do they make to prove their view? What level of certainty do they have about the conclusions of science, and why? At a deeper level, you can look at their views about the process of thinking as such. Why do they think we engage in thinking? How is the process of thinking carried out? What is the end result of a process of thinking? Is philosophical thinking distinct from scientific thinking and from everyday thinking? You don’t, of course, have to address all these questions in your paper; they are intended as possible suggested topics to write on.
Dewey/Rawls/Sandel.
Compare and contrast Dewey, Rawls, and Sandel (you may compare all three or pick any two to compare.) What are their ideal societies like? How are the economic institutions set up, how are the political institutions set up, and what are the more informal cultural and social institutions. In particular, what is the relation between the individual, the formal (legal/political/economic) institutions, and the informal (social/cultural/religious) institutions?
Format. Name on first page only in top left. 12-point Times New Roman double-spaced. The reason for this is that I blind-grade the papers.
Grading criteria:
• Accuracy and detail of content on each text/philosopher. You may use direct quotes, but for the most part, you should put their ideas in your own words. You can include some detail on their lives, but for the most part, you should focus on their ideas.
• Demonstration of higher-level thinking skills. Perceptiveness of the comparison.
• Spelling and grammar. If you have no errors you get a 20, if you average 2 errors per page you get an 18, if you average 4 errors per page you get a 16, and so on down to a minimum of 12.
• Organization: The paper as a whole should have a topic sentence, each paragraph should have a topic sentence for that paragraph, and the paper should be organized into paragraphs which cover similar material.
Papers must be a minimum of 750 words long. Try to devote roughly equal amounts of space to each text or philosopher. You do not need to use secondary sources, but if you do, you must use some standard citation method, such as MLA, APA, or Chicago

PHIL 001 Possible Paper 3 topics. Posted 4/9.

Grading criteria:

• Accuracy and detail of content on each text/philosopher. You may use direct quotes, but for the most part, you should put their ideas in your own words. You can include some detail on their lives, but for the most part, you should focus on their ideas.


• Demonstration of higher-level thinking skills. Perceptiveness of the comparison.


• Spelling and grammar. If you have no errors you get a 20, if you average 2 errors per page you get an 18, if you average 4 errors per page you get a 16, and so on down to a minimum of 12.


• Organization: The paper as a whole should have a topic sentence, each paragraph should have a topic sentence for that paragraph, and the paper should be organized into paragraphs which cover similar material.