Philosophy Paper The Nature Of A Good Life

This paper will require you to demonstrate your understanding of the position on free will or the nature of a good life of two of the following: Kongzi, Socrates (from the Apology), the Stoics and the Epicureans. This paper must be between 500–750 words. This is a short paper that only requires a succinct statement of the view and then an explanation of why the authors hold their views and where in the text the authors give these primary reasons for whichever two authors you choose. This paper is worth 10 points of the course total of 100 points.
Formatting: please submit your papers as .doc or .docx files. Line spacing should be set at 1.5 and margins all at 1”. You may use Georgia, Times New Roman or Times font. Please use 11 point font for Georgia and 12 point font for Times or Times New Roman. Do not place your name anywhere on the assignment or the file name. Instead, head the page(s) with your student ID number, and name the file [youridnumber]Paper1.
Remember: especially with the limited length of this paper, you need not and should not describe every detail of the reading for a particular author. Focus on the primary arguments of each author that support their conclusion about the topic (free will versus determinism, or the manner in which one ought to live one’s life). These should be clearly described and include relevant citations from the text for where they occur. You should draw the connection from the arguments given to the conclusion for the reader (simply listing the reasons out and the conclusion while not giving an explanation of why they demonstrate what they do is not sufficient). Within the first one or two sentences the reader should know what the authors’ conclusions are. Then move onto the main argument(s) of each author.
Your paper should follow the following order and meet the following criteria:
1) Clearly state both authors‘ conclusions on the topic (while being clear what the topic is) within a sentence each (2 points).
2) Accurately describe at least one of the main arguments for author #1 (2 points).
3) Explain to the reader why author #1’s conclusion follows from the argument you have described (2 points).
4) Accurately describe at least one of the main arguments for author #2 (2 points).
5) Explain to the reader why author #2’s conclusion follows from the argument you have described (2 points).
You do not need to include any sort of introduction or conclusion. This paper is only descriptive, not comparative or argumentative. Just state what the authors’ views are, what reasons they give, and how these reasons result in their conclusions.
You must cite each point in the text that you paraphrase or quote from. For this paper, please only use the page number in parentheses at the end of a sentence with content sourced from the text (p. X). If you are citing one of our texts that has original pagination along the sides of each page, include that as well (p. X, 31y-z). Quoting is acceptable, but you must provide an explanation of what the quote means in your own words. Any phrase or sentence pulled from the text as-is must be contained within quotation marks.
I advise starting the paper at least a week before the deadline. It is typically once you are already writing that you run into problems, and this will give you time to email me or meet with me during office hours in order to resolve any confusion about the material or the assignment.
Reminders:
1) Plagiarism, in any form, is unacceptable and will result in no credit for this assignment. This includes quoting or paraphrasing (from any source) without appropriate quotation marks and/or citation, submitting work other than your own (including from web sources), and all other forms of plagiarism described in Fordham University guidelines. If you are not sure if a citation is needed, ask me.
2) Turn the paper in before the deadline. Late assignments are more stressful for you and for me and cause issues of fairness among students. Assignments handed in after the deadline at noon on Thursday, September 27, will be penalized. One point will be deducted from the assignment total for each day the assignment is late.
Good luck and happy writing!
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