INSTRUCTIONS:
The term paper should be 1,250 – 1,750 words, double spaced, in a regular (e.g. Times New
Roman) 12pt font, with standard 1” margins. You will turn this paper in online via Canvas. Choose
one of the three prompts to answer.
You must properly cite any sources. This includes both the primary texts used in class and
any (reliable) secondary texts you may have found on your own.
PROMPT OPTION 1: Skepticism
In Meditations I, Descartes wants to make sure that everything he knows, he knows with 100%
certainty. As such, he considers lucid dreams in which he believes that he is awake but really is
not in his “Dreamer Argument.” He concludes that one cannot be 100% certain of their external
reality – after all, one might be asleep! He writes:
“How often, asleep at night, am I convinced of just such familiar events—that I am here in
my dressing-gown, sitting by the fire—when in fact I am lying undressed in bed! Yet at
the moment my eyes are certainly wide awake when I look at this piece of paper; I shake
my head and it is not asleep; as I stretch out and feel my hand I do so deliberately, and I
know what I am doing. All this would not happen with such distinctness to someone asleep.
Indeed! As if I did not remember other occasions when I have been tricked by exactly similar thoughts while asleep! As I think about this more carefully, I see plainly that there are never any sure signs by means of which being awake can be distinguished from being asleep. The result is that I begin to feel dazed, this very feeling only reinforces the notion that I may be asleep. “
• Write a paper that responds to each of the following questions:
1. What is Descartes arguing here? What is the conclusion of Descartes’ argument? Its
premises? Accurately and clearly explain Descartes’ position. How does this argument
relate to his larger project?
2. Do you agree with Descartes’ position? Choose one of the following options:
(A) This is a good argument, and you therefore agree with Descartes’ position, OR
(B) This is not a good argument, and you prefer some specific criticism or alternative view
perhaps by one of the other philosophers we have discussed.
If you choose (A), your essay must include the following:
a. Explain a criticism/objection to Descartes’ argument or provide an alternative view.
b. Argue that Descartes’ argument overcomes this criticism/objection or is better than this
alternative view.
If you choose (B), your essay must include the following:
a. Give an explanation of a criticism/objection or alternative view.
b. Argue that this criticism/objection or alternative view successfully shows Roberts’ view to
be mistaken, or is better than Descartes’ view.