Intro to Philosophy – Spring 2024

Second Paper Assignment

Address one of the following in a paper of no less than 1500 and no more than 2000 words. Brevity is encouraged whenever it is consistent with addressing the question fully. Your submission must be fully anonymized, so that it is impossible to know your name by inspecting the file or its contents.

1. Gertler and Ryle. Gertler presents an updated version of an argument that made its debut in Descartes’s Meditation VI (which we did not study), which if sound establishes mind/body dualism. Ryle, on the other hand, presents a spirited attack against mind/body dualism that highlights (what he takes to be) its absurd consequences and exposes the considerations that motivate it as resting on (what he takes to be) a “category mistake.” For this paper:

a. Present Gertler’s argument for the conclusion that “the identity thesis” is false, and thus (by implication) that mind/body dualism is true, in the form. of a numbered list of premises with a conclusion.

b. What objections to her argument does Gertler anticipate, and how does she modify her argument to address those objections?

c. Does Ryle’s idea that dualism rests on a category mistake constitute an objection to arguments like Gertler’s that Gertler herself does not anticipate? Explain why or why not.

d. If Ryle’s ascription of a category mistake to dualism does in effect target Gertler’s argument, which premise of her argument would Ryle’s criticism undermine, and how? If not, why not? Finally, having considered these questions, do you believe that Gertler’s argument is sound? Why or why not?

2. Existence of God. We have studied several arguments for or against the existence of God in this course: Descartes’s argument involving “formal” and “objective” reality in Meditation III, Descartes’s argument involving perfection in Meditation V, Anselm’s “Ontological Argument,” Anthony’s version of the Problem of Evil, Aquinas’s “Five Ways,” and Pascal’s Wager. Remember that disagreeing with an argument does not require disagreeing with its conclusion. Aquinas, for example, believes that there is a God, but he thinks that Anselm’s Ontological Argument fails to establish it. With this in mind, identify what you judge to be the strongest of the arguments that we have studied that you nevertheless disagree with in this sense, that you think it fails to establish its conclusion. (If the argument you choose turns out according to your assessment of it to be sort of silly or not even to be valid, then it is not a strong argument, and you should choose a different one.)

Then:

a. Spell out this argument as precisely and charitably as possible. Ideally this will involve constructing a numbered list of precisely formulated premises that validly entail its precisely formulated conclusion.

b. Explain the meaning of any obscure or technical terms (e.g. “exists in the understanding,” “objective reality,” “efficient cause,” etc.) that appear in this argument.

c. Explain the considerations that motivate the author of this argument to accept its premises.

d. Explain why you think that the argument fails to establish its conclusion. Which premise is false and why? Could the author fix the problem you identify by modifying the argument in a relatively minor way without significantly compromising the motivations you explained in part (c)? Why or why not?

All papers must be in 12 point font, double-spaced, with one inch margins. Papers are to be turned in to Canvas no later than 11:59 PM EST, March 27, 2024. Late papers will be penalized one letter grade (the difference between an A and an A-) per day. Plagiarism in papers will be punished with an F for the course.

Further Instructions. 1) Avoid unexplained jargon (e.g., “objective,” “subjective,” etc.) and be sure to make clear the author's use of unusual terms. 2) Avoid merely repeating what was said in lectures and sections. 3) Support your arguments with specific evidence/details from the relevant text or phenomenon. Use (brief) quotations and give citations using page numbers. 4) Keep a copy of your essay.