Paper #1

Version for printing (PDF)

Due Date: Jan. 24

Length:  about 1200 words

The papers should be typed, double-spaced with margins of reasonable size. I am looking for clear focused discussions of the assertions and arguments raised by the topic.  I am not asking for, and do not want to see, discussions of the general area of the topic including discussions of its importance or interest. Your paper should address the issues raised by the topic (and possibly other issues directly arising from those included in the assignment). If you quote, paraphrase, or refer to particular passages from the reading, or any other source, please give reference. It is virtually impossible for your paper to be too narrowly focused.

You must submit an electronic version of your paper through Blackboard AND a paper copy in class.  The electronic copy will be checked for plagiarism and we will not grade your paper unless an electronic copy has been submitted.

Topic

One day in class your philosophy professor announces that he is the mayor of Chicago. He goes on to explain that he has been leading a double life, riding the Blue Line back and forth between classes at the UIC campus and meetings at city hall.  It’s not that he believes that Rahm Emanuel is not the mayor, what he believes is that David Hilbert is Rahm Emanuel.  A little bit of make-up, some costume changes and a lot of very careful scheduling have produced in others the belief that the philosophy professor and the mayor are two different people when, in fact, there is only one person who both teaches Phil 202  and is busy trying to lengthen the school day in Chicago.

It’s obvious that your professor is very confused but the question is how could you convince him that he does not need to worry about making the arrangements for the upcoming G8 meeting in the Loop, i.e. that David Hilbert is not Rahm Emanuel. What kind of evidence and argument could you provide in order to show that there is not a genuine identity here? What general principles about identity does your argument rely on?  State, explain and justify these general principles.

Water is H2O. We all know this, but what kind of evidence could you use to convince someone who knew some chemistry but wasn’t already aware of its truth? Are there any differences between this case and the case of the philosopher and the mayor?

One of the ways that Descartes argues that the mind and body are not identical is by appeal to the claim that the mind is not divisible while bodies are divisible. State and explain this argument? Is its form and the general principles it relies on the same or different from the cases, water and the confused philosopher, discussed above?