In this paper, you are to choose a pair of authors and carefully explain their disagreement. To do so, you must do the following in your own words and supported by textual evidence:
1. Choose either:
Goldman vs Dennett or
Ayer vs Van Inwagen.
2. Then, carefully explain the main argument of one of the authors you have chosen. Ideally, this will include a formal statement of their overall argument.
3. Finally, carefully explain how the second author would object to this argument. This must be done in a way that follows the rules of argument evaluation. (Use the principle of charity; do not object to the conclusion of a well-formed argument; do not simply raise a counterargument. Instead, formulate a well-formed objection.)
The paper should include: A (very brief) introduction, a formal statement of the argument, an explanation and defense of each premise, an explanation and defense of the argument’s conclusion (here, the ‘defense’ should explain why this conclusion follows from these premises), a clear explanation of how the second author would object, and a clear explanation of how the second author would defend this objection. (Why does he believe this objection to be true?) It should end with a (very brief) conclusion. Each of these components should be a distinct paragraph, including separate paragraphs for each premise. All told, the paper should have at least 8 paragraphs.
This paper can be written without any sources other than class notes and our textbook. If you in any way consult any additional source, you must cite it. Otherwise, it’s plagiarism. Please hear me: if you use Wikipedia “just to understand it” and don’t cite it, you will almost certainly fail the course for plagiarism. If you must use Wikipedia, then you must cite Wikipedia.
