Choose ONE and only one of the following questions. Answer it in a complete and thoughtful essay. Your essay should be a well-developed, clear, logical and complete idea developed from a definite thesis statement. Use the text where appropriate to support your answer. You need not consult secondary sources for this paper, but if you do, give credit for the information you use. Do not forget to cite any Internet information you use as well. Good sources for defining terms: Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, both in the reserve collection in the BHSU Library.

Use specifics from the texts to support your answers, but do not merely summarize the text.

Essays should be typed (double-spaced) and approximately 4-6 pages in length. This paper is due
on Wednesday, April 25. Papers must be submitted on time. Papers handed in late will receive a one grade deduction for each class late. I will be happy to look at drafts ahead of time; in fact, I
encourage it!

Read the questions carefully. Proofread your work.

1) Descartes seems obsessed with the idea of the idea and its relationship to reality. After all, this is a guy who began in complete doubt only to conclude "I think, therefore I am." Write an essay in which you discuss two different ideas: one of the ideas should be something which already exists in reality (a clock, for example), the other should be something which does not yet exist in reality but might be possible (an eight-legged dog, for example). In your essay you should discuss what Descartes means by "idea" and "reality" and the ways which the ideas you have chosen to write about fit into a good explanation of Descartes' thought on the subject.

2) Postmodern philosophy and aesthetics seem at first to be fundamentally opposed to each other. Postmodernism is founded on the principle that there are no rules and no "correct" answer. Aesthetics moves from basic definitions for concepts such as "beauty" and "truth." Can the two be reconciled as we move into the twenty-first century? Use two or three examples from art (painting, film, sculpture, or music) with which to conduct your analysis. The Course Links page contains some links to online art.

3) Given your understanding of ethics, is doctor-assisted suicide ever morally permissible? Use material from at least one classical and one contemporary philosopher to support your analysis and position.