Assignments

Final paper

The final paper should be 20–25 pages long with a substantial draft submitted by the last session. Below are several example paper topics:

  1. Moran, Boyle, and Byrne all find some truth in Evans' observations about transparency, but they develop it in quite different ways. Critically compare and contrast their views.
  2. Is the "inner sense" theory fundamentally flawed, as many of its critics claim? If so, what are the fundamental flaws? If not, is the theory at all plausible?
  3. Carruthers, Paul, and Cassam all find some truth in Ryleanism. Are they right?
  4. Critically discuss Bar-On's expressivist theory, as set out in her Speaking My Mind.
  5. Some theorists think that the epistemology of attitudes like belief is very different from the epistemology of other mental states, e.g. perception and sensation. To what extent should an account of self-knowledge be uniform?
  6. According to Shoemaker, "self-blindness" is impossible. Explain and assess his argument for this.