The paper (6–12 pages long) is due, as an attachment, via the “Assignments” tool
on eCommons, by midnight Tuesday, December 8 (in PDF or any format easily
converted to PDF, e.g. MSWord, LATEX, RTF, plain text).
The topics listed below are suggestions. If you want to write on another topic,
feel free to do so. It might be a good idea, however, in that case, to check
with me first. (Given that the topics are rather broad, you might want to
check with me about your specific idea, anyway, which you are welcome to
do.)
These suggested topics are aimed at producing interpretative papers, rather
than critical ones — i.e., papers in which the focus is on understanding what
Husserl means, rather than attacking (or defending) his views. (This is true even
of the second topic, if you think about it.) In general I prefer that kind of
paper, but if you have an idea along other lines you can go that way
at your own risk. Again, you might want to check with me about the
details.
Grading will be based on (1) interestingness and originality of your thesis; (2)
carefulness of your reading (even if I don’t agree with it); (3) coherence of your
argument/explanation (in roughly that order).
You can cite the assigned texts by page number, section number, or however
else you find convenient. If you use any other source, make sure you acknowledge
it and give enough information that I can find it. There’s no need for a separate
bibliography or title page.
Obviously — I hope this goes without saying – -you should not use sources
without citing them! Also needless to say: the paper should be entirely your own
work and should be a paper written for this course (i.e., not handed in for credit
in any other course).