Is life absurd without God?
Is death bad?
If you choose this question then you will have to engage with the lectures where we have discussed death and authors such as Epicurus, Luper-Foy, Rosenbaum.
The optional readings by Pitcher, Nagel, Scheffler are also relevant. You may safely ignore the lectures on immortality, though if you want to address some ideas from there you can. It is recommended that your essay includes the following structure:
1) In the first section (titled Introduction) you set up the problem. Explain briefly why one may think that death is bad for you. State your own answer to the question (your thesis statement).
2) In the second section (titled Arguments for an Affirmative Answer or Arguments for a Negative Answer, depending on your standpoint) present what you take to be the best existing argument(s) in favour of your position, put forward by one of the authors whose readings are listed on Moodle. Also here you give a full formulation of your own answer to the question and present your own arguments.
3) In the third section (titled Evaluation of the Arguments) you assess the strengths and the weaknesses of the arguments presented in the previous section. You must consider at least one objection to the view that you are defending and answer it.
4) The last section is the Conclusion. Here you summarize the main points made in your essay and briefly restate your own answer and why you think it’s true.
Formatting information:
Wordcount: your essay must be around 2000 words (but not less than 1500 or more than 2500 words).
Font: Times New Roman. Size: 12. Line Spacing: 1.5; Margins: 1″ (or 2.54 cm)
Bibliography format: any bibliography format is allowed, as long as it is used consistently. See here for examples:
https://library.concordia.ca/help/citing/apa.php For information on how to cite Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy articles, see the link “How to cite this entry” at the end of every article. For Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy articles use the same citation format as for the Stanford Encyclopedia.
As a rule, do not cite any work that you have not looked at. If the encyclopedia article refers to a work that you consider important for your arguments, but which you have not looked at, try and find that work, look at the relevant pages, and cite that work directly instead of the encyclopedia article.
To the extent possible, use the encyclopedia article as a guide to the primary sources, and not as a primary source itself!
ï Do not cite the lecture notes or any unpublished materials. Instead, cite the philosopher/author whose ideas you are discussing. If in doubt, ask me or your TA.
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