PHLC95 - Essay 2: Topics

Here are a set of possible topics for PHLC95's first essay. Please select one to write on.

Your essay should be about 2000 words. You should strive to both explain the issue you are dealing with as clearly as possible and critically/argumentative engage with the issue. This should involve both analysing and criticising existing arguments in the readings and attempting to advance the debate with your own arguments and point of view.

1. Nagel's Panpsychism. Why does Nagel think that Panpsychism might be (one of the few) theories that could integrate consciousness into a viable account of nature and our place in it? Describe the kind of panpsychism he presents and consider its strengths and weaknesses (pay attention to Nagel's own criticisms of panpsychism).

2. The Authority of Reason and the Good. Besides consciousness, Nagel thinks that the materialist picture of the world struggles to explain how human beings can apprehend and/or engage with the principles of rationality of the distinction between right and wrong. Explain why Nagel has this worry. Do you think that reason and morality pose an insuperable problem for materialism?

3. Two Panpsychists. Koch and Nagel are both sympathetic to panpsychism. Compare and contrast the kinds of panpsychism each theoriest considers, and further compare and contrast the reasons each theorist puts forth in support of panpsychism. In the end, is one version better than the other? Or do they end up being much the same? Why or wny not?