Here is the assignment by the teacher:
The Research paper is the most substantial assignment of the semester, and
virtually all students will have to complete some form of the paper in order to
receive a respectable grade in the class. However, the paper will be graded on a sliding scale, as described below.
In the paper, students will be required to choose and answer one of the following questions, taking a controversial position and arguing for their position over
against alternative perspectives, anticipating objections and critiquing opposing views:
How does Plato’s discussion of Love in the Symposium (or Aristotle’s discussion of Friendship in the Nicomachean Ethics) inform more recent scholars? (like
Augustine, Spinoza, Nietzsche, Freud, etc.) Are we still talking about the same
phenomenon?
Has the Judeo-Christian ideal of selfless Love been distorted by
ostensibly-Christian writers? (like Augustine, Capellanus, Spinoza, Kierkegaard, etc.) If so, why and how have they changed it? If not, why and how have they
preserved it intact?
Since the nineteenth century, many philosophers have contended that Love and Friendship are deceptive, bankrupt, or non-existent, compared to near-universal admiration throughout the Classical and Medieval period. What happened
between 1400 and 1800 to so radically change perspectives about these ideas? Or is this change overstated?
When has the relationship between Love and Sexuality been at its strongest?
When was it weakest? What cultural/historical factors likely contributed to bring about these perspectives?
The scales employed for this assignment are as follows:
(100 pts) – 4-5 page paper, min. 3 class readings and 2 outside sources
(200 pts) – 8-9 page paper, min 5 class readings and 3 outside sources
(300 pts) – 12-13 page paper, min 7 class readings and 4 outside sources
(400 pts) – 16-17 page paper, min 9 class readings and 5 outside sources
(500 pts) – 20-21 page paper, min 10 class readings and 6 outside sources
As a formal written assignment, this paper must abide by the formal rules and
standards laid out in the Chicago Manual of Style, which is the formal guide for
philosophical study in the academic world at large – including a formal
bibliography and footnotes. For guidance, I recommend
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/01/Links to an external site.
Here is the symposium:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1600/1600-h/1600-h.htm
More in class sources in the upload files section.
I don’t care which of the 4 topics the essay is about. You don’t have to make it sound too professional, as it’s a first level philosophy class. It has to be in chicago style.