To what extent do capitalist institutions – private property, wage labour, markets, and
corporations – enhance or undermine our freedom? Focus your thesis on one or two of
these institutions. Make sure you discuss one or both of the Anderson and Cohen papers
in your essay.
Some notes about paper format:
1) Your essay should have a short introduction (with just enough detail to explain and state
your thesis) A conclusion is not necessary, though you may include one if you think it
helps your ideas come across more clearly.
2) The essay should be roughly 1500 words. You can go up to 10% over. This includes all
references and bibliography.
3) Remember that this is not a personal reflection essay – you should provide philosophical
arguments rather than personal anecdotes. Try your best to argue for your conclusions on
the basis of intuitions that you expect will be widely shared. You should avoid being too
scattered in your arguments. It is better to develop one or two arguments in a lot of detail,
clarifying them and defending them against potential objections, than to squeeze several
arguments into a single paper. Consider how an opponent might respond to your
argument and respond back to them. Note that argumentation is worth more this time on
the rubric.
4) You can use first-person language (e.g. “I”) in the essay – this can be an effective way of
distinguishing between when you are describing your view vs describing someone else’s
view.
5) I’m expecting that you will use the texts (and not just my notes or external sources) to
complete the assignment, so your paper should make a number of page number citations
to the texts. (You can use any citation format you like, footnote or in-text, as long as it
has page numbers.) If you use additional sources outside of the ones we have considered
in class, you should provide some kind of bibliography with enough information to allow
the grader to retrieve the source. But in general, you should avoid external sources. This
is not a research essay: we want to see that you’ve reflected on the material that we’ve
covered in class, not taken your opinions and arguments from external sources.
6) Take a look at the rubric (also attached to the assignment) for the detailed grading criteria
that we will be using in grading your essay.