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the assignment details is below. please read carefully.
This assignment is worth 20 points — a substantial portion of your course grade. While there is no set length, I think one would need at least a couple of pages to do the question justice. Attend to all parts of the question and give a thorough account, detailing the respective positions. Write as if you are explaining these issues to one who has done none of the reading — to a relative or a friend. Try, in other words, to be as clear as possible, demonstrating to me that you grasp the core dispute. You will also want to argue for one approach over another, offering reasons that would appeal to the fair-minded or neutral reader, one interested in learning the truth.
Do not quote other sources — either within the course or from without — back to me. This is not a research assignment but an analytical essay. Put matters in your own words. Evidence that work has been appropriated directly from elsewhere will result in a zero on the assignment, and in some cases a failing grade in the class. Know, too, that while I am interested in your views here, they should be views informed by the reading.
Please either compose your essay in the message box (“Write Submission”) or cut and paste your essay in the box. Don’t use attached files or links. You may make as many attempts as you wish — though I would save partial work in a separate file in case of cyber glitches or the like — as long as you submit your final essay by noon on Saturday, February 12. This is a hard and fast deadline. Extensions will be granted in only extraordinary circumstances.
Explore Lockes distinction between primary and second qualities. It wont be enough to list examples of both qualities; explain instead what the distinction consists of and why Locke makes it. Show how Locke uses this distinction to answer the question of whether material objects exist independently of our experience of them.
Second, discuss in detail Berkeleys criticisms of this distinction. Go on to explore how, on the basis of these objections, Berkeley will answer the question of whether material objects are real.
Third, talk about how Locke would reply to such objections based on his causal theory of perception, and then discuss how Hume would respond to Locke in turn. Does Hume believe we can prove the independent existence of material objects?
In the end, who makes the best case? Why? Defend your answer fully.
Grading Criteria for the essay are as follows:
A strong essay will lay out the respective positions in clear and detailed terms, emphasize the strengths and weaknesses of each, and offer convincing reasons to show why one approach is superior to the other. The accounts should display a ready and thorough knowledge of course material. (18-20 points).
An adequate essay will set forth the main outline of the respective positions, though some detail may be lacking and the accounts may not always be clear. The reasons given for supporting one approach over another, while relevant, may not prove compelling. (14-17 points)
An inadequate essay will confuse the positions involved or fail to articulate their key elements; the language may exhibit a poor grasp of the central points of contention. The account might well convey an insufficient understanding of course material or prove otherwise unclear, and the reasons offered in favor of one approach over another will mischaracterize essential philosophical paradigms. (13 points or below).