Final essay

The Empiricists
Lecturer: Sandy Berkovski

Bilkent University
Spring 2016

Readings

[Ber08]

G. Berkeley. Philosophical Writings. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

[Hum00]

D. Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature. Oxford University Press, 2000.

[Loc08]

J. Locke. An Essay concerning Human Understanding. Oxford University Press, 2008. Abridged by P. Phemister.

Instructions

• Choose one of the topics below. Alternatively, choose your own topic that will have to be approved in the process of submission of the first draft (see below).
• Your essay should have no more than 3000 words.
• The essay should be based on the primary sources covered in our course and on at least two secondary sources (books or articles) of your choice.
• All quotations should follow the following format:

  Locke's Essay:

  E I.i.8

  Berkeley's PHK:

  PHK Introduction 3 or PHK 25

  Berkeley's DHP:

  DHP 1 (pages 180-181), where the pages refer to the edition you are using-indicate this edition in the References section at the end of your essay

  Berkeley's NTV:

  NTV 5

  Hume's Treatise:

  T 1.4.3

  Secondary sources:

  Ayers (1999:34), where Ayers (1999) is listed in the References section at the end of your essay
• General essay writing guidelines: here.
• By 23:00 on 3 March you should prepare the first draft of the essay containing: Title, abstract of up to 300 words, and a bibliography list. Send it in an email attachment to: sandy.berkovski+empiric@gmail.com
• Note: Late submissions of the first drafts will not be accepted. Having the first draft approved is a necessary requirement for the submission of the essay. The drafts themselves will not be graded.
• If your first draft is not approved, you will have to re-write it by 23:00 on 13 March.
• Exam sheets must be sent in an email attachment to the same address by 23:00 on 28 April 2016. (Please include your first draft in the text of your submission.)
• Your sheets must be saved in RTF (no exceptions!). To do this, choose "File→Save As" from the MS Word menu and select the RTF format.
• Each hour of the delay in the submission of the essay will entail a reduction of five points from the essay grade.

Essay topics

1. `Berkeley's idealism represents common sense better, and offers a better defence against scepticism, than Locke's realism.' Discuss.
2. `Sameness of consciousness is the basis of personal identity.' Is this a correct view of personal identity? Discuss with reference to both Locke and Hume.
3. Berkeley claims that an idea can be like nothing but an idea. Should this claim, if true, refute Locke's distinction between primary and secondary qualities?
4. Could there be innate knowledge?
5. Did Berkeley prove that there can be no general ideas corresponding to general terms?
6. `The primary function of words is to signify ideas.' Is this a completely wrongheaded theory of meaning?
7. Is Hume right in thinking that we have no good reason to believe in the existence of objects which are distinct from perceptions? Discuss this question with reference to Locke's views.
8. Does Hume give an account of what we mean when we talk about one thing causing another, or of what we know about causation?
9. How compelling is a compatibilist account of freedom?