Writer’s Choice

Does Aristotle’s different accounts of the “soul” have further ethical/political implications for our
treatment of the non-human animal? Using the account as it is developed in De Anima, does it
matter whether non-human animals have nous with respect to our ethical/political considerations?
In developing your position be sure to explain the different accounts of the soul, as well as the
alleged significant difference between the animal soul and the human soul. If you agree with
Aristotle, be sure to note a possible objection to your position, and then respond to that objection.
If you disagree with Aristotle, make sure that you have fully demonstrated your understanding of
Aristotle’s account before criticizing it. Note: it is okay to acknowledge differences between
souls; perhaps the differences do not matter for our ethical considerations

Your 1000 word final paper for our course is to be an argumentative paper, i.e., a thesis driven paper. Please make sure that the final sentence of your first paragraph is your explicit thesis statement (this is what your paper will be attempting to prove). I understand that such a constraint may not feel natural to our creative writing spirit, but it will be good practice for your later academic careers in exercising more “liberal” argumentative papers. For now, please make the final sentence of your first paragraph your thesis statement.
You are allowed to choose one of the prompts from the list provided for you earlier this semester. If you want to do address a different argument/problem that is not on the list of prompts, that is okay, but contact me before you begin writing to make sure that the argument/problem is acceptable. I will not accept papers which are different from the prompts and have not been discussed with me. This means you need to allow yourself the room to communicate any ideas you are having outside of the given prompts. I have repeated this throughout our semester numerous times. If you have not left yourself ample time to develop an argument outside of the prompts provided, then just address one of the prompts I have given you.
The preferred method for citations in philosophy is Chicago style. I will accept any style of citation, although I do prefer Chicago. Chicago uses footnotes and has a References list at the end of the paper (you are only required to provide the work you are using in a footnote). An example of a proper footnote citation would look like the following:

Melanie K. Yazzie and Cutcha Risling Baldy, “Introduction: Indigenous peoples and the politics of water,” in Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, vol.7 no. 1 (2018): 1-18.
or, for a book:
Aristotle, Metaphysics X-XIV, trans. Hugh Tredennick (Cambridge: Harvard University Press: 1962), 197

If you are citing Plato or Aristotle, you are only required to provide the full citation once. After providing the full citation in a footnote (so your audience knows which translator, edition, publisher, etc. you are using) you can then use parenthetical citations for the Stephanus numbers (Plato) or the Bekker numbers (Aristotle). The Stephanus numbers and the Bekker numbers are the little numerals scattered throughout Platonic and Aristotelian texts (we went over this many months ago in the beginning of our semester). An example of this would look like: As Aristotle wrote in his Metaphysics, “Causality is spoken of in many ways” (1031a10). Such a citation would suffice.
You are not encouraged to use material outside of our course’s material. Remember, this is your opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the course provided with this university. If you attempt to argue a point complete alien to our course, you will not receive a strong grade.
If you have any question, please write me, but leave yourself (and me) enough time to think through the problems.