Take-Home Essay Exam and Paper #2

 

 

Take-Home Essay Exam (for Nonmajors)

 

Write a separate essay for each of the following topics. Each essay must contain at least one citation from our reading.

 

1. Summarize Avicenna and Maimonides’ responses to the problem of evil. Then evaluate the effectiveness of their strategies, justifying your claims. (Minimum 1.5 full pages.)

 

2. Summarize Al-Ghazari and Averroes’ views on the relationship of faith and reason, including the strongest argument that each gives. (Minimum 1 full pages.)

 

3. Explain Maimonides’ views about the simplicity of God and the via negativa as the proper way to describe God’s nature (using at least one example to illustrate the latter). What is Maimonides’ motivation for making these claims? Does the via negativa accomplish what Maimonides thinks it does? Why or why not? (Minimum 1.5 full pages.)

 

 

Paper (for Philosophy Majors)

 

The debate about whether the universe is eternal plays arises due to the influence of Aristotle on Islamic, Jewish, and late medieval Christian philosophy. In this paper, you will discuss Maimonides’ treatment of this issue. Start by summarizing the 4 positions on the origin of the universe that he examines, placing emphasis on Aristotle and Maimonides’ views. Then carefully explain his criticism of Aristotle and defense of his own view. (Please note that Maimonides’ points here are rather subtle.) Next, evaluate Maimonides’ critique and defense, justifying your view. Finally, explain which of the four positions on the origin of the universe you find most plausible, and explain why.  

 

Your paper must contain at least 3 citations from our reading.

 

 

Guidelines for Take-Home Essay Exam and Paper:

 

1. Length – Minimum of 4 full pages, maximum 7 pages. If you use formatting or stylistic devices which artificially inflate the length of your writing – such as titles or headers, footnotes or citations within the text, or extra spaces between paragraphs – you will need to expand the length of your essay or essays to make up the difference.

 

2. Citations – Provide full citations for any quotation or paraphrase (not including class lectures), using any standard method that provides all of the relevant information (including exact page numbers). Sample: Augustine, “On the Free Choice of the Will,” in Medieval Philosophy, 4th edition, ed. Forrest E. Baird and Walter Kaufmann (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003), p. 81.

 

3. Formatting – Number pages and staple; 12 point type; Double-spaced; 1-1.5 inch margins