Write a short essay on the following topic.
The essay must be submitted to mêskanâs by 11:59 pm on Friday, March 22nd. The essay has a maximum length of 1250 words (+/- 10% of the word count is OK). Late essays will lose 5% per day (not per class); exceptions require permission. Email submissions will not be accepted unless prior permission is given. Do not use any secondary sources. No citations are necessary.
Formatting Suggestions
1. You do not have to follow the five-paragraph essay structure. Just answer questions 1 and 2.
2. Consider starting your essay with a four-sentence introduction summarizing your answers to questions 1 and 2.
3. Imagine you are writing your essay not for your professor but for a friend or family member who has not taken the class and hasn’t read anything by the author. Ask yourself what information do they need to understand why he thinks what he thinks and why you object. They should be able to understand both just by reading your essay and nothing else
Topic: 100 points total
Aquinas argues that God necessarily chooses His own goodness but freely chooses everything else. Thus, for example, God is free to choose to create or not create you and me.
1. Explain Aquinas’s reasons as given in Basic Issues, Topic 1.5.2, paragraphs 1-5, pg 40-41. (70 points)
2. Evaluate one of Aquinas’s reasons. You may either raise your own objection to one of his arguments or raise and respond to your own objection. Your objection will be evaluated based on its originality and insight into Aquinas’s argument. (30 points)