2. Is happiness all that matters? If we want to live a good life, should we value happiness like Mill or freedom like Nozick? For this essay, you will need to define ‘good’ as either pleasure (hedonism) or autonomy (desire theory) and argue the above questions accordingly. It may be helpful to discuss Nozick’s example of the experience machine. You should cite either Mill or Nozick.
You must cite from primary sources. This means you should only be citing:
- Mill, “Hedonism”
- Nozick, “The Experience Machine”
- Hooker, “The Elements of Well-Being”
Criteria for Grading:
- Thesis: Paper offers a clear and insightful statement of purpose, motivates and frames positon clearly.
- Philosophic Content: How well the paper demonstrates a complex understanding of the concepts involved in the assignment.
- Argument: How well a paper supports claims logically with relevant grounds.
- Use of Text: How well the paper utilizes brief citations from the text to support its analysis. Each body paragraph will require one brief citation from relevant primary sources. Do not cite a full paragraph.
- Communication: How well the paper is written in terms of organization, clarity, spelling, grammar, and syntax.
Technical Details
- You must cite one short quote per body paragraph (except in the intro and conclusion, where you should NOT cite the text).
- Use 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced, with one inch margins.
- Use objective language and avoid phrases like “I feel,” “in my opinion,” etc.
- When citing a passage put the author, the course book, and the page number. For example, (Mill, Utilitarianism) or (Nozick, Anarchy, State, Utopia). You do not need a works cited page, since you should just be choosing one philosopher to cite.
- This is a short paper. You do not need an elaborate introduction. In fact, please only state the thesis of your paper and your reasons for believing it.