Philosophy Paper

I will be writing my first major philosophy paper at UCLA for my medieval philosophy class on topic #2 (below). I chose the Anselm topic after reading his dialogues on freedom and evil from his Three Dialogues on Truth, Freedom, and Evil. This should be fun!!!

ESSAY TOPIC CHOICES
1. Avicenna and Aquinas advance related arguments for the survival of the human soul after death. Present and compare these arguments. Isolate common assumptions and discuss the (philosophical) differences you find between the two arguments. Be sure to say something about any differences you find on either picture between the soul as it is when embodied and the soul when disembodied.

2. One reading of Anselm’s view in “On the Fall of the Devil” is that after the Fall of Satan the angels that did not fall are free and yet cannot sin. Is this view correct? Discuss the issue, presenting your view of Anselm’s position and discussing the textual reasons you have for thinking it is Anselm’s view and the philosophical reasons Anselm had for holding it.

3. Richard Rufus seems to have rejected the idea that we think by the intellect taking on forms in the way matter usually does. Present his view, compare it with the view that thinking is a matter of literally becoming the thing thought and discuss the merits of each.

~ by Barron on February 22, 2006.