PHILOSOPHY 201 ASSIGNMENT 1 DUE SEPTEMBER 1, 2006

This assignment is worth 100 points. In order to receive full credit, you must follow all the directions exactly.

(10 points) Print out this page. Open a new document in Microsoft Word (or an equivalent word-processing program), and type your name, Philosophy 201 and your section number at the top of the page using Times New Roman font. Then type answers to the following questions. For each question, type the number, then the answer. When you have finished, print the Microsoft Word document on white paper and staple the printout of this page on the front. Failure to do any of these steps will result in loss of points.

1. (10 points) Read the syllabus for this class. How many points are possible in this class (total)? How many tests will we have during the semester? How much is an assignment worth if you turn it in late?

2. (30 points) Go to the front page of my web site (www.geocities.com/cogburn83). Click on the link for The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Click on Principal Site (USA). Choose P, scroll down to Plato and choose "on knowledge in the Theaetetus." Read the introduction to this article (Plato on Knowledge in the Theaetetus). What is Plato trying to do in the Theatetus? In what way does he do this? What do we discover at the end of the dialogue?

3. (20 points) Look at the Food for Thought question on page 11 of Rauhut's Ultimate Questions (one of the required books for this course.) Do the exercise there. For each question, type the number of the question, then Yes, No, or I don't know to indicate your position on each issue.

4. (30 points) Read the first paragraph of Descartes' Meditation I on page 38 of Porter's Philosophy Through Fiction and Film (the other required book in the course), which begins "It is now some years since..." What is Descartes' proposing to do here? Do you think it is worthwhile to overhaul your belief system in this way? Why or why not?