Philosophical Argument (Socratic Dialogue, Real Interlocutor)
16 weeks · 3 milestones
Read primary texts from Plato to Nietzsche and develop a philosophical framework.
Milestone map
Milestone map
3 milestones
Select a canonical philosophical argument from the Western or non-Western tradition — the Ontological Argument, the Problem of Evil, Kant's Categorical Imperative, the Ship of Theseus, the Trolley Problem as Foot and Thomson originally framed it, or a comparable argument from Buddhist, Confucian, or Islamic philosophy. Read the primary text where the argument appears (not a secondary summary), reconstruct the argument in standard form (numbered premises leading to a conclusion), and write an 800-word evaluation that identifies at least one premise you reject and explains why, engaging with at least one philosophical objection to your rejection. This milestone establishes the practice of engaging with arguments rather than with positions.
Proof required
Submit the argument in standard form (numbered premises and conclusion) alongside the 800-word evaluation. Identify the primary text the argument comes from. Name at least one philosophical objection to the premise you reject and explain why that objection does not succeed (or does succeed, and modify your position accordingly). Do not merely summarise the argument — every paragraph should advance a specific point in your evaluation.
What gets checked
- The argument is reconstructed in standard form with numbered premises and a stated conclusion — a paragraph describing the argument's general logic is not a standard form reconstruction; the premises must be individually assessable propositions
- At least one premise is explicitly rejected with a reason — not 'I think this is wrong' but 'this premise fails because it assumes X, and X is false/question-begging/ambiguous because Y'
- The evaluation engages with at least one objection to the rejection — if the obvious objection is 'but without this premise the argument fails entirely', the response must acknowledge and address this