Thanks again for all your hard work this semester. I appreciate you pulling the weight and helping to make this course work; together, we’re creating something really special.

For your second blog post, we decided that you shouldn’t worry about formulating an objection to the blog’s central argument, unless you want to and genuinely think that doing so will help you develop your line of thought.

I have also suggested that the two central components of the blog can be thought of as follows:

  1. Articulate a puzzle — show that a certain phenomenon or concept has two features that seem in tension or at odds with one another.
  2. Explain how philosophy can help — show that a philosophical theory or argument can shed light on the puzzle (and perhaps can help to avoid problems that arise if we adopt an alternative theory or rely on common sense).

Finally, I have said that while I encourage you to make these blog posts playful or literary in tone, taking advantage of all kinds of devices for making your post more engaging and easy to read, they should still demonstrate a strong grasp of the course material and employ the core skills of philosophical analysis and argumentation. So: be sure to quote the text, define terms, explain the reasoning in support of the central claims at issue, etc.

With this in mind, I have revised the grading rubric as follows:

Grading Rubric  (criteria // points)

  • The introduction provides an effective and interesting overview of the post // 4 points
  • A central puzzle about the world or about a philosophical concept is identified, and enough context is provided to clarify and motivate your concern with the puzzle // 8 points
  • An author’s view and their central reason(s) for believing that their view is true is articulated accurately and clearly, supported by judicious quotes from the text and at least one example // 10 points
  • A real-world issue and/or source(s) outside our class material is examined and explained in a way that is well-informed and insightful // 8 points
  • The mutual relevance of the philosophical analysis and the real-world issue is made clear, and a persuasive case in made that the philosophical view that has been analyzed can help to shed light on the puzzle that is at issue in the post // 10 points
  • The post is written in a way that is engaging to read // 10 points