Phl 340 / Hms 410 Freedom and Determinism. Winter 2000
Final Exam Assignment.
Due Friday, April 28, noon
Take-home exam;
10-12 page paper
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The goal of this assignment is to
review the materials relevant to describing the degree and type of inner
freedom a person may have and to come to a considered judgment about whether
-- or to what extent -- we have inner freedom and the power to be responsible
for our decisions.
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The paper should balance the pros
and cons relevant to the claim that we humans posses inner freedom, and
come to a summary conclusion, on the basis of the evidence given in the
paper, about the nature and extent of inner freedom in people.
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The exam should include a somewhat
detailed exposition of the basic relevant materials. It is not necessary
to restate all the material covered in the first two written assignments
except in summary form. The materials not yet addressed should be
given more specific attention. That includes all the materials from
the social sciences in the last quarter of the course:
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Psychological -- results of conditioning; theories from therapies
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Sociobiological -- genetic influences, at work through brain
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Cultural-historical -- long-term structures of social relations
and values
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Peer pressure -- probably also innate to some degree
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Developmental -- Piaget, Kohlberg, Fowler, & cultural-historical
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The single sheet entitled "Inner Freedom, boiling it all
down . . . ." calls attention to the major aspects of the topic, to the
major forces at work in us, and to the peculiar nature of reflectively
conscious decisions. The paper should recognize these points and
apply them to the analysis.
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