Format:

You are to write a paper of approximately 1400 words

on the topic below. It should be double-spaced in a
standard 12-point font with standard margins. It
should have a descriptive title (not Paper #2) and an
abstract. Please do not have a dedicated title or
abstract page, and duplex (both sides of the page)
printing is fine.
An abstract is a short (usually less than 50 word)
summary that states your thesis and the rough
structure of your paper. You should assume that your
reader has not read your abstract when s/he reads
the body of your essay. You may use lines directly
from your abstract in your introduction or
elsewhere. Be sure your reader can distinguish
abstract from body. One convention is to put the
abstract in italics, single-spaced, with justified wide
margins. Another way is to state Abstract above the
abstract, and Body above the body.
You are to write your name, student number, TAs
name, and your tutorial section info (its number or its
day and time) IN PEN ON THE BACK OF YOUR
PAPER BEFORE YOU SUBMIT IT. Do NOT include
this info with the rest of the paper. Doing this
correctly will be considered doing one LSA.
Do NOT submit the first version to turnitin. You will
be submitting the revision with this first version (and
any feedback you get) attached to it as hardcopy, and
the revision only will go to turnitin.

Deadlines and late penalties:

-Deadlines:
The first version of your paper is due in lecture,
Monday, 14 July. This version will be returned with
comments in tutorial in Week 12. If you have a nonMonday tutorial and would like to collect your paper
before tutorial that week, email your TA who will have
it ready for you at lecture on the Monday (21 July).
The revised version of your paper, with the
commented-on first version attached to it, is due in
lecture, Wednesday 30 July. The revised version is
also due at Turnitin by 23.59 that evening.
Make sure your paper really gets to Turnitinyou
should get an e-receipt and you should be able to see
that the paper is in your portfolio.

-Late penalties for hardcopies are 2.5 percentage

points per 24-hour day or part of a day starting at
noon. Put late papers in Dr Mcs mailbox in the
Philosophy Departmentget the secretary (or
somebody like that) to date and time stamp it.
No late first versions will be accepted after noon
Friday, 18 July, noon. A paper received that morning
would be docked 10 percentage points. If no first
version paper is received by then, the penalty is 12.5.
No late revised versions will be accepted after noon
Friday, 1 August, making the maximum penalty on
that version 5 percentage points.
If you get penalties on both the first version and the
revised version, these will be combined.
-Late penalties for turnitin is 2.5 percentage

points. These do not accumulate; however, the

deadline for this submission is 23.59 Friday, 1
August. No papers that have not been sent to turnitin
receive credit.
If you have a documented legitimate excuse for me to
consider for waiving penalties, please be in touch by
email as soon as possible to make arrangements to
meet.

Outside sources and citations:

I urge you not to use any outside sources, but I do

not forbid it. However, if you do use outside sources,
be sure to cite them properly. Be sure that you
have read and understood everything on our
Avoiding Academic Dishonesty page and the
pages linked to it, and that you have done and
understood the library tutorial also linked to it. It
is your responsibility to avoid plagiarism. As you
will see from reading the relevant material, the
standard penalty for a case of plagiarism is zero
on the assignment in question. If you have any
questions, now is the time to ask them. Ignorance of
the regulations and how to comply with them will be
no defence. (If you use material from lecture, it
should be in paraphrase, and it should be cited. If
your indebtedness is rather vague, you may, in this
case, cite it in just general terms. I.e., just
acknowledge once that you are drawing on material
from lecture, either in a footnote or in
parentheses. But be sure that you are not just
parroting lecture!)
I do not care what style of citation you use, except

that all the information to find the item must be

provided, including page number for sources that
provide pages numbers, and you should be
consistent.

Outside Assistance:

You have six sources of one-on-one consultation

there are five TAs and one prof, and you may come to the
office hours of any of us. We are resources for you in virtue
of you being a registered student in this class.
Some students think they would benefit from outside
assistance, especially for their writing. In that case, I
recommend the Student Learning Commons. They
know what constitutes appropriate help and what
does not. Book an appointment with them early. If
you use their services, you must acknowledge this
help on the last page of your paper, providing the
name and email address of anybody who helped.
Some people think they need even more or different
help. I urge you to think carefully whether thats true.
If you get any help with your essay from a friend or a
tutor, you must acknowledge this help the last
page of your paper, providing the name and email
address of anybody who helped. Also, you must
keep track of all your revisions, so that there is clear
evidence that the help was not inappropriate. (It is
appropriate, e.g., to have grammatical and spelling
flaws pointed out, sometimes with suggestions made,
but you should make the corrections yourself. The
pen, as they say, should stay in your hand. It is never
appropriate to use anothers ideas, unless you cite

them.) I might ask to see this evidence, should there

be any concern about the source of your ideas or your
writing. Saying that you dont have it would entitle me
to infer that it never existed and that you have had
inappropriate help.
Just so you know, using a website tutor service is
NOT permissible.
Okay (finally!).

Topic Preamble:
Imagine that your best friend was in a car accident. She tells
you that she was briefly unconscious and woke up in the
hospital, where she still is. Shes also told you that she has
been feeling fine for the last couple of days, but the doctors
have decided to keep her in for tests. While in the hospital
visiting her, you have heard rumours of a patient who has no
organic brain, but otherwise seems to be completely
normal. Then you overhear the following conversation.
Doctor #1: Ive thought about this a lot. I believe the patient
does not have mental states, since she does not have a
human organic brain. I think this because I believe that
mental states are type-identical to states of a human organic
brain.
Doctor #2: Thats just prejudice, Dr #1. What is relevant is
that she behaved normally prior to the accident and is
behaving normally now. The digital computer we found
inside the patients skull apparently has the same causal
capacities as a human organic brain. So, clearly, the patient
has mental states.

Doctor #3: I agree with Dr #2 that the patient has mental

states, but whats in her skull is irrelevant, provided they
allow interaction. Mental states are properties of Cartesian
Minds, and we have no reason to think she doesnt have one
of those.
Doctor #4: I disagree with all of you, though I accept Dr 1s
conclusion. Dr #1I dont think that mental states are typeidentical to states of a human organic brain. Perhaps there
are other sorts of things that can have such states. But, Dr
#2since digital computers operate on the basis of syntax
even when manipulating information from transducers, the
fact that the patient has a non-organic digital computer in her
skull means that she does not have mental states. Dr #3
what reason do you have to think that any of us have such a
thing as a Cartesian Mind?
Just then, the doctors notice that you are listening; they stop
talking.

Actual Topic:
Is it more reasonable to think that the patient has mental
states or that the patient does not have mental states?
Your main task is to answer this question and to present an
argument that supports your answer. Think of that as your
first task (though it neednt appear first in your paper). But
you must also consider the positions/arguments of the
doctors and address at least three of them. Since Dr #4
objects to all the other doctors responses, you should be
sure to include some of her remarks in your
discussion. Which other two you focus on is up to you (and
you can look at all three others, but keep in mind that this is

a short paper and it would probably be wiser to spend your

words otherwise). This means that you will, in effect, be
addressing an objection to your view, since the doctors do
not all agree. Which of their positions you spend the most
time on will depend on what you think. Also, you may flesh
out what you take to be their positions, provided your
expanded version is consistent with that theyve said above.
Also, you do not need to agree with any of the doctors
arguments, though you must, of course, think that the
conclusion of two of them is more reasonable than the
conclusion of the other two. (Two doctors think P and two
think ~P.) Furthermore, you might think that the patient has
some sorts of mental states while lacking othersif so,
explain and defend.
You will likely find your views developing and perhaps
changing as we go through the course material in the last
part of the term. Thats fineyou are not committed to
maintaining the position you take in your first version, and I
fully expect that you will have more to say about some
issues in the revision.
You will find it helpful to look at the Criteria Sheet your TA
will be using to provide you with feedback. Click here.