Write an essay (of roughly 4 pp. or 1200 words) that draws on two or three works from the course including at least two from the most recent part (beginning with Brentano).

Although I offer some suggested topics below, these are by no means the only possible choices of topic even for the pairs of works they address and you should not hesitate to formulate a different topic or modify one of these.

• How would freedom as Ayer understands it fare under eliminative materialism as Churchland understands it?
• Where does the conception of persons provided by Dennett's intentional stance fit into Parfit's classification of views, and what would be the associated response to Parfit's "problem cases."
• The attempts to account for intentionality that Chisholm considers (in his sections 3-5) could be described as examples of "naturalism." Does Dretske, who describes his recipe as a naturalistic account of intentionality, succeed in doing what Chisholm argues cannot be done, does he fail, or is he doing something different?
• Dretske says that the intentionality he ascribes to a compass is not a matter of an explanatory stance (p. 493, col. 1). Is the same true of the thought he gives is recipe for? In particular, how does his view of the richer sorts of intentionality compare with Dennett's?
• Dennett approaches the content of belief in terms of what he calls "attachment" to the environment (see especially pp. 564f). Would his ideas lead to anything like the criteria for belief Chalmers and Clarke offer? If so, how? If not, which approach is better?
• Sellars might be said to give a recipe for thought; at least, he describes a series of events that results in people having thoughts. Compare what Sellars does or tries to do with Dretske's project.
• Putnam argues that the ways in which "meanings ain't in the head" that he considers suggest a fundamentally different view of what meaning or the content of thought is. Chalmers and Clarke argue that they are offering examples of externalism that are different from Putnam's. Does their examples of externalism entail changes in what we think about meaning or the content of thought, or does it have a different sort of implication?

Although I have called this an exam, you should think of it more as a paper. In particular, I'll be happy to discuss your essay with you as you write it. Also, although many of these topics are presented as questions, my evaluation will not be based on the answer you give but on your explanation of it.

As usual, I'll be happy to accept the essay either on paper or electronically though I encourage the latter. The due date is only a default but, since we are close to the end of the semester, please keep me informed of the date when you expect to turn in your essay, and please check for confirmation that I have received it when you do turn it in.