Write an essay (of roughly 4000-5000 words) in which you pose and answer a interpretative question in a way that is informed by secondary literature.

You can think of this as incorporating features of your second paper, in which you posed an interpretation question, and your third, in which you responded critically to a secondary source. Since the interpretative question might be one that is suggested by a secondary source, it is possible for this paper to amount an extension of your third paper.

While you are not required to discuss more than one secondary source, I encourage you to at least consult other sources since that will provide a broader perspective on the issue you are addressing. You can find such sources as you found the source you choose for discussion—i.e., among my suggestions or by searching indices. Any secondary source will also point you to others that it refers to, but there are also various ways to search for papers that refer to it. I’ll mention only one that is focused on philosophy: PhilPapers (at http://philpapers.org); it is certainly not complete, but it has a link allowing you to move your search to Google Scholar. Also, as you encounter references to Kant, remember that older translations of much of his work (with Akademie pages indicated) are available on my persweb site via a link on Canvas.

This paper is due in two versions: a “full draft” to be discussed by the class. That should complete in the content that you intend for the paper at that point, and it should be on the same scale as the final version (i.e., not merely an outline or prospectus). It needs to be available soon enough for others to read before its discussion; I’ve set that time as 24 hrs. in advance, but I’d encourage you to submit it earlier—remember that it is something you will be able to revise later. The final version is due the day assigned to this class for a final exam, which happens to be Friday of exam week.

While I’d be happy to accept your assignment on paper, it is more convenient for me to receive work electronically; and, since I haven’t set up the course Canvas site for assignments, that means using e-mail—my address is helmang@wabash.edu. An e-mail attachment is probably most convenient.