The second 500-word paper assignment is meant to give you further practice building some of the analytic skills that are important within philosophy. This assignment is similar to the first paper in that you will again need to first summarize and explain a single point from the reading. Instead of raising a question, however, you will critically engage with that point by either 1) raising an objection to that point or 2) offering an extension of that point. As before, completing this assignment will require you to in some way go beyond our reading and lecture; it is therefore important that you do not simply summarize the reading or repeat material presented in lecture. In what follows, I briefly describe the two main tasks that you must complete within your second 500-word paper: Task 1: Summarize and explain a single point from the reading Firstly, you should choose a single philosophical point or claim discussed in the assigned selections from Elizabeth Anderson’s Private Government to summarize and explain. You have flexibility in deciding what to write on, it can be a point that we discussed in lecture or something in the reading that was not mentioned. As in the first assignment, however, be careful to not summarize too much material. Pick a narrow, precise point that you can engage within a short paper. Ensure that you summarize only what is necessary given the objection or extension you want to raise. You must also quote and cite the text to explain the point that you want to engage with. Your paper must contain at least one quotation and at least two correct citations. You must also cite Anderson correctly. I have included examples of correct quotations and citations at the end of these instructions. All quotations should be properly cited and conform to the described format. In addition, your quotations must correspond to the correct page numbers within our assigned course book. Make sure that you use quotes judiciously and appropriately to support your summary and question. For this short 500-word paper, only quote and cite content from our assigned readings. Do not quote or cite any outside sources. No bibliography is required. Task 2: Raise either an objection or an extension regarding that point You have two options for the second part of the paper. You can choose to either raise an objection to Anderson or offer an extension of her point. Roughly, these correspond to two ways in which you can choose to engage with the point, either by in some way disagreeing with it (raise an objection) or in some way agreeing with it (raise an extension). Pick one, and don’t try to do both! I further describe each option below. Option 1: Raise an objection A good objection should clearly explain why you think the point is in error. Importantly, you must provide reasons to explain and support your position. You should not simply express disagreement with the point, or assert that you think most people would in fact disagree with it, while ignoring everything the author said in defense of the claim. You will instead need to engage with the author’s own arguments and reasons, for instance by describing a counterexample to one of the author’s claims or explaining how the argument depends on an assumption that is false or implausible. There are many possible ways to raise a good objection, but it is important that you clearly explain what you take to be wrong with the author’s point. Relatedly, a good objection takes the author’s argument seriously. If there is a way in which Anderson would very likely respond to your objection based on her claims in the reading, a strong paper will briefly consider that response and explain why your objection still stands. Option 2: Raise an extension A good extension takes the point and applies it to some further idea that is not already contained in the point that was summarized. Think of this as agreeing with the author’s point by picking it up and running with it in a new direction. There are several different ways in which you could write a good extension. For instance, you could argue that the author’s claim has a surprising or interesting implication, you could describe a related topic not discussed in the reading that you think the author’s point directly applies to, or you could attempt to defend the author’s point against a strong objection that could be raised against it. Regardless of the exact form that your extension takes, you must be clear about how your own claims relate to and build off of the author’s point in a new direction; you need to make your own novel contribution to the author’s discussion clear and apparent. Make sure you don’t simply repeat points that the author already made, nor discuss topics that have no clear connection to the author’s point.