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Instructions
You are required to complete a creative philosophical project. You will choose a philosophical topic and create a piece exploring that topic.  The topics to choose from are:
Nozick – The Experience Machine.pdf 2.1 Nozick – The Experience Machine.pd
2.2 Salmon – The Scope of Logic (excerpts).pdf 2.2 Salmon – The Scope of Logic (excerpts).pdf – Alternative Formats (2.675 MB) 
3.1 Rezkalla – Moral Relativism and Subjectivism.pdf 3.1 Rezkalla – Moral Relativism and Subjectivism.pdf – Alternative Formats (20.771 MB) 
3.2 Morgan – Divine Command Theory and Natural Law Theory.pdf 3.2 Morgan – Divine Command Theory and Natural Law Theory.pdf – Alternative Formats (22.479 MB) 
4.1 Abumere – Utilitarianism.pdf 4.1 Abumere – Utilitarianism.pdf – Alternative Formats (16.479 MB) 
4.2 Singer – Famine, Affluence, and Morality.pdf 4.2 Singer – Famine, Affluence, and Morality.pdf – Alternative Formats (396.033 KB) 
5.1 Giles – Virtue Ethics.pdf 5.1 Giles – Virtue Ethics.pdf – Alternative Formats (22.148 MB) 
6.2 Mackay – Feminism and Feminist Ethics.pdf 6.2 Mackay – Feminism and Feminist Ethics.pdf – Alternative Formats (24.604 MB) 
7.1 Kranak – Kantian Deontology.pdf 7.1 Kranak – Kantian Deontology.pdf – Alternative Formats (24.1 MB) 
7.2 O’Neill – A Simplified Account of Kant’s Ethics.pdf 7.2 O’Neill – A Simplified Account of Kant’s Ethics.pdf – Alternative Formats (158.983 KB) 
8.1 Gettier – Is Justified True Belief Knowledge.pdf 8.1 Gettier – Is Justified True Belief Knowledge.pdf – Alternative Formats (812.331 KB) 
8.2 Descartes – First Meditation.pdf 8.2 Descartes – First Meditation.pdf – Alternative Formats (5.995 MB) 
9.1 Markosian – Do You Know that You are not a Brain in a Vat (excerpts).pdf 9.1 Markosian – Do You Know that You are not a Brain in a Vat (excerpts).pdf – Alternative Formats (1.211 MB) 
9-10. Basu – The Spectre of Normative Conflict.pdf 9-10. Basu – The Spectre of Normative Conflict.pdf – Alternative Formats (849.369 KB) 
11. Sider – Free Will and Determinism.pdf 11. Sider – Free Will and Determinism.pdf – Alternative Formats (253.285 KB) 
12.1 Aquinas – The Five Ways.pdf 12.1 Aquinas – The Five Ways.pdf – Alternative Formats (125.947 KB) 
12.2 Mackie – Evil and Omnipotence.pdf 12.2 Mackie – Evil and Omnipotence.pdf – Alternative Formats (3.853 MB) 
13.1 Jackson – What Mary Didn’t Know.pdf 13.1 Jackson – What Mary Didn’t Know.pdf – Alternative Formats (1.47 MB) 
13.2 The Zhuangzi (excerpts).pdf 13.2 The Zhuangzi (excerpts).pdf – Alternative Formats (4.731 MB) 
15.2 Nagel – Moral Luck.pdf
For example, you might film a movie, write a script, record a song, compose a poem, draw a comic, edit a podcast, paint a picture, take a collection of photographs, or make a sculpture (or something else). If you are unsure whether a particular project would be suitable, please check with me first.
Alongside the creative piece, you will write at least 500 words explaining the philosophical significance of your creation. In this discussion, you must relate your work to the philosophical topic you have chosen. I encourage you to reference the readings, or other texts.
Philosophy is a creative discipline. Coming up with new arguments, ideas, and objections requires patience, an open-mind, and inspiration. This assignment will allow you to practice your philosophical creative expression. It will also exercise your ability to recognise philosophical issues in the world around you. When grading your work, I will be assessing the underlying conceptual content of the work, effort, execution, philosophical understanding, and originality.
If you receive a C+ or lower, I will give you the option to revise and resubmit your work. Please submit your project on time, to ensure that I can reasonably make this provision. Late work (even once revised) will be docked by one partial-letter grade per day late (e.g. B+ to B).
Reflection
In addition to your project and discussion, I would like you to submit a brief reflection about the process of completing this assignment. Please include this reflection in the same file as your discussion. The reflection will not contribute to your discussion’s word-count, nor to your project’s final grade.
Some things you might consider: What worked well in creating this project? What worked poorly? Did I do enough initial research and reading? Did I plan my project thoroughly enough? Did I break the task down into smaller, more manageable tasks
first? Or did I just throw myself into in? Did I leave my project too late, or did I start early? Did I work after lunch when I was sleepy? Or after dinner when I was wide awake? What else was going on in my life at the time, and how might that have affected the result?

We have mostly read epistemologist (theorists of knowledge) each of whom talk about how to acquire knowledge.  The traditional definition of knowledge (which has known problems) is that knowledge is a justified true belief.  A belief that is also knowledge, by definition, must be true (false knowledge is impossible by definition). To say that I believe a statement is just to say that I think that statement describes the way things are.  If I believe that the 2020 election was stolen, and you believe that it was not stolen, then one of us must be wrong.  Truth/reality is not relative to the individual, but beliefs are.  Whether I believe something is something I decide.  Most (if not all) epistemologists would say that we have a moral obligation to make sure that our beliefs are not contrary to the available evidence. 
In light of our readings in epistemology, I want you to write a paper on conspiracy theories in general and in particular I want you to look at:
•    The claim that Biden only won the 2020 election because of fraud.
•    The claim that vaccines cause autism or are a way for the government to control us.
During the course of your paper you must address the following issues:
Do People have a moral obligation to make sure that all of their beliefs are reasonable?
Does an individual’s belief about a vaccine being dangerous endanger other people?
Does an individual’s belief that the 2020 election was stolen potentially harm other people?
Is there good evidence that the outcome of the 2020 election was determined by fraud?  
What evidence can you find about whether the 2020 elections were conducted fairly? (Do some searching for evidence about the reliability of the 2020 results and report on what you found).
Is a person who believes that the 2020 election was determined by fraud being irresponsible?
Is there good evidence for believing that vaccines cause autism?
What would good evidence for vaccines causing autism look like?
For both conspiracy theories (the claim that the 2020 election was stolen and the claim that vaccines cause autism) who has the burden of proof? Does one side have a greater obligation to produce evidence than the other?
Descartes:
How much evidence would Descartes think is required for forming a belief?
What would Descartes say about the belief that the 2020 election was stolen?   
What would he say about people who believe that vaccines cause autism?  
Hume:
David Hume, in the Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding says that it is impossible to be certain of a ‘matter of fact.’  Does this sort of claim make a belief, such as the 2020 election was stolen or the QAnon claim that our country is run by cannibalistic pedophiles reasonable?
In section 12 Hume talks about dogmatists and skeptics.  Would those believing that vaccines cause autism or that the 2020 election was stolen look more like skeptics or dogmatists?
Looking at Hume’s discussion of miracles, what might he say about whether it is rational to believe the stolen election conspiracy or that vaccines cause autism?
Plato:
Is Socrates right that we ought to live examined lives?  (That an unexamined life is not worthy of a human being?)  Would a person living an examined life believe that the 2020 election was stolen?  Explain.