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How (Not) to Use this Site
This site is intended to be used in support of lectures and further research. For class purposes, please use this site for preparation and follow up reading. However, when it comes time to compose a written assignment, please do not cite the lecture notes found here; instead, follow the links to sources, and cite the sources, especially where the sources present the primary texts of the figures in question. A citation to (InfiniteLoom) will usually be marked as inappropriate for formal written submissions.
Terms:
Reference Sources -- such as Wikipedia, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; these are succinct summaries intended to help the reader formulate a clear overview of the works and lives of importance. Although these kinds of sources may be quoted in a formal research paper, the citations should be rare.
Course Notes and Outlines -- these are increasingly available on the internet, and they can offer helpful orientations to thinkers, lives, and histories. As with Reference Sources (above) these should be quoted sparingly, if at all.
Primary Sources -- the original works or writings of the philosopher or thinker, often in translation. These may be found at Project Gutenberg, MIT Classics, or some specialized collections. These are the sources that should predominate in introductory essays on philosophy.
Secondary Sources -- expert analysis and commentary, usually published in academic, peer-reviewed journals. These are more difficult to access on the internet, and are more appropriate for advanced course work.
MLA Style
Philosophy research papers should have frequent citations to sources, including "direct quotations" of key passages from primary sources. The link below presents some basic guidelines for presenting citations in MLA style.
From Purdue OWL
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Recently Noted
Dennis Patterson. On the Conceptual and the Empirical: A CRITIQUE OF JOHN MIKHAIL’S COGNITIVISM. Brooklyn Law Review. 73.2 (2008) 611-623. Posted at Neuroethics & Law Blog, http://kolber.typepad.com/. Accessed 2008/02/10.
"The normativity of rule-following -- the ground of correctness and incorrectness -- is not to be found in the agreement of others as such. Rather, the agreement of rule-followers over time is the ground of understanding" (Patterson 618).
cf. Confucius: "13.3. . . ."If names are not rectified, then language will not be in accord with truth. If language is not in accord with truth, then then things cannot be accomplished. If things cannot be accomplished, then ceremonies and music will not flourish. If ceremonies and music do not flourish, then punishment will not be just. If punishments are not just, then people will not know how to move hand or foot. Therefore the superior man will give only names that can be described in speech and say only what can be carried out in practice. With regard to his speech, the superior man does not take it lightly. . . ." (Chan 40) (On the Rectification of Names in The Four Books).
Q: For Confucius, what is the ground of the rectification of names: "the agreement of others as such" or "the agreement of rule-followers over time"?
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