CIE-100

Common Intellectual Experience 1

Fall 2009 Instructor: Nathan Rein
Section V: TuTh 10-11:15 (Unity House) Office hours MW 10-12 and always by appointment
Section ZC: TuTh 3-4:15 (Olin 205) Olin 211, x. 2571, nrein at ursinus dot edu

Read the following three quotations from this semester's readings:

"Sarsi says he does not wish to be numbered among those who affront the sages by disbelieving and
contradicting them. I say I do not wish to be counted as an ignoramus and an ingrate toward Nature and toward
God, for if they have given me my senses and my reason, why should I defer such great gifts to the errors of
some man? Why should I believe blindly and stupidly what I wish to believe, and subject the freedom of my
intellect to someone else who is just as liable to error as I am?" (Galileo Galilei, "The Assayer," in The
Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo, tr. Stillman Drake [NY: Anchor Books, 1957], p. 272)

"The first rule was never to accept anything as true unless I recognized it to be evidently such: that is, carefully
to avoid precipitation and prejudgment, and to include nothing in my conclusions unless it presented itself so
clearly and distinctly to my mind that there was no occasion to doubt it." (René Descartes, Discourse on Method
[Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1956], p. 12)

"We should beware of clinging to vulgar opinions, and judge things by reason's way, not by popular say."
(Michel de Montaigne, "Of Cannibals," p. 1)

Read, and think about, the quotations above. Galileo, Montaigne, and Descartes, each in his own
way, are suggesting that people ought to see and understand things for themselves, and not take
things on faith. Your task in this paper is to answer the following questions (use about a third of
the paper for each question):

(1) Is it truly possible for a person to do this?

(2) If "no": why not? If "yes": explain how. If you have some in-between answer: explain what
you mean and why.
(3) Ultimately, should people try to adopt this attitude, and why or why not?

Notes on writing this paper:

• You can draw on any of the CIE texts you like, but you must discuss at least four, and you
must use at least one of the following: Plato, the Bible, or the Bhagavad-Gita. You should
make specific references to Descartes, Galileo, and/or Montaigne; you can choose to deal with
one, two, or all three, but be very clear about what you think they mean (in other words, don't
assume that your reader understands the texts the same way you do, but be explicit about
what you think they're saying).
• As always: your first paragraph should introduce your topic and state a thesis. Organize your
writing around a single, clear thesis statement where you explain what you're going to argue
and what you think about it. Most of the time, this turns out to be the single biggest problem
with papers.

In your paper, you should recognize that there are many possible answers to the question.
Consider more than one point of view. It is OK to talk about your own beliefs, but be sure you
explain them using clear, logical arguments and that you show how they relate to the texts and
points you are discussing.

Draft due on Dec. 10. Bring one printed copy with you to class for an in-class peer review exercise.

Just like last time, please save your paper with a filename like this:
[Your last name] - CIE100 [section] - GDM.doc
In other words, if I were in the 10 a.m. section, I would save my paper as
Rein - CIE100V - GDM.doc
and if I were in the 3 pm section, I would save it as
Rein - CIE100ZC - GDM.doc
Second, please email your paper to me before class begins -- but also bring a printed
copy to class. Thank you.