Philosophy of Language

1. Read "Understanding Demonstratives" by Gareth Evans

2.Write a precis of no more than 4 double spaced pages of the first two sections and the first two paragraphs of section 3 of Evans paper—pp. 199-206.  [You only need to do the first two paragraphs of section III—if you can figure out what Evans is saying in the rest of section III let me know!]

A précis of an article is an abridged, condensed version of the original article. The goal of a précis is to quite literally 're-present' the article in a shortened form. Hence, a précis does not evaluate, provide interpretation, nor add any material to the article.

Keep what is essential. For philosophical articles, such essential features will include, but not necessarily be restricted to:

(i) the goal of the article,
(ii) any theories or principles relevant to the goal
(iii) any arguments essential for arriving at the goal.

Style:

1. Title: Précis of [Author's Name]'s "[Title of Article/Work]"
2. Each précis is to be double spaced, in a standard 12 point font, and have at least one inch margins on all four sides.
3. Your name and pledge should appear at the end of the précis.
4. All direct quotations are to be in quotation marks and followed by page reference in parentheses. Nothing else requires citation, since the entire précis is a rewriting of the original article cited in the title. Avoid relying on quotations--an acceptable précis comprised primarily of quotations is extremely difficult to pull off.
5. Write in the author's voice--you are providing a condensed version of the article, not a report of what the author says--Eg. Write: "Minds are non-physical thinking substances." rather than "Descartes holds minds are non-physical thinking substances." or "The author thinks minds are non-physical thinking substances."
6. Maintain the order and organization of the original article as much as possible. Reorder or reorganize only in those cases in which such reorganization more clearly presents the essential line of argument.

Evaluation:
Some relevant questions that the grader will ask:

Does the précis omit essential parts of the original document?

Does the précis include extraneous parts of the original document?

Does the précis misrepresent the original document?

Does the précis include material not in the original document or attempt to evaluate or interpret the original document?

Does the précis satisfy the stylistic requirements set out above?

Would someone who has never read the original document have a clear and generally accurate understanding of the original document after reading the précis?

Due: Monday, October 5th, at the beginning of class. Email submission is permissible.

Value: 20 points