An intersubjective approach to deliberative appraisal Judgment & Reason An intersubjective approach to deliberative appraisal

Be realistic, demand the impossible! Fair and balanced judgment when you’re fatigued and time is short.

1. Relevance The essay should be as relevant to the topic as possible. Beware the essay that has no connection whatsoever to any of the topics! Beware the essay that enters territory not relevant to the topic and ask yourself, “Is this a meaningful connection, does it clarify or deepen understanding?”

2. Philosophical Understanding This should pertain to both the philosophical topic the student has chosen as well as the concepts, theory, and philosophers s/he introduces to grapple with the topic. A clear understanding of a topic translates to a clear, accessible exposition of the topic. Beware the temptation of the “deepity” (Dennett): prose that sounds deep and thoughtful, but on closer inspection is banal or shallow.

Philosophical Understanding “Nature, really, is everything around us, including ourselves. The normal definition of Nature would be ‘everything not made with human hands’, but if we are a product of nature, what we make will be a product of nature, which makes ‘art’ nature. Oscar Wilde, I believe, has a dualistic few on this: he makes a difference between nature and our minds, our fantasy, what we think. You could call it our imagination. This really is something to discuss, for if we are nature, and we think it, this should be nature too.” – Maaike Rijntjes, 2015 The essay shows insight and competence, as well as a clear understanding of thinkers, concepts, theory, etc.

3. Persuasive power of argumentation A succesful essay should have a persuasive power of argumentation. Beware the temptation of judging an argument on its power of having persuaded you rather than having persuasive power. Beware the common fallacy of appeal to authority.

Persuasive power of argumentation We could compare the altering of the content of a though- transfer from human to human in the transfer process called language to the random mutation of gene that advocates to the change of a certain characteristic of an organism. According to Neo-Darwinian though the these random mutations, alternations of information due to (due to random error) mistransferred DNA messages, are actually the motor of evolution. They can lead to the death of individuals, but can also give them a novel quality that increase their reproduction potential and thus provides them with a survival benefit (and makes the novel quality they gained to become more common through their offspring). Thus the random mutation of messages from human to human in the process of language does not necessarily limit our world, it could extend the boundaries of it instead, but chance appears to determine which of these options will happen. – Daniel Sieczkowski, 2014 The essay contains good philosophical analysis, has argumentative force and has the power to convince

5. Originality The most controversial of the five rubrics? How does one judge originality? Where’s the overlap with the other ones? An original viewpoint is not necessarily the next best idea or the greatest thought ever. An original essay is not a summary of a speech or textbook. Originality combines the philosophical with the personal, the courage to try out less popular ideas, a playful dance of words, the dionysian with the apollonian.

Originality The essay shows character, is colorful and BRING BACK THE VALUE OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD In this essay, I argued that we have done wrong by shielding ourselves as much as possible from the outside world. I stated that we must take part in it again, so that we can find fulfilment through toil itself in such a hard world. Labour must be put on level again with art and science. Let us leave our houses, where we are born and die, let us forgo those shields which hide reality from us and lay ourselves bare to nature. Let us have pride in our science and art. But most of all, let us enjoy the fruits of labour once again, through labour itself. – Ethan van Woerkom, 2016 The essay shows character, is colorful and expresses personality

Meaning of the grades 7.5 – 10 points I suggest this essay for the next stage 5.5 – 7 points I myself don’t suggest this essay, but I will agree if somebody else selects this essay 1- 5 points I suggest that this essay should not be accepted for the next stage