Topic/instructions: Write a short journal essay of 400 – 500 words that treats both (a) and (b) below.

You can organize your writing on (a) and (b) as you like.  But to write a good journal piece, my recommendation is that you treat both (a) and (b) substantially so that you have a balanced journal.  Also, even though this a short journal assignment, paragraphing can be helpful for organizing your thoughts and making transitions, and I recommend that you think about writing your journal in 2-3 paragraphs, rather than just one long paragraph. 

(a) Discuss how you see your sense of selfhood, in terms of how you would define your personal identity.

(b) Descartes discovers that essentially, he is a ‘thinking substance’ (a self-conscious ‘thinker’).  But that way of thinking about ‘self’ seems be different from personal identity.  Hume doubts that we can know that the Cartesian self exists, and he also has doubts over how we could know if there is any permanent self.  Does what you wrote in (a) relate better to the Cartesian way of thinking about self, or the Humean way?  Discuss your position!

Making references: If you make a specific reference to the readings, then just make an in-text, parenthetical page reference, such as: (Melchert & Morrow, 152).

Submitting your journal here on Blackboard: First click on where is says ‘Journal 2’ above.   After this, scroll down to  ‘Assignment Submission’, and click on where it says ‘Write Submission.’  A text box pops up, and then you either type your journal directly in the space, or copy/paste your journal into the space.  

After putting your journal in that text space, you can either click on ‘Save as Draft’, or ‘Submit.’  If you click on ‘Save as Draft’, it means you have saved a draft of your journal in that space on Blackboard – you can come back to Blackboard later and continue to work on it.  Also, do note that I cannot see the journal when you have clicked on ‘Save as Draft.’  If you put your journal in the text space and then click on ‘Submit,’ then the journal is submitted to me, and I can see it.  

I would like you to put your journal directly into the space as described in the preceding paragraphs, and not submit it as an attached document.  Also, do not email your journal to me.