PAPER # 3

Prof. Brenda Hamlet| Expos 355:101

Readings: Oliver Sacks, The Minds Eye (New Humanities Reader)
Jonathon Lethem,The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagerism. (New
Humanities Reader)
Cathy Davidson, Project Classroom Makeover (New Humanities
For your midterm examination, you began answering the following question:
To what extent and in which ways might brain science strengthen or
undermine our assumptions about the uniqueness of the individual and the
importance of creativity?
For paper 3, you will continue to develop your response in greater depth, by
consideration of the question asked by Oliver Sacks at the start of his essay,
To what extent are we the authors, the creators, of our own
experiences? How much are these determined by the brains or
Reader)Below are questions that may be useful for structuring
your argument.
What does Sacks mean when uses the phrase creators of our own
experience (329) How would Davidson or Lethem answer that
question?
How do Sacks descriptions of individuals adapting to the loss of sight
connect to the concept of authorship or creating our own experience?
Sacks ends his essay with another question and an answer: if there is
indeed a fundamental difference between experience and description,
between direct and mediated knowledge of the world, how is it that
language can be so powerful? Language, that most human invention,
can enable what, in principle, should not be possible. It can allow all of
us, even the congenitally blind, to see with another persons eyes
(345)
Does Sacks intend to have a debate over nature vs nuture in this
essay? To what extent might language be a product of nuture vs
nature? Can we include creative language such as music, art and
dance in the debate?
How might Davidson and Lethem respond to the last sentence above?

Workshop Material: Prepare a thesis statement , three supporting

reasons and at least three citations - from each writer to work with in
class on Tuesday, October 18
Rough Draft Due: As a hard copy in class on Friday, October 21.
Final Draft Due: As a hard copy in class on Tuesday, October 25.
Please upload (as an attachment) to Paper 3 on our Sakai site
(sakai.rutgers.edu) before class on Tuesday, October 25.

Late rough drafts will result in a half-letter grade deduction from the final
draft of Paper3. Late final drafts will result in a full-letter grade deduction
from the final draft of Paper 3.
Required formatting: Must be 5 whole pages stapled, double-spaced, 1inch margins, 12-pt. font (Times New Roman), MLA format (Your headers,
page numbers, and quotations should be formatted properly. See Key
Guides for Writers.)