This assignment consists of a short essay question.
The main intent of this question is to ensure that you have a sound grasp of the fundamentals of the material presented in this unit. Im not so concerned with whether you agree with a particular author or not. The quality of your answer is based on your exposition of the competing positions, your comparative analysis of those positions and, lastly, your argument in support of the position you defend.
As with all the assignments in this course, the short essay question is not designed to be a research question. There is no requirement to get material from external sources such as other authors, or reference websites, who have summarized, or criticized, the authors you are dealing with. In effect, including such material defeats your purpose in completing your essay because you are essentially telling me what some other person thought about the material you should be explaining and assessing. If you make reference to sources external to the course readings it will be detrimental to your mark. In some cases, I may ask you to re-work and submit your assignment. The point of your essay is to formulate the course material and develop your critical response. You can do this by working with the course material and developing your own ideas about the issue. The essay is simply your opportunity to set that out in paper.
Short Essay Question:

The philosophical problem of Free Will and Determinism involves the following three positions: Hard Determinism, Soft Determinism, and Libertarianism.

Explain these three competing accounts by making reference to the authors included in our course readings.

Which account offers the most plausible response to the problem? Provide an argument in support of your conclusion.