Final portfolio: The hard problem, lived

A capstone synthesis arguing your own position on whether describing an experience can ever close the gap with living it

Due: 24 May 2027 · Weight: 30%

The brief

Across the semester you’ve induced, noticed and described twelve different experiences, and sat through twelve lectures pairing each one with a concept from philosophy of mind or cognitive science. The final portfolio asks you to stop collecting evidence and actually argue something with it: can a good enough description ever close the gap with having the experience, or is the gap categorical?

Pick a position — closes it, narrows it but never closes it, or the gap is unreal and the whole premise is confused — and defend it using your own semester as evidence. Then take your strongest objection seriously and answer it, rather than only citing practicums that agree with you.

What you submit

A single portfolio document, 2500–3500 words, that can stand alone without the reader having followed the course week by week. Quote your own practicum log and induction project directly where they support your argument.

The spec

The brief poses the problem and leaves room for a response. The spec is the fixed part: what a marker checks. Some lines can be checked mechanically; the rest call for judgement.

submitted by the deadline, as a single portfolio document of 2500–3500 words
it draws on at least six of the semester's twelve practicums by name as evidence, not just as a list
it states a clear, arguable position on whether description can close the gap with lived experience, and defends it against at least one strong objection

How it is marked

Marked as a whole against how convincingly the portfolio argues its own position, how much of the semester's twelve inductions it actually draws on as evidence, and whether it's honest about where its argument still has gaps rather than papering over them with confident language.