§1. Class
presentations
Starting on Wed. 3/27 we will be scheduling two weeks worth
of student presentations based on readings from John Zerzan’s Against Civilization. There are over 60
selections in this anthology to choose from. Students may choose one or two
writings to present in class. Presentations will be 5-10 minutes in length, and
should use the writing to address, augment, challenge or otherwise shed light
on some issue we’ve discussed in class so far in our look at classical and
modern natural right. Selections for your presentation are available on a first
come first serve basis. On Wed 3/20 I will randomly assign selections to
whomever has yet to choose and email your assigned writing along with the date
of your presentation. Collaborative presentations are allowed.
§2. First writing assignment on
themes from the natural right tradition
This
assignment is due via email (to vood@cummings-good.com) by Wednesday March
13th. Papers should be min. 4 pages double-spaced.
Some themes we’ve studied
Doctrine of Eros
Definitions of Justice
Moral Psychology of Being Just (Ring of Gyges and Thrasymachus’
Challenge)
Functions of Utopian Visioning
Implications of Philosophy for Cave Politics and Vice Versa
Perfectionism
Paternalism
Classical Liberalism
Moral & Psychological Justifications for Market Society
Theory of Private Property
State of Nature and Social Contract
The Commons and their tragedies
Corporate Personhood
§3. Paper
topics – Choose one of the following or make up your own.
1. Does Socrates give a compelling response to Glaucon’s
challenge to him to refute the commonly held belief that justice is the
advantage of the stronger? How does he attempt to refute Glaucon’s challenge
and is it successful?
2. Plato argues that social hierarchy in political society
is natural. What is his argument and how does his doctrine of eros inform his
argument? Is hierarchy natural?
3. Why is it desirable for the
rulers of Plato's Republic to know the Form of the Good? What sort of
knowledge is this? What benefits is it supposed to bring?
4. In what ways does Socrates’
picture of the perfect regime (kalipolis) embody compelling principles of justice
and in what ways is it problematic?
5. Arguments for and against democracy.
According to Plato, is democracy a just form of government? If so, why? If not,
why not?
6. Members of the Neoconservatism
political group who designed and successfully advocated for the invasion of
Iraq were inspired by Plato’s authoritarian picture of the just regime in Republic. Use what you know about
Plato’s arguments to interpret the events and philosophical assumptions leading
up to the war, evaluating their cogency with respect to what is right and good.
Read Shadia Drury’s “Saving America: Leo Strauss and the Neoconservatives” for
guidance and/or watch Rachel Maddow’s new documentary “Hubris”
7. Compare Locke’s labor theory
of value (In Chapter 5 of Second Treatise)
with what Peter Barnes argues about the value of the commons in “Capitalism,
the Commons and Divine Right.” In what ways does acknowledgment of the commons
require changes in our understanding of natural rights?
8. Where do rights come from and
how do we know they are real? Are rights rooted in a secular or religious
concept? Elucidate and evaluate Locke’s account of the origin of individual
rights for human beings.
9. Is the state morally
justified? What is Locke’s theory of legitimate political power, and why or why
isn’t it valid?
10. Compare and contrast the
views of justice and the purpose of political society in Plato’s Republic with
Locke’s Second Treatise. Where do they agree and where do they differ? Are they
self-contradictory or do they point to a higher synthesis?
Choose one or more of the following concepts
to focus your comparison on
a) Happiness and human flourishing
b) Freedom and equality
c) Role of philosophy and wisdom within
governance
d) Views of the nature and value of economic
life
e) Origin and moral limits of private
property
f) Nature and human nature
§4. Rubric for Writing
Project
(a) CONTENT and DEVELOPMENT (80%)
1. It is personal and addresses a real question that is meaningful to you
A good paper draws on personal
experiences and feelings and brings them to bear on theoretical questions
listed in the assignment instructions. Note that a good essay does not need to
give a definitive answer to any of the questions, and often a good philosophy
reflection does just the opposite – it shows how difficult the question is
answer. That is, it brings the question to life.
2. It develops and has a point to make
In terms of development, the
paper poses a question at the beginning and then attempts to offer reflections,
data, references, ideas, whatever, which are relevant to the question, and then
ends with some statement about what has been established during the essay. That
is, you want your essay to have a feeling of development, that it is going
somewhere, as opposed to just listing or mentioning various ideas but in a
disconnected way, so that your reader doesn’t really know what you are saying
or what your point is.
3. It relates your
experiences to themes discussed in class
This is not just about your
ideas, but about a dialogue between your personal experiences and the ideas
we’ve been developing in your class discussions. On the one hand, you are using
your own experiences to help understand the philosophical concepts of Plato and
others. On the other, you are using the concepts discussed in class to help
shed light on your own experiences. This is the way to to think deeply.
4. It is effective as an
exercise in philosophical therapy
The point of writing this paper
is NOT to show me what you’ve learned, it is about learning to teach yourself
something new. From a personal perspective, a good paper helps you to discover
something about yourself and the material that you did not understand or were
unclear about before your engaged the writing challenge. If you feel you
haven’t learned anything from the exercise, something has gone wrong and you
need to go back and dig deeper.
(b) READABILITY, STYLE AND
MECHANICS (20%)
The writing in a first-rate paper
is easy to read, engages the reader with a focused question, brings in relevant
examples and makes a point. This is the hardest part about learning to write –
making your ideas flow into each other. A good paper also follows the rules of
grammar, usage and punctuation, has no spelling mistakes, is composed of
well-constructed complete sentences, and has an appropriate tone to the content
and message.
