Topics for Analysis and Reaction Papers

Topics for Make-Up Papers


Paper # 15.....Due on Tuesday, December 5

Write an essay in which you reflect on how your views have developed or changed over the semester.  You might want to comment on your philosophical views, your general understanding of Western culture, your appreciation of art, your areas of interest for further study.  Of course, it might be that your views haven't changed, but that you have learned how to defend them, or it might be that different questions now seem significant to you.
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Paper # 14.....Due on Tuesday, November 28

In the preface to your humanities text, the authors write:

When areas that had been part of the Western tradition at one time were absorbed into other cultural traditions, as happened in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and north Africa in the seventh century when the people embraced the Muslim faith, then they are generally no longer included in Western cultural history. Because of the enormous influence of Islamic civilization on Western civilization, however, we do include in this volume both an account of Islamic history and a description and appreciation of Islamic culture. (Matthews and Platt, xviii)

Write an essay in which you discuss whether it makes sense to make this separation between Western civilization and Islamic civilization.  Be sure to take a position and to present arguments for this position.  You may want to discuss religion, philosophy, art and architecture, science, and much more.  You may also want to discuss the implications of your position.  For example, your position might lead you to a critique of the humanities text, or your position might lead you to comment on the contemporary debate about whether there is a "clash of civilizations."
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Paper # 13....Due on Tuesday, November 21

After reading Chapter 9 in your humanities text, write an essay examining the significance of Gothic architecture (particularly the cathedral) from a cultural point of view.  Consider what concepts, ideas, themes, and aesthetic preferences it expresses.  You should certainly consider its relationship to the understanding of Christianity.  You also want to consider a comparison to Romanesque architecture. You may also want to examine why it is called "Gothic."
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Paper # 12....Due on Tuesday, November 14

Develop an interesting thesis in response to the following prompt:

In On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy (htttp://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1190averroes.html) Averroes attempts to clear up through the use of reason five specific problems related to religion and human happiness.  choose one of these problems, explain the problem, explain as clearly as possible Averroes' solution to the problem, and then evaluate Averroes solution.  finally, based on your evaluation, take a position on what you consider to be the appropriate relationship between reason and religion (or faith and reason or religion and philosophy).

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Paper #11.....Due on Tuesday, November 7

There are three possible prompts for this ARP. Make sure you develop a thesis, and make sure you use the texts to adequately substantiate/explore your thesis. 

1. (Narrow focus) In section 35 of The Attainment of Happiness (pp 32-33) al Farabi presents an argument that there must be a natural virtue that comes into being without the action of the deliberative virtues. What do you think of his argument in support of this and why is this claim important? (NOTE: you will need to have read the whole text to adequate analyze and evaluate this argument—of course, that goes for all of the following prompts.)
    

2. (Slightly broader focus) Is al Farabi a “democrat”? What does he think of democracy as a form of political rule suitable for attaining happiness? In developing your thesis consider as well this question: are Weeds more likely to emerge in a democracy –if so, what is to be done about the Weeds?
    

3. (Broader focus) How do humans attain happiness, according to al Farabi? Clearly this is a complex process. What are the important component parts required for the attainment of happiness? How well established are these claims that al Farabi makes? Develop a thesis that enables you to address the conception of “happiness” developed by al Farabi, and to evaluate carefully at least one essential component part of that happiness. (NOTE: You may use either The Attainment of Happiness or the selections from The Perfect State/the Political Regime to make your case).

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Paper # 10......Due on Tuesday, October 31

Write an essay on the Oakton production of The Trojan Women.  Evaluate different aspects of the production including the overall interpretation of the play, the set, the costumes, the casting, the treatment of the chorus, etc.  You might also comment on the general difficulties of presenting Greek tragedy today and how this production dealt with those.  You might discuss whether you believe that the production departed too far from what a Greek production would have looked like.  You might also want to comment on whether the politics of the play give it contemporary significance.

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Paper # 9.......Due on Tuesday, October 24

Read Jesus' Sermon on the Mount from Matthew in RWH.  What are the main values advocated by Jesus in this sermon?  Do you disagree with any of the points made by Jesus?  If you do, explain why.  (You might also want to consider what living by these values would require of someone in our contemporary world.  Could they ever endorse or participate in a war?  Could they accumulate riches?)

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Paper # 8......Due on Tuesday, October 17

 Choose one of the following prompts to respond to. Remember to develop a thesis and to work out your thesis with specific references to the texts we are studying (including art works and architecture). 

1. Use Apuleius’ text, The Golden Ass, as a window to understanding some of the basic cultural forms of life during the Roman period (in terms of religion, philosophy, art, literature, mysticism—you will have to narrow this down). For example, you may want to consider how Apuleius takes up cultural forms from preceding eras or cultures (Greece, Persia, Egyptian) and weaves them into his narrative; or, you may want to consider the ways in which his narrative pre-figures cultural forms to come—for example, Christianity. (Consider contrasting this text with Gilgamesh, the Illiad, or the dramas we have studied; or, relating the philosophical concerns to Plato, Aristotle or the Hellenistic thinkers; or, relating the religious/mystical concerns to Christianity.)

2. Consider carefully the use of desire—eros—in the narrative. Try to develop a thesis that uses Eros as a unifying theme or thread that ties the story together. Consider the following questions: what does Lucius desire? What does he get? What does he really desire? Focus on one or two specific tales to help illustrate your points (e.g. the story of Cupid and Psyche).

3. Develop a thesis that relates the cult of Isis to Christianity as it was developing during this period. What does Isis hold out for her followers—why, for example, does she transform Lucius back into a human? What does Isis not provide for her followers? Consider as well that Apuleius would have been aware of Christianity as a cult/religion during this period. Could he have gotten what he seemed to need there?

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Paper # 7.....Due on Tuesday, October 10

1. Examine Epicurus’ “Letter to Menoeceus”. What are the basic requirements of a good/ethical life according to Epicurus in this letter? How does his conception of happiness here compare with what we have seen in Plato and/or Aristotle? Whose position do you think is more plausible or more suited to a good life and explain your position.

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2. (Slightly more difficult): Using Epicurus’ letter as your central text, discuss the basic transformation in Greek culture that occur in the shift from the Hellenic to Hellenistic period. Consider the changing aesthetic in art, architecture, and the changing political scene. What do you think of these shifts (how would you judge their relative merits and by what standard)?

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Paper # 6....Due on Tuesday, October 3

Read Aristotle’s Politics (readings are indicated by Book (Roman Numerals) and Chapter (Arabic Numerals)): Books I & III; Books IV.1-11; VI.1-5 & 8; VII.1-3 & 8-17; VIII (all).

 Choose one of the following topics: 

1. Are human beings by nature social and political? What does Aristotle mean by such a claim (Book I)? Are the family and the polis natural in the same way? (Here you should present what you take to be Aristotle’s conception and reflect, critically and thoughtfully, on this conception.) 

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Paper # 5.....Due on Tuesday, September 26

Write an essay in which you argue for a thesis that makes a claim concerning the significance of power in Greek (specifically Athenian) culture.  To support your thesis, make use of at least one work of philosophy, one work of literature, and one work of art or architecture.  You may also refer to your knowledge of the history of Greece.  We strongly recommend that you use The Trojan Women as one of the works you consider.  Of course, you may choose to argue that it is incorrect to claim that there is one unified Greek view.  An example of a possible (although rather implausible) thesis would be:
    The Greeks uniformly despised power and those who exercised it.

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Paper # 4.....Due on Tuesday, September 19

Read Plato's Gorgias.  In this dialogue, Socrates and Callicles have been taken as representing diametrically opposed conceptions of what matters in human life. In your essay develop a thesis which does the following:
            * An analysis of the alternatives represented by Socrates and Callicles (based on careful textual reading).
            * An evaluation of some narrow aspect of the arguments presented in defense of these respective positions.

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Paper # 3....due on Tuesday, September 12

Read Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound in Three Greek Plays translated by Edith Hamilton.  Is Prometheus an impious sinner defying God/Zeus, a rebel fighting for justice, or a fool who is wasting his life on hopeless causes?  What is the view of the chorus and its leader?  Provide textual support for your answer.  What is your view of Prometheus?  Why?

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Paper # 2....due on Tuesday, September 5

This writing assignment is based on hand-outs that you received.  It asks you to merely analyze and interpret a particular philosophical argument. There are two options: 

1. Looking at Parmenides, what is the argument that Parmenides receives from the goddess concerning the nature of “being”? What are its “characteristics”? What are the reasons that it has these characteristics and not others? What are the implications of this argument for our knowledge and understanding of the world we experience every day? What is the goddess teaching Parmenides, and through him, us? Is her argument convincing?

2. Looking at Zeno, choose two of his arguments against motion and explain how that argument is supposed to work. Try to uncover the assumptions that Zeno uses in his argument as well as the implications his argument has for human knowledge and experience. The editor of the text from which these passages are taken comments, “these paradoxes are all designed to show that Parmenides is correct: Being is one seamless unchanging whole” (23). How do the paradoxes achieve that end? Is this the only end that they are designed to achieve, do you think? Are his arguments convincing?

As you are writing these analyses/interpretations make sure you begin with this assumption: Parmenides and Zeno are neither completely insane nor morons (nor intoxicated on some weird substance).

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Paper # 1......due on Tuesday, August 29

After reading the selections from Gilgamesh in Reading in the Western Humanities, write a paper of two to three pages.  In this paper discuss what this epic presents as the meaning or purpose of human life. Be sure to make appropriate textual references.  You may also offer your evaluation of the philosophical stance taken in the epic.  (Hint: You may want to consider the question of whether the gods determine the meaning of human life.