Analysis and Response Paper Assignments
 

Remember that your portfolio is due on Tuesday.  It must contain your papers, your exams, and your event write-ups.
 

Make-Up ARP's

General Guidelines on Writing Philosophy Papers
 

Paper #14.......due on December 9

After reading the selections from Boccaccio's Decameron, summarize the Third Story of the First Day, construct and defend a thesis about what insights it may give us about 14th-century thought and culture.  Consider  making comparisons with other texts that we have read.

Or

Using the selections from Heloise's Letters (distributed in class) and from Christine de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies, defend an interesting thesis about the different kinds of protests against the oppression of women represented by these two texts.

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After reading Paper # 13........Due on December 2

Using Abelard’s understanding of the nature of “sin” explain how and why he thinks it was wrong (or it is was wrong) to crucify Christ?

OR

Write an essay that relates the arguments about the proper relation between philosophy and religion as this is developed in Aquinas and Ibn Rushd.  (This may also be used as a make-up paper for # 11.)

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Paper # 12........Due on Tuesday, November 25

Attend the Oakton production of Cupid and Psyche this weekend.  Review this production and defend a thesis  which discusses its relationship to Apuleius' presentation of this story.  (You may use this paper for philosophy credit if you also can bring one of the philosophers that we have studied into your discussion.)

or

Write a paper in which you discuss the intermingling of classical and Christian elements in the reading selection from Dante's Inferno.  Be sure to defend an interesting thesis.  Do not refer to parts of the text not included in your Reader.

If you are missing a paper, you may do both of these assignments.

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Assignment for Tuesday, November 18........If you are missing one of more ARP's, hand in at least one make-up ARP on Tuesday.  If you do not do this, schedule a conference with us on Tuesday.

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Paper # 11....due on Thursday, November 13

Develop an interesting thesis in response to the following prompt:

In On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy (http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ir/art/ir100.htm) 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 # 10......due on Tuesday, November 4

Write a paper that briefly summarizes and critically analyzes an important part of the assigned texts by Augustine or Boethius.  Here are two examples of questions that you might choose to write in response to The Consolation of Philosophy:
      a. In Book IV how does Boethius prove that only the good people have true power and only the bad people are punished?  Summarize and evaluate this argument.
      b. In Book V how does Boethius argue that God's foreknowledge or prescience is compatible with human free will?  Summarize and evaluate this argument.

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Paper # 8........Due on Tuesday, October 21 

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 October 14

In Book 7 of Aristotle's Politics, Aristotle attempts to identify the best city or regime through an identification of the best life or the “most choiceworthy way of life." Develop a thesis that addresses the relationship between the “best life” of the individual and the best regime. Concentrate on Aristotle’s understanding of the related concepts of virtue, freedom, ruler/ruled, and mastery.

In the end, be sure to articulate your considered response to these two questions:

a) Is the proper goal or purpose of politics to aid citizens in becoming good people?

b) Is democracy (or some version of it—i.e. what Aristotle refers to as “so-called polity”) the best form of political organization?
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Paper # 6...due on October 7 

We would like you, here, to reflect on some aspect of either Book I or Book III of Aristotle's Politics.  Of course, you need to read both books, but you may pick any of the five prompts listed below.

 Book One: 

1. In the first book, Aristotle is clearly interested in understanding the city as a natural and artificial entity—that is, as something we (as humans) naturally create. So, develop a thesis that responds to or develops or reflects upon the status of “nature” in Book I. Consider: Are human beings by nature social and political? What does Aristotle mean by such a claim? 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.)
2. Another major topic in Book I (related to his discussion of the household) is the concept and justification (?) of the institution of slavery. In particular his development and articulation of the related concepts of “natural ruler/ruled” and “human being/animal.” So, develop a thesis that explores, responds to, or reflects upon Aristotle’s discussion of slavery in Book I.

Book Two:

1. In the second book, Aristotle is most concerned—many argue—with defining the nature of citizenship and its relation to the “ideal” or “best” political state. So, how does Aristotle define a citizen in the text? What do the citizens share or have in common such that they form a political community? (Again, what do you take to be Aristotle’s view here, and what are your reflections on this view?)
2. In a related vein, Aristotle develops a series of reflections and arguments concerning whether a good citizen is identical to a good person. What is his argument here? What is the importance of this argument—that is, why is Aristotle concerned with this?
3. Finally, another possibility is to look at Aristotle’s discussion in Book III and try to articulate, reflect on, and critique the conception of justice that emerges in the text. There are places where Aristotle discusses it directly. Consider the concept of justice in light of the purpose of the polis.

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Paper # 5....due on September 30

Explain the theme of Euripides' The Trojan Women, and give your view about whether this is an effective work of social criticism.  One question that you might consider is whether the theme is  strengthened or weakened by setting the play in Troy rather than the Athens of Euripides' day?  Another question that you could think about is the role of theater in ancient Athens.  (In order to understand the social context of this play, please consider what you know about Athens' role in the Peloponnesian War as presented by Thucydides and as discussed in class.)
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Paper # 4....due on September 23

All students will write on Plato's Gorgias.  However, there are three different options that cover different parts of this dialogue.  In class you received a sheet that assigned the part of the dialogue on which you will write.  Here are links to the three options:

Paper Option A....................Paper Option B.....................Paper Option C
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Paper # 3....due on Tuesday, September 16

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?_____________________________________________________________________________
 

Paper # 2....due on Tuesday, September 9

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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1st ARP....due on September 2

After completing the selections from the Epic of Gilgamesh, please also read the story of the flood in Genesis found on pages 150 and 151 of RWH.  Write a paper discussing the attitude towards the gods and the meaning of life found in the Epic of Gilgamesh.  Contrast this with the re-telling of this story in Genesis.