Description
For this first paper, you’re asked to write a 3-4 page essay on any one of the authors we’ve read to date. You might consider one essay or compare two or discuss three or more as a set following a specific theme/idea. Consider the following possible paper topics:
1. Define Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” What is the central message? Is he describing education alone? Where does “politics” come in? This essay topic has several possibilities. You might break the Allegory down into parts, or break it into its themes [illusion, education, politics]. You might describe the “process” by which a person is educated–and what this process, in Plato’s vision, should lead to.
2. Compare the teachings of Plato with Francis Bacon [his “Four Idols” is now in the Plato module]. Read the first page of Bacon and you’ll get a basic understanding of what he meant. How are the ideas of Plato and Bacon similar? Different?
3. Analyze Douglass’s “Narrative,” describing how exactly he learned how to read and how he learned how to write. He learned how to read in three basic ways and he learned how to write in three basic ways. The essay is about stealing an “education.” How did he do it?
4. Write a division and analysis paper on Frederick Douglass’s “Narrative.” How is his essay designed? What is Douglass trying to teach us?
5. Compare Frederick Douglass “Narrative” with Plato’s “Allegory.” A person’s education is the product of several things. What does Plato suggest is the correct process? Does Douglass’s experience mirror what Plato writes about?
6. Discuss the concept of “rewards and punishments” in relation to either Plato or Douglass [you might add Bacon’s Four Idols and write a three part analysis]. We are rewarded by certain behaviors and punished by others. Discuss.
7. Do Douglass and Seneca share the same view of liberal education [the gaining of wisdom through knowledge]? Do they see education as important in the same way? Is it “wisdom” Douglass believes is necessary? Or are his views more practical? Are reading and writing, in fact, enough?
8. What does Seneca see as the distinguishing feature between liberal and vocational studies?
9. Seneca starts out by arguing that the “liberal studies” are themselves not necessary, though the “pursuit of wisdom” and its “high ideals” is the only meaningful discipline worthy of the name “liberal studies.” This is a thesis. Does he defend it well?
10. What are the divisions of the essay? How does Seneca design the essay? By what method? And does it work? Does he move methodically toward something? Does he stay with his idea?
11. Notice in paragraphs 3-6 Seneca lists a number of pursuits that do not result in wisdom but rather open the door to wisdom. What are these subsets? Does he make his point successfully? Is he focused on the original idea still?
12. In Seneca, Paragraph 7 studies the individual qualities of “character.” Why does he do this?
13. In Seneca, Paragraph 9 studies “wisdom” and its importance. What are the subsets of this paragraph? In other words, how does he develop the ideas?
14. In Seneca, Paragraphs 10-12 reflect upon useless knowledge, superfluous knowledge, and the intemperate and superfluous nature of some philosophers. These last few paragraphs strengthen the point of the essay—that liberal studies, though important, will not alone lead to wisdom. In fact, they can be ___________________, You decide the value of a liberal education.
15. Martha Nussbaum, in her remarkable essay on education in the US and India, comments that the US educational system is still relatively strong. Explain why she feels this is so. Does America aspire to education for “economic growth” or for “human development”?
16. In the head note to Nussbaum’s essay [on page 47] the editor Michael Austin writes, ‘Nussbaum argues that higher education should look to the Greek and Roman models of learning for inspiration [notably the arguments of Plato and Seneca]. Plato and Seneca, he adds, essentially argue that ‘education should encourage critical self-examination and prepare students to be citizens of the world.’ Explain this approach and why you feel it would work or not work.
17. Nussbaum asks, “What does it mean , then, for a nation to advance?” What is her answer for this?
18. Nussbaum compares the models for economic growth to models for human development. In both America and India, she says on page 50, policies have not been sufficiently rethought with ideas of human development in view. Explain what she means by this and what a nation might do to move toward an educational system that favors human development over economics.
19. Nussbaum discusses on the bottom of page 52 and the top of page 53 what essentially a paradigm geared only toward economic growth would look like. What would it look like, essentially?
20. Nussbaum outlines a series of bullet points on what a nation will need from its citizens to build a humane, people-sensitive democracy. Select a few of these and discuss them.
21. Discuss the concept of “rewards and punishments” in relation to Luke, Chapter 16. The two parables [The Unjust Steward and Lazarus and the Rich Man] deal with this subject. We are rewarded by certain behaviors and punished by others. Discuss.
22. In Luke, Chapter 16 Christ makes two different arguments in two parables [The Unjust Steward and Lazarus and the Rich Man]. What are these arguments, exactly? Do they really differ? Or does each parable sort of argue the same thing? What do they share?
23. In the Parable of the Unjust Steward, an accountant [the steward] is trusted with the accounts [the money] of a wealthy man. He betrays this man. When he is called to account for his actions, he calls the man’s business rivals and offers them deals. Why does he do such a thing and what is the message behind the parable? It’s many things. You might create a short list of what is being taught here [we will also go through in class] and make a paper by discussing each, one at a time.
24. In Lazarus and the Rich Man a wealthy merchant [the rich man] sees a beggar [Lazarus] by his front door every day. He ignores him. When they dies, the rich man goes to what the story suggests is Hell and Lazarus goes to Heaven. What is the symbolism behind this? What did the wealthy man miss every day? Was the opportunity to be kind and merciful offered to him every day and did he miss this every day? Is this what the parable teaches? Or is there more? Like #23 above, is the answer comprised of a list of things being taught? Again, what are they?
25. Write a division/analysis paper on three or more of these authors. What does each author argue [in relation to one idea].
26. See the sets of QUESTIONS/CONNECTIONS at the END OF EACH CHAPTER and select one to write a paper on. Please indicate if you’ve chosen this as your paper idea.
