AP/POLS 2900 6.0A: PERSPECTIVES ON POLITICS: CLASSICS OF
WESTERN POLITICAL THOUGHT,F/W 2012-2013
FIRST ESSAY
ASSIGNMENT
INSTRUCTIONS:
Write a 5-page paper on ONE of the following topics. Please note that no outside sources may be
used for this assignment – your paper must be based on material presented in
the course (readings, lectures, discussions).
Be sure to reference all sources according to accepted academic
standards, and to include a bibliography at the end of your paper.
Papers must be submitted in hard copy. They must be typed with standard (12 pt) font
size and (1.25”) margins. Please note that no
email submissions will be accepted – an electronic submission will not be
counted as the “date submitted.”
Papers are due IN
TUTORIAL on NOVEMBER 8, 2012. Late papers will be penalized at the rate of
2% per day (including weekends). Unless
you make alternate arrangements with your TA, late submissions can be handed in to the undergraduate drop boxes
at the department of Political Science, where they will be collected and
date-stamped. Please ensure that (in addition to your name and the title of the
paper) the course name and number, your tutorial group number, the course
director and your tutorial leader’s name are clearly identified on the front of
your paper.
A complete draft
of your paper is due IN TUTORIAL on OCTOBER 25, 2012. Drafts will be
exchanged with fellow students for feedback in class. Feedback forms will be
provided in class. Your draft, along
with the signed feedback form, must be handed in with the final version of your
paper on November 8, 2012. Please remember that the draft exchange exercise
is mandatory. An automatic 10% penalty will be levied on your paper grade in
the event of a no-show, non-submission, or incomplete submission of draft.
Please see the attached handout for guidelines on drafting
and preparing feedback on papers. Pay attention to what it means to prepare a
complete draft in “reader-based” form.
Don’t forget to attach the signed results of the academic integrity
tutorial to your paper! (See the course outline for details)
TOPICS:
1.
One criticism that has frequently been directed at
Plato’s theory of justice and the ideal state is that true justice is only
attainable for a select few. The fact
that lies have to be used by the
rulers to maintain compliance and acceptance of the order of the city reveals
that it is really unjust at
heart. How do you think Plato would
respond to this criticism?
2.
Because it is organized “with an eye to the Forms”, and
ruled by philosophers who understand these truths, Plato’s best state is a
harmonious whole in which all citizens fulfill the function for which they are
best suited. Given the stability and
“rightness” of this ideal state, why does Plato seem to assume it will degenerate
(from aristocracy, to timocracy, to oligarchy, and so on)?
3.
In Book V of the Republic,
Plato argues that (some) women are capable of becoming
Philosopher-Guardians, just as (some) men are.
Given his frequent observations that women are in general inferior to
men, why do you think Plato makes this argument? Do think it is consistent with his theory of
virtue?
4.
In the Apology,
Socrates uses the elenchus in the
manner of a “gadfly,” to stir his fellow citizens out of their complacency and
to get them to think seriously about the moral order. However, he is also defending the traditional moral virtues, in both word and
action. Indeed, his reasoning for
upholding the laws of Athens in the Crito
is articulated on the grounds of conventional Greek morality. Is Socrates a
radical or a conservative? Or both?
5.
Plato, like Thrasymachus, appeals to Nature or
“reality” to criticize the social conventions and practices of his time. Yet his conclusions about what is and what ought to be are radically different from those of Thrasymachus and
other radical Sophists. Explain these
similarities and differences. Do you
think Plato succeeds in responding to the challenge to traditional morality
presented by the Sophists?
6.
In the Apology,Plato
(through Socrates) seems to be saying that true virtue has, or should have,
nothing to do with politics. Yet in the Republic,he concludes that people with
true (philosophic) virtue should have absolute power in the polis.
Do you think Plato’s argument
that knowledge and (political) power must be joined contradicts his earlier
arguments about politics?
M. Mawhinney
September 27, 2012
