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Reading/Discussion Schedule
October 12 - On the Social
Contract, pp. 139 - 195
October 19 - On the Social
Contract, pp. 195 - 227
October 22 -
Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, pp. 25-81
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| Reading/Discussion Prompts
October 12 (yoga day)
- Why is man in chains?
- Where do you see Plato's fingerprints in Rousseau's writing?
- Construct an example of a law and one of a decree.
Similarly, construct a good law and a bad one.
- Where does Rousseau's statement: "It is better to have
liberty fraught with danger than servitude in peace." apply?
October 19
Bring Locke's Second Treatise of Government to class.
- Where do Locke & Rousseau fundamentally disagree?
- Is Rousseau in favor of the U.S. Congress?
- What is Rousseau's view of each of the following:
censorship, abortion, capital punishment, same sex marriage?
- In what way does the internet form a body politic?
- How does Rousseau reconcile separation of church and state?
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October 22
1. How do Rousseau and Locke differ on the notion of property?
2. Create a rank-ordered* list of human
inequalities and bring it to class. Be prepared to defend your list
with Rousseau's own words.
(* i.e. a list with the greatest inequality listed first, the next
greatest second, etc.)
3. What aspect of human civilization is the
greatest corruptor of the natural human condition? |
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| Weekly Writing -
October 19 Write a two page essay on:
Why, and Whom, Should I Obey? |
Weekly
Writing - October 26 Write a one or two pages
explanation/critique of one of the following statements. Use the
quote to address a real problem. Be provocative and creative!
"Man's first language, the most universal, the most
energetic and the only language he needed before it was necessary to
persuade men assembled together, is the cry of nature." (49)
"Such, in fact, is the true cause of all these
differences; the savage lives in himself; the man accustomed to the
ways of society is always outside himself and knows how to live only
in the opinion of others." (80-81) |
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