Paper must include all 3 topics listed below
TOPICS:
1. What is the soul?
2. The infinite openness of the human mind
3. Human nature and social life
– All three topics are mandatory. You cannot choose only one or two.
– This exam is comprehensive; make sure that you cover the whole material that we have read and discussed in class.
– Please give all the data of a quotation (author, title, editor, year, and page)
– The minimum of pages is 7-8. Do not write less than 7 pages. Do not use graphical tricks to make the paper seem long. Line: 1.5. Character: 12 pt.
– Formulate arguments and counterarguments.
– When formulating counterarguments, please make sure that you also answer them. Do not simply throw counterarguments into the text and then pass to another subject.
– Give your own examples, not the ones given in class. Do not give examples from movies discussed in class (I will take off half letter if you do it: this exam is not a copy/paste of class notes! The final paper is supposed to make you work with your own mind.)
– You do not need an elaborated introduction and an elaborated conclusion for each topic.- Please treat each question separately and indicate the question before answering it. Each question – 2 pages. However, all questions must be included in one paper, stapled (do not submit three different papers, one for each question).
– In treating the topics, please combine more readings that are relevant to that topic: do not refer to just one reading. This exam is like a puzzle: you have to put together information from different texts in order to find the proper answer for one question.
– Speak in the first person, but do not abuse the word I: find instead some elegant ways to convey your opinion: adjectives, adverbs. Ex: Plato’s idea is convincing; Aquinas’ theory bears some difficulties; Hobbes’ view of human nature is hard to accept.
– Plato, Apology, 29d-42 (p. 34-44): Wisdom, excellence and death
-Plato, Apology, 29d-42 (p. 34-44) “Unexamined life is not worth living” – movie discussion: Forrest Gump, Hannah and her sisters
– Plato, RepublicCh. 3 – Fundamentals of inner politics (analogy city-soul) 368a-376c
– Plato, Republic Ch. 9 The supremacy of good (human condition) 508 c- 521 a (p. 235-248): analogy with the sun, analogy of the line, myth of the cave
– Plato, Republic Ch. 9, the myth of the cave. Movie discussion: Truman show, Adele H., Matrix
– Aristotle De anima, The nature of the soul p. 155-164
– Aristotle De anima, Sense-perception & Imagination p.189-200
–Aristotle, De anima, Intellect, p. 201-210
–St.AugustineConfessions Book One, Finding God in Oneself, p. 3-8
– Augustine, Confessions, Book One, Original sin, p. 8-9, p. 20-21
– Augustine, Confessions, Book Ten, memory p. 195-to the end
– St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa of the Summa, soul and body, p. 243-251, 252-260
– St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa of the Summa, will p. 289-296
– St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa of the Summa, free-will&predestination p. 297-300
– Movie discussion: Sliding doors on predestination
– St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa of the Summa, evil p. 208-218
– Training: How to write a philosophical paper
– Hobbes, Leviathan
– Maritain, Christianity and Democracy (on Blackboard)–human nature and politics
– Maritain, Person and property
Marx, Economic writings – on alienated labor
