Western Thought Homework
Homework 60
Please read the concluding chapters of Beyond Good and Evil--Parts 9 and 10.
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Wednesday night.
-Due Thursday, June 13th
Homework 59
Please read Part 8 in Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Monday night.
-Due Tuesday, June 11th
Reflection Essay 8
What is your reaction to Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil? How did it make you feel? Did it change your mind or challenge any of your previously held notions about the world? Did you agree with Nietzsche's main arguments? Make sure you anchor your statements in the text!
Tips
-Please remember to proofread your paper! Reread it, or have a friend read it.
-Use clear, simple and easy to read sentences.
-Don't be afraid to assert your own opinion.
Please write an essay of two to three pages (DOUBLE SPACED). Please save it as a PDF entitled Your Name, Essay 8 and upload it to your Dropbox account by 11:59pm on the night of Sunday, June 9th.
-Due Monday, June 10th
Homework 58
Please read Part 7 in Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Tuesday night.
-Due Wednesday, June 5th
Homework 57
Please read Part 6 in Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Wednesday night.
-Due Thursday, May 30th
Homework 56
Please read Parts 4 & 5 in Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Monday night.
-Due Tuesday, May 28th
Homework 55
Please read Part 3 in Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Wednesday night.
-Due Thursday, May 23rd
Homework 54
Please read Part 2 in Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Monday night.
-Due Tuesday, May 21st
Homework 53
We are beginning our final book--Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. Please read Part 1.
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Thursday night.
-Due Friday, May 17th
Reflection Essay 7
What is your reaction to John Stuart Mill's On Liberty? How did it make you feel? Did it change your mind or challenge any of your previously held notions about the world? Did you agree with Mill's main arguments? Make sure you anchor your statements in the text!
Tips
-Please remember to proofread your paper! Reread it, or have a friend read it.
-Use clear, simple and easy to read sentences.
-Don't be afraid to assert your own opinion.
Please write an essay of two to three pages (DOUBLE SPACED). Please save it as a PDF entitled Your Name, Essay 7 and upload it to your Dropbox account by 11:59pm on the night of Sunday, May 19th.
-Due Monday, May 20th
Homework 52
We are finishing On Liberty. Please read chapter five, which can be found on pp. 100-124. Or, if you prefer, listen to Chapter 5 on Librivox.
Please enter questions here before 11:59 Tuesday night.
-Due Wednesday, May 15th
Homework 51
Please read Chapter Four On Liberty, which can be found on pp. 79-99. Or, if you prefer, listen to Chapter 4 on Librivox.
Please enter questions here before 11:59 Sunday night.
-Due Monday, May 13th
Homework 50
Please read Chapter Three of On Liberty, which can be found on pp. 58-78. Or, if you prefer, listen to Chapter 3 on Librivox.
Please enter questions here before 11:59 Wednesday night. Note that this homework contains an extra field--name one social convention that you'd like to get rid of!
-Due Thursday, May 9th
Homework 49
Please read the second part of Chapter Two of On Liberty, pp. 35-57. Or, if you prefer, listen to it (Chapter 2, Part 2).
Please enter questions here before 11:59 Sunday night.
-Due Monday, May 6th
Homework 48
Please read the first part of Chapter Two of On Liberty, pp. 16-35 (Up to "Let us now pass to the second division..."). Or, if you prefer, listen to it (Chapter 2, Part 1)
Please enter questions here before 11:59 Wednesday night.
Here is the missing question sheet for Marx and Engels.
-Due Thursday, May 2nd
Homework 47
We are starting John Stuart Mill's On Liberty. Please read the first section, "Introductory," which can be found on pp. 1-16. If you prefer, you can listen to it (mp3 courtesy of Librivox.org)--though this is slower than reading, I find.
Related to Mill, here's an argument that is IS acceptable to deny a platform to "hate speech." And here's an attack on that argument.
Please enter questions here before before 11:59 Sunday night.
-Due Monday, April 29th
ALSO:
Reflection Essay 6
Having read The Social Contract and The Communist Manifesto, who do you think made the better arguments about human society, political power and government? How did these arguments make you feel? Did any of them change your mind or challenge any of your previously held notions about the world? Please write an essay of two to three pages by Monday, May 6th. Please save it as a PDF entitled Your Name, Essay 6 and upload it to our shared Dropbox account by 11:59pm, Sunday night.
-Due Monday, May 6th
Homework 46
Please finish the Communist Manifesto (pp. 20-41).
Please enter questions here before before 11:59 Wednesday night.
ALSO: Check out this New York Times "Room for Debate" on the question "Was Marx Right?"
AND: Your brain on love--similar to your brain on drugs.
ADDITIONALLY: Interesting piece by Cass Sunstein on choice.
FINALLY: This piece is about a man who was hit on the head, transforming him into a math prodigy. Hiding here is perhaps a way to perceive "threeness" without picturing three of something or the number three.
-Due Thursday, April 18th
Homework 45
We are beginning Marx and Engels--The Communist Manifesto--please read from page 5 (the intro) up to page 19--"Bourgeois and Proletarians."
Please enter questions here before 11:59 Sunday night.
-Due Monday, April 15th
Homework 44
Please read Book Four--the final book of the Social Contract--pages 149-187.
Please enter questions here before 11:59 Monday night.
-Due Wednesday, April 10th
Homework 43
Please read Book Three of the Social Contract--pages 101-149.
Please enter questions here before 11:59 Thursday night.
-Due Friday, April 5th
Homework 42
Please read Book Two of the Social Contract--pages 69-100.
Please enter questions here before 11:59 Monday night.
-Due Tuesday, April 2nd
Homework 41
Please read Book One of Rousseau's Social Contract--pages 49-68. The introduction (pp. 9-43) is suggested, but not required.
Please enter questions here before 11:59 Wednesday night
-Due Thursday,
AND: Proof that our class will make you happy?
ALSO:
Reflection Essay 5
Having read John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, who do you think made the better argument about commonwealths and the state of nature? How did these arguments make you feel? Did any of them change your mind or challenge any of your previously held notions about the world? Please write an essay of two to three pages by Monday, April 1st. Please save it as a PDF entitled Your Name, Essay 5 and upload it to our shared Dropbox account by 11:59pm, Sunday night.
-Due Monday, April 1st
Homework 40
We are finishing Locke. Please read from page 98 to the end of the book.
Please enter questions here before 11:59 Thursday night.
-Due Friday, March 22nd
Homework 39
We are continuing with Locke. Please read pages 67-98 in your book.
Please enter questions here before 11:59 Monday night
-Due Tuesday, March 18th
Homework 38
We are continuing with Locke. Please read pages 28-66 in your book.
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Wednesday night.
-Due Friday, March 15th.
Homework 37
We are beginning John Locke's Second Treatise. Please read pages 1-27 in your book.
Please enter questions here before before 11:59pm Monday night
-Due Tuesday, March 12th
Homework 36
Here is the fourth (and final) reading from Hobbes's Leviathan.
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Thursday night.
-Due Friday, March 7th
Homework 35
Here is the third reading from Hobbes's Leviathan.
Please enter questions on the third reading here before 11:59pm Sunday night.
Also, click here to pay for your books online. Please note that there will be a $1.41 convenience fee!
-Due Monday, March 4th
Homework 34
Here is the second reading from Leviathan.
Please enter questions on the second reading here before 11:59pm Wednesday night.
ADDITIONALLY: Please bring me a check or money order made out to Stuyvesant High School in the amount of $37 to pay for this term's books. Thanks!
-Due Thursday, February 28th
Homework 33
Here is the first reading from Hobbes's Leviathan.
Please enter questions on the first reading here before 11:59pm Sunday night.
-Due Monday, February 25th
ALSO
Here's a review of a new book that deals with a lot of the issues we have spoken about in class. Worth your time!
AND
Reflection Essay 4
What is your reaction to Machiavelli's Prince? How did it make you feel? Did it change your mind or challenge any of your previously held notions about the world? Make sure you anchor your statements in the text! Please write an essay of two to three pages (DOUBLE SPACED). Please save it as a PDF entitled Your Name, Essay 4 and upload it to your Dropbox account by 11:59pm on the night of Sunday, February 24th.
-Due Sunday, February 24th
Homework 32
Please read The Prince, from Chapter 21 (p. 94) to the end of the book (p. 112).
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Tuesday night.
-Due Wednesday, February 13th
Homework 31
Please read The Prince, from Chapter 17 (p. 71) to the end of Chapter 20 (p. 93).
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Sunday night.
-Due Monday, February 11th
Homework 30
Please read The Prince, from Chapter 11 (p. 49) to the end of Chapter 16 (p. 70).
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Tuesday night. IMPORTANT FOR THOSE WHO MOVED PERIODS: Please list your new class when entering your name.
-Due Wednesday, February 6th
Homework 29
Please read The Prince, from Chapter 7 (p. 28) to the end of Chapter 10 (p. 48).
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Thursday night
-Due Friday, January 31st
Homework 28
We are moving on to Machiavelli. For background, please read the timeline entitled "The World of Niccolo Machiavelli and the Prince," on page ix of our book. Also, please read the introduction (though it is about 30 pages, they go quickly).
Read The Prince, from page 5 (the dedicatory letter) up to page 27 (the end of Chapter 6) Also, please read Machiavelli's description of Cesare Borgia's slaughter at Senigallia, found here (entitled "A description of the methods adopted by the Duke Valentino when murdering Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, the Signor Pagolo, and the Duke di Gravina Orsini").
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Monday night. NOTE: For now, please list the period you attended during the FIRST term. Thanks!
-Due Tuesday, January 29th
Homework 27
Please read the fourth (and final) excerpt from Augustine's City of God.
Questions due here by 11:59pm, Tuesday night.
-Due Wednesday, January 16th
Homework 26
Please read the third excerpt from Augustine's City of God.
Think of three questions and enter them here by 11:59pm, Sunday night.
Also, check out this interesting piece from The New Yorker: What if parents loved strangers' children as much as their own?
-Due Monday, January 14th
Homework 25
Please read the second excerpt from Augustine's City of God.
Think of three questions and enter them here by 11:59, Wednesday night
-Due Thursday, January 10th
Homework 24
We are beginning a short unit on Augustine. Please check out Augustine the African in preparation for class.
Also, please read these excerpts from Augustine's City of God.
Questions due here by 11:59, Monday night.
-Due Tuesday, January 8th
ALSO
Reflection Essay 3
What is your reaction to Aristotle's Politics? How did it make you feel? Did it change your mind or challenge any of your previously held notions about the world? Make sure you anchor your statements in the text!
Tips
-Please remember to proofread your paper! Reread it, or have a friend read it.
-Use clear, simple and easy to read sentences.
-Don't be afraid to assert your own opinion.
-If you want to disagree with Aristotle, that's okay, but you should have a reasonably good idea of what he believes if you want to argue against him.
Please write an essay of two to three pages (DOUBLE SPACED). Please save it as a PDF entitled Your Name, Essay 3 and upload it to your Dropbox account by 11:59pm on the night of Wednesday, January 9th.
-Due Thursday, January 10th
Homework 23
Please read from p. 192 to the end of Book 8 (p. 216)
Please enter questions here by 11:59, Wednesday night
-Due Thursday, January 3rd
Homework 22
Please read pp. 171 to 192 (up to 1332b14). Note that this is not the entirety of Chapter 7!
Please enter questions here by 11:59, Thursday night
-Due Friday, December 21st
Homework 21
Please read Book 6 of Aristotle's Politics.
Please enter questions here by 11:59, Monday night
-Due Tuesday, December 18th
Homework 20
Please read Book 5 of Aristotle's Politics.
Please enter questions here by 11:59, Wednesday night
-Due Thursday, December 13th
Homework 19
Please read Book 4 of Aristotle's Politics.
Please enter questions here by 11:59, Sunday night
-Due Monday, December 10th
Homework 18
Please read Book 3 of Aristotle's Politics.
Please enter questions here by 11:59, Monday night
-Due Tuesday, December 3rd
Homework 17
Please read Book 2 of Aristotle's Politics.
Please enter questions here by 11:59, Wednesday night
-Due Thursday, November 29th
Homework 16
We are beginning to read Aristotle's Politics. Please read Book 1 (this reading should be about 26 pages).
Please enter questions here by 11:59, Sunday night
-Due Monday, November 26th
Homework 15
Please read Book X of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by 11:59, Sunday night. Here's an article entitled "Democracies end when they are too democratic," by Andrew Sullivan--written prior to the election of Donald Trump, it's worth a read.
-Due Monday, November 19th
Also...
Reflection Essay 2
What is your reaction to Plato's Republic? How did it make you feel? Did it change your mind or challenge any of your previously held notions about the world? Make sure you anchor your statements in the text!
Tips
-Please remember to proofread your paper! Reread it, or have a friend read it.
-Use clear, simple and easy to read sentences.
-Don't be afraid to assert your own opinion.
Please write an essay of two to three pages (DOUBLE SPACED). Please save it as a PDF entitled Your Name, Essay 2 and upload it to your Dropbox account by 11:59pm on the night of Sunday, November 25th.
-Due Monday, November 26th
Homework 14
Please read Book IX of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by 11:59, Monday night.
-Due Tuesday, November 13th
Homework 13
Please read Book VIII of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by 11:59, Wednesday night.
-Due Thursday, November 8th
Homework 12
Please read Book VII of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by 11:59, Thursday night.
-Due Friday, November 2nd
Homework 11
Please read Book VI of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by 11:59, Sunday night.
-Due Friday, October 29th
Homework 10
Please read Book V of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by 11:59, Monday night.
ALSO: If you haven't already done so, please turn in a check or money order made out to Stuyvesant High School for $30 to pay for our books.
-Due Tuesday, October 23rd
Homework 9
Please read Book IV of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by 11:59, Wednesday night.
ALSO: If you haven't already done so, please turn in a check or money order made out to Stuyvesant High School for $30 to pay for our books.
-Due Thursday, October 18th
Homework 8
Please read Book III of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by 11:59 pm Sunday night.
ALSO: I need you to pay me for the books that I have distributed. You should have received Plato's Republic, Aristotle's Politics and Machiavelli's Prince; the total cost is $30. Please pay with a check or money order made out to Stuyvesant High School.
-Due Monday, October 15th
Homework 7
Please read Book II of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by 11:59, Thusday night.
-Due Friday, October 5th
Homework 6
Please read Book I of Plato's Republic, which can be found here. Think of three questions and enter them here by 11:59pm, Tuesday night.
-Due Wednesday, October 3rd
Also:
Reflection Essay 1
What is your reaction to the Socratic dialogues (Meno, Apology and Crito)? How did they make you feel? Did they change your mind or challenge any of your previously held notions about the world? Please write an essay of two to three pages (DOUBLE SPACED) for NEXT Tuesday. Though this is expected to be a casual essay, I still want to see you excerpting and reacting to specific arguments or points in the texts.
Please save it as a PDF entitled Your Name, Essay 1 and upload it to your Dropbox account by 12 midnight, Monday night.
-Due Tuesday, October 9th
Homework 5
Please start
reading Plato's Crito.
Please enter your three questions into this
form by 11:59pm, Thursday night.
Also check out this
piece from today's New York Times "The Dying Art of Disagreement."
-Due Friday, September 28th
Homework 4
Please read Plato's Apology. We will discuss on Wednesday and Thursday. Think of three questions and enter them into this form. Please do so before 11:59pm Tuesday night. Here's a much shorter version of the Apology in comic form!
ALSO: For those of you who wonder whether formal logic can be used to prove mathematics, we proudly present "Harry Potter and the Set of All Sets the Do Not Contain Themselves."
-Due Wednesday, September 26th
Homework 3
Please read Plato's Meno. It is 36 pages long, but I think you'll find it's pretty entertaining reading. Please enter your three questions into this form by 11:59pm, Sunday night.
-Due Monday, September 24th
Homework (No number)
Please read the following article (PDF) on the Presocratics. This is taken from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
ALSO, check out these cartoons about the Presocratics.
-Due Thursday, September 20th
Homework 2
Please read the Melian Dialogue from Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War. Think of three questions and enter them into this form. Please do so before 11:59pm Sunday night.
-Due Monday, September 17th
Homework 1
(1) Check out this brief history of Athens. Also, look at this very brief overview of Athenian democracy. And here's a quick video explaining the basics.
-Due Wednesday, September 12th
(2) Please read the Funeral Oration of Pericles. Think of three questions about the Oration and enter them into this form! Please do so before 11:59pm Wednesday night.
-Due Thursday, September 13th
Homework
A couple of years ago, Stanley Fish wrote a piece in the New York Times called Condemnation without Absolutes. Then, ten years later, NYU philosophy professor Paul Boghossian rebutted him in The Maze of Moral Relativism.
Think about who was more convincing and be prepared to discuss in class.
NOTE: Boghossian uses some technical language. The most important word he uses is normative. By this, he means a judgment about the way the world should be. Normative statements are typically contrasted with empirical statements, which are thought to be statements about the world based on factual data. So "there's an art show today" is an empirical statement, whereas "this art is trash" would be a normative statement.
If you really want to descend down the rabbit hole, Fish responds to Boghossian here. And Boghossian responds back here.
-Due Friday, September 7th
Homework
Please go to this form and enter in all information! Please read this comic. And also this comic. Be prepared to discuss!
ALSO:
1) Make sure you have a Dropbox account!
2) Share a folder with me. The format should be as follows: If your name were Friedrich Nietzsche and you were in my 3rd period WPT class, the folder would be entitled: Friedrich Nietzsche, WPT 3. My e-mail address for sharing is mpolazzo@gmail.com
3) Upload a headshot (not a whole body picture) of yourself that (a) is not too large and (b) actually looks like you. Place it in the shared folder. Name it friedrichnietzsche.jpg (substitute your first and last names). Please note that all headshots should be in JPEG form!
-Due Thursday, September 6th
