Your thesis should clearly answer the following question: Is it better to live a just life than anunjust life, even if one can accumulate vast material benefits through the latter? Thesimplest way to formulate and defend your position is to procin the following way:a) Begin by specifying an ideal of human fulfillment. That is, explain what you believehuman beings nto be truly happy.b) Explain whether or not the existence of a higher power is necessitated or at leastcompatible with your position.c) Explain your position?s implications for human nature, indicating,i) Whether it necessitates the postulate of a transcendent or spiritual dimension ofhumanity.ii) Whether it necessitates the presupposition of freewill.d) Give an account of justice. (i.e., Is it internal or external? Absolute or Relative?)e) Explain the connection between your account of justice and your preferred lifestyle.f) Explain why the achievement of your ideal of human fulfillment necessitates living yourpreferred lifestyle.g) Explain why a different or opposing lifestyle falls short of tideal.2) You should refer to the thought of each of the following thinkers in defense of your position:Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Nietzsche, citing specific passages from the course readings.You may include others if you so choose, just be sure to cite your sources. (While you arerequired to include references to thauthors in your essays, you are neither required toagree with any of them, nor are you required to agree with anything I say. I simplywant you to understand and seriously consider various historical and contemporarycontributions to moral thought.)3) You should refer to at least three video clips from class in defense of your position. If noneof the clips from the course interest you, you may choose your own, but, of course, cite yoursourcesIt will benefit all of you to preface the essay with a consideration of the story of the Ringof Gyges. Tstory occurs in the beginning of Book II of The Republic. In short, ashepherd discovers a ring that can make him invisible. He uses tring to seduce thequeen, kill the king, and usurp the throne. The challenge posed by tstory suggests thatanyone who has possession of the ring of Gyges would use it unjustly to acquire somebenefit for themselves. While the challenge seems prima facie insurmountable, itultimately fails for at least two reasons. First, part of the fable suggests that theindividual who uses the ring is praised because he is thought to be just, indicating thatpeople must value justice for its inherent qualities. Otherwise, why would they admiretperson? The facts that people always desire what is best and value truth over falsityseem to testify to tfirst point. Secondly, not only is the nto exploit the powers ofthe ring for one?s own benefit a mark of weakness, but having to conceal one?s genuineintentions from others can be incredibly burdensome. Thus, not only do people valuejustice for its own sake, but the failure to live a just life is terribly harmful. From thispoint forward, you can outline your own aims and how you intend to use the content ofthe course.2. I?m hoping that all of you will defend the thesis that it is better to live a just life than it isto live an unjust life. That is, the aim of your essay should be to provide a defense ofmorality in general. I will not stop you from defending the opposite view or the view thatone nnot be moral, but the advice outlined in tdocument will be useful only forthe intended assignment.3. Remember that you must make reference to at least the following four authorsPlato,Aristotle, Kant, and Nietzsche. Since Nietzsche is the only author among thfour whodenies that there are transcendent and eternal moral absolutes, you will probably do bestto use one or more of arguments against traditional moral objectivism to frame thedefense of your thesis. For those of you who are religious, and intend to defend aversion of theism, you should refer to Nietzsche?s phenomenon of the death of God. Youcould suggest that fable of the madman coupled with musings about God beingman?s mistake merely presuppose that the existence of God is irrelevant to humanconcerns. And they certainly are no proof that God doesn?t exist. Moreover, Nietzsche?sgenealogical critique of what he refers to as the herd morality not only fails toI?M ROOTINGFOR YOU!demonstrate that the precepts it espouses are erroneous, but it is problematic tocharacterize Christian morality as merely a morality of security and comfort, since God isoften depicted as burdening followers with insecurity and risk, which is especiallyevident in many of the teachings of Christ, as illustrated both in Matthew 4:111, whenhe is tempted by Satan in the desert. As for Nietzsche?s claim that traditional moralsystems, such as those offered by the other three authors, abstract the individual fromnature, you could argue that perhaps Nietzsche has the wrong conception of humannature. All three of the authors provide a teleological conception of the human, mostevident in Plato and Aristotle, which Nietzsche seems to deny.4. In your use of the other three authors, it would probably be best if you focus on one, andmake references to the others when necessary. If you use the myth of the ring of Gyges,that alone satisfies the requirement that you refer to Plato. It would probably be best tofocus either on Aristotle or Kant for the remainder of the essay, making references toPlato when suitable. But, of course, you may focus the essay on Plato if you wish.a. If you choose to focus on Plato, you should emphasize conception of the soulas consisting in appetite, spirit, and reason, and the fact that each of thpartsmust achieve its corresponding cardinal virtuemoderation, courage, andwisdomin order for justice to emerge. You could begin by providing a versionof Plato?s function argument at the end of Republic Book I, and then providingan account of how justice emerges in the soul. From that point, you could notethe ways in which Plato?s thought overlaps with Aristotle?s, drawing comparisonswith the latter?s version of the function argument in addition to treatment ofthe various candidates for the greatest good and why only the fourth,contemplation, qualifies. With respect to Kant, you could mention both the ideaof the noumenal realm as corresponding to the realm of Plato?s forms inaddition to the notion of humanity as an end-in-itself calling for the same internalunity and integrity demanded by Plato?s concept of justice.b. If you choose to focus on Aristotle, you could begin by detailing conception ofthe human soul and its connection with the function argument. From there youcould list catalogue of the goods, and explain why the first three fail and whyonly the life of contemplation can produce total fulfillment. At tpoint, youmight refer to Kant?s conception of rationality as the defining faculty ofhumanity, as he and Aristotle are both rationalists. You might also invoke Kant?smoral arguments for freewill, immortality, and God in connection with Aristotle?scomparison with the Gods in articulation of the virtue of contemplation.c. If you choose to focus on Kant, you could begin by discussing what he means bygoodwill and moral worth. You should then explain at least the formulas of theuniversal law and the end-in-itself, from which at least two kinds of duties can bederived, distinguishing between perfect and imperfect duties when doing so. Youshould explain Kant?s phenomena/noumena distinction and its relation to both hisconception of humanity and moral system. You could mention Aristotle in acritical section, in which you discuss Kant?s distinction between categorical andhypothetical imperatives, noting that while Kant maintains that we have a duty topursue happiness, happiness cannot define morality. You might also link Kantand Aristotle in terms of Kant?s moral argument for God?s existence, which mustbe presupposed for the possibility of fulfillment.5. Don?t forget that you will nto make reference to at least three video clips in youressay. I think that all of our Twilight Zone episodes will apply to your essays. Theywere The Masks, The Obsolete Man, and What You Need. While we have yet towatch Fargo, I think that the themes and the message it conveys applies universally aswell. If you?re having trouble deciding what to use, feel free to consult with me. Youmay choose video clips that we did not watch in class, but you will have to explain themfully if you do. It may even be fruitful to save your discussion of the videos for the endof the essay, using them to tie everything together.
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