Description
Directions:
Write a 5 page essay in which you make an argument in response to one of the following questions:
• Question 1: The Importance of Participation. Is it important to participate in shaping the political and economic conditions of one’s life? Why or why not? Draw on Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Karl Marx in order to make your argument.
• Question 2: The State and Human Flourishing. Is the state useful given the goal of human wellbeing? Why or why not? Draw on Thomas Hobbes (or Niccolò Machiavelli) and Emma Goldman in order to make your argument.
• Question 3: Debating Racial Equality. Can free thought and free speech secure racial equality in a contemporary representative democracy like that of the United States? Why or why not? Draw on John Stuart Mill and WEB Du Bois in order to make your argument.
Writing instructions:
Regardless of which question you answer, your essay should demonstrate an understanding of the thinkers listed, put them into conversation with one another, and offer your own answer to the question in relation to their thinking. Essentially, offer your own original view on the subject and connect it with the thinker’s view (how do they differ? What do they share? how does it relate to your own view? ) and support your thesis with relevant information. The main goal is to start a conversation between the thinkers and your own original thesis. For example, my thesis could be that state is in fact useful for the human wellbeing to a certain extent. I would then have to draw on Hobbes and Goldman and explain their positions (put them into conversation) on the state and compare/contrast it to my view.
Make sure your essay’s introductory paragraph contains a clear, specific, and original thesis statement, and that the body of the essay thoroughly and logically supports your thesis statement. Along the way, make sure to engage substantively with the relevant thinkers, and feel free to engage other thinkers from the course or beyond if it is useful to do so (Plato, Socrates, Aristotle)
Please use in-text parenthetical citations. If you reference outside material, please provide a works cited page.
The readings and literature required to reference for essay questions
Question 1:
Jean-Jacque Rousseau: On the Social Contract, books I, II, IV (1-2)
Karl Marx: “Alienated Labor” and “Critique of the Gotha Program”
Question 2:
Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan, intro; chapters 13, 14, 17, 18
Emma Goldman: Anarchism: What it Really Stands For
Niccolò Machiavelli: The Discourses, The Prince, and Letter to Francesco Vettori]
Question 3:
John Stuart Mill: On Liberty, chapters 1, 2, 4, 5
WEB Du Bois: The Souls of Black Folk
Sample Solution
