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Humanities 110 Paper Topic #4

Due Date: Saturday, December 4, 1999, 5 p.m. in the Faculty mailboxes in Eliot.

Length: 1500 words.

Write on one of the following questions:

1. Is Plato's philosophical view of mimesis as presented in the Republic consistent with his mimetic practice in the case of the Myth of Er?
   
2. Compare the roles of Tiresias in the Bacchae and the Antigone.
   
3. Argue for or against the validity of the analogies on which the line is based (Republic VI: 509d and ff).
   
4. To what extent does Socrates live up to the standards of good citizenship he describes in the Apology? How does your answer help to understand the outcome of his trial?
   
5. In the Nichomachaen Ethics, pages 12-14, Aristotle offers an argument about happiness that concludes that "…human good turns out to be activity of soul exhibiting excellence, and if there are more than one excellence, in accordance with the best and most complete." Assess the soundness of this argument.
   
6. Socrates holds that in different individuals different parts of the psyche will be naturally stronger&endash;that different psyches have different parts as their "ruler". Present and evaluate what you take to be the most important consequence of this doctrine in the construction of the Kallipolis.
   
7. Analyze the choral odes in the Bacchae. What is the understanding of the chorus of Asian women of the worship of Dionysius and how is this understanding validated or questioned by the end of the play?
   
8. At the beginning of Book 2 of the Republic, Glaucon tells Socrates the story of the ring of Gyges (Republic 357c-360d). How much of a threat is the story to Socrates' view that justice is always more profitable than injustice? By the end of the Republic, how does Socrates answer the problem posed by the ring of Gyges? Is his answer a good one?
   
9. How do you understand the relation between Platonic dialectic and Aristotelian deliberation?
   
10. In consultation with your conference leader, write on a topic of your own devising.