Reed College
Reed College

Humanities 110

Introduction to the Humanities

Paper Topics | Spring 2014 | Paper 2

Due Saturday, March 8th 5 p.m., in your conference leader's Eliot Hall mailbox.
Length: 1,500-1,750 words

Choose one of the following questions:

  1. According to Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics, what is virtue of character? How is it acquired? How is it exercised? What is the relation between virtuous actions and virtuous character? Finally, how effective do you find the conception of ethics at issue here and why?

  2. In Politics II Aristotle states: "[The city] comes to be for the sake of living, but it remains in existence for the sake of living well" (252b27). What does he mean? What constitutes "living well"? How does the city support or produce such living? Is the answer the same for all inhabitants of the city?

  3. Writing against the conventions of epic poetry, Theocritus' contemporary Callimachus instructed the poet to feed fat sheep but to keep the muse slender. Does Idylls follow this advice? Prove your argument by analyzing the tension between lofty epic themes and mundane material details in at least three of the text's short lyrics. What is the purpose of this tension - aesthetic, ideological - and what does it indicate about Theocritus' relationship to his poetic predecessors?

  4. Identify a contemporary analogue to the Pergamon Altar. Explain very carefully and very precisely, drawing on specific formal, cultural, religious, and political aspects of the Pergamon Altar (as well as of your analogue), why your analogy makes good sense. The thrust or spirit of your argument should address what your analogy helps us learn about the Pergamon Altar, what it helps us to see or understand better about its appearance, its functions, and/or its effects.

  5. Write your own essay topic. If you choose this option, it is necessary to have your conference leader approve your topic before you start working on it.