100 words minimum for each question

 

Chapter 1: Plato’s Allegory of the Cave 

 

1. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?(100 words min.)

 

 

2. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?(100 words min.)

 

3. What sometimes happens to people when the illusion is shattered and reality is revealed? Can you give an example from your own or a friend’s experience?(100 words min.)

Chapter 6: Thomas Hobbes

 

4. Do you think that being self-interested is a bad thing? If so, why? If not, why not?(100 words min.)

 

5. Compare Christ’s Golden Rule with Hobbes’ Golden Rule. Which do you think is more effective in getting people to obey the laws, and why?(100 words min.)

 

6. Do you agree with Hobbes that our natural condition is one of lawlessness and violence? How do you think you would behave if you knew you could get away with whatever you wanted to? Do we only obey the laws out of fear of punishment?(100 words min.)

Chapter 7: Nietzsche

 

7. If Nietzsche were alive today, would he describe the contemporary United States as being governed by master morality or slave morality? Explain, and be specific.(100 words min.)

8. Do you agree with Nietzsche’s claim that “every elevation of the type ‘man’ has hitherto been the work of an aristocratic society and so it will always be”? Why or why not?(100 words min.)

 

Chapter 8: Ortega y Gasset

 

9. Do you agree with Ortega’s claim that we are (as of 1929, when he wrote The Revolt of the Masses) living in what he calls ahyperdemocracy? Explain.(100 words min.)