For the assignment (also posted in Course Content for Week 13), I would like you to write a short essay of 1000 to 1200 words (in Times New Roman -12 point font, 1.5 spacing, with a Title at the beginning, and a Works Cited page at the end). Check the attach documents.
Again, you are asked to take a position on one (or two) of the philosophers that we have examined in this third and final part of the course.
What this means is that you can write your paper on one of the following philosophers from Part III of the course:
1. Friedrich Nietzsche (The Madman and The Heaviest Weight)
2. Jean-Paul Sartre (Existentialism is a Humanism)
3. Albert Camus (The Myth of Sisyphus)
Or, you can compare two of these philosophers ethical theories:
1. Sartre and Nietzsche (on human freedom, individualism)
2. Sartre and Camus (existentialism, the absurd.)
3. Camus and Nietzsche (repetition the eternal return, etc.).
As before, the main point of the assignment is that you take a position in your essay on the reading(s).
In close detail, and from the texts that we have examined, clearly and accurately describe the ethical theories of the philosopher (or philosophers) that you have decided to write about.
And also, tell me why you agree or disagree with the ethical theory (or theories) as it relates to the theme of Ethics and the Individual. (You may agree with some aspects of a philosophers ethics, but disagree with others. Or you may entirely agree or disagree with their main ethical theory).
Also in your paper, as before, argue for the applicability (or inapplicability) of the ethical theory (or theories) in the world today, and in our contemporary society. For example, what can these theories help to teach us about ethics and the individual, when confronted with the problems that we face today?
Above all, as you were required to do in your previous papers, take a clear argumentative position, and argue for it convincingly throughout your essay.
Suggested Question and Topic:
As before, you are free to develop your own original topic for the essay, as it relates to the philosophers and the readings we have examined in this third part of the course.
You are also free to bring back certain theories or ideas from earlier parts of the course, if they will help to strengthen your main thesis.
Here is a suggested essay topic that may help to guide you with the assignment.
1. (Ethics and Individual Freedom)
The theme of human freedom is central to the ethical philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Albert Camus.
With two of his parables in The Gay Science (1882), The Madman and The Heaviest Weight, Nietzsche famously addresses the ethical implications of a world without God. He asks us to question where our values in fact come from. And he also forces us to confront the: either completely terrifying, and/or totally liberating sense of freedom that results from this realization.
In his essay outlining his own philosophy of existentialism, Existentialism is a Humanism (1946), Sartre famously makes the following two arguments: that existence precedes essence, and also, that as individuals, we are condemned to be free. For Sartre, in his own words, man is nothingbut the sum of his actions.
And finally, in his essay The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), Camus argues that as humans, our lives are eerily similar to the ancient Greek myth in which as punishment, Sisyphus is sentenced to roll his rock up and down a mountain, for all of eternity. Life is absurd for Camus. And whatever freedom we may have as individuals, we must also confront the consequences of this absurdity.
To return to the above questions then, for each philosopher, what is individual freedom,?, and also, how does our understanding of freedom affect the way that we act, make ethical decisions, and find meaning and value in our lives?
Also, for each philosopher, ‘where do our ethics come from?’, and ‘do we in fact need an ethics of society to act ethically as individuals?’, (What is the relationship between the two: ethics of society vs. ethics of the individual)?
(*Again, you are only required to write on One or Two of the above philosophers. You may mention all three in your essay, but the main focus of your paper should be on only one or two).
(As always, please remember to use examples from the text to support your arguments).
