Due: Friday, March 2 by 5pm via the upload portal “Midterm” under the Assignments tab in Canvas. Upload both essays in ONE Microsoft Word documents (not as a pdf, Google Docs, or Mac PAGES, or another format). Do not forget to put your name on it!
Instructions
Write well-developed essays on two of the essay topics listed below. You must argue a thesis and cite specific evidence from relevant primary sources when arguing your case. Failure to cite primary sources (either with clear summaries or exact quotations) and interpret them will result in a grade of C or below.
Cite the essay topic number. Give your essay a jazzy title if you like. There is no need to restate the question in full.
The grading rubric, citation style recommendations, guidance about length, and instruction on writing theses can be found below the list of Essay Topics.
Please note: Comparative questions about social and gender history – topics central to this course – do not appear among the Midterm Questions. These topics will on the paper and final exam assignments.
Essay Topics
- Higher powers. To the best of your ability, compare the “higher powers” (for example, God, the gods, Heaven, Brahman, Dao “The Way,” Nirvana, or (implicitly) human reason) in the primary sources of three of the following peoples: The Mesopotamians, Chinese, Indians, Greeks & Romans, and Hebrews & early Christians. For Indian and Chinese civilizations, you may select among the variety of religious or philosophical traditions in them. You may want to consider some of the following questions: In what ways are these higher powers alike or dissimilar? How, if at all, do these entities interact with humans? How are humans supposed to interact with them? In the final analysis, despite their differences, do these philosophical and faith traditions have similar moral codes of conduct?
- The Pursuit of Happiness. The ancient world was violent and often unstable. Who or what did ancient peoples expect to ensure peace, prosperity, and happiness? Their political leaders and governmental systems? The god(s)? Individual effort? Or some combination of the three? Using primary source evidence, discuss the thought of three of the following: The Mesopotamians, the Greeks and Romans [consider the two as effectively one similar civilization], the Chinese, or the Hebrews & early Christians. For Chinese civilization, you may select among the variety of faith or philosophical traditions in them.
- Leadership. Compare and contrast the principles of good leadership/government that emerge from the primary sources we have read about in three of the following civilizations: the Chinese, Indians, and the Greeks & Romans [take the Greeks and Romans together or just one of them as you like]. What strikes you as most significant, the similarities or the differences in their presentation of good government and leadership? Note: We’ve ‘been there, done that’ with respect to Gilgamesh and Hammurabi, so Mesopotamia is left off the list of options.
- Humankind’s place in the natural world. Because we in eastern NC face hurricanes, environmental challenges like sea-rise, and, recently, the pandemic Coronavirus, here is a more speculative question: Compare and contrast two or more civilizations views of the natural world (including disasters!) and humankind’s place in it. Here are some questions to spur your thinking. They need not all be addressed.
– Where do they place humans within the order of all that exists: from the natural world, that is seemingly ‘lifeless/inanimate’ matter like earth and water, which nevertheless sometimes moves (earthquakes [= the Bull of Heaven in the Epic of Gilgamesh] and floods), through living things like plants and animals, to the entities transcending the natural world like spirits, the gods, God, Brahman, the Dao, etc.?
– Why do they think we die and what do they think that means about their place in the universe?
– How do they regard the natural world: as capricious, hostile/dangerous, a blessing, a playground, a responsibility, or other? In other words, are humans masters, stewards, citizens, or servants of nature and by what right?
In sum, are humans merely part of the natural order or do they have a special place in it?
- East and West comparison. Chinese and Indian civilizations grew up independently in relative geographic isolation. Hebrew ethical monotheism and Greco-Roman “rational humanism,” while quite different, evolved independently but in the close geographical proximity in the wake of Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations and then coalesced in the Roman world. Which of the Chinese philosophies or Indian religions seems most like or unlike (your choice) any of the latter ‘western’ ones?
Grading Rubric
Your essays will be graded on the skill with which you argue a thesis using specific evidence drawn from the textbook, lectures, and especially the primary sources. Please do not use sources other than those covered in the course. You are required to use specific evidence from the primary sources in support of your answers. If you do not do so, your essay is incomplete – a thesis or argument without evidence is merely unsupported opinion – and it cannot receive a quality grade of C or above. Citing the editors’ introductions to the primary sources, while potentially useful for providing contextual information or interpretation of the text, does not count as primary source use and analysis.
Citation Style: Make sure that you refer to primary sources clearly by mentioning the author, title, and page number (if the pages are numbered), for example, (Plato, “On Shadows”). There is no need for full citations of sources assigned in the course. If you cite outside sources, then please include in whatever style you are used to: the author, title, publication place and publisher [include the URL if an online source], and date.
Length and shape of essays: Students frequently ask: “How long do the essays have to be?” Here’s an answer: There is no set length, but generally, A and B midterm exams in the past have totaled for the two essays upward of 1,800 words (not counting large block quotations). But the quality of the argument and specific use of primary sources as evidence matter most.
Proper form and completeness are also important. If a question asks you to compare three things, at the very least, the standard five paragraph essay would be needed for a complete answer, including:
– an introduction in which you state your thesis. [See below for guidance on writing a thesis]
– three paragraphs, one for each item being compared/contrasted, in which you relate evidence and examples from primary sources that we have read to illustrate your arguments
– and a conclusion, which summarizes your thesis, major assertions, and evidence. It can also ‘open up’ to some larger consideration or observation.
Your essay could, of course, have more paragraphs.
Theses: Don’t be vague; make a clear claim
Please Note: Simply stating in the introduction that you will compare or contrast three things is not a thesis. Tell your reader how they compare/contrast and according to which criteria. For example, in answer to question 1, a student could argue,
“The philosophical and faith traditions of the Hebrews, Daoist Chinese, and Indian Buddhists have similar moral codes of conduct for living in the here and now. They all basically teach versions of the “golden rule” that you should treat others as you wish to be treated yourself. That they ended up with similar moral codes is remarkable since the three peoples start from radically different beliefs about what ‘higher powers’ exist and how the individual or soul relates to them.”
Note: While defensible, this is not necessarily the ‘right’ thesis or answer to the question. One could also assert a different thesis, namely that these three peoples do not have similar moral codes despite apparent similarities. For example, one could argue that the Chinese Dao is not really a moral code of conduct enjoining a person to do good and to resist evil, as in Hebrew and Buddhist thought. Rather, it is merely a philosophy of “live and let live,” which holds that everyone would be happier if they lived naturally without laws, rules, and precepts of good and evil because there is really no such thing as “right” or “good,” just the course of nature.
In sum, state a clear thesis using the terms or criteria you will employ to argue your case.
