This is a research paper; therefore, all primary and secondary sources must be cited. In other words, your paper must include a bibliography and footnotes.
social sciences
Description
Philosophy 248-448 – Essay II
·
Due
date: Thursday, March 26th, 2020
·
Write a critical essay (1,200
words, 4 to 5 double spaced pages) on one
of the following topics.
·
This is a research paper;
therefore, all primary and secondary sources must be cited. In other words,
your paper must include a
bibliography and footnotes.
·
Plagiarism will result in a failing
grade.
1.
Critically examine how Aeschylus' Oresteia brings to an end one
world view and replaces it with another as embodied in the question of justice
and the character of Orestes.
In tragedy we find justice in conflict. For example, in
the house of Atreus we find opposed parties in the same family acting violently
in the name of justice. In a linear sense of justice, patterns of violent
responses in the name of justice never ends. Does tragedy offer us a pause,
where the past and future become the present and offers us a template to
understand and resolve complex moral problems? In light of conflict throughout
the inherited multi-facetted family curse, examine how it is finally resolved
in the clash between the Furies and Apollo. Does this resolution provide a
satisfactory resolution to the conflict. Explain.
2.
Critically examine the moral question of right action in light of
the contrasting views of the tragedians and Plato.
The central moral question is
"What should I do?", especially in cases where both choices are very
bad, as in the case of Agamemnon sacrificing Iphigenia and Orestes killing his
mother as an act of revenge for the murder of his father. Tragedy offers us one
template where through suffering we come to truth. Moreover, tragedy offers us
a middle ground between blind impulsiveness and speculative non-action where
thinking and suffering are for the sake of action. Plato offers a different
template, where through reason, we come to truth. Through thinking we come to
understanding, from understanding we act. In other words, action is from a
place of truth (i.e. the forms) for the sake of truth.
