Essay Instructions: Directions:
? Select and answer only five of the following questions. You may select any five question-sets below, but they must be from five different readings.
? Answer all parts of a question-set in 150-200 words. The entire exam should therefore amount to between 750 and 1000 words.
? You may answer the question-sets in any order you wish as long as you include the question number with your response.
? Please type and proofread all answers for academic style.
? Make adequate references to the texts for support and evidence..
SECTION A: Gender, Sexuality, and Identity
Directions for this section only: If you select one of these questions, consider the viewpoints raised by the author. State your opinion of the views expressed by the selected author and establish a point-by-point concession or rebuttal of these views.
1. ? . . . I have argued . . . that in the long run, social justice does not require the formation or maintenance of groups defined by ?color,? though it may be valuable as an interim strategy. Race, as I?ve proposed we understand it, is something to be rid of. Ethnicity or ethnorace, if understood as involving both ?color? and culture may be helpful in the short term, but I believe that an ongoing social investment in ?color? is harmful. In short, . . . we should anticipate that there will be no men and women, but there will be males and females (and herms, merms, ferms, etc.), and these sexual differences will have distinct but egalitarian implications. And although, we should hope, people will come in the broad variety of skin tones, shapes, and appearances they do now and will organize themselves around a rich array of cultural practices, there will be no races. Although from the point of view of justice, it would be irresponsible not to accord differences between our bodies some social meaning, it would also be irresponsible not to overturn the meanings we now assume to be natural and right.? (Source: http://opp.weatherson.net/archives/001440.html)
2. ?I was at a Saturday morning meeting of a group called the Freedom Coalition, a Lawrence, Kansas, group that works for civil rights for people of all sexual orientations. After the meeting, several of us were discussing the categories lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer, and the increasing visibility of self-labeled bisexuals in the queer-rights movement.
?Some people regarded bisexuals as less threatening to the status quo than lesbians or gays. They said that the category bisexuals includes women who are attracted to men and men who are attracted to women, which makes them less threatening to the general public than lesbians, for example, because lesbians are not attracted to men and in that way are more threatening to men. So, they saw bisexuality as relatively non-threatening to the status quo.
?But this discussion also reminded me of a book I was reading, Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out, edited by Loraine Hutchins and Lani Kaahumanu (1991). Hutchins and Kaahumanu wrote of the revolutionary, disruptive possibilities of bisexuality:
Heterosexuality needs homosexuality, to be reassured that it is different. It also needs the illusion of dichotomy between the orientations to maintain the idea of a fence, a fence that has a right (normal, good) and a wrong (abnormal, evil) side to be on, or fall from. To the extent that we collaborate in seeing homosexuality as an opposite polarity (not part of a diverse range of human sexuality), we perpetuate this unhealthy, unrealistic, hierarchical dichotomy. (p. xxii)
?So, is the category bisexuality less or more threatening to the status quo than is homosexuality??
(Source: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2372/is_2_37/ai_64698511)
SECTION B: Plato?s Apology
3. How would you evaluate the effectiveness of Socrates? defense? Are you convinced of his innocence? Why or why not? Explain in your own words Socrates mission. Why could he not abandon his post? In more general terms, what is the ?post? or ?place? of thinking in anyone?s life? Further, what is the relation between the thoughtful or questioning person and the community in which he lives?
4. What is Socrates view on education . . . to transmit social mores intact or to examine and reevaluate social norms? Why do upholders of custom view thinking as a threat? Why does competence or success in one field often lead to the belief that one is wise about many things? Discuss the benefits and the pitfalls of confidence or self-esteem.
SECTION C: Plato?s Crito
5. What made Socrates so attached to Athens, but even more devoted to his way of life that he was willing to die rather than give it up? Is Socrates a martyr either for the Laws of Athens or the cause of philosophy? What is the merit of Socrates? argument that citizens enter into an agreement or promise to obey the Laws, and that to violate them is to harm or wrong or even ?destroy? the laws and the city? Does this mean that it is never right to disobey the laws?
6. Crito claims that by suffering an unjust punishment Socrates will play into the hands of his accusers. Why does Socrates counter that his escape would corroborate the jury?s verdict to convict him? Does Socrates? argument that it is wrong to harm even those who do one harm make sense?
SECTION D: Margaret Atwood?s The Handmaid?s Tale
7. The novel begins with three epigraphs. What are their functions? What does the book?s last line mean to you?
8. The commander in the novel says you can?t cheat nature. How do characters find ways to follow their natural instinct? Why is the Bible under lock and key in Gilead?
SECTION E: Thich Naht Hanh?s ?Fourteen Mindfulness Teachings?
9. It can be inferred that this author favors simplicity as a life philosophy. Inner simplicity and outer simplicity are both involved. What are some common misconceptions about a simple life? Why is that so difficult in our culture? What is the author?s view about our pattern of material consumption and how it relates to the environment?
10. Accumulating material possessions is part of the American Dream. For some, the dream has become a nightmare. What is Thay?s view on material wealth? A growing number of people wish to resolve the conflict between the desire to make and spend money and the desire for a simple life. When do material possessions add meaning to our lives and when do they detract?
SECTION F: The Sermon on the Mount by the Gospel according to Matthew
11. How is one supposed to know when he does or does not satisfy the will of God the Father? Does Jesus? teaching support his assertion that he comes not to abolish the law but to fulfill it? Do you view the Sermon on the Mount a message of hope, a challenge, or a warning?
12. Why does Jesus ask his followers to endure persecution? Why does Jesus advise his followers to pray and practice piety ?in secret?? How does the inner man influence the outer man? Is there any room for what some people call innocent deception or ?white lies??
SECTION G: Gilgamesh by David Ferry
13. What is the bond between Gilgamesh and Enkidu? What does each character symbolize? Why do Gilgamesh and Enkidu become friends? What does Gilgamesh learn about being human?
14. Why does Utanapishtim weep after the flood ends? Why does Gilgamesh weep after the snake steals the plant? What view of order does each character?s weeping reflect? How would you summarize the understanding of order conveyed by Gilgamesh?s return home?