TAKE HOME FINAL QUESTIONS ENGLISH 5 M. GIORDANO,inst.

Choose one; answer in a reasoned essay using the appropriate evidence.

1. Recall what Socrates said about "knowing" Meno at the beginning. You now know Meno. Do you see an exact reversal of the qualities invoked? Try reversing the arguments in the dialogue about virtue and knowledge. What would they have to say about vice and ignorance? Arguably Meno is demonstrating this reversed argument as he is considering the one reversed i.e. that though the argument about virtue and knowledge concludes without finding sufficient reasons for its conclusions, the reverse argument about vice and ignorance is being given solid reasons in the drama of the dialogue as it proceeds at every point. Attempt to display your awareness of this intention in a reading of the dialogue that shows it to be a model in the exposition of what vice and ignorance are.


2. In his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" Martin Luther King compares his method of active Civil Disobedience to Socrates' method for producing a higher consciousness. Compare King's model for direct action to what you can infer is Socrates' model for his own activity. Consider the analogs in King's method to the roles Socrates assigns to inductive and deductive reasoning. Compare the role of conscience with the arguments about the knowledge and attainment of virtue and the role of each with regard to self-interest and the interest of others.

3. In his Twilight of the Idols and The Antichrist Nietzsche diagnoses the respective pathologies of Socrates and Christ. Each of these have contributed powerful and similar (though also importantly different) ethical directives to our culture. Nietzsche is concerned with showing the psychological orientation which determines for each his ethical orientation. Compare the two psychologies as Nietzsche describes them.

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