Assignment: Socratic Essay

Use the above link to access the assignment for this module.

This assignment aligns with Learning Outcomes 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7.

You will need to participate in Module 6 Discussion before working on this assignment.

For this assignment, the discussion board component will help you get started with this topic and help you to formulate some ideas for further development (should you wish to consider the ideas developed by you in the Discussion Board exercise as a starting point for your own essay.)

You may also reference the ideas of others (with credit) in your essay (if you wish to respond to or elaborate on a line of reasoning from a thread) as part of your argument, but do NOT use someone else’s ideas as your main thesis.

The Essay

Please write a thesis-driven essay (500–750 words) discussing the following:

How does Plato reconcile free will and determinism in the myth of Er (Section 614a–621d in the Plato, Republic — book 10)?
How is it related to his definition of justice in the Republic?
Is this understanding consistent with the definition of justice that Socrates obeys and describes in the Crito?
How does this worldview compare with your definition of justice?

MLA style; typed. Remember to use textual evidence to support your argument when necessary. (1)

Submission

Submit the assignment here as a Word document with the file name LastName_FirstName_Essay3. To submit, choose the Assignment: Critical Analysis Essay link above and use the file attachment feature to browse for and upload your completed document. Remember to choose Submit to complete the submission.

Grading

This assignment is worth 200 points toward your final grade and will be graded using the Essay Rubric. Please use it as a guide toward successful completion of this assignment.

Philosophy in Practice

Topics

What is justice? Social justice; God;
The legitimacy of moral responsibility;
The role of evil; Sophrosyne in Philosophia

“I am I”; “You are also that” –exploring the big questions in today’s world. What is Justice?

Remembering Plato

Exploring the Big Questions in today’s World:

Cross Currents: What is Justice? Are we free or determined? What would justice look like in a predestined world?

At the beginning of this course, we noted that twentieth-century philosopher Alfred North Whitehead described all Western philosophy as a footnote to Plato. In fact, there is hardly an area of Philosophy about which Plato has not explored. Though a philosopher who died in the fourth century B.C.E., his Academy became a syncretic center of learning bringing together eclectic themes from the ancient past, and remaining a bastion of learning until 529 C.E.

In this module, we will review the major ideas that we’ve studied in Plato thus far, and added a few more, in an attempt to trace themes that comprise the Platonic worldview, as it developed and transformed from its inception in Classical Antiquity to the time of Boethius in the Early Christian Era. (1)

Learning Outcomes

Demonstrate proficiency in critical thinking
Demonstrate understanding of Global Social Responsibility
Recognize the relationships between cultural expressions and their contexts
Recognize concepts in metaphysics, axiology, and epistemology and the context of their development
Understand the principles of freedom, determinism and moral responsibility in human interaction
Identify the various attempts to formulate and define social justice

Module Objectives

Upon completion of this module the student will be able to:

Explain “the philosophical digression” in Plato’s Seventh Letter.
Explain positions related to free will and determinism
Provide an outline of Plato’s Republic and its significance to the history of ideas.
Discuss the Myth of Er and the themes of free will and determinism.(1)

Readings and Resources

Plato, Republic (Section 614a–621d from book 10) from Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University

Supplemental Materials

(Note: These materials are considered supplemental and thus are not used for assessment purposes.)

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy website
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy by H. F. Stewart and E. K. Rand

Lecture Content

Click the icon to access lecture content.

Assignment: Socratic Essay