Western Thought Homework
Homework 58
Please listen to this podcast from Radiolab--questions due for Monday.
-Due Monday, June 9th
Homework 57
Read Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, Book Nine. Enter your questions here before MIDNIGHT Tonight.
-Due Wednesday, June 4th
PLEASE BRING $47 TO SCHOOL
Make a check out to STUYVESANT HIGH SCHOOL
-Due ASAP
Homework 56
Read Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, Book Eight. Enter your questions here before MIDNIGHT Sunday night.
-Due Monday, June 2nd
Homework 55
Read Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, Book Seven. Enter your questions here before MIDNIGHT tonight.
-Due Wednesday, May 28th
Homework 54
Read Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, Book Six. Enter your questions here before MIDNIGHT tonight.
-Due Wednesday, May 21st
Homework 53
Read Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, Section Five. Enter your questions here before MIDNIGHT Sunday night.
ALSO: Scale of the Universe. Be amazed.
-Due Monday, May 19th
Homework 52
Read Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil, Section Four (Epigrams and Interludes) for Monday. Enter your questions here--note that I'm also going to ask you for your favorite epigram in this form.
-Due Thursday, May 15th
Homework 51
Please read Chapter 3 of Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Monday night.
-Due Monday, May 12th
Homework 50
Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. Please read Chapter 2.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Wednesday night.
-Due Thursday, May 8th
Also, its..
Nueva Germania!
Last year the New York Times did a piece on Nueva Germania, the batty proto-Nazi colony that Nietzsche's sister and her husband formed in the jungles of Paraguay. The reporter goes and sees how the descendants have fared--and there's video as well!
Also, here's a great compendium of philosophy jokes.
Homework 49
We are going to begin Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. Please read Chapter 1.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Sunday night.
-Due Monday, May 5th
Homework 48
We are finishing On Liberty. Here is the final section. Or, if you prefer, listen to it (mp3 courtesy of Librivox.org)
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Tuesday night.
-Due Wednesday, April 30th
Homework 47
More On Liberty. Here is the fourth section. Or, if you prefer, listen to it (mp3 courtesy of Librivox.org)
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Sunday night.
Here's a really interesting interview with Thane Rosenbaum about his new book Payback: The Case for Revenge.
-Due Monday, April 28th
Homework 46
Please read Chapter Three of On Liberty. Or, if you prefer, listen to Chapter 3
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT tonight.
-Due Tuesday, April 8th
Homework 45
Please read Chapter Two of On Liberty. Or, if you prefer, listen to it (Chapter 2, Part 1, Chapter 2, Part 2,)
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT tonight.
Also: An interesting NYTimes Room for Debate on the resignation of Brendan Eich--the CEO of Mozilla (the company that makes Firefox)--it's a fascinating test of Mill's principles.
-Due Wednesday, April 9th
Homework 44
We are starting John Stuart Mill's On Liberty. Please read the first section, "Introductory," which can be found on pp. 3-16. You can also find it online here . If you prefer, you can listen to it (mp3 courtesy of Librivox.org)--though this is slower than reading, I find.
ALSO: An interesting Room For Debate from today's New York Times on the decline of capital punishment.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT tonight.
-Due Tuesday, April 8th
Homework 43
Please finish the Communist Manifesto. Book can be found here.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT tonight.
-Due Friday, April 4th
Homework 42
Please read the second section of the Communist Manifesto--Proletarians and Communists. Book can be found here.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Tuesday night.
ALSO: Topical! The New York Times just had a "Room for Debate" on the question "Was Marx Right?"
AND: Your brain on love--similar to your brain on drugs.
-Due Wednesday, April 2nd
Homework 41
We are beginning Marx and Engels--The Communist Manifesto--please read from page 5 (the intro) up to page 19--"Bourgeois and Proletarians." Here is a PDF of the whole book
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Sunday night.
-Due Monday, March 31st
Homework 40
Please read Book Four of the Social Contract--pages TBA, (The whole book as a PDF is here).
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT tonight.
-Due Tuesday, March 25th
Homework 39
Please read Book Three of the Social Contract--pages TBA. (The whole book as a PDF is here).
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Thursday night.
-Due Friday, March 21st
Homework 38
Please read Book Two of the Social Contract--pages 29-55. (The whole book as a PDF is here).
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT tonight.
-Due Tuesday, March 18th
Homework 37
Please read Book One of Rousseau's Social Contract--pages 5-27. If you want the PDF, it can be found here.
AND: Proof that our class will make you happy?
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Sunday night
-Due Monday, March 17th
Homework 36
We are finishing Locke. Please read from page 98 to the end of the book. Or you can check out the PDF here. Also, read this comic!
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Wednesday night
-Due Thursday, March 13th
Homework 35
We are continuing with Locke. Please read pages 67-98 in your book. Or you can check out the PDF here..
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Monday night
-Due Tuesday, March 11th
ALSO:
Write a paper comparing some aspect of Machiavelli to some aspect of Hobbes. 3-4 pages. Due by Monday, March 17th.
Homework 34
We are continuing with Locke. Please read pages 28-66 in your book. Or you can check out the PDF here.
Please enter questions here before before MIDNIGHT Thursday night
-Due Friday, March 7th
Homework 33
We are beginning John Locke's Second Treatise. Please read pages 1-27 in your book. Or you can check out the PDF here.
Please enter questions here before before MIDNIGHT Monday night
-Due Tuesday, March 4th
Homework 32
Here is the third and final reading from Hobbes's Leviathan.
Please enter questions here before 11:59pm Thursday, February 27th
Homework 31
Here is the second reading from Leviathan.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Sunday night.
-Due Monday, February 24th
Homework 30
Here is the first reading from Hobbes's Leviathan.
Please enter questions on the first reading here before MIDNIGHT Wednesday night.
-Due Thursday, February 13th
Homework 29
Please read The Prince, from Chapter 21 (p. 94) to the end (p. 112).
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Monday night.
-Due Tuesday, February 11th
Homework 28
Please read The Prince, from Chapter 17 (p. 71) to the end of Chapter 20 (p. 93).
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Thursday night.
-Due Friday, February 7th
Homework 27
Please read The Prince, from Chapter 11 (p. 49) to the end of Chapter 16 (p. 70).
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT on the night we return from break.
-Due Tuesday, February 4th
Homework 26
Please read The Prince, from Chapter 7 (p. 28) to the end of Chapter 10 (p. 48).
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT tomorrow (Thursday) night.
-Due Friday, January 24th
Homework 25
We are moving on to Machiavelli. For background, I recommend reading the timeline entitled "The World of Niccolo Machiavelli and the Prince," on page ix of our book. If you have time, you also might want to check out the introduction (though it is about 30 pages, they go quickly).
Read The Prince, from page 5 (the dedicatory letter) up to page 26 (the end of Chapter 6) For those who want to read Machiavelli's description of Cesare Borgia's slaughter at Senigallia, it is here (entitled "A description of the methods adopted by the Duke Valentino when murdering Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, the Signor Pagolo, and the Duke di Gravina Orsini").
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Monday night.
-Due Tuesday, January 21st
Homework 24
Please read Book Eight and thus conclude the Politics, which begins on p. 244 and goes t0 p. 259. Note that if you want to print it or save it as a PDF, there is an option to download in the upper right hand corner.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Thursday night.
-Due Friday, January 17th
Homework 23
Please read Book Seven of the Politics, which begins on p. 206 and goes t0 p. 243. Note that if you want to print it or save it as a PDF, there is an option to download in the upper right hand corner.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Tuesday night.
-Due Wednesday, January 15th
Homework 22
Please read Book Six of the Politics, which begins on p. 188 and goes t0 p. 206. Note that if you want to print it or save it as a PDF, there is an option to download in the upper right hand corner.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Sunday night.
-Due Monday, January 13th
Homework 21
Please read Book Five of the Politics, which begins on p. 144 and goes t0 p. 187. Note that if you want to print it or save it as a PDF, there is an option to download in the upper right hand corner.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT tonight.
ALSO: Click here to see the existing schedule of appointments for paper reading/grading.
-Due Thursday, January 9th
Homework 20
Please read Book Four of the Politics, which begins on p. 107 and goes t0 p. 143. Note that if you want to print it or save it as a PDF, there is an option to download in the upper right hand corner.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Sunday night.
-Due Monday, January 6th
Homework 19
Please read Book Three of the Politics, which begins on p. 67 and goes t0 p. 106. Note that if you want to print it or save it as a PDF, there is an option to download in the upper right hand corner.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT tonight.
-Due Thursday, December 19th
Homework 18
We are continuing on with Politics. Please read Book Two, which begins on p. 27 and goes t0 p. 66. Note that if you want to print it or save it as a PDF, there is an option to download in the upper right hand corner.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Sunday night.
-Due Monday, December 16th
Homework 17
We are beginning to read Aristotle's Politics. I'm sending you to this Google Book which is a Jowett translation from 1885. Please read Book One, which begins on p.1 and goes t0 p. 26. Note that if you want to print it or save it as a PDF, there is an option to download in the upper right hand corner.
Please enter questions here before MIDNIGHT Sunday night.
-Due Monday, December 9th
Reflection Essay 2
What is your reaction to Plato's Republic? How did it make you feel? Did it change your mind or challenge any of your previously held notions about the world? Make sure you anchor your statements in the text! Please write an essay of two to three pages (DOUBLE SPACED) for Tuesday. Please save it as a PDF entitled Your Name, Essay 2 and upload it to your Dropbox account by 12 midnight, Monday night.
-Due Tuesday, December 10th
Homework 16
Please read Book 10 of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by midnight Monday night.
-Due Monday, December 2nd
Homework 15
Please read Book 9 of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by midnight Sunday night.
-Due Monday, November 25th
Homework 14
Please read Book 8 of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by midnight Sunday night.
-Due Monday, November 18th
Homework 13
Please read Book 7 of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by midnight Thursday night.
-Due Friday, November 8th
Homework 12
Please read Book 6 of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by midnight Sunday tonight.
-Due Thursday, October 31st
Homework 11
Please read Book 5 of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by midnight Sunday night.
-Due Monday, October 28th
Homework 10
Please read Book 4 of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by midnight tonight.
-Due Tuesday, October 22nd
Homework 9
Please read Book 3 of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by midnight Monday night.
-Due Tuesday, October 15th
Homework 8
Please read Book 2 of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here by midnight Wednesday night.
-Due Thursday, October 10th
Homework 7
Please read Book I of Plato's Republic. Think of three questions and enter them here. Please note that we will not start Republic until Monday, October 7th, so questions are due by midnight, Sunday night.
-Due Monday, October 7th
Also:
Reflection Essay 1
What is your reaction to the Socratic dialogues (Meno, Apology and Crito)? How did they make you feel? Did they change your mind or challenge any of your previously held notions about the world? Please write an essay of two to three pages (DOUBLE SPACED) for Friday. Please save it as a PDF entitled Your Name, Essay 1 and upload it to your Dropbox account by 12 midnight, Sunday night.
-Due Monday, October 7th
Homework 6
Please start reading Plato's Crito. Please enter your three questions into this form by midnight Sunday.
-Due Monday, September 30th
Homework 5
Please start reading Plato's Apology. We will discuss on Thursday. Think of three questions and enter them into this form. Please do so before midnight Wednesday night.
-Due Thursday, September 26th
Homework 4
Please start reading Plato's Meno. It is 36 pages long, but I think you'll find it's pretty entertaining reading. Please enter your three questions into this form by midnight Sunday night.
-Due Monday, September 23rd
Homework 3
Please read the following article on the Presocratics (PDF). This is taken from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Please think of three questions and enter them into this form by midnight TOMORROW night.
-Due Wednesday, September 18th
Homework 2
Please read the Melian Dialogue from Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War. Think of three questions and enter them into this form. Please do so before midnight on Sunday.
-Due Monday, September 16th
Homework 1
Please read the Funeral Oration of Pericles. Think of three questions and enter them into this form! Please do so before midnight tonight.
-Due Friday, September 13th
Homework
Check out this brief history of Athens. Also, look at this very brief overview of Athenian democracy.
-Due Thursday, September 12th
Homework
You should do the following:
1) Make sure you have a Dropbox account--if you've entered your information into the Google form, and you don't have a Dropbox account, you will have received an invitation from me to create one.
2) Share a folder with me. The format should be as follows: If your name were David Hume, the folder would be entitled: David Hume, WPT. My e-mail address for sharing is mpolazzo@gmail.com
3) Upload a headshot of yourself that (a) is not too large and (b) actually looks like you. Place it in the shared folder. Name it davidhume.jpg (substitute your first and last names). Please note that all headshots should be in JPEG form!
4) All uploaded data is due by the start 4th period Wednesday!
ALSO
For the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, read this article (written two years ago) by Christopher Hitchens. Be prepared to discuss!
-Due Wednesday, September 11th
Homework
Please go to this form and enter in all information!
-Due Tuesday, September 10th