“Thinkin’ ‘bout Thinkin’” The World’s Great Philosophers talk about current events
“Thinkin’ ‘bout Thinkin’”
Studies of the World’s Great Philosophers
Phase One: Students will research the lives, works, and ideas of several of the world’s great philosophers or thinkers. Each student will be assigned a different thinker/philosopher and will write a biography of approximately 3 pages responding to the following prompts:
1. Describe the life of the thinker/philosopher. Discuss facts relating to families,
socio-economic status, education, marriages, children, and other significant
life events. Discuss the city, country,
and culture in which the person lived.
2. Describe the influences on the person’s thinking. How would you describe the “zeitgeist” or
cultural milieu of the time and place the thinker lived, and how did this
affect his/her thinking? What other
people, events, books, etc. influenced the thoughts and ideas of your
subject?
3. Describe the significant theories, ideas, and/or concepts
contributed by (or attributed to) your thinker/philosopher. Provide both an overview of the philosopher’s
work and thought, and try to go into detail on some of the most important
notions. This is the most important part
of the biography, so try to be thorough.
Name books, articles, speeches or other works produced by the
thinker. Provide examples or excerpts of
the thinker/philosopher’s writing, and discuss the implications of their
work.
4. Describe the influence your thinker or philosopher has had on
others. How have other thinkers,
prominent people, and/or groups or societies been influenced by this
person? What other theories, ideas, or
events have followed his/her work? What
do you think of the thinker?
All
papers must be typed or word processed.
Use a standard font (type style) in 10 or 12 point, single or double
spaced. Be prepared to give an oral presentation of the philosopher’s biography
in class. You will summarize your work
and answer questions.
Phase Two: Students will research
contemporary or unique topics of inquiry or debate. They will then apply the concepts and ideas
of the thinker/philosopher whose biography they have written to a particular topic
or area of inquiry or debate. However,
if the thinker/philosopher is contemporary, the topics can be older. What is important is that the topic or area
of inquiry or debate NOT be one that the thinker/philosopher considered in
their work. You are to make your
thinker/philosopher grapple with an issue they may be unfamiliar with. Respond to the following prompts:
1. Choose a contemporary or unique topic of
inquiry or debate. It can involve
religion or other belief systems, politics or various social systems, science
or modern technology, moral dilemmas or contemporary situations requiring a
level of philosophical consideration, or a common life decision that might be
interesting in a new context. Make a list
of all the questions that might relate.
2. Now, have your thinker/philosopher answer
all those questions. How would their
ideas influence their thoughts and decisions with regard to the matter at hand? For example, how would Socrates address
abortion or genetic engineering, or how would Confucius deal with gay marriage
or globalization, or how would George Washington deal with communism and
socialism, or how would Ghengis Khan respond to a civil rights movement or
vegetarianism, or how would George Bush have handled the Civil War or the bubonic
plague?
Note: Be as creative as you would like. You will be graded on your synthesis of ideas, and how probable the results of this unlikely scenario are. You need to show a grasp of the ideas of your thinker/philosopher, and the implications of the contemporary or unique topic of inquiry or debate you have chosen.
Phase Three: Now that you have written a biography and considered contemporary issues, students will get in groups of two or three and write a screenplay about an interaction between their thinkers. The scene you write should last about five minutes, or should be at least two-three pages long.
1. Choose a context or scenario for the
interaction. Is it at a bus stop, in
line at the grocery store, at a dinner party, at school, or where? Consider how the thinkers – now characters –
meet and how they start talking. It can
be clever or funny, but should create an opportunity for serious discussion.
2. Take the ideas from Phase Two and put
them into a dialogue, a conversation between the characters. How will your thinker/characters argue about
these ideas? About what will they agree
or disagree? Feel free to tackle more
than one issue, and consider portraying discussion on both serious contemporary
issues and mundane, quotidian topics.
3. Make sure you consider the ideas,
concepts, theories, and/or philosophies for which the thinkers were originally
famous. You must show them asserting
these ideas! If they were famous for a
particular line, phrase, or idea, make sure they state it. You may be creative in how they handle a
different topic, or how they argue with the other thinkers in your scene. Your thinker/philosopher may need to make
metaphors or analogies to transition from their famous notions to the contemporary
issue.
4. All that is required is that you submit
the written script, and eventually you will be asked to read it aloud. However, you may act it out live, videotape
your performance, or, if you are interested, you may create a little puppet show
of the scene you have written. YouTube
postings are encouraged so that they can be shown easily in class. Make sure to have a written copy of your
script to turn in.
Phase 1 Sign Up Sheet
Philosopher Student
Confucius ____________
Lao Tzu ____________
Bacon ____________
Hobbes ____________
Rousseau ____________
Spinoza ____________
Locke ____________
Socrates ____________
Plato ____________
Aristotle ____________
Kant ____________
Adam Smith ____________
Kierkegaard ____________
Marx ____________
Aquinas ____________
Machiavelli ____________
Jefferson ____________
Mill ____________
Iqbal ____________
Nietzsche ____________
Wollstonecraft ____________
Heidegger ____________
Fanon ____________
Friere ____________
Bentham ____________
Calvin/Luther ____________
Muhammad ____________
Moses ____________
Buddha ____________
Montesquieu ____________
Hume ____________
Sartre ____________
Rand ____________
Hitler ____________
Allende ____________
Reagan ____________
Clinton ____________
Kennedy ____________
Arendt ____________
Paine ____________
Burke ____________
Khaldun ____________
Habermas ____________
Derrida ____________
Lennon ____________
Bono ____________
Cleopatra ____________
Lincoln ____________
Julius Caesar ____________
Pol Pot ____________
Mao Tze Tung ____________
Lee Quan Yu ____________
Khomeini ____________
Ahmadinejad ____________
Foucault ____________
Rawls ____________
Nozick ____________
Popper ____________
H. Chavez ____________
Marcuse ____________
Gandhi ____________
Averroes ____________
Mandela ____________
Marley ____________
R E S E A R C H G U I D E L I N E S
Basic Instructions:
You will write a standard research paper using a minimum of five sources: books, journals, periodicals, reference materials, interviews, the internet and other electronic sources.
It is necessary to explain some of what is already known about your topic of inquiry and the motivation behind your study at the beginning. If you are doing a biography, try to find primary source materials, things written by the person in question. It is essential that you develop a research strategy that will reveal detailed and relevant information. The more developed your focus of inquiry, the more detailed your investigation will be.
Process:
Start investigating various sources of information: online resources, reference materials, books, journals, periodicals, professional experts, the media, etc. Create a bibliography or reference list and be sure to include: Author's Name, Title of Article and/or Publication, Publisher, Place of Publication, Date, Page(s). Whether or not you use index cards, you should be able to present your research notes.
Demonstrate your knowledge of basic research methods and basic paper and/or report writing skills. Demonstrate that you have critical and analytical cognitive skills by showing how different facts and ideas relate or correlate. Linking facts and ideas is your opportunity to be creative! Remember: The purpose of research is to create new knowledge by combining various pieces of information, new and old, however divergent, and running them through the sieve of your own intellect!
Of course, all the sources of information used in your study should be referenced in a bibliography. You should also include the names of any people who contributed to your study (try to have at least one). You may use a number of formal formats for presenting your references, preferably MLA. Most formats require that you use footnotes, and you are encouraged to do so, but for the sake of ease you may list these at the end of your paper. Note that footnotes and a bibliography are not the same thing!
Evaluation:
You will be graded on your participation and cooperation, research and reference skills, expression of ideas, synthesis of information, formatting, and presentation. Linking ideas, organizational flow, and giving credit where credit is due are most important to getting a good grade.