Reference no: EM131061545

Please choose one of the three topics below to explore in a 3-4 page paper. The paper should be typed, using 12-point font, 1 inch margins, and double spaced. Do cite all quotes, but if you are using the texts listed on the syllabus, there is no need for a bibliography. Your paper is worth 70 points, and is to be turned in through Blackboard Learn (you will find the link under the content area labeled "Written Assignments") by the start of class on Friday, May 20th.

I. In Plato's Crito, Socrates claims "that the most important thing is not life, but the good life" (48b). Connect this claim to Socrates' defense as portrayed in Plato's Apology. During his trial Socrates argues for a life of examination (38a) and assures the jurors and audience that he "would much rather die after this kind of defense than live after making the other kind" (38e). What kind of defense has Socrates made? What would another kind entail? How is his defense in keeping with the good life or the life worth living? Must one pursue the good life even at the cost of life itself? Does this provide an important link between the Apology and Crito? Finally, do you agree with Socrates' position? Why or why not?

II. What is meant by 'Socratic intellectualism'? Thoroughly explain what this position entails and the role it plays in Socrates' moral theory (you might fruitfully use the Apology and/or Crito in your discussion). How does Aristotle's view of the soul permit him to disagree with intellectualism and posit instead the possibility of the alcratic (the person who suffers from akrasia, translated as either 'incontinence' or 'weakness of the will')? Finally where do you position yourself with regard to this debate? Can someone willingly choose to do wrong? Why or why not?

III. In his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle examines eudaimonia or happiness. First, give a detailed account of Aristotle's position on happiness and say why it is a human good. What are the different types of virtue and how do they figure into a flourishing life? Please be sure to make sense of what the virtues are and how they are acquired (it may be helpful to choose a specific virtue of character for the sake of elucidating this). What is your assessment of Aristotle's discussion of happiness? Do you think he is correct about the necessity of external goods for happiness? Why or why not?