Purpose of the Assignment:
The purpose of this assignment is to encourage you to think creatively and analytically about modern political thought. In doing so, you will gain a more comprehensive understanding of how these texts and their ideas apply to our everyday lives.
Assignment:
Write a paper in which you reflect on the relevance of an issue or policy in contemporary politics to a topic covered in this course. The paper should include both an exposition of the thought of two to three thinkers covered in the course as well as your own thoughtful argumentation and research on these issues. The paper should be broken into two parts, as listed below.
The paper should be a 1800-2400 word paper (= 6-8 pages, double-spaced) on the following topic:
Progress: in what manner and to what extent are assumptions about progress relevant for politics? How is one’s view of progress tied to one’s view of human nature? How does one’s view of the possibilities for human development provide the basis or foundations for the political system? To what extent do our conceptions of government and what it should do depend on how we answer these questions? What are barriers to progress, and how might they be overcome?
Part I:
- Situate this concept within several of the texts we have read or that are located in the textbook.
- Explore the questions in your prompt and discuss how the thinkers address or prioritize those concerns. Compare and contrast your thinkers on this topic.
Part II:
- Research a current policy, law, or political issue. Be specific (e.g. is there a bill proposed in Congress? is there a current social movement that is mobilized?)
- Connect the current debate surrounding this political issue and show how it could be understood within the framework of these philosophical discussions that we have read. How can we understand it in light of these thinkers?
- Make an argument about how understanding the foundations of this concept from the texts we have read gives us insight about your research issue today.
- Support your argument with claims that help you defend this argument (i.e. direct quotes from the works of those philosophers).
Guidelines for Papers
1. Give a clear statement of your argument at the beginning of your paper.
2. Unify your paper with a single argument with a logical development from one step of the argument to the next. Do not make your paper a collection of separate points or examples.
3. Every time you state that the author states or argues something you should have evidence to support your statement, either in the form of a quotation or a specific textual reference. Only quote what you need for your purposes.
4. Use clear and simple language, but a formal style.
Criteria for assessing your work:
- Do you have a clear statement of your argument?
- Do you provide relevant evidence?
- Is your writing clear?
- Do you demonstrate understanding of the work(s) you are analyzing?
- To what degree do you address the most important questions and problems posed by the work(s) you are interpreting?
Practical matters:
- Double-spaced
- 12 point font
- 1 inch margins
- Cite the works by page numbers in parentheses after the relevant reference or quotation. If it is clear what work you are referring to or quoting from, simply put the page number in parentheses. If you need to clarify which work you are using, simply add the author. You do not need to cite the specific edition of these works or include a bibliography, unless you are using a different edition from the one assigned.
- Add a works cited page at the end
- Please put a word count at the end of the paper
Writers/Books That need to be used: Jean Jacques Rousseau (The Major Political Writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau) and Immanuel Kant (Perpetual Peace and Other Essay). You have to at least use these writers. Choose any topic you think it fits best.