M. Kagan, Le Moyne College, PHL
201, Open Format Quiz #3, November 11, 2002
This is an "open-format" quiz. It can be taken as an
"open-book," in-class or take-home, group, individual, or oral [with
the following instructions]. Written exams should not exceed one page per
answer. (Oral exams will involve follow-up questions, but will not last longer
than 30 minutes.)
If taken in class OR as a take home as an individual effort, answer 1 of the
following. All take-homes are to be typed, double-spaced, with citations for
sources and assistance).
The exam may be done by a group containing up to 5 members. The group needs to
answer as many questions as there are members in the group. Group take-homes
are to be typed, double spaced. If you wish to take this exam as an oral,
please make an appointment as soon as possible.
The take-home versions of this exam are DUE Friday, November 15, 2002, in RH436
before 2:30 p.m.
2. What problem
is bothering Becker in Birth and Death of Meaning? What is Becker's
response to this problem?
3. Briefly
give what you take to be the best arguments offered for either Confucius' or
Becker's responses.
4. Do
Becker or Confucius offer important insights into the human situation? If not,
where did they go wrong? If so, how could someone apply those insights? If you
[or any member of your group if you are doing this as a group exercise] have
done so ( or tried to do so) already, please explain how it went.
5. Is
there an example of human nature as an ideal in Becker's Birth and Death of
Meaning? If so, what is it? Is Becker's approach consistent with that of
Confucius? Why or why not?
6. If you
tried to live according to the teaching of Becker's Birth and Death
of Meaning what would you have to do?
7. If you
lived according to Confucius' teaching, what would you have to do?
8. Is
Confucius' or Le Moyne College's required curriculum consistent with the
educational implications of Becker's Birth and Death of Meaning? Why or
why not?
9.
Locate the general reading questions on the syllabus. Answer them for Huston
Smith's chapter on Confucianism OR for Becker's Birth and Death of Meaning.
Back to Kagan's
homepage at Le Moyne College
<http://webserver.lemoyne.edu/~kagan/index.html>
Back to other
materials for PHL 201 <http://webserver.lemoyne.edu/~kagan/201INDX97.html>