Question #1: ( Judgment at Nuremberg Act 1): Analyze the exchange between Capt. Byers and Judge Heywood in Act 1, on pp. 8-12. Consider carefully the implications of this exchange from the perspective of Heywood’s assumption that the Americans and their judges are in a significantly superior moral position compared to the Germans and their judges. What problem becomes apparent with Heywood’s assumption during his conversation with Capt. Byers? (hint: what about Capt. Byers’ background is relevant here?)
Question #2: In Chapter 8 of Steven Smith’s Political Philosophy book, in the section entitled “The Dialectic of Pride and Fear,” consider what Smith say about Hobbes’ definition of “pride”—which he characterizes as ‘the passion for preeminence,’ which is the equivalent of “the desire to be first” in all things. According to Smith, Hobbes’s notion of pride also includes the desire “to be seen as first” (whether or not this happens to be true…). Smith continues: “Prideful people are those overflowing with confidence in their own abilities…the person capable of lurching from failure to failure with no loss of confidence in his own powers.”
Smith tells us that Hobbes does not want such prideful people in positions of political power, as war will be much more likely. Smith suggests that this is why Hobbes tries to replace pride with fear as the dominant passion—because if fear is the controlling factor in political matters, peace will much more likely be the result.
Does this passage about pride/fear, seem relevant to political matters we are currently experiencing here in the US? Do you see anything useful in what you have read in this passage that would be helpful to address our current political situation?
Question #3( 5-7 sentences): Discuss something
that has sparked your interest in the readings.
