For the polemic essay, we will not be working with peers due to the limited time of this unit. You will still receive commentary from the professor.
Because this essay is one of the more difficult assignments, getting good feedback can prove critically helpful. Make sure to revise your essay based on commentary provided and feel free to ask questions of the professor if you need additional guidance.
The ancient Greek and Roman schools of philosophy have long considered the idea of human happiness to be a core tenant of their exploration of the soul. For this argumentative essay, you will pick an ancient school of philosophy and then write an essay that argues for how that school has influenced modern thought about happiness. Your purpose is to convince your readers to take your argument seriously and to recognize the ways that ancient attitudes towards happiness are still relevant to the modern world. It may help to use this topic to discuss a current social issue that is relevant to the world. By selecting a debatable issue, like racial inequality (as an example), to help contextualize the way the ancient philosophy has affected modern life. As a result, you will need to educate yourself about your chosen school of philosophy by researching its beliefs, authors, and major texts (as well as the social debate for its modern context and positions). The research will also need to explore ways that modern attitudes reflect these values. A convincing essay will also need to incorporate at least six credible sources for support. While some evidence may come from commercial or non-academic sources, at least half of your Work Cited entries must be from peer-reviewed academic pieces.What? The ancient Greek and Roman schools of philosophy have long considered the idea of human happiness to be a core tenant of their exploration of the soul. For this argumentative essay, you will pick an ancient school of philosophy and then write a 1000 – 1200 word essay that argues for how that school has influenced modern thought about happiness. Your purpose is to convince your readers to take your argument seriously and to recognize the ways that ancient attitudes towards happiness are still relevant to the modern world. As a result, you will need to educate yourself about your chosen school of philosophy by researching its beliefs, authors, and major texts. Research will also need to explore ways that modern attitudes reflect these values. A convincing essay will also need to incorporate at least six credible sources for support. While some evidence may come from commercial or non-academic sources, at least half of your Work Cited entries must be from peer-reviewed academic pieces.
For whom? You are writing primarily to your fellow classmates (but also to your professor), so make sure that position essay provides enough details about the subject and its source material to inform any readers without a cursory knowledge of the sources.
Why? To refine and strengthen the way we express our opinions in written form, we will work on including rhetorical strategies to address opposition. This essay will build on the skills of the critique essay, continuing to require you to support any general statements or opinions with the use of evidence. Evidence should be positioned carefully throughout the essay, and you are also encouraged to look beyond the “happiness” topic alone to find sources to connect your argument with larger social, political, religious, economic, or cultural points. Our main goal is to participate in the debate around your chosen topic and to find ways to make expressing your opinion stronger than those points raised by an opponent to your position.
How? Start by selecting a school of ancient Greek or Roman philosophy associated with views on happiness. These include include the following: Platonism, Aristotelian, Stoicism, Cynicism, Hedonism, Epicureanism, Skepticism, and Augustinian. You will then need to carefully consider your own position on this subject. If this topic is not something with which you are familiar, you may need to conduct some additional research to help you form an opinion. Research can be useful to identify places of social commentary for your work and may help to make your argument stronger. All research should be attributed using proper MLA citation for the source providing you with the information.
Now what? After you have planned the structure and particulars of your opinion on the topic, write a rough draft expressing your own views and reacting to your potential opponents; the more time you take to revisit the product and to make improvements, the stronger your work will become. Bring the most current draft you have written to class every day (either electronically or in print). We will take time in class to work on this essay throughout the coming weeks.
Anything else I should know? Your essay should follow all MLA conventions for formatting (including page numbers, title, heading, margins, paragraphing, and style).
