1. IN HIS ESSAY CONCERNING THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE INTELLECTUAL, NOAM CHOMSKY ADDRESSES THE COMPLEXITY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AN INTELLECTUAL AND HIS OR HER SOCIAL CONTEXT. PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO WHEN HIS ESSAY WAS WRITTEN AND EXPLAIN ITS URGENCY IN TERMS OF ITS CONTEXT. THEN, CHOOSE TWO THINKERS WE HAVE STUDIED AND APPLY HIS IMPERATIVE TO THEM.
2. WILLIAM JAMES SUGGESTS THAT OUR ASSESSMENT OF
WHETHER AN ARGUMENT IS LOGICAL DEPENDS ON WHETHER OR NOT WE WANT TO BELIEVE IT. APPLYING THIS ARGUMENT TO HIS OWN PHILOSOPHY, WHY DOES HE SEE IT AS SO PROFOUNDLY IMPORTANT TO DEFEND RELIGIOUS FAITH AS A VIABLE PHILOSOPHICAL OPTION AGAINST THE SCIENTIFIC AND AGNOSTIC CRITIQUES OF RELIGION IN THE LATE 19TH CENTURY? BE SURE TO INCLUDE A CONSIDERATION OF THE LARGER VICTORIAN CRISIS OF FAITH, WHICH WAS THE CONTEXT OF HIS THOUGHT.
3. IN THE OPENING CHAPTER OF HIS PATHBREAKING THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK, WEB DUBOIS DESCRIBES THE AFRICAN AMERICAN AS “A SORT OF SEVENTH SON, BORN WITH A VEIL, AND GIFTED WITH SECOND- SIGHT IN THIS AMERICAN WORLD, – A WORLD WHICH YIELDS HIM NO TRUE SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS, BUT ONLY LETS HIM SEE HIMSELF THROUGH THE REVELATION OF THE OTHER WORLD.” WHAT IS THIS VEIL AND WHAT CENTRAL PROBLEM IS DUBOIS ADDRESSING?
4. WHAT IS “PRAGMATISM”? HOW DOES A PRAGMATIST ASSESS WHETHER A PHILOSOPHICAL PROPOSITION IS TRUE OR FALSE? ON WHAT BASIS DID THE PRAGMATIST PHILOSOPHERS SUCH AS, WILLIAM JAMES, W.E.B. DUBOIS, OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES OR JOHN DEWEY CLAIM THAT THE PRAGMATIC METHOD FOR DETERMINING TRUTH WAS A NEW AMERICAN CONTRIBUTION TO PHILOSOPHY?
5. WRITE AN ESSAY DESCRIBING THE IMPACT OF DARWIN’S
THEORY OF EVOLUTION UPON 3 OF THE FOLLOWING THINKERS: ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, JANE ADDAMS, THORSTEIN VEBLEN, CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, WEB DUBOIS, JOHN DEWEY AND OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
6. WRITE AN ESSAY ABOUT THE CHANGING PARADIGM
CONCERNING RACE IN AMERICA IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY. BE SURE TO CONSIDER THE IMPACT OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE AMD THE IDEAS OF THREE OF THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR ESSAY: DUBOIS, DOUGLAS, IDA B.WELLS, WOODROW WILSON, RUTH BENEDICT AND RANDOLPH BOURNE
7. W.E.B. DUBOIS ARGUED THAT “THE PROBLEM OF THE 20TH
CENTURY IS THE PROBLEM OF THE COLOR LINE.” IN HIS DISCUSSION OF THE COLOR LINE HE ACKNOWLEDGES THE
INDISPENSABILITY OF RACE CONSCIOUSNESS FOR BLACK
PROGRESS. HE ALSO, HOWEVER, SHIFTS THE ULTIMATE ROOTS
OF RACE CONSCIOUSNESS AWAY FROM A BIOLOGICAL
CONCEPTION TO A SOCIOECONOMIC CONSTRUCTION. DISCUSS.
8.. WHAT DOES JANE ADDAMS MEAN BY THE “SUBJECTIVE NECESSITY OF SOCIAL SETTLEMENTS?” HOW DOES THIS CONCEPT LINK ADDAMS’ SENSE OF THE EMPTINESS OF MIDDLE CLASS WOMEN’S LIVES WITH HER ADVOCACY OF SOCIAL REFORM TO IMPROVE THE LOT OF THE IMMIGRANT POOR?
9. WHAT WAS THE VICTORIAN CRISIS OF FAITH? WHY DID IT HAPPEN? BE SURE TO INCLUDE THE WORK OF SEVERAL THINKERS WE HAVE STUDIED WHO HELPED ERODE THE SOLID GROUND UPON WHICH THE VICTORIANS ONCE STOOD.
